This past month I re-read Music Through The Eyes Of Faith by Harold Best. As an experienced musician, professor, author and leader of worship, his thoughts and convictions provide immense value. His book breaks down many accepted but false notions of “Christian music” and “secular music”, and every musician who follows Christ should read it, if only for the chapter on musical pluralism.
While entire books have been written about music in church, Best somehow manages to pack an entire book’s worth of material, brilliantly might I add, into one chapter, “Music And The Worshiping Church”. He extracts five principles from the entire Bible in regards to music making within the context of the local church.
Over the next week at worship.vintage21.com, I’ll post these principles and comment on them. If they strike you as something you’d like to know more about, I suggest actually reading Music Through The Eyes Of Faith.
Principle One: Singing is not an option; it is a commandment. “Sing to the Lord a new song” (Psalm 96:1)
As a musician and music fan, this has never been a difficult psalm for me. But I’m going to take a different approach and avoid the pluses and beauty of singing, instead focusing on the aspect of the command.
We often approach scripture or the teaching and views of a church with a sense of entitlement instead of an objective view. In actuality, we should approach scripture with an attitude of humility and trust. While many have been “burned by church”, myself included, that is not a free ticket to spend the next ten years with your arms crossed. Read the New Testament – there’s an undeniable call for followers of Christ to serve God by building His kingdom.
Therefore, while commandments are not well-received in a culture of individualism, the first reason we should sing is simply because God tells us to. Does your heart resist God’s commands? If so, there’s a good chance this is due to a wrong view of God. When has he called you to something beyond what you can bear with reliance on him? When has he acted with injustice towards you, or me, or anyone? We’re currently studying Philippians, and if anyone had a reason to hold a grudge against God, it’s Paul. God led him to be beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned and more, all doing God’s work. You’d think Paul would feel like God owed him for what he’s gone through, but instead he writes in Galatians 2:20b, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
That we would resist the command to sing is also due to a wrong view of corporate worship, and a wrong execution in churches today. Before any fingers are pointed, I’ll admit that my mind and heart are often distracted by music, the band, the congregation, and many other things, instead of being focused on Jesus Christ. I often attempt to “muster up some worship” instead of having a soft, submissive heart that overflows with praise towards God, whether on the stage or off. And the result on Sundays is often a dichotomy; joyful songs, bored singers. Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, is attributed with saying ‘It’s a sin to bore kids with the Gospel.’ In the same sense, it’s a sin to respond to God half-heartedly, with little to no effort put towards the music and melody. More on this to come later in the week.
God gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2); so would he then call us to trite singing? Would that please him; that we’d gather together to treat him like some sort of huge statue that we gather to bow down to, where only the outside action is of importance? If you believe this, read Matthew 15:1-9. It’s about the heart:
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” – Colossians 3:16 (emphasis mine)
When we resist God’s command, there is no thankfulness to what He’s done for us. Instead, we are saying “I know better than you, God.” By the way, how’s that working out for you?
People wander from God. My friend Thad pointed out last week in Psalm 23:2, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” He makes me? Why would God have to make us lie down in green pastures? Yet, we wander from goodness towards destruction. We are bent and broken, and his commandments and actions are designed to sanctify us (make us holy) while bringing glory to His name. Even if you’re not a musician or music fan, trust God with this one. Every second of your life and mine points to this.
Matt Stevens is the Worship Pastor for Vintage21 Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Contact him via Twitter: @MattStevensNC
I’m weird, so I tend to think about weird things that I’m sure no one else ever does. And, that weirdness tends to escalate into keeping me awake at night. I know, I need help.
But, last week I started thinking about the sociological question of “why do humans sing?” To me, this is really interesting, because I think there is a natural inclination to respond to things by singing – not only to God, but anything that we enjoy the experience of. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t at times sing in their car or in the shower or whatever (which could easily lead into a conversation about “shyness” – a personality trait – being potentially sinful). Some scientists have said estimated that early human language was probably more “song-like” than the mostly monotone version of “speaking” that we are used to.
I don’t know how this plays into the whole idea that we are commanded to sing. But, it seems like it’s almost like God commanding a bird to fly. We can’t not sing, so maybe there is a question to be answered of what is the primary object of our singing.