In my previous post, I made the argument that the whole church – regardless of age, race, sex, or musical preference – must worship together. But how do we get to this point? Do we “meet in the middle” and blend styles? Or does one side give in? What should the church be singing, and how should we sing it? Well, I think the best way to discuss these questions is to break down musical worship into at least two categories: style and content. In this post I want to specifically focus on content.
Content obviously refers to the words that are being sung, and there are certainly many problems with the “words that are sung” in many of our churches today. But I think there is a bigger question to ask in regards to content: What is the purpose of worship in song? Well, part of the answer, I think, is given in the phrase “worship in song.” What I mean is that when we gather to worship every Lord’s Day, this worship includes the whole event – prayer, singing, communion, the hearing and preaching of the Word, etc. I find it ironic that many people think that worship only refers to the singing part of the service, but yet think of the sermon as the “key event.” In other words, the service is split into two parts – worship, which is where the congregation sings, and the sermon, which is where the congregation listens and learns. In actuality, though, the Bible does not make this distinction. For instance, Colossians 3:16 tells us to “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.” I think this is the purpose of worship in song – that the Word of Christ might dwell in us richly. Preaching and singing go hand in hand, and this in fact says something about content – it must be the Word of Christ!
There are a few things to say about this. First, how do we sing the Word of Christ? Well, the clue is in the phrase “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” All three of these things actually refer to the Psalms. This is how the Septuagint (The Greek translation of the Old Testament … this is what Paul’s hearers would have been reading) speaks of the Psalms. Now, I’m not saying that there is no room for any other worship music than the Psalms, but I am saying this: A) The church would do well to recover the practice of regular Psalm singing, and B) The Psalms should be the primary model for any other worship music. So… there goes about 80% of popular worship music from the last 100 years or so.
Second, what is the connection between the Word of Christ and the Psalms? If the Psalms are the ideal model for worship, then what is the Word of Christ? Well, it obviously has to do with Christ’s redemptive work, and there are a lot of themes that are included here – His life, death, resurrection, creation, conquering of sin, atonement, faithfulness, etc. – but I think the Word of Christ in song has at least three elements. Colossians 3:16 gives us a good idea of this when it says that worship should teach, admonish, and give thanks. Look at any of the Psalms – they all contain these elements, and in many cases, all three elements are interwoven within the psalm. There’s not much of a distinction. Certainly different Psalms have different themes – forgiveness, retribution, praise, remembrance, etc… but they all contain the elements of teaching, admonishing, and thankfulness. Now look at the popular songs of today. Most of them only focus on one element – predominately thankfulness – if they focus on any at all.
Third, proper content in musical worship is vital because of how it relates to preaching. Again, look at Colossians 3:16 – if the Word of Christ is to dwell in us richly, then all of worship must be teaching, admonishing, and thankful. The western church has become so influenced by 17th century pietism – which placed more emphasis on personal, emotional aspects of worship, rather than the orthodox, corporate aspects – as well as the revivalistic focus on individualistic response, that we’ve forgotten that one of the principle purposes of musical worship is that the congregation teaches each other through song! (It’s interesting to note that the layout of our churches used to have the congregations facing each other – to better facilitate this teaching and encouraging through song – but as the focus became more individualistic – what does God have to say to me, rather than the church – the pulpit moved to the center stage and the pews all turned forward). I think this has also had a dramatic effect on the purpose of preaching. Many churches that I have been to practice expository (verse by verse) preaching. Certainly this style of preaching is in response to the pathetic, opinion driven, three verses and a joke, motivational speech styled “preaching” that occurs in many churches today – so it is a good thing in that sense. But more often than not, these sermons lack creativity, beauty, and application. This is understandable, given the time-constraints of a normal sermon, because this is the only time the Word of Christ is taught. But it doesn’t have to be so. When the musical worship is full of doctrine and scripture (in context), more time can be spent on a more well-rounded sermon. Furthermore, I believe this is what Paul is referring to when he writes about the Word of Christ dwelling richly in you – a sermon, no matter how biblical or well-delivered it is, cannot dwell richly within us without biblically saturated worship music. Good worship music(as well as prayer and scripture readings) sets the table for good preaching.
Finally, the content of the church’s worship music is so important because it does teach us, whether he realize it or not. And I believe this is a big reason why the church is not as successful as it should be in America – our worship music is doctrinally deficient. Face it, you’ll rarely remember a sermon, but you remember countless worship songs. And when most of our worship songs are in the same vein as “So here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that you’re my God….” – no wonder there is an individualistic mindset in the church today. And not to harp on the new stuff – some of the older hymns are bad too. “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.” Good grief! Did they share a milkshake and play footsies too? BTW, I typed both of these lyrics from memory – so, yeah, they stick with you.
In conclusion, I believe that if the church is going to practice biblical worship, a few things have to happen. First, musical worship must come under the direction of the pastor. Certainly a church is better off having a gifted musical director, but the pastor is the shepherd of the church and he is responsible for ALL the worship material that is used. This is also prudent, as the scripture readings, sermon, and music should all be parts of a whole – especially in light of the church calendar. Second, we need to look to our church fathers for good music and inspiration. Take a look at the hymns of Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley – they don’t look much like the junk that’s getting cranked out today. It’s also no coincidence that most of these great hymn writers were also pastors. Finally, it’s sad that the church does not sing the Psalms. I think this is a must! There’s no excuse not to do it, and if our evangelical churches are committed to the inerrant, infallible Bible like they say they are, then they will do it.


