WORSHIP SERIES
Colossians
#5 - WORSHIP IN MUSIC
I’m not sure if
I’m brave or stupid. Speaking on music in the church is one way to get people
angry in a hurry! However, the Bible speaks about music as a part of worship,
and I feel we need to cover it. 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. It is very easy for us
older people to shun the music styles of the young, and it is very easy for you
younger people to shun the music of us who are older.
According to Don Wyrtzen there have been five different movements in church
music.
·
The
·
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, and John W. Peterson.
·
And finally there is
Contemporary Christian Music. The choruses we sing fall into this category.
Christian Music is
big business. Again, according to Don Wyrtzen,
Christian Music is 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. Information from Don Wyrtzen came from a
seminar on Worship that he gave in Jonestown PA at the Jonestown Bible Church
on October 11, 2003.
Most of us like
music. And being human, when we come to
church, we like to hear the type music that we like. But let me give you 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.
·
A type of music that helps you
worship may not be as helpful to someone else.
A type of music that helps someone else worship may not be as helpful to
you.
·
You are a part of a family, the
family of God. In this family we should
be considerate of the needs of others in their worship experience.
·
You may only like hymns, but
worship choruses add something to the service.
·
You may only like worship
choruses, but hymns add something to the service.
·
I repeat the primary purpose for
using music is for worship, not for entertainment.
I want us to
considerate 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.
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.
The Word of Christ
here refers to the Scriptures.
Here is an
important truth. The Word and worship
are connected. It is the Word of God
that will lead you to the worship of God.
According to John
MacArthur, the word “dwell” means ‘to live in’ or ‘to be at home’. John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary,
Colossians and Philemon, (Moody Press, Chicago, 1992), p. 159
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.
How will the Word
God dwell richly in my heart?
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
And the Word of
God will dwell richly in my heart when I love the Word enough to hear it
preached and taught to me, and to digest it, and follow it. Preaching of God’s Word
is to be profitable.
2 Timothy 4:2
And the Word of
God will dwell richly in my heart when I memorize and meditate upon
Scripture.
Psalm 119:15-16
So what happens
when the Word of Christ dwells in me richly? I will be able to share with
others through teaching and admonishing.
That doesn’t mean I have to preach a sermon or teach a Sunday School class. I will,
however, be able to share what God’s Word says with someone else and gently
warm 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.
MUSIC AND THE
SPIRIT
Ephesians
5:18-20 - And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the
Spirit; [19] Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; [20] Giving 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 5:22-23
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. The more I am filled with the Word of God,
doing as the Word tells me, the more I will be filled with the Spirit of
God. The more I am filled with the
Spirit of God, the more I will desire and allow the Word of God to control me.
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.
The results are
Psalms, hymns and Spiritual songs.
Psalms of course
is the Book of Psalms.
And some of the
songs we sing come right out of the Psalms.
Hymns are directed
directly to God ascribing to Him glory and praise.
Spiritual Songs
talk about our own personal experiences with God, and is our witness for God.
Today’s choruses would fall into this category.
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.
We already told
you how to be filled with the Word through reading, listening to, memorizing
and meditating upon the Word of 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.
Music is the
result.
If worship with
music is the result of the control of the Word of God and the Spirit of God,
you should be preparing for public worship with your brothers and sisters in
Christ, by practicing private worship during the week.
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 on Sunday Morning with Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs.
If you come filled
with the Spirit and ready to worship on Sunday, even though you prefer hymns,
you will be able to worship when we sing choruses.
If you come filled
with the Spirit and the Word and ready to worship on Sunday, even though you
prefer choruses, you will be able to worship when we sing hymns.
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 too God then 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, sing
praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. [7] For God is the King of
all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
Sing to God
because He is king.
Psalm 66:1-2 - Make a joyful noise unto God,
all ye lands: [2] Sing forth the honour
of his name: make his praise glorious.
From the depths of
my heart I am to make God’s praise glorious.
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 98:1 - O sing unto the Lord a new song;
for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand,
and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
What marvelous
things has God done for you! Sing from
the depths of your heart!
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.
MUSIC AND THE
BAND
Psalm 150:3-6 - 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
Whatever the style
of worship, it should be done to the glory of God.