I believe that the number one point of friction in the church today is in regard to worship styles – particularly, the accompanying instruments. I enjoy all types of instruments within the worship setting: organ, harpsichord, piano, synthesizer, string guitar, drums, rock or rhythm guitar, and the list goes on…
To me, the actual music is a neutral thing. It doesn’t matter if Luther took an old bar song and made a Christian hymn out of it – The words are what drive the matter. It doesn’t matter if Audio Adrenaline or Kutless is wailing on their instruments – if their heart is pure before God and they grasp the theology (you know, the study of God) of what they’re singing.
I personally don’t think that the style of worship should be getting as much discussion as the content of the worship.
Years ago, the church theologians wrote the words that were put to music and sung. Pick up a hymnal sometime and just read the text…what wonderful words! Those songs may need to be updated for today’s vernacular, but come on…it’s time to at least include the content-rich hymns which have stood the test of time – not because of a catchy tune, but because of the truth of the words.
Theological soundness in our music. That’s what is missing in our churches today. It’s what’s missing in my church and in the churches of friends and family over a large geographical area. It’s not that we’re singing songs which worship Satan, but too much is allowed through the doors of our church in the way of music because we don’t think about what we’re actually singing. I call it theological laziness – we just don’t try.
If our pastors preached from the pulpit what we sing in the pews we’d have him before the Elder Board so fast because of the doctrinal error. Yet we sing along with our deaf ears as we claim to worship our God. Could it be that God is actually offended when we sing to Him in worship? Do you think that He desires us to KNOW Him and to not just slap words with music together without really thinking about what we’re actually saying? Could it be that the musical theologians have been replaced by some group that got saved last night but have a kicking new song that catches on and is popular forcing it into the church so that we stay “current” in our attempts to reach the lost for Christ? How ridiculous does that sound? Unfortunately, I think that it is pretty near the truth of the matter.
As an example, it is easy to take a Psalm and put it to words and sing those words to God.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence, O Lord
and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation,
and renew a right spirit within me.
True, in the sense that it is in the Bible, but maybe it isn’t really applicable, at least not for the church. A perfect example of this is the song taken directly from Psalm 51 called, “Create in me a Clean Heart”. Yes, it is directly from the Bible. But, the theology of the Holy Spirit is so completely different for David as it is for us that we do the Spirit a disservice by claiming this song for ourselves. How can it be that we have the Holy Spirit DWELLING in us as we are now the TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT as well as having a NEW HEART and a NEW COVENENT in Christ, yet we sing this song which begs God to not do something that is an IMPOSSIBILITY for the believer today??? How can I ask God to “create in me a clean heart” when He’s already done that? Would we REALLY sing that to God if we were in heaven before Him and we had just one song to sing to Him? I think not – if we really thought about what we were saying. What would we do if the pastor actually PREACHED this in a sermon on Sunday morning? What would YOU do?
I have an ever-building list of songs just like this. Unfortunately, I have begun to grow increasingly frustrated as Sunday after Sunday passes and I have to really focus on God as I am worshipping and not allow what may be sung to hinder my full attention on the One I love – in spirit AND in truth.
There are some that may find this thinking critical, but I firmly believe that God desires us to know Him correctly, not coming before Him without the forethought of WHO we are addressing. If we believe that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, then we must strive to understand deeper the God who desires to be known.
I found this link which is a very creative variation of my thought here. Well worth looking at: http://hippocampusextensions.com/issues/08/an_essay_on_hymnody.php