Second Musical Monday post, as promised.
http://youtu.be/BY6VAy9y_iQ
Jesus, friend of sinners, we have strayed so far away
We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing
Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth's become so hard to see
The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me
Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded
A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
Yeah...
Jesus, friend of sinners, the one who's writing in the sand
Made the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their hands
Help us to remember we are all the least of these
Let the memory of Your mercy bring Your people to their knees
Nobody knows what we're for only what we're against when we judge the wounded
What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You did
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
You love every lost cause; you reach for the outcast
For the leper and the lame; they're the reason that You came
Lord I was that lost cause and I was the outcast
But you died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet
'Cause You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks Yours
And I was the lost cause and I was the outcast
Yeah...
You died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet
So, I'm going to try to not go off on a self-righteous tangent here, because honestly, I feel that this song deserves it's own sermon, but I don't have the authority for that.
Jesus, friend of sinners, we have strayed so far away
We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing
Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth's become so hard to see
The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me
Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded
A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided
We, as Christians, have turned away from the basic principle of the Gospel, that is, we have forgotten about selfless love. We have grown self-serving, cutting down people that we deem unholy and unrighteous with our so called "power of the Word". We have turned the truth of the Bible into a weapon of guilt and condemnation. As people who are genuinely hurting and interested in the hope and peace that comes with a relationship with Christ try to find their way to Him, they are distracted and rerouted by us, who say they are not good enough, God could never love them. We are a walking contradiction of ourselves, like the Greek goddess Janus, who had one face turned toward the past, and one turned to the future, but never one facing up, towards the sun. We are sinful and despicable, unloving and unrepentant.
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
Now, in a world that is falling down, with no hope in sight, we realize that we have been a major source of persecution to those who need love the most. Many of us are realizing that we need help from God. When we look at the world, we look in disgust and revilement. But when we look through the eyes of God, we begin to look at the world with love, seeing the hopeless and the hurting. We feel the need to reach out and treat people the way Jesus has taught us. When we look at the world through the filter of the Holy Spirit, our hearts should break.
Jesus, friend of sinners, the one who's writing in the sand
Made the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their hands
Help us to remember we are all the least of these
Let the memory of Your mercy bring Your people to their knees
Nobody knows what we're for only what we're against when we judge the wounded
What if we put down our signs, crossed over the lines and loved like You did
http://youtu.be/BY6VAy9y_iQ
Jesus, friend of sinners, we have strayed so far away
We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing
Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth's become so hard to see
The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me
Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded
A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
Yeah...
Jesus, friend of sinners, the one who's writing in the sand
Made the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their hands
Help us to remember we are all the least of these
Let the memory of Your mercy bring Your people to their knees
Nobody knows what we're for only what we're against when we judge the wounded
What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You did
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
You love every lost cause; you reach for the outcast
For the leper and the lame; they're the reason that You came
Lord I was that lost cause and I was the outcast
But you died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet
'Cause You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks Yours
And I was the lost cause and I was the outcast
Yeah...
You died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet
So, I'm going to try to not go off on a self-righteous tangent here, because honestly, I feel that this song deserves it's own sermon, but I don't have the authority for that.
Jesus, friend of sinners, we have strayed so far away
We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing
Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth's become so hard to see
The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me
Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded
A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided
We, as Christians, have turned away from the basic principle of the Gospel, that is, we have forgotten about selfless love. We have grown self-serving, cutting down people that we deem unholy and unrighteous with our so called "power of the Word". We have turned the truth of the Bible into a weapon of guilt and condemnation. As people who are genuinely hurting and interested in the hope and peace that comes with a relationship with Christ try to find their way to Him, they are distracted and rerouted by us, who say they are not good enough, God could never love them. We are a walking contradiction of ourselves, like the Greek goddess Janus, who had one face turned toward the past, and one turned to the future, but never one facing up, towards the sun. We are sinful and despicable, unloving and unrepentant.
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
Now, in a world that is falling down, with no hope in sight, we realize that we have been a major source of persecution to those who need love the most. Many of us are realizing that we need help from God. When we look at the world, we look in disgust and revilement. But when we look through the eyes of God, we begin to look at the world with love, seeing the hopeless and the hurting. We feel the need to reach out and treat people the way Jesus has taught us. When we look at the world through the filter of the Holy Spirit, our hearts should break.
Jesus, friend of sinners, the one who's writing in the sand
Made the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their hands
Help us to remember we are all the least of these
Let the memory of Your mercy bring Your people to their knees
Nobody knows what we're for only what we're against when we judge the wounded
What if we put down our signs, crossed over the lines and loved like You did
We answer to the Almighty power of Christ, who, through compassion and gentle discipline, changed the hearts of those like us. It is He who helps us see people as we should. It is He who turns our angry, judgmental hearts into hearts of love and generosity. It is through the memory of the cross that we are reminded how to love.
You love every lost cause; you reach for the outcast
For the leper and the lame; they're the reason that You came
Lord I was that lost cause and I was the outcast
But you died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet
'Cause You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
For the leper and the lame; they're the reason that You came
Lord I was that lost cause and I was the outcast
But you died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet
'Cause You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
You are good, You are good and Your love endures forever
Jesus, our supreme, perfect example, was the epitome of love. He didn't look at people through the eyes of one trained to be bound by social status. He didn't act according to the status quo. He broke those boundaries, loved the nasty people. He died for them. He died for you. He died for me. Because you and I are nasty, dirty, rotten, no-good sinners who wallow and take comfort in our lies and our vanity and our sins. We are the people bound by social status, we are the ones Jesus should have ignored. But He didn't, because He looked at us with love. He was moved to compassion in His heart. He was moved to compassion; His heart broke for us. Our sinful lives were painful to Him. He cared so much that it hurt. And He still does. He loves us so much that our sin is painful to Him. Our sin is the pain that He bore on the cross. It is what drove Him away from God while he hung there, bloody and naked, dying a cruel, embarrassing death. It wasn't their sin, it wasn't the government's sin, it wasn't your heathen neighbor's sin. It was your's. It was mine. And He did that, because He loves you. Because HE will always love you. No matter what you do, what you've done, what you will do in the future. He loves you.
In my opinion, this song is one of the most powerful songs Casting Crowns has released to date. It is a call to action. It is a call for Christians everywhere to wake up, open their eyes, and realize that those people we point our fingers at are not the ones who should be despised. It is us. We, who throw slur after discriminating slur at every unsaved person who walks by, are the dirty ones. We claim to love God, and to love every one else but in reality, we take the Sword of the Truth, and use it to break down those who need it to be a welcome to grace.
What sick creatures we are, us "Christians". We are nothing more than sin on display for the world. What good does it do to stand across the street from that clinic and tell those women they're committing a sin? Do you not think they know it already? How dare we point fingers at a person and condemn them to hell with a power not given to us, instead of looking with love and trying to reach out and help them. Some of them are there because they don't know that there is any other choice. Or because of the choices they have already made. Show them there is another choice.
There is always another choice. It's called grace. It's not a fair choice, but it was offered to us. And since we seem to think that we are righteous and holy due to our own works, then why not give them your dose of grace? You obviously don't need it, so why hold on to it? It's not like a savings bond, it doesn't grow bigger over time. So just give it away. God did.
Emily E
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