This has never happened before on “American Idol”

I’ve always found the title of the television show American Idol a bit problematic. We’re not supposed to have idols, as the Second Commandment reminds us (Exodus 20:3–6). If we were to identify such people or objects of veneration for our nation, singers would not come first to mind.

But Monday night’s show belied these objections. For the second year in a row, the talent competition focused on songs of faith for Easter week. Most of the contestants sang Christian anthems or hymns that clearly and powerfully communicated the gospel to the nation (the young man who sang John Lennon’s Imagine was a regrettable exception). 

When Carrie Underwood ended the show with her rendition of How Great Thou Art, my wife and I worshiped with her as if we were in church on Easter Sunday.

Then came news that, for the first time in the twenty-four years that the show had been broadcast, so many viewers voted that the producers were unable to count them before the show’s end. Such an unprecedented response to a talent competition centered on songs of Christian faith was very encouraging. In a day when popular media seems vociferously to collude with those seeking to normalize immorality and stigmatize Christianity, this was good news about the good news.

And it illustrated three important reminders about our faith I want to share with you today.

God’s word never returns void

One of my favorite promises in Scripture is God’s promise about Scripture:

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10–11).

The New Testament corollary is this assertion: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Living and active could be translated “alive and constantly at work.” The words of God’s word are not letters on a page or a screen—when they are believed and shared, the Spirit who inspired them uses them to change lives and transform culture.

Martin Luther explained the Protestant Reformation this way:

I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it.

Charles Spurgeon noted: “The word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.”

When we “let the lion loose,” God’s word works in ways we cannot. Worship that shares biblical truth with the world will change the world, one soul at a time.

Music opens our hearts to God

Plato believed that music possesses the power to bypass reason and penetrate to the soul. Accordingly, he warned in The Republic: “Musical innovation is full of danger to the State, for when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them.”

Said positively, music can be used to change hearts in ways that glorify God and advance his kingdom.

In the ancient tabernacle, the “golden altar for incense” was placed before the “ark of the testimony” (Exodus 40:5), a subtle indication that worship precedes the word. We follow the same pattern in our worship services today, using music to glorify God before we preach and teach his word. Like singers preceding the army into battle (2 Chronicles 20:21), worship leaders lead us into worship in ways that open our hearts to God’s word and will for our lives.

I daresay that if American Idol had spent Monday evening sharing sermons with America, the response would have been somewhat different from what it was. Music that glorifies the Lord draws those who listen closer to the Audience of all true worship.

We must believe if others are to believe

Years ago, a man who was a member of a church in our community said of his pastor, “He really believes what he preaches.” His words surprised me: you would think that any pastor believes the truth he proclaims. But this pastor was apparently so committed personally to biblical truth that his passion impassioned those who heard him.

Some of those who sang faith songs during American Idol clearly did so from hearts that believed what they sang and worshiped their Audience of One. Others seemed to be singing the lyrics because of the night’s theme rather than from the passion of their hearts. The difference to my wife and me was obvious.

The famed preacher Charles Spurgeon advised his students, “Take a text and make a beeline for Jesus.” He modeled what he preached, always and passionately seeking to lead those who heard him to the Christ he served.

For example, the story is told of a man who wanted to hear Spurgeon preach. In those days, the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London was so crowded with people trying to do the same that free tickets were issued. This visitor was unaware of this practice, so he arrived at the service ticketless and was turned away. An usher saw what happened and gave the man his ticket so he could attend the service.

After it was over, the usher rushed to the visitor and asked, “What did you think of the preacher?” The man replied, “I didn’t see a preacher. I only saw the Savior.”

“How can I have what you have?”

If we believe that the Bible is indeed “living and active,” seek to live vertically in worship, and know in our hearts what we proclaim with our words, Jesus will be glorified, and many will be drawn to him.

My faith story is an example.

I have often talked over the years about my conversion through the bus ministry of a local church. When men invited my brother and me to ride their bus to church, we heard the gospel for the first time. But the service was as foreign to me as a Buddhist service would be to you. I didn’t know when to stand and when to sit, how to pray, or what the Bible meant by what it said.

What I did know was that these people in this church had something I didn’t. I saw in them a passion, a love for God and each other, a joy I knew I was missing. On September 9, 1973, I asked my Sunday school teacher not “How can I be saved?” or “How can I be born again?” but “How can I have what you have?” And she led me to her Lord.

May someone ask you my question today.