Musicing about God, for God with God’s Grace-part 3

 

Musicing about God, for God with God’s Grace-part 3

 

           Second, the Christian musician who is performing the psalms, hymn, and spiritual songs does so as a vehicle for giving thanks to God the Father by the mediatorial agency of God the Son.  We should not forget that musicing unto God is always done as a performance.  However, performing music for God’s glory is a much different performance than performing for the aggrandizement of the performer.  The Christian musician should consider

            Third, a musician who performs or leads others in sacred music must have the grace (charis 5485) God in his or her heart.  This Scripture is not referring to man’s charisma but rather God’s grace.

Musicing about God, for God with God’s Grace-part 2

 

Musicing about God, for God with God’s Grace-part 2

 

          There is also another companion passage found in Ephesians 5:19-21, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.”

          I would like to take a brief moment to remind Christian musicians of the main reasons that we music mentioned in Colossians 3:16.  First, we must always music “in the name of the Lord Jesus”.  The Greek word used her is kurios (2962) which connotes supreme authority, or the one who is the Christian’s Savior, Lord and Master.  Christian musicians often tend to get lost in the fact that they are giving a music performance or that they work for and represent a particular church or Christian organization. All of the above may be true, but a Christian musician’s supreme authority is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Musicing about God, for God with God’s Grace-part 1

                 Musicing about God, for God with God’s Grace-part 1

 

          Colossians 3:16-17 teaches, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”  Many speakers and writers miss the lessons taught in these verses because many skip these verses in their comments or at least they make little or no mention of the music lessons taught here.  I suspect they were so intent on getting to the eighteenth verse so that they could once again tell women to submit that they miss the musical import of these verses in Colossians chapter 3

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Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 6

 

Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 6

        Many church musicians wonder why astute accomplished musicians are often not involved in church music programs.  I believe the main reason is that so many church music ministries do not include any high quality artistic musical offerings.  A worshiper who has sung a part in a quality choir in junior high, high school, and college is offended when a church choir sings only overly simple two part, or worse yet, unison choral music.  Ministers of music need to understand the importance of having some musical “meat” on the worship table as well as the diet of musical “frosting” that is so prevalent in many fundamental Christian churches at present.

       The fine arts are not the door to the kingdom of God, but they are wonderful concomitants of quality musical worship.  Let me be very clear that as Romans 1:25 explains, we should never worship created things ( ktisis 2937 which includes music) but always the creator of music ( ktizo 2936 i.e. God).  A steady diet of sacred classics should not be forced upon a congregation with little understanding of music, but it will not harm them to be introduced to some great sacred classics once in a while. It will also give those of us that have spent a lifetime studying and performing great music an opportunity to worship with music at a much deeper level of import.

 

 

Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 5

 

Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 5

       I am well aware that there are many people who do not have an awareness or appreciation for the sacred classics.  I also understand that appreciating the great sacred music works is an acquired skill.  If a local congregation does not understand or enjoy great works of music then they will not be ministered to by hearing and performing these compositions.  It is unfortunate that many people are impoverished musically by not understanding great sacred music.  As I stated earlier, great music enables one to have a greater understanding of the deep profoundness of the lessons to be learned in the Bible.

       There is another reason that we should include the sacred classics as a part of our balanced musical ministry.  There are many people who attend public worship who are musically aware.  Accomplished musicians are often offended or at least disappointed by the shallow and shoddy nature of trite and mundane religious music.  I contend that a church full of educated people who understand and appreciate great sacred music deserve to hear quality musical offerings at least part of the time.

Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 4

 

  Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 4    

One can survive on a diet of bologna sandwiches and white bread with all the quality ingredients removed, but one’s diet can be greatly improved by eating foods which contain quality ingredients  I contend that the same is true of our musical diet.  Poorly written music does not support the awesomeness and solemnity of our worship of the triune God as well as well written compositions.  Certainly the sacred classics are excellent vehicles for the presentation of the biblical message.

        A total diet of the more simple forms of music sends the message that excellent quality musicing does not matter.  In other words, it testifies to those who attend our church services that the kind and quality of musical offerings we present to God do not matter.  I believe it subtly testifies to the fact that these musicians believe that God does not need to be worshiped with the best musical offerings we are able to present.  When we present all of our musical offerings with inferior musical genres, we are testifying to the fact that we believe that it does not matter if we present our heavenly Father a musical three-legged lamb.  Remember that, in the sacrificial system, God required a lamb of the matrix which was without defect or blemish of any kind (Leviticus 1:3, Numbers 28:19 etc.).

Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 3

 

Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 3

As I have often said, the music part of music does not always have to be complicated or esoteric in order to be a proper vehicle to use in our musicing unto God.  However, there are auspicious religious occasions when great sacred music is without doubt a better choice than some trite, predictable and *mundane musical composition that is obviously the work of a *musical hack.

 There is a reason why some sacred music is great and other music is either mediocre or actually so poorly constructed that it is not a good vehicle for musical worship.  The best sacred music throughout the centuries has been produced by composers and arrangers who were able to skillfully organize melody, harmony and rhythm into a composition that would properly represent the awesomeness and solemnity of worshiping the triune God.  This has been accomplished by utilizing a number of appropriate musical styles that were and are “better vehicles” to represent the moral nature of God.  The condition of an accomplished musician’s musicing and the quality of the music in his or her repertoire makes a philosophical statement about his or her passion for presenting God the best possible musical offering.

Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 2

 

Utilizing Great Music in Worship part 2

More and more Christian musicians seem to not make much distinction between inappropriate, poorly written, mediocre music and great religious music.  Although a Christian does not worship the greatness in music, as I said earlier, most of the time great music is a greater vehicle to represent the message and divine character of our great and wonderful God. However, philosophically speaking, the earnest Christian musician values the use of an excellent musical vehicle with the excellent message of the gospel. It is one thing to give lip service to the appropriateness of the sacred classics but it is another to actually utilize them in public worship. The Christian musician who never includes the sacred classics in his or her repertoire is making a philosophical statement about the awesomeness and solemnity of worshiping the high and lifted up triune God.

Musicing about God, for God with God’s Grace-part 1

 

Musicing about God, for God with God’s Grace-part 1

 

          Colossians 3:16-17 teaches, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”  Many speakers and writers miss the lessons taught in these verses because many skip these verses in their comments or at least they make little or no mention of the music lessons taught here.  I suspect they were so intent on getting to the eighteenth verse so that they could once again tell women to submit that they miss the musical import of these verses in Colossians chapter 3

Singing Uno the Lord with Joy

 Singing Uno the Lord with Joy

Certainly the fact that the Bible repeatedly mentions singing with joy should encourage us to music with outward joy and emotion.  1Chronicles 15:16  states, “And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy [simchah, 8057-exceeding gladness and pleasure].”  Isaiah 12:2-3 states, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.  Therefore with joy [sasown, 8342—cheerfulness, gladness and mirth] shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”  Zephaniah 3:17 states, “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy [giyl, see above] over thee with singing [rinnah, 7440—singing with gladness and joy].”

Sacred musical performance that has been devoid of the aforementioned characteristics has been one of the reasons that so many Christian musicians becoming disillusioned with traditional sacred music.  One of the other reasons has been that some busy musicians have failed to seek the aid and anointing of the Holy Spirit upon their sacred musicing.  Therefore, I contend that a part of being a faithful servant (pistos doulos 4103, 1401) is being completely submissive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Furthermore, a part of faithful musical servanthood involves being as passionate, and being even more passionate, about sacred musicing than one is about secular musicing.

 

 

 

 

 

Giving God Our Best Musical Offering

 

Giving God Our Best Musical Offering

Although the quality of the music we bring to God as an offering matters, musical offerings are not solely about  quality musical performance or high quality musical art forms. Amos 5:22-23 states, “Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.”  God declared that He would not accept Israel’s musical sacrifices because of their spiritual condition and refers to their musical offerings as noise.  God was referring to the spiritual condition of those who “leave off righteousness in the earth” rather than, at least in this case, the quality of their music.  I am drawn to this conclusion by what is recorded in Amos 5:12, “For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.”  The Bible lesson is clear that our musical melodies and our instrumental music will be considered to be noise by our heavenly father if we attempt to music unto him with sin in our hearts.

 

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 the earth (776) and subdue (kabash 3533) it.”  The words dominion (radah 7287) and subdue (kabash 3533) used in Genesis 1:26 mean to *subjugate or to conquer.  The word earth (erets 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.

              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 

God Must Be Lord of All

 

God Must Be Lord of All

A non-descript and fuzzy music philosophy derived from a misunderstanding of the significance of Gen 1:1 will give rise to a faulty musical ministry praxis which is one’s on purposeful way of using music as a secular art form or in one’s church music ministry.  This means that if God, by virtue of ownership, does not become Lord over all of a Christian’s musicing, as an art form and as a musical offering to God in that musician’s music ministry, it will not be very long until God will not be Lord at all over that Christian musician’s musicing.   Because of the causality resulting from faulty music praxis, it will not take very much time until a musician’s music ministry will all become anthropocentric rather than Christocentric.

 

When Christian musicians realize that they do not own, it is much easier to recognize that they are musical servants with responsibilities rather than rights.  Music was created because God willed that it should exist. Therefore, it is not farfetched to come to the logical hypothesis that He still has a will concerning music.  Again we should remember that God created the formal properties of music i.e. the nuts and bolts of music that make it what it is capable of being. However, what a musician does with the formal properties of music is a different matter. When we, as musicians, face Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire we will give a stewardship account of what we did with His musical building blocks.

 

The Lamentations of Jeremiah

The Lamentations of Jeremiah

This old copy of the Bible is opened to the Book of Lamentations.  Lamentations 5:21 records a prayer of Jeremiah, “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.”   Jeremiah knew that Israel had sinned against God.  I am impressed that although his lamentations are recorded for us to read, his simple prayer is also found in the Holy Writ. 

This world is not a friend of grace.  The direction that many nations are headed is away from the plan that God has provided for all mankind.  However, God will hear those who repent.  God will help those who follow Him.  I refuse to throw in the towel.  I believe that God can and will help us if our lamentations are salted with much prayer and supplication before God.  I believe this because God does love us and He does have a wonderful plan for our lives.

Jeremiah 29:13 reminds us, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”  We must be sure that in these days of unrest and trouble we set about to seek God and his will with all our hearts.”                    Matthew 22:37 reminds us that “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”  God knew the hearts and thoughts of the Pharisees and he knows our hearts and thoughts, His plan for us is still as valid as it was for the Pharisees.  We as individuals can receive forgiveness if  each of us will seek Him and love Him with all our whole heart!

 

Walking in God’s Light

Ephesians 5:8-10, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.”

Sometimes Christian musicians get weary of having to justify all of their musical actions.  It would seem that a Christian musician’s faithfulness over several years would be enough to satisfy other Christians.  I am now 73 years old and I still don’t have any problem justifying all of my secular and sacred musicing.  Being accountable to those in charge is just part of my musical ministry.

          However, I want to briefly discuss “Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.”  It is one thing to pleas those who have authority over me, but it is another to set about pleasing my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I have totally missed the point if He is not pleased with my music ministry.  I believe that I will doubtlessly have to give an account of my musicing when I get to the end of my journey on this earth and face him whose eyes are as a flame of fire.  (See Rev. 2:18, Rev. 19:12)  So, I want to be sensitive to the checks of the Holy Spirit  who will guide my day by day music ministry.  How about you?  Do you seek to please Him?