In my last post, (which I’m sorry to say was almost 3 weeks ago), I began addressing the motivation for forcing upon a congregation, a single style of music when indeed there are a variety of tastes and musical traditions represented in the church. We had already observed that using a certain style of music over another for the sake of evangelizing the culture is neither necessary nor biblical, therefore, the motivation must be something else and I suggested two alternate motivations. The first is simply selfishness, and we not only discussed that motivation but also demonstrated it with personal testimonies. It is often simply the kind of music that is preferred by those in charge and so it is thrust upon the whole congregation.
Next I mentioned a second impetus for forcing an exclusive style of music upon a congregation that we did not have time to develop. That is Idolatry. Now you might ask, “How can that be? How can we sing about God and be guilty of idolatry?” Simply stated, because in a sense, music has become the god of the contemporary Church. In some contemporary churches, often times without even realizing it, music has become supreme. People no longer worship God through music; instead they use God as an excuse to worship music. They go to church because of the music. They can't seem to live without music.
In his series, Living In The Spirit, MacArthur observes about music and the culture, “People in our society can't make it from their house to their car to get the radio on. And from their car back to their house to get the stereo on. The music plays at work, the music plays at the factory, it plays at the shop, it plays at the half time of the football game, music plays constantly.” Now I want you to pay close attention to this next statement because it is very telling. “People don't want to face life without the music because the music plants the thoughts in their minds, the words in their minds to keep them from thinking about the stuff that matters”
The same has become true of the modern church. Many in today’s version of the Church reject the preaching of the Word and the teaching of doctrine. Instead they want their ears to be tickled with a short story about felt needs or to be distracted by jokes and entertainment, and to spend the rest of their time in church repeatedly chanting the lyrics to a melody that teaches them nothing but simply makes them feel good.
In many churches the keyboard has replaced the pulpit. The pulpit represents the proclamation of truth, the preaching of the Word of God, which is to be the focus of the New Testament Church. We are told to sing 8 times in the New Testament. Preaching is prescribed 81 times. Here are just a few.
(Acts 10:42 NIV) He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
(1 Cor 1:17 NIV) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
(1 Cor 9:16 NIV) Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
(1 Cor 9:17 NIV) If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.
(2 Tim 4:2 NIV) Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
(Acts 18:5 NIV) When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
(Rom 10:14 NIV) How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
(1 Tim 4:13 NIV) Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
(1 Tim 5:17 NIV) The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
(Titus 1:3 NIV) and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
(1 Cor 1:18 KJV) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
(1 Cor 1:21 KJV) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
The apostles were never commanded to nor did they ever go from town to town, house to house, country to country singing the gospel. They went about preaching. Over and over again, we are commanded to preach. Timothy a young pastor is commanded to preach. Preaching is to be the central activity of the Church service. Yet in many churches today, preaching has been or is being replaced by other things, most notably music.
It is interesting that in recent years, music has come to be identified as the “worship” portion of the service. Let me remind you that in scripture, music is not only never defined as worship, the words “music”, and “worship” are never even used in the same verse. Certainly music contributes to worship, but the contemporary church as placed music in a position of reverence that it is never given in the Word of God.
One of the mistakes that the modern church has made and one that I believe the evil one has instigated, is that music and worship have become mutually exclusive, directed toward different ends. There are two parts to a “worship service.” (Certainly there are other elements, Bible reading, prayer, etc., but they lead to these two ends.) The first is giving praise and honor to God. “Worship” means literally to recognize and acknowledge the worthiness, the “worth-ship” if you will, of God and in doing so to honor and glorify him. The second aspect of a worship service is to equip the body of Christ to do the work of ministry. Ephesians 4:11-13 “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Regrettably what the modern church has done has been to designate the preaching and the music, each to accomplish one of those tasks but not the other. Preaching is to equip, (And in many contemporary churches that’s not even true anymore, as preaching as come to be more about feeling than communicating truth.), and music is for worship. But this is not an accurate picture of what a biblical church service is to be. Both the music and the preaching are to involve worship and equipping.
The Bible never calls a music director the “Worship Leader”. Technically, the pastor is the worship leader, and biblically, the preaching of the Word, lends more to genuine cooperate worship than music. Martin Luther said, "To be sure, it is true that the foremost and highest worship of God is preaching and hearing God's Word…” Informing our understanding of God's decrees and doctrine brings us into His presence and enables us to worships rightly and biblically. The dearth of teaching is one of the reasons the church is involved in so many unacceptable and unbiblical forms of worship in the first place. If we are not taught correctly we can not worship correctly.
There are several reasons beyond the music why I object to hymns being removed from the Church, and one of them is that hymns, good hymns, teach doctrine. Many of the great old hymns were written not by musicians but by theologians and they contain and communicate biblical truth. Remember what we said earlier about the ability of song to communicate powerful musically driven messages? That is true with regard to hymns as well. What preacher has not used the lyrics to a hymn to drive home a theological point and the reason he does, is because the congregation, (if they’ve been taught hymns), will immediately recall the words, the melody and the truth. I fear that this generation of Christians is going to lose completely that powerful medium of proclamation, because of the influx of contemporary music in the church. Not to mention they are going to lose touch with the wonderful heritage we have as Christians.
Next I mentioned a second impetus for forcing an exclusive style of music upon a congregation that we did not have time to develop. That is Idolatry. Now you might ask, “How can that be? How can we sing about God and be guilty of idolatry?” Simply stated, because in a sense, music has become the god of the contemporary Church. In some contemporary churches, often times without even realizing it, music has become supreme. People no longer worship God through music; instead they use God as an excuse to worship music. They go to church because of the music. They can't seem to live without music.
In his series, Living In The Spirit, MacArthur observes about music and the culture, “People in our society can't make it from their house to their car to get the radio on. And from their car back to their house to get the stereo on. The music plays at work, the music plays at the factory, it plays at the shop, it plays at the half time of the football game, music plays constantly.” Now I want you to pay close attention to this next statement because it is very telling. “People don't want to face life without the music because the music plants the thoughts in their minds, the words in their minds to keep them from thinking about the stuff that matters”
The same has become true of the modern church. Many in today’s version of the Church reject the preaching of the Word and the teaching of doctrine. Instead they want their ears to be tickled with a short story about felt needs or to be distracted by jokes and entertainment, and to spend the rest of their time in church repeatedly chanting the lyrics to a melody that teaches them nothing but simply makes them feel good.
In many churches the keyboard has replaced the pulpit. The pulpit represents the proclamation of truth, the preaching of the Word of God, which is to be the focus of the New Testament Church. We are told to sing 8 times in the New Testament. Preaching is prescribed 81 times. Here are just a few.
(Acts 10:42 NIV) He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
(1 Cor 1:17 NIV) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
(1 Cor 9:16 NIV) Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
(1 Cor 9:17 NIV) If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.
(2 Tim 4:2 NIV) Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
(Acts 18:5 NIV) When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
(Rom 10:14 NIV) How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
(1 Tim 4:13 NIV) Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
(1 Tim 5:17 NIV) The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
(Titus 1:3 NIV) and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
(1 Cor 1:18 KJV) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
(1 Cor 1:21 KJV) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
The apostles were never commanded to nor did they ever go from town to town, house to house, country to country singing the gospel. They went about preaching. Over and over again, we are commanded to preach. Timothy a young pastor is commanded to preach. Preaching is to be the central activity of the Church service. Yet in many churches today, preaching has been or is being replaced by other things, most notably music.
It is interesting that in recent years, music has come to be identified as the “worship” portion of the service. Let me remind you that in scripture, music is not only never defined as worship, the words “music”, and “worship” are never even used in the same verse. Certainly music contributes to worship, but the contemporary church as placed music in a position of reverence that it is never given in the Word of God.
One of the mistakes that the modern church has made and one that I believe the evil one has instigated, is that music and worship have become mutually exclusive, directed toward different ends. There are two parts to a “worship service.” (Certainly there are other elements, Bible reading, prayer, etc., but they lead to these two ends.) The first is giving praise and honor to God. “Worship” means literally to recognize and acknowledge the worthiness, the “worth-ship” if you will, of God and in doing so to honor and glorify him. The second aspect of a worship service is to equip the body of Christ to do the work of ministry. Ephesians 4:11-13 “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Regrettably what the modern church has done has been to designate the preaching and the music, each to accomplish one of those tasks but not the other. Preaching is to equip, (And in many contemporary churches that’s not even true anymore, as preaching as come to be more about feeling than communicating truth.), and music is for worship. But this is not an accurate picture of what a biblical church service is to be. Both the music and the preaching are to involve worship and equipping.
The Bible never calls a music director the “Worship Leader”. Technically, the pastor is the worship leader, and biblically, the preaching of the Word, lends more to genuine cooperate worship than music. Martin Luther said, "To be sure, it is true that the foremost and highest worship of God is preaching and hearing God's Word…” Informing our understanding of God's decrees and doctrine brings us into His presence and enables us to worships rightly and biblically. The dearth of teaching is one of the reasons the church is involved in so many unacceptable and unbiblical forms of worship in the first place. If we are not taught correctly we can not worship correctly.
There are several reasons beyond the music why I object to hymns being removed from the Church, and one of them is that hymns, good hymns, teach doctrine. Many of the great old hymns were written not by musicians but by theologians and they contain and communicate biblical truth. Remember what we said earlier about the ability of song to communicate powerful musically driven messages? That is true with regard to hymns as well. What preacher has not used the lyrics to a hymn to drive home a theological point and the reason he does, is because the congregation, (if they’ve been taught hymns), will immediately recall the words, the melody and the truth. I fear that this generation of Christians is going to lose completely that powerful medium of proclamation, because of the influx of contemporary music in the church. Not to mention they are going to lose touch with the wonderful heritage we have as Christians.
Most believers are taught nothing of Church history and know little about Christianity other than what exists in the world today, and many don’t know what’s going on in Christendom beyond their immediate circle. Who was Martin Luther? Not only was he the father of Protestantism, He wrote some of the great hymns of the faith and he restored congregational singing to church after the Catholic Church had removed it for 1200 years. (He also played the guitar.) Who were John Wesley and Charles Wesley? John Wesley was the founder of Methodism, a prolific preacher and theologian, and his brother Charles wrote hundreds of hymns that are not only beautiful compositions but also teach powerful biblical truths. Look at the words of just one of Wesley’s hymns and name a contemporary song that even approaches the majesty and might of this theological masterpiece.
1.And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood! Died he for me? who caused his pain! For me? who him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
2.'Tis mystery all: th' Immortal dies! Who can explore his strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine. 'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; let angel minds inquire no more. 'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; let angel minds inquire no more.
3.He left his Father's throne above (so free, so infinite his grace!), emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race. 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me! 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me!
4.Long my imprisoned sprit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night; thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
5.No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in him, is mine; alive in him, my living Head,and clothed in righteousness divine, bold I approach th' eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own. Bold I approach th' eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own.
So here’s another problem I have with the contemporary only philosophy that has taken over many churches. It is the dumbing down of the Church. Not only will many contemporary Christians never know who Charles Wesley was, but will never be exposed to the powerful, godly, music that flowed from his pen and blessed the Church for generations. Both music and preaching should teach us the great truths of scripture, and bring us into the presence of God that we may worship.
