“Worship is acting, thinking, and feeling in a way that reflects the glory of God.” So states one of our core documents, composed before Desiring God Community Church even had that name. A later blog post based on that document draws out the meaning of 1 Corinthians 10:31 (“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”): “Make all of your life worship! Value Christ above all, and display His value in all your outward actions – even seemingly trivial actions like eating and drinking.”

Therefore our Sunday service is not the one time in the week we worship God – rather, that service should glorify God through our acts, thoughts, and feelings both during the service and throughout the following week as the truths sung and read and prayed and proclaimed dwell richly in us.

Consequently, the DGCC elders prepare not only the sermon but the entire service to display accurately the character of God and the excellencies of Jesus, aiming to prompt our right response to His love, mercy, grace, and majesty.

On Sunday, the service included “What a Beautiful Name” (Hillsong, 2017), which states in the second verse:
“You didn’t want heaven without us
So Jesus, You brought heaven down.”

Several of you raised questions about whether or not those lyrics accurately proclaim biblical truth.

These lines communicate to many that there is something lacking in the joy and fellowship of the Trinity apart from creation – that God needs us to be fully happy, in a similar way to Adam needing “a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:20).  But God reveals Himself in Scripture as full, as overflowing in love and joy and goodness. Out of that overflow He creates and redeems – not because of any need or lack within Him.

John Piper helpfully addressed these lyrics shortly after the song was written; that piece prompted some rejoinders (here is one).

We have rarely sung this song because of those lyrics – but we did sing it this Sunday. Why?

Because behind the problematic lyrics there is a precious biblical truth that both Jacob and I have been emphasizing recently: Our God is not an angry authority who only grudgingly lets us off from the punishment we deserve. Neither is our God a heavenly killjoy just waiting for us to mess up so He can zap us. In Jesus, we are His treasured possession. We are chosen, holy, and loved (Colossians 3:12).  He takes pleasure in us (Psalm 147:11, 149:4). He rejoices over us with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17). The Father loves us even as He loves Jesus (John 17:23). He creates us in His image, He redeems us so that we might show forth that image, and He delights to see us fulfill His purpose in creation.

So what can we do with a song that includes a precious biblical truth, but obscures it with problematic lyrics?

We could avoid singing it.

Or we could alter the lyrics.

There is much precedent in church history for altering lyrics. For example, the first line of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” was originally “Hark, how all the welkin rings.” Today, when making alterations, we note that the text has been changed by including “alt” after the title.

In this case, we can change the clause from a negative into a positive: “You wanted to share heaven with us.” That states the precious biblical truth clearly while maintaining the meter.

The subsequent line – “So Jesus you brought heaven down” – also is problematic. Scripture doesn’t use that metaphor. Rather, Jesus says repeatedly He came down from heaven (see for example John 6:33-58).

So we can replace both lines with:
“You wanted to share heaven with us
So Jesus You died on the cross.”

Those lines then flow well into the rest of the verse:
“My sin was great, Your love was greater –
What could separate us now?”

We plan to use these altered lines when we sing this song in the future.

Jesus became incarnate, died, and rose as God’s superabundant grace and love overflowed in the redemption of rebels – including you, if you trust and treasure Jesus. Fear not – it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you His Kingdom (Luke 12:32). His goodness and love will pursue you all the days of your life, and you will dwell in His house forever (Psalm 23:6).

May this biblical truth dwell in you richly indeed – and may we continue to sing and read and pray and proclaim God’s revelation clearly, so that we might act, think, and feel in a way that gives glory to God every day of our lives.