Welcome to Tuesday!!! It's time for your taste of the musically trivial, with an added sprinkle of the Mesiannically Scriptural. Blended with a fine dose of perspective that you won't get anywhere else! It's Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! Welcome...your in a safe place where you can trust those around you...it's a place where we be hip to the jive without any o 'dat jive talkin'...
In several Tuesday's Musical Notes we have highlighted bands from the '60s who are still continuing to make music and tour (Yes, Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Changes", Genesis, Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Misunderstanding", and Chicago, Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Color My World" to name a few). Today's feature band started in 1958. You read that right, 1958.
While best known for the Disco era (even still the debate rages about the merits of this genre of music, but I digress), the band the Bee Gees started in 1958 when brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibbs began singing their trademark trio harmonies as The Rattlesnakes. Moving from England to Australia, the band began making records. After achieving chart success in Australia with their 12th single, the band moved back to England and began focusing on honing their craft and promoting themselves to a much wider audience. The rest as they say is history...
The Bee Gees have sold 220 million records world wide and come into countless acclaim as songwriters and musicians. The 1970's found their music tailor made for the burgeoning style of music that had become Disco. Throwing fuel to the fire was the 1977 soundtrack to the movie Saturday Night Fever. Some have said that this soundtrack was the single handed reason Disco had continuity into the late '70s. The Bee Gees saw a resurgence in their musical popularity as the Grammy winning soundtrack would see its sales go 15 times platinum.
Maurice Gibb died in 2003, leaving his remaining brothers to carry on the musical legacy. Barry and Robin decided to retire the band name in that year, only to resurrect it in 2009 when they began touring to throngs of adoring fans. Robin would pass away in 2012 and Barry decided that the time had come to retire the band that bore he and his brothers name for good. For 54 years, the Bee Gees would create music that continues to be popular. Are any of your favorite bands from the 1990's still relevant like that?
Barry is the only member of the band still alive, but continues to tour as a solo act and occasionally with his son.
Today's feature song, which peaked at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100, speaks to the deception that exists in the singer's current relationship. Trust has broken down to the point that nothing she says is believable. What started out as a budding romance had now turned into a breakup because of misinformation and untruth.
Do you think we ever do this with God? Does He ever grow weary of all our jive talkin'? Can the words we speak be considered reliable to God and to those around us?
Redeemed followers of Jesus or even the heroes of faith found in Hebrews 11 New King James Version of the Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible parallel are not inoculated to the temptation to "story" (mom or grandmom's word...) to God and to those we care about the most.
Abram used a lot of jive talkin' to get out of potential troubles when he called Sarai his sister. (Genesis 20 NKJV/The Message) Jacob deceived Isaac to get the 1st born blessing. (Genesis 27 NKJV/The Message) In fact, most of the patriarchs of Israel at one time or another went about j-j-j-jive talkin'.
The New Testament has its share of deceivers as well. The ultimate example is the jive talkin' life of the "disciple" Judas Iscariot. Many of the Gospel accounts tag the label, "the one who betrayed him" on to Judas whenever he is mentioned. Imagine, thinking that you could be skilled enough at deceit and misdirection that you could leave the Son of God looking like a dumbfounded fool. In the case of Judas, all that his jive talkin' merited him was the eternal separation from the One with whom he shared 3 years of his life and could have redeemed him if he had repented. Why do we think we are any different than any of these examples? But yet, in the final analysis, in even our best five minutes, we attempt to carry on the same lack of integrity as those characters in the Bible.
The Bible is clear about the level of righteousness by which we are to carry ourselves. The ten commandments (commands from a Creator, not suggestions for a good life) speak specifically to how our words play into the overall rectitude with which we live our life. (Exodus 20 NKJV/The Message) Notice that verse 16 specifically calls out speaking untruths about our neighbor. That brings up the question of "who is our neighbor". In Sesame Street terms, "the people that you meet when you're walkin down the street (Who Are The People in Your Neighborhood?)" are your neighbors. Or according to Mr. Rogers, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?". More importantly, according to Jesus, The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Dr. Luke 10:25-37 NKJV/The Message
Finally, Paul addresses the culture in which he lived by denouncing the lies that were being propagated in his time. Paul's letter to the church at Rome 1:18-36 NKJV/The Message. Does any of this sound familiar?
So you see friend there is no place for jive talkin' in the life of a follower of Jesus. Our relationships with God and others are too important to fool around with deceit and lies. Otherwise you are known as a follower of one with which you may not wish to be associated. The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple John 8:31-47 NKJV/The Message According to this passage it is easy to hear these lyrics being sung to the enemy:
Jive talkin'
You're telling me lies, yeah
Jive talkin'
You wear a disguise
You're telling me lies, yeah
Jive talkin'
You wear a disguise
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
No comments:
Post a Comment