Admonish One Another in Song
I have recently grown ill over the lack of emphasis, both by myself and others whom I know, on corporate singing as a part worship. For myself, I am not a huge "music person". I know nothing about it as far as melody, measure or rythm is concerned. However, as I said, I am now growing ill over the lack of emphasis that is placed upon singing among Christians in corporate worship.
Consider that the five books of the Psalms compose the largest literary section of all the Scriptures. The original title in the Hebrew for the book of Psalms means "songs of Praise" (tehillim). The books are saturated with the people of God responding to God's redemptive acts on their behalf for his own sovereign pleasure. The writers are writing with a congregation in view. The context of nearly every Psalm assumes the presence of the congregation of the people of God. Unarguably, the function of the Psalms was for both public and private WORSHIP. That is to say, if you take the title "Songs of Praise" and combine it with the books overall function "worship" you would have the largest portion of the Holy Scriptures functioning as a "Hymnal" of sorts (or preferably a book containing thousands of sweet Sovereign Grace worship songs). The Psalms were sung as a part of Israel's public worship!
Unfortunately, I have long missed this so OBVIOUS truth that I have argued that the NT is nearly silent on the issue of music and therefore music must not truly matter in the local church. That is to say, if we were to just toss out the "song service" altogether and get right to the preaching than I would be all for it. I now shout to myself, "How UNBIBLICAL!" How can a biblical ministry survive when it fails to recognize the importance of "adminishing one another" by "singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Col. 3:16-17)?
In this new thread of thinking I take away two key thoughts:
(1) All of us who have down played the role of music in corporate worship have really missed the boat.
(2) Singing songs with emotional responses is truly biblical (the Psalms represent every emotion possible). Our singing cannot be lifeless or we are not truly singing at all. Read the Psalms and remember that they were written for corporate singing! How is it that we can sing without ANY emotion to Jesus Christ our Savior? How does that "admonish" anyone?
(3) Consequently, the "battle" for sound Christian music within the local assembly, a part of the corporate worship of God's people, is a "battle" worth going through. That is for all of you who remain in affiliations were music remains to be an issue (namely, any church where Bob Jones graduates attend) i.e. Fundamentalism.
P.S. This is not an attack on any one person from Bob Jones, I have friends from BJ, rather it is just an honest assessment of the musical thinking be propagated from the university and thus penetrating the local church.
posted by adam at 9:50 AM
9 Comments:
Adam,
Good call! I long to see music restored to its intended prominence within the church. What about singing more songs after the worship over the Word as response to the overflow of joy gained from hearing expository preaching? I think the "let's-close-our-Bibles-as-soon-as-pastor-starts-praying-then-sing-one-song-and-get-the-heck-out-of-here-so-we-can-beat-the-restaurant-rush" is a terrible response to the hearing of the Word. Just a thought, though.
Ah... Thomas,
Do I hear you ready to mix up another rough and tumble post. :) I think you're on target for the place of music. But what does that prominence look like?
I think gordon here has a good thought as music following the preaching of the word.
Thomas, what are you thinking the music of the body fits and based on where it fits what does it accomplish?
AT,
Good call. I think though somebody already wrote a book on the Battle for Christian Music (If you read between the lines, its the battle for BJ's music). . . I agree with your call for the battle for Biblical Music! Third Day, anyone???
I have often thought that it would be sweet if we sang after the preaching.
Singing has a way of bringing the message into touch with emotions causing it to impact my life that much more.
Praise God for those who are taking solid theology and putting it into song
(SGM)
rob,
is that your new sign off?
bach had his SDG (soli deo gloria)
and you have SGM (sovereign grace ministries)? cast off the evil of the association principle and embrace the grace, bro.
loved that, and a good call; for those who think it would be a sweet thing to do, come to sovereign grace and lift your hearts with baylor and i before AND after the sermon.
thomas, i'm sympathetic to your all-but-subtle rant against tim fisher. i myself have often wished for the day when i might debate f. garlock and k. woetzel myself. as one who has studied music and theology formally, i have always longed for the day when the Lord might use me to help promote some of the changes we all long for. of course, having others who even care is half of the battle, and i rejoice to know that having a degree in music doesn't make me "the music guy" (i.e., the only guy who cares about or makes a big deal of music). i love having friends who are passionate about this aspect of worship, and look forward to promoting it together with you - God willing - in our future ministries.
for rob :-)...it's:
SOVEREIGN GRACE MINISTRIES!
sml
Yeah,
I appreciated what Rob and the Music Guy said. Music is a tool we use to communicate our love for God by attaching our emotions to biblical thinking.
Logan,
I always thought being called, "the music guys" didn't mean that you cared about and made a big deal about music...I always thought it meant that were just plain wierd. You know, suits all the time with high water pants, skipping around campus, leading singing at campus church, being on a travelling singing team...
Just kidding. By the way, do you know if Caleb Widmer is still the music guy for Griffs? I had the privilege of working with him for about three months when he was still in Pound. I think you guys (Barker, Baylor, Logan) will enjoy his passion for theology and music if he is still there.
hall,
i must've only skimmed your response the first time, so i missed a few of your hasty generalizations...
we were all wearing suits
(we were fundies; you still are)oh!
pittsley and arnie were the only ones skipping, and neither was a music major (you punk).
as for leading singing and traveling - i was a sweet guy :)
what can i say?
yes, widmer is still with griff; and not going anywhere (according to my last talk with the g-man)...
Adam,
Coming from a music pastor's perspective I can assure you that I whole-heartedly agree with many of your assessments and concerns. I despise the "entertainment" style that has infiltrated even Fundamentalist churches. (So what if their entertainment happens to opera and Evangelicalism's tends to be rock concert...it's still entertainment!)
I would offer this as a suggestion to correct the problem and to get the singing back into the congregation: Preach the Word! I don't mean to sound trite, but there is nothing a "music pastor" or "worship leader" can do if the Word is not being proclaimed with power and authority.
For example, I love singing after the preaching of the Word as a response. But if the Word is not proclaimed, then our singing has little power. Furthermore, what good does it do to sing rich texts (such as the Psalms) and then hear a message on self-esteem? Our people need a glorious vision of a great and worthy God proclaimed from the text of Scripture so that all of our music both preceding and following will not be short-circuited.
For further study, Barker's question is a huge one: What does the music accomplish? Or perhaps, what should it accomplish versus what is it accomplishing?
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