Merely Sounding Brass—part 3

Merely Sounding Brass—part 3

            The Christian musician must be sure that he or she musics with love for others.  When a very gifted performer stands before a congregation of worshipers, it is easy to center all attention on the performance rather than on ministry.  Some Christian musician performers have a tendency to worship the created thing (music) rather than the creator (God).  Romans 1:25 refers to those, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature (2937) more than the Creator (2936), who is blessed forever. Amen.” Strong’s Concordance states that ktisis (2937) refers to original formation (properly, the act; by implication, the thing, (literally or figuratively).  Strong also states that ktizo (2936) means the one who created.

            So, with this knowledge we deduce that the Bible condemns worshiping music rather than the God who is the creator of music.  A common error of church music performers is worshiping worship.  It is also wrong for the musicer to worship music.  A Christian musician must love the God who created the art form of music rather than the music itself.  Although there is nothing wrong with a Christian performer enjoying performing sacred music, but if the love of music or performance becomes the main thing, it will become an idol rather than a vehicle of praise to God. 

Song for the Day—They’ll Know We are Christians  by Our Love  by Peter Scholtes

Merely Sounding Brass—part 2

Merely Sounding Brass—part 2 

            There are a host of opinions about what the Greek words echo chalkos (2278 5475) which were translated sounding brass mean. The best explanation that I have found of the Greek words <echeo> <chalkos>, (sounding brass) comes from the writings of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio who lived in the 1st century b. c.  He was a Roman architect, engineer, and author of the celebrated treatise De Architectura (On Architecture), a handbook for Roman architects.

            Vitruvius explained that the echo chalkos were tuned acoustic brass or bronze vases that were strategically placed around the Roman out-door theaters.  Each vase was tuned chromatically and when a particular pitch was produced by the human voice, that particular vase would amplify the actor’s voice.  However, these metal sounding vases produced a hollow sound that was not a true representation of the actor’s voice quality.            

            So, when one reads “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity i.e. love that acts, I am become as sounding brass” with the knowledge of what we learned from Vitruvius, we understand that if a person says that he loves his or her neighbor but does not really care for them—this person’s speech is hollow like the sound produced by the Roman hollow sounding vases that amplified sound in the roman theaters. 

Song for the Day—I Want To Be Like Jesus by Thomas O. Chisholm

Merely Sounding Brass—part 1

Merely Sounding Brass—part 1

            1 Corinthians 13:1, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”  There are a couple of thoughts that I would like to leave with you today.  The word charity which is used repeatedly in this chapter is translated from the Greek word agape (26). Albert Barnes, in his Commentary on the New Testament gives the following comments: “The words ‘And have not charity’ mean and have not love. This is the proper and usual meaning of the Greek word. The English word charity that is used in many translations of this passage of the New Testament, has, according to how it is used I a great variety of meanings; and some of them cannot be included in the meaning of the word here.”    It is believed by many Bible exegetes that agape connotes love in action or love that acts.

Understanding Music at its Deepest Levels

           Understanding Music at its Deepest Levels 

Every Christian organization that is responsible for music and musicing must understand music at its deepest levels if they are going to have an effective music witness in this post-postmodern world.  It is one thing for an individual to not bother to think through music’s nature and value philosophically, but it entirely another to try to guide others in the area of music’s nature and value without a thorough understanding of musical truth.  One of the reasons that many Christian organizations fail to develop a music philosophy is that they do not believe that there is any objective truth or Bible basis concerning music’s nature and value.  Some Christians have the notion that music philosophy is somewhat like jello gelatin i.e. that you cannot pin its meaning down because it is never stable or solid.

Bible Based Music Philosophy

         Bible Based Music Philosophy
           Is the Bible all we need in the development of a unified, *congruent, thorough, and useful Bible based music philosophy?  The answer is “no”, because as I said before, the Christian musician will not only need to know much of what the Bible teaches about music, but he or she will also need to have an understanding of music education, music history, church music, musical theory and composition as well as music *performance practice over the many centuries from ancient times to modern.  Why then do I keep mentioning Bible principles of music?  Bible principles are not all we need but they are the foundations of the development of our music philosophy.  When we are developing the who, what, where, when, why, and how of our musical beliefs, the Scriptures are the looking glass through which we always view the whole of music.
              Why do I continually talk about the "whole of music”?  If a music philosophy does not include the "whole" of music it will surely have a "hole" in it!  II Timothy 2:15   admonishes Christians to, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." The Greek word spoudazo (4704) translated study in this verse means to be earnestly diligent.  The word dokimos (1384) means, according to Jamison-Fausset-Brown, "tested by trial, as opposed to 'reprobate'".  So, St. Paul admonishes the Christian to study diligently to test all philosophical beliefs so that one’s praxis will be approved by the Lord before it is set into action in the church, music classroom, or performance hall.

Spirit filled musicians have the “Mind of Christ”—

        Spirit filled musicians have the “Mind of Christ”—

Knowing God personally does not make a musician more intelligent than a non-believer but it does make it possible for him or her to have the ability to “compare spiritual things with spiritual” because the Spirit filled musician has the “mind of Christ”—a condition that the worldly music philosopher does not have.  The musician who has the “mind of Christ” has the unbroken consistent wisdom of the Holy Spirit operating in his or her life throughout that Christian’s journey with Christ. 

       The Christian musician must constantly be cognizant of the fact that the world is not a friend of grace.  The worldly music philosopher that does not love God with all his heart, soul, and mind is not seeking to accomplish the same musical goals as the Christian musician who believes that God created music and therefore owns music which He created for His glory and our edification.

Music Matters to Pastors-Part-10

Music Matters to Pastors-Part-10

            The topic and text of the pastor’s sermon should not be “classified information”. If the pastor does not want the service to be a one man show he must share the responsibility and authority of the service with the musicians who work under his direction.  Any pastor who does not share the burden of the service with the music staff tends to operate as more of a dictator than a skillful leader.

            As I stated earlier, I am surprised that so few pastors pray with the musicians before the worship service.  The fact that the pastor and the musicians are busy is no excuse for failing to invoke God’s leadership and anointing on the church musicians and their musicing.  If there is not time for prayer before the service, then change the time that the worship service begins.

             If music ministry is going to be efficacious the musicians must have the power (dunamis 2975) of the Spirit on their musicing.  In my opinion, it is the responsibility of the pastor to personally pray with and for the musicians since he is the spiritual leader.  Praying with the musical staff sends the message to everyone involved the Church Music Matters to the pastor and that Church Music Matters to God. 

Music Matters to Pastors-Part-9

Music Matters to Pastors-Part-9

            Pastors should assist the musicians in their selection of proper music for the service by first of all telling the worship team leader where the service is intended to go.  What are the immediate goals of the service?  What is the topic and text of the sermon?  Should the organist player or not play during prayer?  What atmosphere and mood should be set by the instrumental prelude?  Should the choir sing before or after the message or both times?  Do you plan to invite people to pray at the altar after the message?  Will the call to prayer be aimed at saints or the unsaved?  Will the appeal be to sinners to come to repentance or to Christians to greater Christian’s commitment?  Do you have a particular song that you wish to be sung at the end of the service?  Do you want the minister of music to sing an invitation hymn?  Do you want the congregation to sing with the minister of music or stand quietly while he or she sings alone?  Would you prefer that the musicians play softly with no singing at all?

            The musicians including the song leader, minister of music, organist, pianist, praise team leader, keyboard player and perhaps some key instrumentalists should be called together with the pastor for a face to face meeting before the service begins.   All of the musical personnel need to know the pastor’s goals for the service in question before it begins.

Music Matters to Pastors-Part 8

Music Matters to Pastors-Part 8

               The pastor of the small church will usually not have a full-time minister of music and a paid staff of supporting musicians. Therefore, the pastor will have to be the resident church music philosopher along with a myriad of other pastoral tasks.  Also, he or she may have to act as the music worship leader.  Furthermore, the pastor may, of necessity, have to be the church choir director, the instrumental conductor, organizer of all special music, and whatever else happens musically in the small church.

            As I said earlier in our discussions of “Music Matters to Pastors”, a regular part of a pastor’s “life-long learning” and continuing education should include continued training in music and music philosophy.  Understanding problems of developing and administering a Christocentric biblically based music philosophy must be a preferred claim of the pastor’s continuing education.  Churches should support Bible Colleges and Seminaries that provide an opportunity for continuing education in church music for their pastor.  Pastors must take a” hand- on” approach to church music.  This does not mean destroying all initiative of the novice church musicians who give selflessly of their time and energies.  Many pastors who are strong leaders make the deadly mistake of choosing all the music for the worship and evangelistic services.  This is demeaning to a church musician.  Although it may be easier to pick all the selections and push the musicians around like they were pawns on a chessboard, it is the wrong decision to make.

            This style of leadership is not “pastoring” or “mentoring” but rather the work of dictator.  Pastors with strong personalities often treat professional church musicians the same way they do novices.  Rather than defining exact style and sequence of worship they desire, they become silently frustrated with what is happening in the worship and evangelistic services and blame most of the problems on the musicians and the music.

Music Matters to Pastors-Part 7

Music Matters to Pastors-Part 7

            So far in our discussions of “Music Matters to Pastors” we have considered the larger church that has a regular music staff including a minister of music, pianist, organist, keyboards, and instrumentalists.  These professional musicians need mentoring and personal attention of the pastor.  The church musicians of a small congregation, who are most often volunteers, need even more pastoral attention.  They need musical and spiritual mentoring.  If a pastor is going to mentor these volunteer church musicians who are in many situations also amateur musicians, he is going to need to know more about music than the names of the lines and spaces on a musical score.

             Pastors of a small church will find that their two to four hours of music taken in Bible College or Seminary will grow thin under such conditions.  The fact that most Bible College and Seminary degree programs include so few hours of music sets the pastor of the small church up for failure.  Sacred music is not a priority in the minds of most Department chair persons who develop these programs.

             Also, I wish to add that the few hours of music and or church music classes that formerly were required in degree programs are now often being replaced with fine arts credits like art, drama, and music appreciation.  Although these classes contain nice-to-know information, they are now precluding Music Philosophy in Christian Perspective, Music in the Bible, and many other church music classes which are much more germane to what these pastoral graduates will be doing on the job than the aforementioned fine arts classes.   Would you rather have a pastor who had a deep understanding of music in the Bible and music philosophy in Christian perspective or one who understood sculpture and the history of visual art? 

           What these chair persons fail to realize is that the majority of their ministerial graduates will not pastor a super church or even a large church.  If one were to look at twenty-first century church statistics, most churches now fall in the small to medium size class.  It is also my belief that they fail to recognize that that a Christian university or Bible college education needs to be different than a secular University education.  Although a Christian higher education should have high educational standards, it should be different in that it is permeated with Christian educational thought that is especially relevant to the church.

Music Matters to Pastors-Part 6

Music Matters to Pastors-Part 6

            If music is going to help accomplish the purpose of public worship, it must be a valuable concomitant of preaching and it must be carefully coordinated with the rest of the service.  Many pastors are so busy making sure that public worship does not become formal that, in an attempt to be folksy and familiar and thereby supposedly attractive to the audience, they allow a worship experience that has little or no structural form or direction. If a ministry staff does not coordinate all that takes place in the worship service, their attempts at achieving free worship turn in to haphazard worship experiences. I believe that pastor’s who hope for something spontaneous to light a fire under a sleepy worship experience, normally receive what a lack of careful planning usually brings to worship—little or nothing of lasting value at all.

             At this point, I want to make it very clear that the pastor and the music ministry team must be willing to give place to the moving of the blessed Holy Spirit.  However, it doesn’t have to be either or when it comes to the moving of the Holy Spirit.  The worship service that is well thought out and has structure in no way inhibits or prevents the moving of the Spirit.  The key too Spirit filled worship is, in my opinion, a willingness on the part of the pastor, music ministry team, and the congregation to get out of the way when the Holy Spirit begins to move in the worship service.

             As I have said before, the senior pastor is the key person in the development of a concept of worship that gives preeminence to the Holy Spirit.  Although the pastor in many situations may not be the one who is on his feet leading the worship experience, he is the one who must philosophically be the leader of organization and structure and the leader in letting the Holy Spirit have right of way at any place in the planned worship experience.

Music Matters to Pastors Part 5

Music Matters to Pastors Part 5

             Another philosophical issue it that of whether church music should be an end in itself, or whether it should be a concomitant of preaching of the Word of God.  Sometimes a minister of music and the pastor thinks of a song service and a preaching service as two separate entities.  In my opinion two distinct things are not happening on Sunday morning or at least there shouldn’t be two distinct things happening in the worship service.  It is useless to say that a church service is unified merely because the musicians sing and play about God and the pastor preaches about God...

             Philosophically, what should be happening is a worship service.  The pastor should work with the minister of music in developing a direction for that service.  So, what is needed is “songs for the service” rather than a “song service”.  The pastor must take the initiative to communicate directly with the worship leader.  It is certainly not the responsibility of the minister of music to corner the senior pastor his or her boss and try to squeeze out of the pastor what the intended tenor of an upcoming church service is.

            I believe that it is a mistake for a pastor to teach the music staff that everyone should pray and let the Lord lead by giving separate esoteric direction to everyone who will be participating in the upcoming worship service.  Prayer is, of course, necessary but we should never ask the Lord to do for us what we are capable of doing for ourselves.  Never has communication capabilities been as available as they are in this century.  Almost everyone has available to them a cell phone and or an email account.  So we are left, in most cases, totally without communication excuse!

Music Matters to Pastors Part 4

Music Matters to Pastors Part 4

            It is amazing to me that although pastors are well aware of church music’s capability to cause complete chaos in the church community; many senior pastors ignore pastoring the music minister and the volunteer music staff.  Many pastors that I have worked with failed to even have prayer with the musicians before, during or after the worship or evangelistic service.  This blatant ignoring of the church music ministry staff sends the clear message that church music doesn’t matter or at least that it doesn’t matter to the senior pastor. Any part of the church’s ministry that doesn’t warrant prayer is certainly not very important.

            There are many philosophical principles that surround the use of music in the Church. Is church music only a “getting started” task or a vehicle used to pick up the offering?  Does the effectual fervent musicing of a righteous man or woman avail much?  It is my belief that Spirit led musicing can and should be efficacious in the 21st century church.  Music ministry can be a very effective vehicle for the Word of God to ride into the hearts of the worshiping body.  Music can and should be a means of preparing people’s hearts in the worship or evangelistic service.

Music Matters to Pastors Part 3

Music Matters to Pastors Part 3

             Church music has great power!  It can prepare the people’s hearts for preaching or it can make it almost impossible to preach.  If music becomes the “main thing”, it will upstage preaching so completely that the preaching of Christ crucified will be greatly dwarfed in the minds of the people.  Music can also become the war department of the church!  Music style has separated congregations of worshipers to a greater extent in the past 25 years than any other single issue including theology and worship style of evangelical churches.

             If our goal is to entertain or to get the people’s attention, i.e. especially the un-churched, then there should be no complaint when church music takes over and dwarfs or takes the place of the preaching of Christ crucified.  Certainly the un-churched church attendee does not necessarily want to hear about the fact that sin separates him or her from God.  To them it is not fun or entertaining to hear “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23.” Although it is the best news the sinner will ever hear on this earth, it is no fun to find out that your sin sent Christ to the cross.

             There is no doubt about it, religious rock music about love and happy things is much less offensive than hearing the about the wrath of God in Getty’s “In Christ Alone”.  It is shocking to the sinner to find out that “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law (I Corinthians 15:56).”  Sinners must be catechized first by preaching and second by solid quality church music that, because of their sin the law was given, and that the law brings eternal dearth. They must be instructed only God’s grace brings eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

             Furthermore, it is deceitful to feed sinners with the same diet of music they hear in a bar or night club and then slip Jesus on their musical plate when they are not looking.   It is no joke that the un-believer must be catechized by the preaching of Christ crucified because I Corinthians 2:14 instructs us, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of God: for they are spiritually discerned.”

Music Matters to Pastors Part 2

Music Matters to Pastors Part 2

            Yesterday we started a series of posts which will consider how much church music should matter to a senior pastor, and what the music related responsibilities of a senior pastor should be.  If you are new to this blog you should know that each day’s post will be a continuation of a series of thoughts being presented.  Therefore, the reader will need to read any posts that he or she has missed in the series.

              Every pastor knows that there is a multiplicity of legitimate claims on the pastor’s time.  The list of responsibilities is long and varied according to the specifics of each individual pastorate.  Pastors are constantly made aware of how important prioritizing time and delegating authority is to the success and sanity of a public ministry. 

            As you have already guessed, I’m heading somewhere with this discussion.  The purpose of this discourse is not to merely acknowledge that all pastors are busy.  What I am trying to say is that along with the many things that pastors do, they must pastor the staff of musicians who minister in the regular services.

            I know that a good shepherd pastors, in a general way, everyone who attends church, or is in some way affiliated or connection to the church by being on its ministry list.  I also know that depending on the church size, much of the “pastoring” must be done by associates who help with ministering responsibilities.  I am aware that pastor’s must delegate proper amounts of the church’s ministry to others.  However, pastoring the music minister and his staff should be done personally by the senior pastor.  No other aspect of public worship will affect the success or failure of the pastor’s ministry than the music in all church services.

Music Matters to Pastors Part 1

Music Matters to Pastors Part 1        

        I know that there are many helps published for pastors but these works often say little or nothing about the responsibilities of a senior pastor when it comes to music in the church.  This is a puzzling phenomenon to me, since music has proven many times during the last half of the twentieth century to be what I call “the war department”.  Those who know much about the dynamics of church music in the late twentieth century know that church music was the cause of mire church splits than theology or lifestyle.  So with this in mind we will consider, in the next few posts, what the responsibilities of senior pastors are.  Those who are new to this philosophical blog should be advised that we are beginning a series of posts and that we make no attempt to bring each post to definite conclusions.  Therefore the reader should read any posts that he or she has missed before continuing with the thoughts presented in the daily posts. 

      Being the senior pastor of a church is an awesome privilege and a wonderful opportunity to personally pastor those who minister through music.  God has placed the senior pastor at the head of the church for many reasons.  As has been thoroughly discussed in this book, preaching Christ crucified is the “main thing”.  Certainly every senior pastor should spend much time preparing to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, I will not be suggesting that senior pastors do the work of the minister of music.  Also, I will in no way suggest that the senior pastor take a controlling approach to the every-day responsibility of church music.

We Must Confront the Seeker with the Truth

       We Must Confront the Seeker with the Truth

Although it is not popular among modern, post-modern and post-postmodern worship leaders to sing any religious text that might confront a “seeker” or “worshiper”, it is exactly what God commanded Moses to do in this situation.  I find no place in the New Testament where our Lord commanded musicians to quit confronting the “seeker” and the “worshiper” or any person who is in God’s house with the claims of Scripture. 

       Jesus certainly confronted people with the truth of what God required.  He did not say to the money changers in the Second Temple “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”  I want to make it very clear that I am not contending for worship music to be highly confrontational or negative because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news –not bad, negative, depressing news.  The tenor of public worship should be a joyful and reverential adoration of the Trinity.  However, to ignore the entire truth taught in the Bible is shortsighted and less than honest. 

God Intended for Music to be Under Man's Supervision

God Intended for Music to be Under Man's Supervision

            It is possible that the beginnings of musical knowledge can be traced to Genesis 1:26 where Adam was commanded to “...have dominion (radah, 7287) over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth (erets, 776), and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”  Also in verse twenty-eight he is admonished to “replenish (male 4390) the earth (776) and subdue (kabash, 3533) it.”  The words dominion (7287) and subdue (3533) used in Genesis 1:26 mean to *subjugate or to conquer.  The word earth (776) used in Genesis 1:26 is the broad term used for the world as opposed to the word earth (adamah, 127) used in Genesis 1:25 which means the soil.  Note that God not only put the soil under man’s supervision but also the erets i.e. the world around him and male i.e. presume influence over it.

              So, Adam was given the command to conquer and bring under his control the world around him which doubtlessly included music.  We know from Genesis 2:19-20 that Adam was given tremendous insight and knowledge.  Although these passages say absolutely nothing about music, it is possible that he also had unusual insight concerning music.

Every Child Has Talent

Every Child Has Talent

I believe that every child is given musical talent by our loving heavenly Father. Mothers and fathers you have the responsibility to give your children an opportunity to develop their musical talents and at an early age give those talents back to God!  That is what really matters because children learn musically by doing.  If you want your sons and daughters to give their musical talents to God in adulthood, make sure their early memories of going to church include musicing unto Him.

How I Began This Journey

       How I Began This Journey

My first memories of going to church include my mother practicing songs with me and praying with me, and the preacher lifting me up on a chair behind the pulpit to sing special music about Jesus.  I have told you all this to remind all of you Christian parents that your children’s musical training really matters.  No matter what you have or do not have, the things that matter are not “things”.  Whatever it takes, make sure that your children receive a quality music education and that you provide them opportunities to give their musical talents back to the God who gave them to your children.         

I am grateful that Dr. John I. Page and his wife Virginia took me to church fellowship meetings and to retirement communities to sing the gospel as a little child.  I was extremely blessed to have a pastor and his wife that cared about a little boy who had some musical talent.  I am also grateful that in July of 1967 Dr. Page invited me to an altar of prayer where I confessed my sins and wept my way into the loving arms of my forgiving Savior Jesus Christ.  I will forever be thankful that I was given a Christian upbringing, and that as a child I was given musical training and many opportunities to give my musical talents back to God.

Thoughts on Musicing unto God—Blogger Sounds off

Thoughts on Musicing unto God—Blogger Sounds off

            Christian musicians must be sure that their musical beliefs are congruent with Bible teaching rather than unfounded nonsense.  They also should not line up in a row behind the world’s musical notions like little ducks who are being led to a mud puddle.  Much of what worldly musicians believe about music and musicing is not the result of an application of common sense, historical evidence, time honored tradition, Bible teaching, or good musicing but rather the result of the application of error and nonsense.  Therefore, I have no inclination to drop all common sense, musical training and knowledge of music worshipping to gall in line with their latest musical notions.

 

Singing—A Means of Grace—part 3

Singing—A Means of Grace—part 3

            Philosophers have always believed that music had great power over everyone.  It has only been since the 20th century that some Christian philosophers have come to the conclusion that style in music is neutral and therefore amoral.  Under this new “liberated” philosophy anything goes in church music.  To them, church music exists in an absurd universe and is a standardless art.  Since church music is without absolutes or any standard of correctness it is merely a matter of personal taste.  These modern church music philosophers quote St. Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”  They purport that Jesus put an end to judgement when it comes to Christian living.

            The real question before us is, “Will we be judged for what we do (music included) in this life?”  Therefore, these synthesis thinkers have missed the point.  They say we should not criticize each other’s church music since it is merely a matter of taste anyway.  Since, to them, all musical roads lead to heaven, it is wrong to criticize anyone’s style of church music performance.  It is my belief that every church musician will give an account to God at the judgement for what he or she did with the great art of music.

 

Singing—A Means of Grace—part 2

Singing—A Means of Grace—part 2

            What does the Scripture lesson taught in 1Corinthians 1:18 mean to the 21st century church?  First of all, there is and always has been a war going on between the wisdom of God and the specious arguments of the present age.  Every Christian musician should be sure that he or she is following biblical wisdom when developing a music ministry philosophy.  Second, there are very logical sounding arguments that are prevalent today that simply do not line up with Scripture.  Beware that you are not led astray by what seems to make sense at least by the world’s standards.  If your philosophy has caused you to not keep the main thing then it is faulty. 

            Ancient philosophers believed that music could have a profound moral effect on the hearer. We know from history that, “All ancient peoples of whom we have knowledge gave music a place of honor, they considered it a potent religious and moral force, intimately related to the most formal, as well as the most informal aspects of life.”  Music in Europe and the United States, Edith Borroff, Pg. 4.  It has only been the product of modern man’s mind that music is amoral.  Although philosophers and musicians have argued for centuries about how music affects us or exactly what moral effect music had on the auditor and the performer, they have always believed that music had a message.

 

 

Singing—A Means of Grace—part 1

Singing—A Means of Grace—part 1

            Corporate worship through singing is a valuable means of grace to the believer.  Singing can be a valuable teaching tool.  Singing can be used by the Holy Spirit to convict and convert sinners.  However, 1 Corinthians 1:18 above states that preaching is “the power of God.”  Music, although it has power and charm is never spoken of in the Bible as the “power of God”.  Verse twenty of chapter one of I Corinthians says, “Where is the wise [sophos 4680]? Where is the scribe?  Where is the disputer [suzetetes 4804] of this world [aion 165]?  Hath not God made foolish [moraino 3471] the wisdom [sophia 4678] of this world [kosmos 2889]?

            The sophists were ancient Greek philosophers notorious for their specious arguments. To many their arguments sounded logical and correct but they often were far from being correct.  The disputers were philosophers who were debaters involved in controversial discussions.  Paul declared here that God has shown how insipid their arguments were.  The arguments of the sophists were, as verse twenty tells us, based on the wisdom of the aion or the present system of the age.  It was wisdom based on the matrix of Satan.

 

God Will Not Share Glory With Musicians

God Will Not Share Glory With Musicians

            Psalm 146:1 “Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.  While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” Verse one declares that it is the responsibility of every believer who loves Yahh (3050) to praise YHVH.  Those who love God still have the responsibility to praise.  The Hebrew word used in verse one is halal (1984) which means, according to Strong’s dictionary, “to shine; hence, to make a show, to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively, to celebrate”.

            When we music unto God we should boast, shine, and celebrate!  Our celebration should always be a celebration of who God is and what He does.  Musical worship is never about the music or the musicer, but rather it is always about the blessed Trinity.  If we worship music, our musicing is an act of idolatry—nothing more and nothing less.  If we celebrate the musicer, our gratitude is by no means an act of worship.  When the performer is the center of attention, what could have been true worship becomes a musical event or a concert.  Isaiah 48:10-11 “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.”   Again Strong explains that the word “glory” i.e. kabowd (3519) properly, weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness:--glorious(-ly), glory, honour”.  So, God has declared that He will not share His splendor and honor with anyone—which includes musicians.

 

Thught, Song, and Prayer for the Day

Thought for the Day

We used to say on the farm back in Kansas “It does not do much good to close the gate AFTER the cows are out”.  The same is true of a Christian’s music listening habits. 

Song for the Day Guard Your Heart by Steve Green   

Prayer for the Day

My Heavenly Father I am asking You to help me to guard my thoughts and actions today.  Help me to be the kind of gate-keeper that refuses to open the gate to temptation.  I am also asking you to “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.” (Psalm 34:13)  Help me to fill my mind with music that will honor You.  These things I am asking You, trusting that You will answer according to Your perfect will.  Amen.

 

 

Guard Your Heart

Guard Your Heart

            Whether music we listen to and perform is or is not directly addressed to God is not the major issue.  Many people believe “you are what you eat” but ignore the fact that “you are what you hear” and “you are what you perform”. How does a Christian musician come to the conclusion that Christians are immune to the effects of the music they listen to and perform?  If any “musing” takes place in a person’s passive or active musicing, then it stands to reason that it will have a positive or negative effect on the whole life of that individual. 

            Proverbs 23:7 explains that “For as he thinks (shaar 8176) in his heart so is he...” If this Scripture is true, and it is, Christians will be what they muse.   The word shaar means to open as a gate-keeper.  Although God will help us, we as Christians are responsible to not open the gate of temptation.  Therefore, all musicing must be done advisedly since it will have a positive or negative effect on the heart life.  Proverbs 4:23 warns, “keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”  What makes a Christian conclude that one may feed on musical filth for hours at a time and still maintain a holy heart life?

 

Does God Call Music Teachers? Part 3

Does God Call Music Teachers? Part 3

 Earlier in this three post sequence we referred to Ephesians 4:11 and Romans 12:6-8.  It is interesting to note that this Scripture passage instructs Christians to keep doing what God gave them the gifts to accomplish.  The teacher is instructed to keep teaching i.e. “he that teacheth on teaching (didasko en didaskalia 1321 1722 1319).  It seems self-evident that God would not instruct teachers to keep on teaching unless He considers teaching to be a sacred trust i.e. a calling.

So, to answer the question “Does God call teachers?” the answer is definitely yes!  Since God calls teachers and instructs them to keep teaching, it only stands to reason that He calls Christian music teachers and instructs them to keep teaching music.  God not only calls music teachers but also beseeches them to present their bodies as a living teaching sacrifice. Also, according to Romans 11:29 teaching, for the called music teacher, is not an option, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” The reason for this logical conclusion is that the Greek word ametameletos (278) translated “repentance” here in the AV means that when God bestows gifts and callings they are irrevocable.

 

 

 

Does God Call Music Teachers? Part 2

Does God Call Music Teachers? Part 2

Of special interest is a reference in Ephesians 4:11 where pastors and teachers (poimen, didaskolos 4166 1320) are referred to as one instead of different callings.  Because of this reference some believe that being a teacher is a concomitant gift of a pastoral calling rather than a separate calling.  The fact that God endows some pastors with the gift of teaching does not preclude God calling others to be teachers.  It seems perfectly clear from I Corinthians 12:28 where the inspired writer is careful to include teachers among the various classifications of callings. The words “God hath set” clearly indicate that God places (tithemi, 5087) or calls Christians into these several ministries including those who are called with specifity to be teachers without any indication that they are also pastors.

Also noteworthy is Romans 12:6-8 where it states, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.”  Among the long list of gifts that Christians are given by the grace of God, teaching is specifically included.

 

Does God Call Music Teachers? Part 1

Does God Call Music Teachers? Part 1

Students who are in a music education degree program often wonder if teaching music is a sacred trust and therefore a calling of God.  During my lifetime I have seen very little written on the subject of whether or not music teaching is a calling of God like being a pastor or a missionary. Also, I have never had the privilege of hearing anyone (except myself) give a lecture on music teaching being considered a *sacred trust. 1Corinthians 12:28 states,  “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”

First of all, before I answer the question “Does God call teachers?” it is necessary for me to identify the Bible definitions of the words teacher and teachers and false teachers. In I Corinthians chapter twelve, verses twenty eight and twenty nine both use the word didaskalos (1320) which means a master or instructor. II Peter mentions false teachers (pseudodidaskalos 5572) which has the connotation of *spurious teachers. The same Greek word is translated master several times in the AV.  Sometimes it was referring to Jesus and others who were also referred to as “master’.  It was translated once in James 3:1 as many masters (pokus didaskalos 4183 1320). 

 

Thank you for a Great Month of July

       Thank you for a Great Month of July 
            This month was the 43^nd month of my blog which contained devotional and philosophical thoughts for Christian musicians. I have written over 2,472 posts since this blog was started in January of 2013. There have been several times this year when I have experienced a certain amount of writer’s burnout.  However, I am praying that my posts in 2016 will stimulate both the regular and new blog members to remain faithful to their musical Ministeries. It is my continued prayer that each new post will bring honor to our heavenly Father in 2016.  The over 1,200 page views of my blog this month were experienced by people who read a mixture of philosophical and devotional thoughts.  

       Since we began on January 2 of 2013 we have received a total of over 70,800 page views with over 1200 views in June which is about 100 less than we had in June  of 2016.  Since I started this blog the page views have come from 119 different countries. 

            These views have come from Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Argentina, Armenia, Angola,  Aruba, Austria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Colombia, Congo [DRC], Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong,  Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland (Republic of),  Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordon, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia,  Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands (Antilles) New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Oman, Palestine, Paraguay, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru. Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Porto Rico, Qatar, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand,  Tunisia, Turkey, Turks & Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, USA and Zimbabwe .  We would like to welcome Barbados which had its first page views this month, to our blog family. Also, for the first time in the history of this blog Russia had more page views than the USA.

             The ten countries with the most page views this month were: Russia, USA, Germany, France, China, Ukraine, Portugal, Mauritius, United Kingdom, and Brazil.

          If you are from a country that has had page views in the past 43 months and has been omitted from the 119 countries listed above, please email me your country’s name.  Please pray with me that God will allow this Music Philosophy Blog to continue to go places where I will never have the opportunity to minister musically in person. Please pray for me, as I have mentioned before, I am in the process of writing a general music philosophy book and a devotional book for musicians. My philosophy book is now in the hands of the content editor. Please pray the editor of the devotional book is in the process of moving to Scotland and is very busy at this time.

       Once again I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to view my music philosophy blog during the month of July and a special thanks is in order to those countries that faithfully view this blog month after month.  Please continue to pray that God will guide each post and allow it to reach those who need encouragement to keep ministering for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The main reason that I started this Music Philosophy blog is that, although there is much music philosophy information on the net, not very much of it is from a biblical perspective.  Please share the blog address with your friends.   If you have an area of music or fine arts philosophy that troubles you, please feel free to let me know and I will include it in our discussions.  My email address is Garenlwolf@gmail.com.

Prayer for this Blog in August

             It is my sincere and earnest prayer let this blog will go around the world to places where I cannot go.  Lord, thank You that You are answering my prayer by guiding people from 119 countries to find and read my blog posts. Please continue to help me in 2016 as I prepare a post for each day to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

            Only You know Lord who is out there ministering musically that needs a fresh anointing for musical ministry.  Help me to know which philosophical and devotional thoughts will help these busy pastors and musicians.  Lord, as I continue to develop posts for the month of August, I am not sure which aspects of music education and music ministry to write about that will stimulate and encourage the blog family.  Please anoint the blog, the blogger, and the blog readers during 2016. If it is your will I am asking that the number of page views will increase during each month.

             Lord, I am praying that you will help the content editors for the two books that they are now editing and making final preparations so they can be sent to the publisher. Also, thank You Lord for helping me to proof  the 17 chapters of the philosophy book to make corrections. These things I ask in your great and wise and wonderful name.  Amen.