I've Been Crucified with Christ – Paul, the Apostle

A dispute was threatening the foundation of the newborn church, and he was committed to reversing this. He was Paul, the once-accuser, now-fervent believer, who wrote the words of a letter to a group of straying Christians to express dismay and denunciation, and to underscore his allegiance to the One he defended by saying “I’ve Been Crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Though he was probably elsewhere, the Apostle who wrote no less than 13 messages contained in 21^st Century bibles was thinking of a place called Galatia (see the map) in a time when the 1^st Century was around 50 years old. Today, we would say it was in central Turkey (in Paul’s time, known as the Roman province of Asia Minor), where Paul had visited and first converted some to unadulterated faith. He was saying, for effect, ‘how dare you!’

This apostle usually didn’t hold back his thoughts, did he? As a persecutor, he was rabid in his methods to chase, capture, and condemn to death many Christians. And then, he had his own fanaticism stood on its head while on a road to Damascus, causing him to sacrifice a very promising Jewish status, perhaps even leadership of people. But, he gave it all up, putting himself in harm’s way multiple times, and walking a path that would eventually get himself killed. So, undoubtedly Paul was sincere in the purest sense as he stressed to these people in Asia Minor how much he believed – he knew his faith was a dangerous one, that he was ‘crucified with Christ’, in effect. If he put himself out on this spiritual limb, he wasn’t about to be dismissive of what he saw as gross error in their morphed beliefs. They were still pinning down people with outmoded Jewish practices – circumcision, chief among them. Particularly galling for Paul were the hypocritical actions of a brother – Peter. Paul’s words are vivid straight out of the box as the letter begins…’astonished’ (Gal. 1:6), ‘…pervert’ (1:7), ‘…eternally condemned’ (1:8). It’s therefore not likely a mis-print when he addresses with an exclamation mark this group as ‘You foolish Galatians!’ (3:1) Christ is supreme, and loyalty to Him requires nothing else to save the believer, period. Toss the old law aside, Paul emphasized, and focus on Christ’s gracious sacrifice. Paul’s own life was subsumed in the Divine One, according to the words of this one-verse song. Paul lived, even if crucified; he was still fleshly, but with a consecration to the spiritual One who had sacrificed for him, the still-fleshly.

So, stop counting on one’s own effort, because it will never get you within eyeshot of the Holy One. Only His own sacrifice has meaning in God’s throne room. Twenty centuries after Paul’s original words, an anonymous music-writer fused the notes with the words that he read in the King James Version of the bible, creating a memory tonic for Paul’s meaningful words first penned for a people committing grievous error. What does one do to underscore a commitment to another? Paul knew what to do. He lived it, and died for it. He crucified his old life for it.        

The only resource used for the above story is the KJV version of the bible for the original words used in the song verbatim; and the New International Version of the bible for background information on the letter to the Galatians.  

Listen to Our Hearts -- Geoff Moore and Steven Curtis Chapman

These two best friends must have had plenty of opportunities to tell one another some details about how they each felt about his life before the Creator. So it wasn’t an accident that Geoff Moore and Steven Curtis Chapman would write some songs together to explore this facet of their lives, including in 1992 in Nashville when they collaborated to ask God to “Listen to Our Hearts”. It was one track on Geoff’s band’s (The Distance) album A Friend Like U, on which Geoff and Steven co-wrote two of its 10 tracks, including the album’s title tune. They were musical poets, able to inspire and motivate one another, yet also comfortable admitting that they lacked some of the words they would have liked to have said. In doing so, they must have taken some of their notes right out of another author’s text.

Geoff and Steven were early 30-somethings in 1992, who had connected while looking to make careers in the Christian music business in Nashville in the 1980s. What they wrote for “Listen…” suggests they may have been studying together at some point, or had both independently noted something that caught their attention.  Perhaps they were taking notes from what the apostle Paul had to say while preparing to meet some Romans (chapter 8), or about how this ancient writer had marveled about God’s deep well of love (Ephesians 3:17-18). That first-century Christian acknowledged that he came up empty when trying to vocalize his feelings (Rom. 8:26-27), using phraseology that Moore and Chapman echo in their poetry about their own conversations with the Lord twenty centuries later. Although the specific circumstances that motivated Geoff and Steven when they crafted “Listen to Our Hearts” have not been confirmed, their authenticity as songwriters and as men of faith, and their activity in other ways with their beliefs, indicate that they were hearing something pretty clearly, even as they asked God to inspect their insides and draw it out. Examine them and their family’s biographies, and you will find one way that the Chapmans and Moores extend their hearts is toward worldwide assistance for orphans and their  adoption via Show Hope, an organization that Steven and his wife founded. It’s not just talk either, for both the Moores and the Chapmans have adopted multiple children into their own families. Their hearts evidently have been speaking even when they haven’t been singing the words of the song they co-wrote in 1992.         

If you’re uncertain how to talk to the One above, Geoff and Steven might suggest you begin to investigate this by first asking Him to listen to your heart, and then admit to yourself what is there. Are you OK with Him listening and knowing what’s inside? You can’t hide it, only change it. It’s also been said that what’s in a person’s heart comes out in his actions (James 2:14-24). He once said something about being fruitful (Matthew 12:33), and one of his followers eventually listened and said something similar (Galatians 5:22). It’s interesting that that Galatians writer was once listening to another voice. I just have to get better at listening to Him, and tuning out the rest. Then, I might start to sound more like Him.

See the following two sites for biographic information on the two composers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Moore

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Curtis_Chapman