God Owns Music-part 1

God Owns Music-part 1 

            It is imperative that all philosophical basis of music begins with God’s creation, which includes music, and God’s ownership which includes music.  To the Christian, all forms of music come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Colossians 1:16 states:        “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.”  

            St. John 1:3 further explains that “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.”  Once there was no music.  God was before music.  God wanted music so He made music.  No one else made music.  Therefore, no one but God has true ownership of music.  The Christian musician should get rid of the sense of ownership of music.  No spirit filled musician, or any musician for that matter, has the right to say this is my music. Remember, as we considered in another blog, no musician ever has taken 'nothing' and made 'something'. He merely arranges God's musical building blocks. He 'constructs' but he cannot create.

Faith Basis and Christocentric Music Philosophy-part 4

Faith Basis and Christocentric Music Philosophy-part 4

            Fourth, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”  Romans 1:17 teaches very clearly, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”  Most probably one of the most important components of Christocentric music philosophy is its “faith Basis”.  The musician can know about true truth and can be a righteous person but God’s word declares that above all else the Christian must take on the “shield of faith” in order to quench (sbennumi 4570) the fiery darts of the wickedness.  So, God’s word is not negative but rather very positive for those who are willing to follow Bible precepts.

            God’s Word declares that faith basis is capable of extinguishing the work of wicked influence in this world.  If I had made that declaration it wouldn’t have meant very much—however God’s powerful Word promised Christians that faith basis will have great power in this world. Faith based music philosophy must be tempered and influenced by, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints…”

Faith Basis and Christocentric Music Philosophy-part 3

Faith Basis and Christocentric Music Philosophy-part 3

            Second, the Christian musician must put on “the breastplate of righteousness”.  Christian musicians must do the right thing but they must do it in the right way—their “stand” must be saturated with righteous actions.  All of us know that there is a right and a wrong way to stand for truth.   The Christian music philosopher must stand for musical truth that is backed with Bible principles of music and musicing—not personal musical preferences.  All of our sacred musicing must utilize good common musical sense and Bible principles of Christian living.

             Sacred musicing must be congruent with bible principles of worshiping and honoring God. Remember that the Scripture lesson in Ephesians chapter six, states, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.”  Third, this Scripture passage teaches that the Christian must have, “your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” The Christian musician’s demeanor must be characterized with PEACE.

Faith Basis and Christocentric Music Philosophy-part 2

Faith Basis and Christocentric Music Philosophy-part 2

            Regardless of how Christian music philosophers are labeled, the fact remains that the music philosophies of this present world system are influenced by the rulers of darkness of this world.  I have often said that when it comes to influencing music philosophy, Satan did not take the day off.  Furthermore, music philosophy is also influenced by the fact that we are fighting against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Although we must never become paranoid or negative we must always be circumspect enough to realize that we now face spiritual wickedness in the church that has leaders who have a post-postmodern philosophy.

            What should the Christian music philosopher do as he or she wrestles with the major issues of music and musicing?  The discourse in Ephesians chapter six gives some positive help for the earnest Christian musician.  “.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”     God has not left us on this earth without armor to overcome darkness and wickedness in every area of life.  First, God’s Word states, “having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” It is first necessary to by faith believe that there is objective true truth in God’s Word and that God’s true truth extends to the whole of music and musicing.  After this is established the Christian must take a stand on the relevance of this truth.  After the Christian has done all that is possible to stand, he or she must simply STAND and keep taking a stand.  The silent Christian will not affect positive change.

Faith Basis and Christocentric Music Philosophy-part 1

Faith Basis and Christocentric Music Philosophy-part 1

            Ephesians 6:12-19, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints…”

            When we consider music philosophy we must remember that like many other philosophical and spiritual issues “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  It is not popular in many fellowships of believers to write or speak about “the rulers of the darkness of this world” or “against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  Those who do are many times considered to be extremists or to be excessively negative.

Providing for Our Children’s Music Education

Providing for Our Children’s Music Education 

            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. 

          Every Christian parent has the responsibility to care for their children's

spiritual welfare and to give them every opportunity minister musically.

 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.

“Speaking” as “singing” in the Bible

                                           “Speaking” as “singing” in the Bible

            Deuteronomy 32:44 states, “And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.”  Moses was referring to verses1-43 of that chapter being intoned i.e. sung by Joshua and himself.  The word translated spake here in the AV is dabar (16960 which meant, among other shades of meaning, to utter, tell, and to rehearse.  Dabar appears over 1,000 times in the OT.  A.Z. Idelsohn explains, “The texts sung by the Levites were not Psalms alone, but also portions of the Pentateuch.”  Jewish Music in Its Historical Development by A.Z. Idelsohn, p.19.   He references the above song Deuteronomy 32:1-43 as one of the texts sung by the Levite musicians.

            Idelsohn’s work was first published in 1929 and since that time much information has been published about Levite singing of Scripture in ancient Israel.  For instance we now know the entire Old Testament was notated with te’amim below and above the text and therefore all of it was intended to be sung.  We now have knowledge that the notion that, “The vocal song of the Temple, like all religious song among the ancient nations, drew its sap from folk song…” Ibid, p.20 is not an accurate assumption.   The possibilities are that the te’amim were as ancient as the entire of the Holy Writ, that they were revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai or that Moses gained knowledge of accurate musical notation from the Egyptians.  Be that as it may, evidence does not exist at this time to make us believe that the melodies used in sacred music of the Bible were derived from secular music—a notion that many current church musicians would like to believe.

How Ecclesiology Affects Sacred Musicing—part 6

How Ecclesiology Affects Sacred Musicing—part 6

            The word translated ministered was sharath (8334).  Strong’s Dictionary defines sharath as means “to attend as a menial or worshipper”. This definition causes us to understand that their musicing was considered to be a ministry accomplished in humility given in the spirit of a menial worshiper.  These Levite musicians were by no means menials but we are made to understand their musical offerings were not the result of a heady high minded musician whose praxis was artistic personal performance.

            Lest I be misunderstood, I do not mean that sacred music and musicing should not be artistic.  That is far from my belief.  However, we have no evidence that the ancient Levite musicians considered their music and musicing to be an artistic endeavor.  On the contrary they were muscing God’s Word and the purpose of their intoning of the Scriptures by the use of the te’amim was to make the Holy Writ more understandable to the hearer.  From all the Bible evidence and extra biblical ancient writings that are extant today, we understand that they considered music in worship to be an opportunity to cause the hearer to be drawn nearer to YAHV.  They considered their musicing to be for educational and spiritual purposes.  Sometime over the centuries Christians have lost the concept of their musicing “building a wall around the Torah”.  Instead, Post postmodern musicians are building a “bill of rights” for their music and musicing.

How Ecclesiology Affects Sacred Musicing—part 5

How Ecclesiology Affects Sacred Musicing—part 5

            Now let us view sacred music and musicing under the ecclesiological view that Christ and His church is the purpose and goal of all sacred musicing.  How does this view actually affect the way a Christian musician musics unto God?  This view removes the notion that sacred musicing is a human artistic endeavor that is under the control and ownership of the one who is doing the musicing.  Philosophically the musician no longer refers to “my” musicing or “my” ministry because this Christian has given up the notion of ownership.  The concept of musical ownership has been replaced with the responsibility of being a “…good and faithful servant…” (Matthew 25:21)

            The Christian who operates under the ecclesiological view that all sacred music and musicing comes under Christ and His church believes that its ultimate purpose and goal is first and foremost servanthood which the Holy Spirit may use in the process of building the Church of Jesus Christ.  The Bible concept of musical servanthood is at least as old as the Levite musicians mentioned in the Tabernacle as explained in 1Ch 6:31-32,  “And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after that the ark had rest.  And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order.” 

How Ecclesiology Affects Sacred Musicing—part 4

How Ecclesiology Affects Sacred Musicing—part 4

            So, one’s understanding of ecclesiology will affect how that Christian musician musics unto God.  If Christ is the chief cornerstone of all of a Christian’s musicing, then Christ is preeminent in that musician’s philosophy and praxis of all music used in worship because He owns the whole of music.  The musicer does not have rights but rather responsibilities.  The Christian musician who believes that he or she has musical rights is no longer a servant but an owner of his or her music, and music ministry.  This   ecclesiological view gives the musician control and authority over music and musicing that prevents Christ from having the preeminence over music in His church.

            The ecclesiological window through which a Christian views music will determine who has ownership, who is in charge, who gets the Glory, to whom we music, of the whole of music and specifically sacred music and musicing.  Every Christian must make a decision as to whether his or her music praxis is anthropocentric or Christocentric.  If one’s praxis has the musician at the helm, then that musician’s musicing may be autonomous.  If the musician operates under the presupposition God set music in motion or if it evolved into being than its goals may be anthropocentric because it is the “creation” of human endeavor.