Fight Songs

The phrase "fight song" likely conjures a specific tune to your mind. As a guy who grew up in Norman, OK, there's only one fight song that rises to the top- Boomer Sooner. Every single time that song plays (every time my phone rings!), my physiology literally changes. My heartrate begins to quicken and I am prepared to take on anything that might come my way. Music has power in SO many ways. There's a reason every MMA fighter or batter in the MLB has walk up music- it pumps them up, preparing them for their efforts, and announces who they are. I've said many times the most important part of any worship service in the church is the last song, because people will seldom remember quotes and specifics from the sermon but they'll be singing that song as they go into the week!

What is the fight song you need in life? To help carry you through the day. To remind you who you are in the middle of the struggle. To encourage you to be who you know you are (or who you know you are called to be!). To push you forward in your God-given mission. All of the above are possible and there are several I'd love to suggest! Today, I want to focus on some of the most important fight songs in my life. While they are personal anthems and each has been hugely important in my life at specific times, they are universally applicable and drive at deeper truths we need to hear, think, and live.

My personal fight song is "As For Me" by the Rend Collective. It's the anthem of all I want and am called to be. No matter what, this is the calling on my life. To lead my house in integrity towards the God who has done it all for me. To live into Deuteronomy 6, training my children in the way they should go and teaching them to love the Lord their God with all of their hearts, souls, minds, and strength as we go, as we eat, as we travel, as we learn, as we work, as we rest, in EVERYTHING.

 

While "As For Me" calls me into my calling as a father and carries my heart for my kids, on a deeper level the song that reminds me of who carries me and is for me is "All Because of Christ" by Austin Stone Worship. When a church I served was lead in a decidedly un-Christ-like direction, I was suddenly upended. The surprise, pain, and at a deep level upheaval I experienced meant I needed to find a deep anchor to hold onto. Not to say my faith was shaken, but I needed a vehicle to express, remember, and repeat the truths my faith in Jesus encompasses. This song had been introduced to me prior at Midwestern Baptist Theological seminary and had been powerful then, but suddenly became a touchstone that I needed to cling to. 

I needed to sing, remember, and proclaim that God has been faithful, was faithful, and would continue to be faithful. I needed to know that I existed because of Christ and no matter what I went through or was fighting, my God hadn't left me, hadn't abandoned me and no matter what pain and lies people spoke (the most painful lie was in a letter and said, "Even if Matt was called... he's obviously failed in that calling" coming on the heels of us baptizing 10 people the prior weeks. Can you tell the hurt marked me?). I needed this fight song and still need the reminder that I will carry on because of Christ and nothing else.

The next fight song is essentially brand new and hasn't sat with me as long, but carries the power of the deep prayer and truths it's lyrics convey. Jesus has done the work and nothing can separate me from that love, thus my prayer becomes, "I want less of me and more of You." That's a dangerous prayer, but one I need to pray daily and hourly. "Less of Me and More of You" by Austin Stone Worship is deep theological truths wrapped around the core of that simple statement from John the Baptist in John 3.30 that placed him firmly in line under the King of the Universe: "Jesus must increase and I must decrease."

I don't know about you, but this fight song is a reminder to pray fervently that my God would become greater in my life so that people would see Jesus in me and seeing Jesus come to know and love Him. Even in a personal fight song, one that points our hearts towards Jesus and reminds us of our place, it still is missional!

The fight song that marks the church, and each of us as followers of Christ, is deeply missional. In fact, I'd argue any church that fails to effectively reach the lost isn't actually a church at all. The cry of the church on mission is to rescue the perishing, or as Spurgeon said:

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”

While "Rescue the Perishing" is an amazing hymn (PS thank God for the lyrical gifting He gave Fanny Crosby, she left a huge mark on His church!) and highly deserving to be on my list, it's not where I'm headed with this last song. The fight song of God's church is "Build Your Kingdom Here" by the Rend Collective. The cry to see God's kingdom come in our personal lives is then lived out in community with the desire to see what God wants and not our desires, going so far as to lay down our lives for Heaven's cause.

It might sound cliche, but is your deepest desire and prayer to see God's kingdom come here as it is in heaven? Jesus literally told us to pray for this when He taught us to pray, but do we actually pray it and mean it? Life Church in Edmond, OK is built on the value of "doing anything short of sin to reach people who don't know Christ." That is what it means to pray and see God build His kingdom here. Jesus' entire life and work is wrapped up in that simple statement, from the Samaritan woman at the well to each of us whose sin died on His cross.

So as you go, as you eat, as you travel, as you learn, as you work, as you rest, in EVERYTHING you do, let these fight songs carry you through and help you live out what God has called you to.