I can’t find just the right song for this topic.
I’m currently on day seven of a good intention that will hopefully become a habit. Each day, I want to stop, meditate on a passage of Scripture or an attribute of God, and prayerfully sing something related to that theme. Until today, it’s been easy. Songs I have enjoyed this past week have included ‘Rescuer’, ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus’ and ‘Purify my heart’.
I was meditating on a passage which we discussed in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) yesterday. In Acts 24, we find the great missionary to the Gentiles and Jews both, Paul, standing before a Roman governor, Felix, and the ruler’s Jewish wife, Drusilla. His words cut straight to their hearts. Their reaction was intense. There’s got to be application for me in there too, right?
Not quite the song I’m after
… Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come, Felix was afraid….
Acts 24:24-25a NIV
Righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come … that was the topic of my meditation today. I walked around some lovely wetlands near my home, mumbling ‘Righteousness, self-control and judgement to come’ in sync with the rhythm of my footsteps.
But I couldn’t find a song. I delved deep into my memory. Finally a melody from my childhood surfaced with a pleasant ‘pop’.
“Music machine, music machine,
Frank and Betty Hernandez, 1977
Like no other gadget that you’ve ever seen…”
After I got home, I looked up the lyrics for the self-control song from what was then a much-loved vinyl record of ours – ‘Music Machine’. Along with examples of self-control in everyday life, the lyricists hammered this lesson into the minds of little kids through the chorus:
Self-control is just controlling myself
Frank and Betty Hernandez, 1977 – this is the chorus to the song ‘Self-Control’ from ‘Music Machine – The Fruit of the Spirit’
It’s listening to my heart
And doing what is smart
Self-control is the very best way to go
So I think that I’ll control myself.
A master missionary’s method
Actually, cute Christian kids in the 1970s singing ‘Music Machine’ had very little in common with the royal couple before whom Paul spoke in the first century.
It struck me as an exceptionally odd gospel presentation. Perhaps we over-emphasise grace and honour at the expense of works and owning your shame. Even so, Paul’s focus on righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come in an initial gospel presentation was surely unusual.
Paul is a master missionary. His models are worth studying. In Athens, the identity of the ‘unknown God’ was his starting point for explaining the gospel to the Greeks. Amongst Jews, he skilfully interpreted Scripture to show how Jesus was the fulfilment of prophecy. As for the Philippian jailer and his household, Paul (and Silas) simply urged them to believe in the Lord Jesus.
And to the Roman Felix and Jewish Drusilla combination, Paul spoke of righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come.
Terror
Interrupting Paul’s ‘gospel presentation’, filled with fear, Felix sent Paul back to his prison cell. Nevertheless, over the next two years, he would often send for him and discuss matters further. The historian, Dr Luke (author of Acts), noted too that Felix hoped in vain that Paul would bribe him.
Why were Felix and Drusilla filled with fear at Paul’s emphasis on righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come? As I delved a little further, using online study aids, my ‘good Christian girl sensibilities’ were shocked.
At one point, I had thought that I might write this blog post from the perspective of Drusilla. But no. I don’t need to do that to myself. And besides, I wouldn’t know where to start.
The reason for the fear response was surely the certainty of judgement … unless, of course, they turned to Jesus in repentance and faith.
Nature and nurture
Nature and nurture … Drusilla had both against her in terms of ‘righteousness and self-control’. And surely she had every reason to fear the judgement to come. Yes, forgiveness is available through Jesus but repentance is required. And it doesn’t sound like she was interested in that. Felix, too, was angling for a bribe … behaviour hardly conducive to righteousness and self-control.
Drusilla was the daughter of King Herod Agrippa I who is known as the ‘Royal Persecutor of the Church’. She was the granddaughter of Herod the Great, who had ordered the massacre of baby boys around the time of Jesus’ birth in an attempt to kill the Messiah. She was the niece of Herod Antipas who had ordered John the Baptist beheaded, and cousin to the girl who had asked for John’s head on a platter. Her family connections were impressive in a warped way.
Although she was probably only a young woman at the time of Paul’s two-year imprisonment in Caesarea, Drusilla had already lived quite the life. Married as a teenager to a king in modern-day Syria, she had left him for Felix. Tradition suggests that Felix was fascinated with her and involved a Jewish sorcerer in orchestrating this unholy union.
Drusilla wasn’t surrounded by … let us say … people of ‘good influence’. But that did not excuse her for the choices she made along the way.
Live well
My own battles with self-control relate to little things like household and administrative chores and needing to spend more time in my home office chair (something I don’t like to do). These trivialities are nothing in comparison to the massive sins of Drusilla, the Jewish wife of Felix, surely.
The New Testament letter of 1 John tells me that, as a follower of Jesus, I must walk in the light. Drusilla’s sins were big. They were obvious. There was no hiding them. Mine are small. Most people wouldn’t even recognise them as sin unless they actually lived with me. But sins they are. And there is no hiding of them, either, when I ‘walk in the light’.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:8-9 NIV
It’s all about Jesus. He forgives us and purifies us and makes us righteous. But read on … John had more to say……
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:17 NIV
It’s also about my behaviour. My actions don’t save me. But I can’t follow Jesus and continue to live in a worldly way. I can’t ‘do the will of God’ and live without regard for God’s standards.
Still singing
Don’t worry. I’m not sliding into a works-based theology of salvation. But I have been reminded of a three-pronged truth as I spend time in this rather strange gospel presentation of Paul’s to a Gentile ruler and his Jewish bride.
Righteousness is important. Self-control is important. We live in light of the judgement to come.
Our lifestyles must reflect our calling as people of God.
No wonder Felix and Drusilla were terrified as the gospel pricked their consciences. For it seemed that they were unwilling to change their ways. Yet judgement would be inevitable.
I am very grateful for my Christian heritage. ‘Music Machine’ was a great way to instil Biblical truths in the hearts of kids decades ago. God bless those artists who produce music similar to this for kids today. God bless Christian parents who are intentional in teaching Christian truths to young children.
I just wish I could find an adult song to sing meditatively about righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come. If you have a suggestion, do pass it on to me.
In the meantime, I shall be singing the chorus from the self-control song of Music Machine.