Worship and Music

Music in the church; it is one of those topics that generate brisk and heated discussions. Some say we should only sing Psalms from the Bible. Some says we should not have any instruments. Some churches put on a rock concert every service. Should we sing only old hymns or new hymns and songs too? What instruments can we use?  Endless questions that can be confusing to sort through. These differences about music in church services can cause church splits. Part of the challenge is that God has given us some freedom on this issue and so differences are not necessarily wrong. I believe that God has given us principles about cooperate worship that we need to apply. Let try to look at some of them. Now I have to admit that I can't sing well or play any instrument with any level of skill. But I don't think that hinders me in understanding Biblical principles.

Worship is not just something we do in a Sunday church service. Worship is all of life. Worship can be cleaning your house or fixing a car. But on the first day of the week we gather to worship God together as a body of believers.This is not an option as we learn from Hebrews 10:25 where we are warned not to forsake meeting together, which usually happened on the first day of the week.

What is to happen when we meet together for worship?
 1) Prayer 1 Tim 2:8
2) Reading the Scriptures and preaching 1 Tim 4:13
3) Giving 1 Cor 16:2
 4) Regular celebration of Lord Supper  1 Cor 11:17-34
 5) Baptisms  Matt 28:19
6) Singing and Music Eph. 5:19

These are the elements that are to make up our worship service. All these elements are to be guided by scripture. We need Biblical preaching and singing. Baptism and Lord Supper are to be done as the Bible has instructed us. Prayer is shaped by the truth of God's word.

These different parts of a worship service are to be done together. That doesn't mean that everyone should be preaching or praying. The worship service is not a spectator sport. We are all involved even in the preaching for then our minds need to be engaged in listening. When there is praying, we ought to listen along and affirm what is being prayed in our own hearts. Even in baptism, those who are watching can be instructed and edified as they think of the beautiful picture of baptism and remember the saving grace of God in their lives. Singing praises to the Lord is to be done together as well. This is important for it helps us develop a Biblical guide to music.

The main principle for music in the church is that congregational singing guides the tune and the instruments. The instruments used and kind of music chosen must support and help the congregation sing. Any instrument can be used in a worship service so long as it helps rather than hinders the congregation to sing. If the instruments drown out the voices of the congregation, then it hinders the congregation's worship in song. Some instruments are more conducive to congregational singing. This will guide us when we consider what instruments should be used.

If this is a worship service and we are to worship together then the tune must be simple enough so that everyone can sing it. Most music written today is not easy for everyone to sing.Neither are they written for congregational singing. Some people can sing well, others only sing in one tone or croak like a frog. The tune must be simple enough that most if not all people can sing along without too much trouble.

The next principle for music in the church can be found in John 4;24. "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." The last word of this text is important. We must worship God with the truth. The truth fuels worship. Look at Col 3:16. "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." The truth of Scripture should permeate every part of our lives, especially our singing as you can see in the later part of the verse.
So then our songs must be theologically rich and accurate. We need to sing our theology. Too many of the songs used in churches today are like a thin watery soup instead of a rich meal of meat and potatoes. Some of these songs use a lot of words to say very little that is meaningful or they use endless repetition. We can't worship God well when our music has little truth in it. These theological bare bones lyrics reflects our current age's lack of interest in doctrine and expository preaching. While I believe it would be well for the church to sing the Psalms so long as we recognize the different context, the Psalms also provide for a pattern or template with which to write our hymns.

Lastly, even if we have theologically rich songs with good congregational singing and a balanced use of instruments, we still might fail to worship God in our music. The second part of John 4:24 says we are to worship Him in spirit. That is we are to worship Him from the heart. Our singing must flow from a thankful and reverent heart that loves God. We need heart worship; not just singing the words but really meaning what we are singing. God cares much more about what goes on inside us than outside. Both are important, but if our hearts are far from God, we aren't worshiping Him. I think we can all see how we have failed in this. Let us pray that God will make us passionate worshipers of our Great Lord and Savior.

"Hallelujah! Sing to the LORD a new song, His praise in the assembly of the godly." 

Psalm 149:1

Brad

Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, and the Glory of the Lord

I was recently reading a little about the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. These were civilisations in South and Central America. They flourished for a time until ultimately they were conquered by the Spanish. But what struck me as I read, was their bloody religion. Each of these empires sacrificed humans. This was not just once and awhile, but often. In fact, many of their wars were launched for the sole purpose of getting captives to be sacrificed to their gods. Often the best victims were taken up a pyramid on top of which was a temple. There the victim was held down and his heart cut out by the priest. The heart was then placed on the altar to please the gods and the body was thrown down the steps. Men, old women, and children were all sacrificed to please the gods. Even the worshippers of these gods would cut themselves and present their own blood to the gods. Their gods were angry gods. They needed to be appeased by the death of people. What horrible religions!

When we look at the religions that the heart of man has come up with, we see in most cases that his gods are horrible beings. The gods of the Greeks and Romans were sinful and wicked. Allah is cold and distant. The god of the Jehovah Witnesses and the god of the Mormons demand good works for salvation with no assurance of salvation. These are gods made in the image of man. In many religions the spirits are out to get people and must be appeased. People live in great fear that the spirit will harm or kill them. The gods of the nations are cruel to their worshippers. The worshippers find no peace of conscience by rituals.

Here in our modern culture, we have cruel gods too. We worship the god of Self. This god also demands us to sacrifice others. Sometimes it is a literal sacrifice, where babies are sacrificed by abortion to meet the selfish demands of the god, Self. Sometimes the sacrifices are not so literal but still very real. We sacrifice the feelings, plans, interests, and hopes of others to make the god Self happy. All our modern gods are not much different than the gods of the ancients. Yet in every case man-made religions and idols are oppressive to people. Strange as it is, it is true. But what a difference there is in the true God and His worship.

The true and living God is so glorious and good. His love is infinite. His laws are good laws intended for our joy.  He is good to His enemies. He should make a quick and painful end to all rebels. But He does something more glorious; He becomes a sacrifice for them. He came to earth, took on a human nature, and lived among His creatures. Then He suffered in their place for their sins. He died for them and then rose to give them eternal life. How different is our God than the gods of men. All that is needed for salvation, He accomplishes for us. We don't have to appease Him. We simply give to Him in love and gratitude our lives in holy service. The life, salvation, and peace that God gives are real and powerful.

Reading about the gods of the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas made me worship our great God who is so different. I hope you will join in worship to the Lord as well.

Psalm 96:2-6

Sing to the Lord, bless His name;

Tell of His salvation from day to day.

Declare His glory among the nations,

His marvelous works among the nations!

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

He is to be fear above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idol,

But the Lord made the heavens.

Splendor and majesty are before Him;

Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

 

-Brad-

Dancing Before the Lord

I have been making my way through the Psalms in my morning devotions for about a year and a half. 

This morning I arrived at Psalm 149. In verse 3 it says, "Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to Him with tambourine and lyre." Praising the Lord with dancing was a curious thought to me. Now I am no dancer. I have two left feet when it comes to dancing. I feel rather uncomfortable when on the rare occasions I have danced. But here is a command to praise God with dancing. This is not the only time we are told this. In Psalm 150:4, it says, " Praise Him with tambourine and dance." There are two examples of praising God with dancing. In Exodus 15:20, Miriam and the women of Israel praised God with tambourine, dancing and singing for defeating the Egyptians and saving His people Israel through the Red Sea. In 2 Samuel 6:14, David "danced before the Lord with all his might' when the ark of the covenant was brought to Jerusalem. On these two occasions, people danced because they were filled with joy and thankfulness due to God's love, mercy, faithfulness and saving power. Now to go back to Psalm 149 where we are told the reason we should praise God with dancing. "For the Lord takes pleasure in His people, He adorns the humble with salvation" verse 4. We should praise the Lord with music and dancing because in His love He has chosen to give us salvation. So in our lives of worship, there are times when praising God with dancing is good and proper. There should be times when we are so filled with adoration to our Savior and Lord that singing and music won't be enough. We'll need to express that joy with the entire body. Maybe it will be when we first find grace and forgiveness. Maybe it will be at the conversion of someone. Maybe it will be after an answer to prayer. Or maybe it will be after a fresh sight of the glory of God. Have you ever had times when you wanted to dance before the Lord or when you did?

Now this doesn't mean that all forms of dancing are good and to be used to worship. Many forms are to be avoided. But there is a form that is good and proper, otherwise God would not give a command to praise Him with dancing. I shouldn't be surprised to find that in the new heavens and earth, we will often praise God with dancing. God is worthy to be praised with every fiber of our being. So let's begin here on earth with singing, dancing, and making music, knowing we shall do this all the better in glory.

 

-Brad-