What humans need is not a change of mind about God, but a change of nature. They need to be born again, given spiritual sight, set free. Music can’t do that. Style can’t do that. Law and good deeds cannot do that. We need something not with natural power but with diving power. Paul writes, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our welfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:3-4).
What’s strange is, you can “talk theology” with church leaders, and many will acknowledge everything I just said about our enslavement to sin and the depth of our problem as fallen sinners. But turn the conversation to local church practices, and that earlier conversation gets left behind. They begin to talk about reaching out with the right style of mucis, or dimming the lights to create the right worship effect. They readily adopt the devices of the marketing firm or the political campaign, even though such devices are utterly powerless to change the nature of the heart.
What frees an enslaved heart? Only one thing: the truth of God’s Word working with the Holy Spirit.
Reverberation: How God’s Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People
