Doxology

I was raised in an Assemblies of God church.  I have much to be thankful to the A/G for the investment made in this man’s life.

However, at NO point in my experience in a pentecostal/charismatic church would I affirm this sort of thing….

I have nothing personal against any of the folks in this video.  I am not their judge.  Only God can know the heart.  I pray that these ministers truly have experienced the new birth and are looking to Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

However, I have to wonder if this is what happens when you worship in “spirit” and NOT in truth (if that is even possible).  OK–I’m done.

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Last Sunday night, our Senior Associate Pastor here at Grace Life Church of the Shoals, Matt Fowler, preached a wonderful sermon from Romans chapter 14.  He preaches every Wednesday evening and has been in a series on this portion and he culminated that series by taking us through a process by which we can be assured of biblical fidelity before taking a particular action or making a decision.

I thought it would be great to share that process with you here and talk a bit about how it applies to church music.  He gave this process in five progressive questions.  They are as follows:

1.         Does it violate clear Biblical teaching? What is meant by a clear Biblical teaching would be something like the Ten Commandments, or Romans 13:1’s clear warning to submit to all governmental authorities or Heb. 13’s command to submit to church leadership.  This category speaks to very specific commands that apply to everyone.

In regards to church music, does a particular song or action go against objective truth?  Would my action go against my pastor’s clear instruction?

2.         Does it violate a broad Biblical principle? This speaks to principles from which specific commands spring forth.  Romans 13:14 says to “make no provision for the flesh”.  Philippians 1:27 says to “conduct ourselves worthy of the gospel”.  Romans 12:2 says to “not be conformed to this world but to be transformed”.

I may not be violating a clear command in making a decision but I could very well be going against an obvious Biblical principle.  I could be choosing a song or introducing a music style that agrees with scripture but be doing so with a very sinful motive.

3. Does it violate my conscience? Once  I have researched God’s word and can safely determine that the first two questions are not preventing my taking action, am I then going against what my conscience is telling me?  Notice that conscience does not take first place in this process.  God’s Word does.  Our hearts can easily deceive us and we must always be about educating our consciences in light of God’s word.

However, I can indeed be in line with scripture on clear teaching but yet at odds with my own subjective values (where Scripture gives silent freedom).  Music styles most certainly enters this discussion prominently at this point.  If your pastor asks you to lead music that generates sinful thoughts in your heart, you need to express that to him.  But you must be careful to speak in conscience terms and not authoritatively!  There is a difference.  Romans 14: 5 says that each is to be “fully convinced in his own mind” and verse 16 says “whatever is not from faith is sin”.

4. Does it cause a brother to stumble? I think it safe to say that not too many times does question 3 come up in regards to actions that you as a Music Minister may take.  However, this question is almost always at the forefront (or it should be!) of our minds.  I may have complete freedom after the first three questions are answered but if I don’t consider others and their consciences, then I am still falling short of the gospel.

This is a crucial area that a pastor and elders must consider when adding a new music style or instrument.  Remember that conscience is not the final authority.  However, when making a change would cause a large section of your congregation to stumble (by responding sinfully in anger, by attacking leadership, by engaging in sensual thoughts) it might be best to hold off until some good teaching on the subject is done.

God may be most honored in your holding off on acting on something that you have full freedom to do by preferring others over yourself (Phil. 2:3).  In regards to your role as Music Minister, I don’t want to suggest that the entire church be stymied by the weak conscience of one person.  However, serving the church body must be an important consideration when making decisions.

5.         Can I proceed with a God-centered mindset? You have made it through the first four questions and still conclude that a particular action may be taken!  But can you still act to the glory of God?  Will this particular action teach and admonish the church?  Will making this change be done with a loving motive?  Will it draw you and your church closer to the image of Christ?  Will I flaunt this change in the face of any who might oppose it (even if you are scripturally “in the right”)?

One great danger with this series of questions is that you will make it about “do’s” and “don’ts”….Please keep in mind that our actions and directions must spring forth from our treasuring the Lord Jesus Christ and His redemptive work.  It’s not about liberty or legalism.  It is about the Person of our Savior.

Bro. Matt included some other important things to consider:

*Don’t hold those with weak consciences in contempt.  Be gentle and mature in dealing with brothers who need their consciences educated by God’s Word.  That’s called pastoring.

*Don’t be a stumbling-block.  Our job as pastors is to feed the flock—not get in their way.

*Don’t look with arrogance and offense at those who have a stronger conscience.  Rejoice in their freedoms!

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I was reading another blog when I came across this statement:

How do you know if you’re promoting Jesus as concept environment rather than Jesus as a personal hero environment?  [One way is that] most of your musical offerings are songs sung about Jesus, not to Him.

One might assume that by the way this was presented, the writer is saying that primarily singing about Jesus is not a good thing and primarily singing to Jesus is a good thing.  However, there is not enough information in the blog entry to absolutely say for certain.  I do believe that the writer would actually agree with what I will say later in this entry–in other words, I think we may be saying the same thing (?).  But the statement did get me to thinking….

First of all, I totally agree with the teaching that Jesus is not just a “concept”.  He is not like Buddha or Confucius in that it’s more about the information that Jesus gave than it is about His Person.  No, it is how you are related to Christ that is the central issue.  However, I don’t really think that the antithesis to Jesus as a concept is Jesus as a hero.  I’m not even sure what that means….If it is meant to say that Jesus as hero=Jesus as Redeemer and Lord then I say a hearty “amen”.  But that is not the primary subject of this entry.

What struck me is this negative framing of singing “about” Jesus.  How does one differentiate between that and singing “to” Jesus in the scriptures?  Can we “teach and admonish one another” by primarily singing “to” Jesus?  How much singing “about” Jesus and singing “to” Jesus should our song services include?

We certainly see both in our primary guide songbook—the Psalms.  Reference to God is given in the second person (“You”) and in the third person (“The Lord”, “He”, etc).  Here are a few examples:

To God:

O LORD my God, in You I have taken refuge;

Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me Ps 7:1

Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,

For my soul takes refuge in You Ps 57:1

About God:

Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you;

He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.  Ps 55:22

I love the LORD, because He hears

My voice and my supplications.

Because He has inclined His ear to me,

Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. Ps 116:1-2

And here is one that actually does both right beside each other (!):

Willingly I will sacrifice to You;

I will give thanks to Your name, O LORD, for it is good.

For He has delivered me from all trouble,

And my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies.  Ps 54:6-7

I could give many more examples like all of these.  Now here are a few things to think about regarding this matter:

Equilibrium. Please use balance!  The scriptures include both (not just in the Psalms but throughout canon) and therefore our songs should also.  There are dangers with either type of song.  Leaning too heavily in “about”-land might teach your congregation that God is more distant that He tells us He is.  Living too much in “to-land might give your congregation more subjective experiences with the lyrics that they sing.

Extra-biblical. To say that we should primarily sing one or the other (“to” God or “about” God) may be a biblical stretch.  (I may actually be agreeing with the source of my original quote in saying this.)  To say that one or the other (about/to) is wrong, makes a stand where God does not and establishes that the Psalmist is in error.

Evaluate. Take a look at the song you are leading in your church’s repertoire.  Are they primarily only “about” God or only “to” God?  Are the majority of them based on subjective descriptions of how one feels?  Are they mostly declarative statements that wouldn’t conjure and stir affections?  (BTW, declarative statements CAN conjure and stir affections and descriptions of how one feels CAN be based on objective truths.)

God wants us to “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly” and to “teach and admonish one another” (Col. 3:16).  That is the guiding principle in selecting songs to sing.  I believe that includes both teaching one another objective truths about God and expressing affectionate statements to God.

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This is a very difficult entry to write.  I’m dealing with such a nebulous subject it makes it difficult to quantify.  I also write it at the risk of creating more questions than answers.  I also may be contributing to endless introspection.  Hopefully, in dealing somewhat with the subject, it will at least help all of us to think about it a bit and consider some dangers involved.

Here’s one scenario:

Tony comes to the church service.  The pre-service music ends and the Music Minister begins to lead the congregation in singing.  As the set builds to a passionate ballad that thunders the redemptive work of Christ, Tony begins to see in his mind a Caucasian, toga-wearing, blue-eyed “Jesus” walking the roads of Israel healing the sick, teaching about God.  He then sees this same “Jesus” hanging on a cross looking directly at him.  He then sees in his mind’s eye this “Jesus” mouthing “I love you” and is filled with great joy and a fresh sense of assurance of his salvation.

To be totally honest, I can tell you that I have participated in something like this all-too often.  I’m guessing that you have too.  Is there anything wrong with this?  In fact, has the picture of  “Jesus” that I included in this post just above become our idol?

The scriptures are careful. They never give us a physical description of the pre-resurrection Jesus.  God knows that we are prone to idolatry and might begin worshiping the image of Jesus rather than the Person of Jesus.  However, the scriptures do give us a bit more information about the post-resurrection Christ and very specific details of what Jesus looked like post-ascension.

The scriptures are sufficient. If God wanted us to have a Caucasian, toga-wearing, blue-eyed “Jesus” in our minds during worship, then we would have been given that description in God’s word and we would have been instructed and encouraged to have such thoughts.  Based upon the word of God, if you want to have a mental image of Jesus, use the one given in Revelation:

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.  His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.  Rev 1:12-16  NASU

I never cease to be amazed at how specific John’s description is and how little of a description he gives us in his gospel account (as neither do Matthew, Mark, or Luke).

If you find yourself bristling at this instruction, it may mean that you’ve depended on the “Americanized” version to stir your affections a bit too much.

The scriptures are for us. It’s not that God wants to rob us of having this idea of a Jesus that looks more like us than like a typical middle-eastern man.  Keep in mind that God’s word doesn’t give us that description either.  God is teaching us that having the mental image of a Caucasian Jesus or a Jewish Jesus or any other idea of Jesus is a view too low.  He asks us to rise above that mindset and meditate instead on His teaching, His actions, and His finished work!  As we do that, we will find a much deeper fulfillment in worship.  We will find more of  life-changing behavior as we engage within the loving parameters of scriptural instruction.

So what to do the next time you’re in a song service?  Repent out of “vain imaginations” (2 Cor. 10:5) and discipline yourself to a higher experience of glorying in the true knowledge of Jesus’ work of redemption.  You don’t have to have a picture in your mind of the examples given to engage in true worship.  Paul tells us (as I once again quote this verse—what a practical one it is!):

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  Col 3:16-17 NASU (Bold mine)

As I get to the end of this entry, I realize that I could write much more about this.  I might just do that in my next entry.  I pray that this entry has caused you to consider things that you have never before considered.  I may have also thrown a “monkey wrench” in your experience for a season.  Don’t let it discourage you.  Press on into a better way—God’s way!

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Forgive my sharing with you more from the great book on Jonathan Edwards by George Marsden in back-to-back entries.  I just believe this to be a great portion to share with you.  With the obvious abuses of music that we see in the contemporary church, it is easy to over-react and treat singing as if it is a crime.  God forbid!

“Jonathan and Sarah both loved to sing, and Jonathan wrote that music pointed especially well toward the coming perfections of a universe of harmonious relationships.  Music, he believed, was the highest way of communicating among persons.  ‘The best, most beautiful, and most perfect way that we have of expressing a sweet concord of mind to each other, is by music.  When I would form in my mind an idea of a society in the highest degree happy, I think of them as expressing their love, their joy, and the inward concord and harmony and spiritual beauty of their souls by sweetly singing to each other.’  Yet their delights in earthly harmonies were only dim anticipations of the heavenly communication of spiritually fulfilled persons.  ‘Then perhaps we shall be able fully and easily to apprehend the beauty, where respect is to be had to thousands of different ratios at once to make up the harmony.  Such kind of beauties, when fully perceived, are far the sweetest.’”

–from “Jonathan Edwards:  A Life” by George M. Marsden

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I’m currently reading a biography on Jonathan Edwards by George Marsden.  I came across an interesting passage the other day that I thought worth sharing here.  Before I share it, let me say again how frustrated I am at those who impose extra-biblical limitations on the use of music in the church.  It’s not about what’s “right and wrong” but about what’s “true and false” and what is appropriate.   (OK–I’m off my soapbox!)

Among the most noticeable changes marking the sometimes subtle transformation from Puritanism to Calvinistic evangelicalism …was the reform of singing in worship.  New England congregational singing had become chaotic and dissonant.  17th century Puritans had strictly followed the anti-Anglican principle that nothing should be part of public worship except what was commanded in Scripture. [Regulative Priniciple]  Like others of the Reformed, they would sing only literally translated biblical psalms.  Although many Puritans owned musical instruments, they would not think of using them in the meetinghouse.  As though to underscore the point that music was incidental to words, they published the metric psalms without musical notes.  Congregations sang to any one of a number of familiar psalm tunes.  A precentor, or leading singer, would ‘set the tune’ by singing at least the first line, and the congregation would then join in.  Over the years the collective memory of the tunes…devolved.  By the early 18th century the near chaos seemed appalling to those attuned to refined musical standards of the day.

The town’s clergy took the lead in calling for an end to the pandemonium of psalm singing at meeting.  By 1722 new singing was introduced into Sunday worship.  Soon the reform turned into the ‘singing controversy’.  Throughout the 1720′s New Englanders hotly debated the subject, and in many outlying areas the debate continued decades later.  Clergy…publish[ed] numerous defenses of the superiority of ‘regular’ singing and providing instruction on singing by note and in [gasp!] three-part harmony.  [The defenders of this reform argued that] rational harmonies pointed to God’s beauty and were ultimately designed to move the affections….By the time Jonathan visited [Northhampton] in 1731 he was already an enthusiast for the beauties of regular singing.

As we say in the south:  ”How ’bout them apples?!”  My musical legalists would have been considered liberal in defending their “conservative” music which, in turn, would have been considered “carnal” by the old-guard Puritans!  Legalism is a dead-end street.  Anytime, you try to declare one particular form of music as the only “biblical form”, you begin barking up the wrong tree.

These reformers understood that music must serve the Church (instead of the Church serving music) by exalting gospel-rich lyrics without distraction.  It was painfully obvious that the established forms of singing had become a distraction.  That’s always a good sign that change may be necessary.

On the flip-side, when changes are made, those making the changes should do so gradually, lovingly, and carefully, always striving to be considerate of those who are hesitant to those changes.

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.  Gal. 5:6

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As promised, today I am sharing with you audio from a question and answer session that I did at our 2009 True Church Conference dealing with church music.  I was so honored that Dr. Voddie Baucham agreed to sit in with me.   I always like to include a Senior Pastor in a Q & A session simply because the elders and Senior Pastor of a church are really the worship leader–not the Music Minister.  Hope you enjoy!

Music Q & A 1

Music Q & A 2

Music Q & A 3

(I did have at least one error in one of my answers:  I made reference to 1 Cor. 12 when I meant to say 1 Cor. 14!  Please forgive my error!)

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As promised, here is the second part of my interview with Dr. Voddie Baucham.  In today’s portion, we will get to see more of a personal glimpse into Voddie’s life.  Hope you enjoy.  (Again, let me remind you that I will follow this up with portions of a Q & A session that Dr. Baucham and I did in regards to church music.)

Share some tips to folks on getting started with family worship and singing and what does your family worship time look like.

Keep it simple.  Read together, sing together, pray together, memorize together.  Don’t try to make it elaborate; if you do, you’ll run out of steam quickly.  Also, don’t try to make it ‘fun’.  I know that sounds counter intuitive, but if we work toward entertaining our children we 1) always have to outdo ourselves, 2) make them the focus instead of God, and 3) contribute to the consumeristic mentality with which we all struggle.  Family worship is about honoring God in our home; not appeasing our children.  It is a discipline.  Teach them to find the joy in God; in his word; in the songs of the faith.  And remember, we’re not talking about an hour each night, but a few minutes.  Start with a short five minute devotional each evening and go from there.  You don’t have to get there all at once.

How do you introduce new music to your congregation?

Through our hymn-of-the-month program.  We try to plan six months in advance (based on where our preaching is going, what themes we’ve covered in our singing, and the types of songs we’ve learned, etc.).  Then we introduce them to our men in our monthly men’s meeting.  This takes care of 3/4 of the teaching (since the Sopranos are singing the melody).  Then we take time on the first Sunday of the month (about 10 minutes) to go over it and bring the Altos up to speed, and we’re off!  We spend time teaching the theology and biblical concepts behind the song as well.

What does one of your services look like?

We open by praying through our prayer gram which goes out each week.

Next we have a responsive reading in the form of our catechism (3-5 questions read by one of our young people with the congregation responding with the answer)

This is followed by an opening song.

Then Old Testament reading (usually a whole chapter unless it’s ridiculously long)

That is followed by two songs

Then New Testament reading (again, usually an entire chapter)

At that point we have our sermon (usually 50-60 minutes)

The sermon is followed by a family prayer and response time where heads of households gather their families together in different parts of the building to 1) reflect on the message, and 2) prepare to take the Lord’s Supper.

Then we take the Lord’s Supper

Finally we adjourn to our fellowship meal

Of course, in our setting every phase of this includes every member of the family as we do not engage in any form of segregation by age.

On a personal level, to what music do you listen?

When I’m studying you’ll likely find me listening to Bach (preferably his unaccompanied cello suites) or the Three Tenors.  At other times I go from Sovereign Grace to the Getty’s to Donnie McClurken or Dave Koz.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

I grew up on Motown (Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, Smokie Robinson, etc.).  I came of age listening to artists like Prince, Michael Jackson, etc.  However, I have always had an ear for Jazz (from Coltrane, Monk, and Miles Davis to Kenny G), and classical music.  My early Christian influences (I came to faith in College) were varied as well (from traditional black gospel to CCM).

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