Dancing to the Music?

"Imagine yourself in a large house in which those who are deaf and those who can hear and living together. In one of the room, you see a guy sitting in a chair and listening to music on his iPod. Rhythmically, he's tapping his foot, drumming his thighs, jutting his chin out, swaying to the beat, and pursing his lips like Mick Jagger. His entire body moves in response to what his ears are hearing. It's obvious that he's enjoying himself and listening to a pretty good song.

A few minutes later, one of the deaf persons enters the room. Seeing the guy listening to the music and impersonating Mick Jagger, he thinks, That looks like fun. I think I'll try that. So he sits down next to him and begins to imitate him. Awkwardly at first, he tries drumming his thighs, jutting his chin out, and swaying to the music just like the guy wiht the iPod. With a little practice, he begins to catch onto it. By watching and trying, he begins to mirror the other guy's actions pretty closely. But although he eventually gets better at keeping time, he concludes that it's not as much fun or as easy as it initially seemed (especially the chin jut--very difficult to do when you're not actually hearing the music.)

After awhile, a 3rd person enters the room and watches this scene. What does he see? Two people apparently doing the same thing, apparently listening to the same thing. Is there a difference? Absolutely. The first guy hears the music and his actions are a natural response to hte music's rhythm and melody. The 2nd guy is merely imitating the outward actions. Being deaf, he's not listening to anything.

There's an important spiritual paralell here. The dance (outward actions) represents the Christian life, which the music represents the grace of the gospel. Though we have come to know Christ through grace, we are often like the deaf man in the story who tries to perform the dance without hearing the music. Our spiritual life is reduced to a series of dance steps--external behaviors and activities--devoid of God's animating and transforming power. God's desire is not to get us to do the dance but to get us to hear the music of the gospel, with the dance (godly actions, character, and activities) flowing naturally from it...

...We were created to know God--our hearts were made to respond to the music of the gospel. There is nothing more beautiful than a life grcefully responding to the rhythm of the gospel, and there is nothing as painful to watch as someone just imitating dance steps. As we allow Scripture to expose our brokenness and point us to our Savior, it functions as it was intended: as a speaker amplyfying the music of the gospel. And as we communicate the Scripture in a Christ-centered way, others will begin to hear the music as well."

--excerpt taken from an article entitled Music of the Gospel, by Keith Johnson; originally developed as an illustration by Larry Kirk, pastor of Christ Community Church in Daytona Beach, Florida. Want to read the whole article? You can find it here.