The Sons of Issachar: Knowing What Israel Should Do, Part 17
Last week we examined the risks and attendant evils connected with overreactions to the anti-artistic legalisms which too often face artists within the pale of the Church. We saw that, while legalisms must be resisted, we cannot react into libertinism (living as if there were no extant rules of godly conduct) or the temptation to “hide our light under a bushel” by trying to pretend we are not Christians at all (as some Christian artists have done to try to achieve fame or influence outside of Christian circles and/or marketplaces). We must always bear the Name of Christ and never deny His Lordship (cf. Matt 10:32-33).
Nonetheless, our art must not necessarily be in the form of a gospel tract (though there are a number of artistic tracts and evangelism tools). As I have argued extensively throughout this series, our art should be an extension of our lives under Christ’s Lordship.
This means that our music (or dance, or plays, etc.) should reflect the fact that our lives are made up of a number of different functions and modes. At times we play. Other times we work. Other times we engage in private or formal worship. Sometimes we evangelize. At times we eat (or dream, or nurture our children, etc.).
Our lives are many-faceted, and this is a good thing, as we experience the knowledge of the Reality of God and Christ’s Lordship under a variety of situations and circumstances (both pleasant and unpleasant, as a study of the lives of Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Paul, or Job clearly shows). Our task as artists is to mediate (e.g., share) our knowledge and vision of God under all these modes of life to others through the vehicle of our art.
If we do this properly, those who are exposed to our artistry will see that our artistic representations ring true, and will take them seriously, hopefully resulting in their understanding and embracing the multi-faceted Lordship of Jesus. Part of the appeal of the gospel is that Jesus’ Rule and Plan is over all of the arenas of life, not just over our private emotional and “religious” lives. Jesus’ Lordship extends over our familial lives (including education, extended family relationships, and even sex), our political lives (the values by which we vote, and Christ’s Absolute Sovereignty over the kings of the earth [cf. Rev 1:5]), our work and business experience, our friendships, as well as our worship and prayer lives.
All of these areas of life are to be lived under the Rule of Christ, and consequently, the art that flows from a Christian’s life should reflect this across the board.
In a very real sense, all of life is worship under different modes: work, prayer, relaxation, friendship, politics, etc., as well as formal worship and evangelism. Our art should reflect the complete spectrum of human life experienced in relationship with Christ Jesus. If we only restrict ourselves to art concerning formal worship, prayer, or evangelism, the pagans who are exposed to it will conclude that (1) Christ’s Lordship is restricted to those areas, (2) other areas of life are relatively unimportant both to God and to us, and (3) that Christianity is irrelevant to most of life, and therefore unrealistic, and consequently untrue.
We must exhibit the fullness and joy (and sorrow and suffering) of life in Christ in the world of the Fall and of Redemption. If we do not, we fail to bear a truthful witness to Christ the Creator, Redeemer, and Lord of all of life.
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