144. Rock Goes The Gospel - Bob Dylan "Gotta Serve Somebody"

Bob Dylan came to faith in Jesus in the late 1970's and released two albums of Christian gospel music. Slow Train Coming (1979) featured the guitar accompaniment of Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits "The album won a Grammy Award as "Best Male Vocalist" for the song "Gotta Serve Somebody". The second evangelical album, Saved (1980), received mixed reviews. "Gotta Serve Somebody" has the heartfelt words "It might be the devil or it might be the Lord but you've gotta serve somebody"

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might be a rock'n' roll adict prancing on the stage
Might have money and drugs at your commands, women in a cage
You may be a business man or some high degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be an young turk
You may be the head of some big TV network
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame
You may be living in another country under another name.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody's landlord you might even own banks.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side
You may be working in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Jimmy
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray
You may call me anything but no matter what you say.

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige, and position and winning. If you can demand service from others, you’ve arrived. In our self-serving culture with its individualistic mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept.

Paul, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not status. God determines your greatness by how many people you serve, not how many people serve you. Paul shares his thoughts on service in Romans 12:9-13. Paul's thoughts are about humble self abasing servant-hood. For Paul as well as for Jesus this is true greatness.

This is so contrary to the world’s idea of greatness that we have a hard time understanding it, much less practicing it. The disciples argued about who deserved the most prominent position, and 2,000 years later, Christian leaders still jockey for position and prominence in churches, denominations, and parachurch ministries.

Countless 1,000's of books have been written on leadership, but few very few on on the action of servanthood. Everyone wants to lead; no one wants to be a servant. We would rather be generals than privates. Even Christians want to be “servant-leaders,” not just plain servants. But to be like Jesus is to be a servant.

That’s what he called himself. God shapes each one of us for service, not for self-centeredness. Without a servant’s heart, you will be tempted to misuse your shape for personal gain. You will also be tempted to use it as an excuse to exempt yourself from meeting some needs.

God often tests our hearts by asking us to serve in ways we’re not shaped. If you see a man fall into a ditch, God expects you to help him out, not say, “I don’t have the gift of mercy or service.” While you may not be gifted a particular task, you may be called to do it if no one who is gifted at it is around. Your primary ministry should be in the area of your shape, but your secondary service is wherever you’re needed at the moment.

Paul the great apostle encourages us to work out Romans 12:9-13 in our lives day by day. To serve is the mark of someone who is living close to the heart of Christ.

133. Rock Goes The Gospel - The Foo Fighters "The Best Of You"

"Best of You" by the Foo Fighters, is the first single released from the band's fifth studio album, In Your Honor (2005). Dave Grohl notes that the song was written following appearances at 2004 American presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign trail and is "about breaking away from the things that confine you." To date, it is the band's only single to reach Platinum status in the US. The song holds the band's highest chart peaks in the US (#18), the UK (#4), and Australia (#5), and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The song won the Kerrang! Award for Best Single. It also topped Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for four weeks and Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks. Following the band's performance at Live Earth, the song again entered the UK charts at #38.

I've got another confession to make
I'm your fool
Everyone's got their chains to break
Holdin' you

Were you born to resist or be abused?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Are you gone and onto someone new?
I needed somewhere to hang my head
Without your noose
You gave me something that I didn't have
But had no use
I was too weak to give in
Too strong to lose
My heart is under arrest again
But I break loose
My head is giving me life or death
But I can't choose
I swear I'll never give in
I refuse

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
You trust, you must
Confess
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Oh...

Oh...Oh...Oh...Oh...

Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
The life, the love you'd die to heal
The hope that starts the broken hearts
You trust, you must
Confess

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

I've got another confession my friend
I'm no fool
I'm getting tired of starting again
Somewhere new

Were you born to resist or be abused?
I swear I'll never give in
I refuse

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
You trust, you must
Confess
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Oh...

"The Best of You" is about breaking away from the things that hold you back and imprison you. Things that dominate you and hold you from being free. If something or someone gets the best of you it means they have you in submission. In effect they triumphed over you. they have conquered you. You are a slave to them. In this mornings devotion we will be reflecting on Romans 6:17-18. This is a "prayer of freedom" for Paul as it begins with "Thanks be to God" if contrasts "Sin" and "Righteousness" and focuses on slavery of the heart.

The very idea of “slavery” is appaling to the western mind. I say “the Western mind” simply because slavery is still very much practiced where the worldview inherited from ancient Christendom has not yet shaped the outlook and practices of those who have power to exert their wills over others. More people are kept in some form of slavery today than ever before in world history.

Thoughout the nations of the world“freedom” is just another word for “power.” They alone are “free” who can wield power against others, to do whatever they wish, whenever they please. But in a larger and more mystical sense, slavery of another kind exists, even in the nations of the West, and it threatens to clamp down both on those who regard themselves as the freest of all people, and those who are seeking freedom for the first time. This is the kind of slavery that Paul in Romans 6 is getting at - The slavery of Sin. (An evil power that seeks to dominate and rob life from the people it has power over)

If we were we to consult Jesus on the state of “freedom” among the nations of the world, it‟s not difficult to imagine how He might respond. Everywhere, freedom is at risk, if not altogether already forfeited, and the tentacles and shackles of sin threaten to enslave and destroy unsuspecting people in every culture and clime.

Paul says to the Roman church "You were once slaves to Sin" Slaves are not free to know liberation from the oppression that grips and grinds them every day. Those who are sin addicts are slaves to powers they cannot control, and from which they seem powerless to escape. The recent recession has shown us what can happen throughout the world when people become enslaved to making money, indulging in all manner of economic trickery, or wielding political power. Unscrupulous bankers and financiers, egocentric politicians, and greedy consumers – all the slaves of one idol or another – plunged the world into an economic tailspin from which we have yet to recover.

People who just want a job, a home, and a steady income, have instead become slaves of want and to want some more. Even now, in parts of our world, people are seeking to throw off the slavery in which they have been kept, and are determined to break its shackles once and for all. But what sin and what bonds of slavery await them on the other side of dictatorship?

The Apostle John speaks of dictatorship when he says “Sin is lawlessness,” (1 Jn. 3:4). “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning,” he explained, “also practices lawlessness.” All who practice sin, therefore, are slaves to lawlessness; they are in revolt against God and their own consciences (Rom. 2:14, 15), and they are helpless, on their own, to extricate themselves from their plight, or even, in many instances, to acknowledge their enslaved condition.  What can set us free from sin? And what does it mean to have such freedom? If sin is a form of enslavement, and if we cannot break the shackles of sin by our own efforts, then who or what shall deliver us from this body of death? Jesus said, “The truth shall set you free” (Jn. 8:32). Paul says in Romans 6:17-18 That it has something to do with the heart, that it has everything to do with the gospel of Jesus. this is what he meant when he writes "The standard of teaching to which you were committed" It was the gospel that freed the Roman church and it will be the gospel that frees you and I from a life of slavery to our sinful heart.

Are we bothered that people everywhere are slaves to sin? Are we bothered as in the Foo Fighters song, someone or something is getting the better of people? The people of God have had a real turbulant track record in speaking about sin. For the most part people have been condemned for it. As if the life of all church people nd followers of Jesus was squeeky clean. What good will it do in the long run  to condemn people for their slavery to a power they cannot escape? That is not what is needed. Should we not rather have compassion, and should we not rather be urgent to make known to all who are slaves to the sin that is destroying them, that Jesus offers life and freedom to all who come to Him.