MUSIC IN WORSHIP? The Bible speaks about music as a part of worship. It is God who has given us the ability to perform and enjoy music. It is God who wants us to enjoy, play, and sing music for his sake. One of the problems we have when we start talking about music is that we all have personal preferences. Five different movements in church music. • The New England School – Mostly European, classical in nature and stressed quality and excellence. • The African-American Spiritual, which are folk songs coming from oral tradition. • Southern Gospel – the white counter part to African American. • Romantic Gospel Music – Most of the hymns we sing come from this genre and include the music of Fanny Crosby, George Beverly Shea, etc. • And finally there is Contemporary (current) Christian Music. Christian Music is big business, the #5 top selling type of music. It is a $1 billion a year business. And major secular companies have bought up the Christian recording companies. Some thoughts: • The primary purpose for using music is for worship, not for entertainment. • Different types of music should help us experience different aspects of worship. • People have different preferences on the type of music they like. • You are a part of a family, the family of God. Not everyone has the same taste in music. • I personally love hymns, but also enjoy some of the more conservative praise music. • I repeat the primary purpose for using music is for worship, not for entertainment. I want us to consider what God has to say about music in worship. After all, when all is said and done it is God who needs to be pleased by our music. I. MUSIC AND THE WORD Colossians 3:16 - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. word of Christ. The “word of Christ”—at least for us today—can only be the Holy Scriptures, so this is an exhortation to memorize Scripture. See also Psalm 119:11. Note that Christ and the apostles frequently quoted from memory appropriate Scriptures, sometimes lengthy passages, in their discourses and sermons. This is the only occurrence of the phrase “word of Christ.” admonishing one another. This exhortation is not referring to public worship, but to daily conversation and even to solitary activity—“talking to yourselves” and “making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). psalms. “Psalms” clearly refers specifically to the psalms in the Old Testament, which were commonly sung both by the pre-Christian Jews and by the early church, as well as in many churches ever since. Note also Ephesians 5:19. hymns. “Hymns” is descriptive of songs similar in content and motivation to the psalms, but not taken from the divinely inspired psalms of the Old Testament. spiritual songs. “Spiritual songs” refers to songs with a Biblical theme but with a more popular style tune than the others. The Greek for “song” is ode, which is a generic term for any kind of song. The adjective “spiritual,” however, delimits it to songs with Christian content. The Word of Christ here refers to the Scriptures. The Word and worship are connected. It is the Word of God that will lead you to the worship of God. “dwell” means ‘to live in’ or ‘to be at home’. And the word “richly” means “abundantly”. So, for effective worship, God’s Word needs to be at home in my heart! Often, we sing but there is no music in our hearts. That is because the Word of God is not dwelling there. The Word of God will dwell richly in my heart, when I love the Word enough to read it and try to digest it by reflecting on it. Jeremiah 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. Psalms 119:15 I will meditate in thy precepts… I will not forget thy word. So what happens when the Word of Christ dwells in me richly? I will be able to share with others through teaching and admonishing. I will, however, be able to share what God’s Word says with someone else and gently warn them, if need be. So often, we can’t help other Christians, because the Word of Christ is not dwelling in us. Now look at what it says next, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. If I am filled with the Word of God, I will sing to God. There will be “psalms, and hymns, and Spiritual Songs.” There is also to be grace or thankfulness when I sing. The more I am filled with the Word of God, the more gratitude I will show to God. So, for there to be music in your heart and thus true worship, the Word of God must dwell in you. II. MUSIC AND THE SPIRIT Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; When a person is “drunk with wine”, he is controlled by wine. Many of you have met people who were very nice people, when they were sober. When they were not sober, they were very different people, and often nasty. In contrast, Paul tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God. To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by the Spirit. When a person is controlled by the Spirit, he is controlled by God. And when a person is controlled by God, his behavior will be Godly. Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. When you are controlled by the Spirit, look at what happens. There are psalms, hymns, and Spiritual Songs and there is a thankful heart! That’s exactly what it says will happen when we are filled with the Word as we saw in Colossians 1:16. So, there is a connection between being filled with the Spirit and being filled with the Word. Music is to be a result of God’s control in my life. The Spirit of God using the Word of God to control me. When believers gather, the worship in music should be the result of people filled with the Word and filled with the Spirit expressing their gratitude to God. To be filled with the Spirit, we must confess all known sin, yield to the teachings of God’s Word and ask God to have control over us by His Spirit. If you read, memorize and meditate during the week… If you are attentive to the Word of God when you hear it preached… If you strive to obey the teachings of God’s Word… If you seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily… Then you will be ready to worship at church with Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs. III. MUSIC AND THE VOICE You may say, “I don’t have a good singing voice.” You may say, “I’m no singer”. You may say, “I can’t carry a tune in a bucket”. But God tells us to sing anyway. Who better to sing the praises of God and to God than they who have been washed in the blood of the lamb? Psalm 30:4 - Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Sing to God because He is holy. Psalm 47:6-7 - Sing praises to God, … For God is the King of all the earth: Sing to God because He is king. Psalm 71:23 - My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. I should sing to the Lord because He has redeemed me. Psalm 100:1-2 - Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. [2] Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Singing should be a habit in your life, not just a Sunday morning thing. IV. MUSIC AND THE BAND Psalms 150:3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. What instruments should be used in a worship service is largely a matter of personal taste. There are those who have no instruments in there worship services. There are others who stick with piano/and/or organ. There are others who would add flutes, violins, trumpets and other traditional classical instruments. And today there are many others going the route of drums, keyboards, and all sorts of guitars. What I see in Psalm 150 is that God is open to the use of all sorts of instruments to praise Him. I think the key to discerning how instruments should be used and what type of music should be sung is summed up in a few verses. Psalm 150:6 - Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. The purpose of music in church is to praise the Lord. If the music is played and sung by people because they are truly praising the Lord and not trying to bring glory to themselves, then that is good. 1 Peter 1:15-16 - But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; [16] Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. God is a holy God. The music that is performed for him is to be totally set apart for him, and not be an imitation of an unsaved world. Colossians 3:17 - And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Whatever I do in worship, whatever type of music I play in worship should be done in the name of Jesus. If Jesus wouldn’t approve, then I shouldn’t do it. Colossians 3:23 -And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; The style of our worship should be to the glory of God. I. MUSIC AND THE WORD II. MUSIC AND THE SPIRIT III. MUSIC AND THE VOICE IV. MUSIC AND THE BAND
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 23:30:55 +0000