God gave rock n roll to you, gave rock and roll to you, put it in the soul of everyone. Okay okay before everyone freaks out that I have put the lyrics of this song up hear. I want you to pause for just a minute, gather your composure, I know your hair is on fire, so take a moment to put it out and FOCUS!!!!!
That statement is the truth! Hey your hair is on fire again...... might just want to get a wet towel and put it there for the rest of this post..... it will save you from spontaneously combusting while you are reading this.
God gave us music period no ifs and or buts just as he has given us word and speech. We use written word all over the place. There are volumes and volumes of good and bad written. There are an uncountable number of words spoken in the world each day. Some of those words are good and some are bad, some words are even blasphemous against God, the very one who created everything.
God gave us music as well, and he did it in the fourth chapter of Genesis verse 21.
Genesis 4:21 (ESV)
21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.
Jubal was given this talent and it was music, the ability to play music, to understand music and to pass it along.
There are even more notes played through out the world in any given day. Some music is good, some bad. I am not talking about quality as much as I am talking about content, use etc. Just like written word, spoken word, music is a language and it has been corrupted by satan, as evil and sin have done to all things. Man has taken everything and found a way to make it ugly and music is no exception.
Music was made by God and it was put in everyone, yet there is something about music that is powerful and creates something in each of us that has created conflict. Ones taste in music can be as personal as the flavor of ice cream they like. However there are always some people that are drawn to the same types of music. Music is just music there are no notes that were created that are not created by God for us to use. No beat no rhythm that God did not already know someone was going to create. There is no combination of notes put together that are in and of themselves sinful. They may sound awful in certain combinations but they are not sinful.
Music effects us in a way that is almost unexplainable and is universal. Let me give you an example of this in the following video. Listen to what Bobby says at the end of the video.
Now let me ask you this. When was the last time you heard a church say that is was doing away with spoken word or written word? Why not? They can be used to corrupt thought, action etc as much as if not more than music ever could. Music by itself is not able to corrupt anything no beat, no note can corrupt. In order for music to become corrupt man has to add lyrics or actions to it such as dance or movement. (I will not go into a discussion about dance, right or wrong or any of the facets of what dance is or should or shouldn't be in this post) Music can evoke an emotion, a memory, feelings that have already been learned or experienced. Music can be learned in a way that is simple and can be used to help learn other things that are difficult. I learned the books of the Bible through learning a song. I hear the melody in my head every time I list the books of the Bible. That melody has never escaped me even when the books of the Bible have. I hum the song in my head and begin the recall process. Why do you think that is?
There have been volumes written on music in worship and praise and in the church and on and on. I am adding nothing new I am sure. I think the church as a whole has gotten music and its place a bit confused. There are churchs that are willing to go with out any music or very little. There are some churchs that build their whole existence out of their music. Even believe that music defines the heart beat of the service. Come on if music is defining the heart beat of your service, there is good possibility that you are not worshiping God.
I see churches looking for the most talented musicians and vocalists because they are convinced that it will make the church better or the EXPERIENCE better on Sunday. Almost never is there a look at the persons heart for God first. The scripture says to play skillfully. There is skillfully and there is drawing attention to yourself and not God. There should be very few times if any that a person walks out of a worship service and says MAN so and so can really tare that instrument up. When we sing hymns the organist and pianist play the music that is written and play it in a way to allow for all to sing. They don't shred the keys and make crazy runs and brilliant changes during song. Why because they are not trying to bring attention to themselves. When we make the move to a praise or worship band we now put an element of self in the mix that allows for individuals to show boat if their heart is not in the right place. Even showboat a lot if they really are up there for the wrong reasons. It seems as if music can divide as much as it can bring together. The reason this happens is because people are focusing on the type of music, not the content. There are some songs that have been sung in the church for decades even centuries that have bad content, are not written well, and can even create a hindrance to praise and worship. There are many modern songs that have extraordinary biblical truths in them expressed in a way that has not been put in any song prior. To balk at the type of music that is used to deliver the content and be willing to throw out the truth that is contained in it because of a beat and or a succession of musical note is about as ridiculous as throwing out the bible because you don't like the way someone else has read it to you.
The church and it's leaders have a responsibility to preach and teach the purpose of music, hymns, songs, praise and worship and teach it in a way that clearly expresses the biblical view. We have gotten caught up in the myth that the word worship and music are interchangeable they are synonyms and one means the other. It is not true, music is not worship that is a one dimensional look at what music is...... we are good at one dimensional..... we try to make God one dimensional all the time. Ever heard this one? God is Love (one dimensional) but we try to fit him in a box and put a label on it.
Think about this for a moment. To hold on to old hymns for the sake of how long they have been around or how many times they have been sung in church over any song that has biblical truth regardless of structure, beat or how recent it was written, is as much a form of idolatry as the idolatry that individuals that hold on to contemporary songs because of the newness or freshness or music or beat that these songs have are accused of....... If that ain't the pot calling the kettle black then I don't know what is.
Because the Bible does not speak specifically about tempo, beat, or how the music or song was to be played, people feel as if they have the right to. People should look at the words and truth in the song first and foremost before a song is every considered to be acceptable for praise and worship of God. Problem is most of the time we listen to beat and melody long before we ever take a real hard look at the biblical content of the lyrics. If we looked harder I am convienced we wouldn't allow some of the oldest song to continue to be sung and we would not play some of the most popular modern so called Christian songs as congregational praise and worship songs.
Here is a bit of trivia about the Bible and references to music and song. This was researched using and ESV bible and is not exhaustive of all the possible terms that might me used to denote music in some form either in the English language or in Greek or Hebrew.
Usage in the ESV Bible
162 time uses song
20 times uses music
120 times uses sing
31 times uses singing
3 times uses hymn
24 times uses play approx half of those refer specifically to musical instruments.
7 times uses playing in refrence to a musical instrument.
12 times uses melody
40 times use praises
How many times do you think the Bible has to say it before we get the picture that it is something we should be engaging in and as anything in our lives it should be Christ centered first and foremost.
I am going to leave you with this video in closing. It is about worship and what it means. We have one deminsionalized worship to mean music, singing, instruments etc. I think we have got to get a handle on this and with a serious sense of urgency. If you show them the scripture and teach them the truth and they still turn there backs on it, then you may have to show a little tough love (some of you are asking yourselves what that means right now. That is for another post)
Worship: What Is It? from Floodgate Productions on Vimeo.
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