And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. Rev. 5:9 The highest worship of God is the preaching of His Word. (Luther) We cannot honor God more than listening to his Word with an obedient life. Music that which is saturated accurately with the truth of God’s Word and is worthy of worship to the Lord. (Ro 10:14-17) Now if you agree with that statement may I ask you to turn the proposition around? Secular and/or pagan music, as opposed to Christian music, is that which honors and glorifies the flesh and calls us away from a life of compliance to our God. I wonder if we are guilty of using worldly methods and music in our churches under the guise of “reaching the lost,” (baptized pagan music), when God actually desires to have us worship Him through music that is centered in His Word? Here is another case of “the ends does not justify the means”. Now many of you may be thinking that I may be so narrow minded that if he fell on a pin it would blind me in both eyes. This is not true. We should never be intolerant for intolerance’s sake nor merely seek to impose our taste in Christian music on others. Instead, we should only seek God’s truth in all that we do as Christians. I will stand flat footed and declare that there is only one inspired, infallible rule and authority for all matters of life and godliness and it is the sufficient, pure, perfect, inerrant Word of God. (Psa 19:7-14; 2 Tim 3:16) There should be the plumb line for Christian hymns and music. It is the Word of God. For God has even “exalted His Word above His name.” (Psa 138:2) God’s Word is His ultimate revelation and is thoroughly accurate, comprehensive and exhaustive in all its parts, even as it speaks to theology proper (the doctrine of God), doctrine, ethics, religious practice, science, geography, history (redemptive and actual), or any other topic. (Psa 12:6; 119:160; Jo 17:17) The music within our churches should seek to meet this standard above everything else. I cannot find a biblical warrant for strobe lights, smoke machines or baptized pagan music, but it is done every Sunday in the name of being "seeker friendly", nowadays. Before we tell God the kind of music we want to sing, perhaps we should determine the type of music He desires us to sing. Our Creator God has given us music-psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to use for praise and worship, the proclamation of His name and attributes, to teach and admonish one another unto holy living and to provide thanksgiving for His worth and works ( 1 Chr. 16:7-36) Genuine Christian music has as its ultimate aim the glory of God. Anything less than this will at the end bear the fruit of self-glory and is music not honoring to the Lord. “Blessed is he who sings when no one is in the auditorium”-for that checks our motives. (Psa 18:1-6; 105:3) The first song ever recorded in Scripture is in Exodus 15 as a song of deliverance written by Moses after God had delivered them out of Egypt and destroyed Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea. It describes God’s glorious deeds, His inscrutable ways, His attributes and character, His preeminence as the only true God and His eternal reign as Sovereign Lord and King. (compare, 1 Chronicles 16:8-36) Authentically Christian music was never intended for casual use or purely for entertainment. ( 1 Chr 23:5) Christian music, originally called Jesus Music, once fearlessly sang clearly about the gospel. Now it yodels of a Christ-less, watered down, pabulum-based, positive alternative, aura-fluff, cream of wheat, mush-kind-of-syrupy, God-as-my-girlfriend kind of thing. Christian music today lacks the power and authority that it once enjoyed for it has lost its identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. As Moses has said, ” The Lord is my strength and my song” (Exodus 15:2) Where did it go, dear hearts? We are to sing "a new song" to the Lord. This "new song" is a different and distinctive kind of song than its secular counterfeits. It is a song of the redeemed people of God. It is a more glorious song, a purer, truer and more beautiful song than the world can ever sing. (Psa 33:3; 96:1; 149:1; Rev. 5:9-10) I am sure you will agree and some may disagree. I invite your comments. Please “Share” these ideas if you will with your friends.
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 21:06:18 +0000
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