Christ Arose

 

Christ Arose

When I was a boy no one that I had contact with doubted that Christ was real or that He arose from the dead.  I know there were plenty of atheists and agnostics but no one in the little town of Fort Scott Kansas ever got on the KMDO radio talk show, put an article in the Fort Scott Tribune, or ever gave a speech against the reality of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.  Today, we live in a world where people openly doubt the existence and deity of Christ.

          I am strengthened by the true truth of this gospel hymn.  So, let me declare my credo:  Christ was born of a virgin, He was begotten of God, He left the portals of heaven and took on the form of a man, He was tempted like we are—yet without committing any sin, he lived on this earth while he ministered, He suffered, He died on a cross for my sin and the sin of the whole world, He died and rose again and is sitting at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us all.  Hallelujah!

          This hymn is saturated with deep true truth which is backed by the inspired Word of God.  Regardless of what postmodern men tend to believe.  Christ was crucified by cruel unbelieving men and was dead and placed in a tomb and the great stone was sealed.  This hymn declares, “Vainly they watch His bed, vainly they seal the dead.”  However, the story does not end there for it declares, “Death cannot keep his Prey. He tore the bars away.”  This hymn declares the power of Jesus my Savior and my Lord over death, hell, and the grave.  Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph o’er His foes, He arose a Victor from the dark domain, and He lives forever, with His saints to reign. He arose! He arose!  Hallelujah! Christ arose!

 

Thought for the Day

Those who wish to reign with Christ in Heaven must experience His saving and cleansing power in this life.

 

Secular and Sacred Music-part 2

 

Secular and Sacred Music-part 2    

 Some of the music mentioned in the Bible was not performed to honor God.  For instance, 1Samuel 18:7, “And the women answered one another (anah 6030)[i.e., they performed the music responsorally] as they played [sachaq (saw-khak') 3782], and said [i.e., sang], Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.  And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?”  This song was sung responsorally, not as a part of public worship to God, but rather to honor David. The word sachaq means to make merry or to make sport.  There is no indication that that their musicing was of a religious nature. The Bible makes no condemnation of these women’s secular musicing, neither does it intimate in any way that it was an occurrence of God honoring worship that could rightly be considered to be sacred musicing.

 I Samuel 21:11 and 29:5 both mention this singing and identify it as  musicing which honored David.  These two verses do not make any mention of God or praise being made to God by the performers.  Neither did King Achish nor the princes of the Philistines, nor did King Saul give any indication that this instance of responsorial singing (anah), playing (sachaq),  and dancing or piping (mecholah 4246) was sacred musicing to God. Certainly, the musicing that took place around the molten calf made from golden earrings of the people which was recorded in Exodus 32:1-4 and Deuteronomy 9:16-25 was not sacred musicing. Neither was the musicing that took place at the order of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3 an instance of sacred musicing.  Also,  musicing at the party for the prodigal son’s return,  as recorded in Luke chapter 15, should be considered to be sacred musicing.

 

Secular and Sacred Music-part 1

 

Secular and Sacred Music-part 1

Considering that  all of the muscing in the life of a Christian is a  sacred experience blurs the universal understanding of sacred and secular or sacred and profane music and musicing.  The theological belief that  there is essentially no difference in these two generas when a Christian performs them did not originate from general music culture, but rather from 20^th and 21^st century protestant Christian culture. However, just because a Christian musician’s life is ultimately a life of worship and service to God  does not move secular musicing over into the sacred category philosophically.  

Everything that a Christian musics must not bring a reproach upon the cause of Jesus Christ.  However, it is an error of philosophical judgment to believe that all of a Christian’s musicing is a sacred experience based on the understanding that ultimately a Christian’s life is a life of honor, service, and worship to God.  Everything that a Christian performs is not necessarily sacred musicing. The reason for this understanding of the whole of music and musicing is that some  of the music that Christians perform is not in any way addressed to God as its object, to religious matters, or to direct intentional praise and honor of God. The fact that this type of music and musicing does not have God as its object does not negate the intent of a committed Christian performer to live out his or her life as “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.”

 

The Most Important Thing for a Musician to Hide

 

The Most Important Thing for a Musician to Hide

“Psalm 119:11-12, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.  Blessed art thou O lord, teach me thy statutes.

Musicians who are too busy to read God’s Word regularly seem to suppose that God will pour knowledge into their brain like oil through a funnel.  How can a musician honestly ask God to teach him or her His statutes if that Christian has not read them, studied them, and hence, has hidden them in his or her heart? 

          The Hebrew word translated statutes is derived from chaqaq (2710) which means to engrave something.  So, the psalmist is stating that he has engraved god’s statutes deep on his heart.  This connotes deep study, care and respect for what God’s word teaches.  The word teach lamad (3925) means to goad.  Are we as Christian musicians willing to submit our minds to the rod of the Lord?  Many, many times in my life I have found myself saying “ouch” when the Lord has finally awakened my mind with the goading of His instructive rod.  I read God’s word but failed to understand what it was teaching.  Only after the rod of correction was I able to get it through my head that God was trying to teach me something important.

Thought for the Day

 We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit every day to order our steps in the way we should go.  Either we will submit and follow, or we will most likely lose our way.

 

Understanding Sacred Music

 

Understanding Sacred Music

The reason the Levite musicians could prophesy “in the words of God” for the service of the LORD is simply that they understood sacred music.  The Bible does not tell us that these musicians were proficient in all the artistic wisdom of Hurrians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Sumerians, or Akkadians, but rather in the sacred songs of the Temple.  Likewise, in the New Testament, in the Ephesian letter, church musicians are admonished to “speak to yourselves in psalms (psalmos 5568) and hymns (humnos 5215) and spiritual songs (pneumatikos 4152 oide 5503).”  The New Testament Christian musician is counseled to be knowledgeable in the songs of the Lord.  Colossians 3:16 also confirms that the Christian musician must be knowledgeable in the songs of the Lord when it states, “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”.  These church musicians were knowledgeable in the psalms of the Bible, hymns or songs of laudation to God and spiritual or non-carnal songs.

Thinking Through What Really Matters-part 4

 

Thinking Through What Really Matters-part 4

Evangelical Christians are in danger of accepting a new music philosophy of worship that has lost its historical meaning.  Historically, church music has represented the worldview of Christians – not the worldview of those who were anti-Christ.  Much of what contemporary Christian music represents is not clearly a Christ-centered worldview.  Music style is one of the ways for a composer to present his worldview.  This is especially true when a style of music like rock music is so almost universally associated with a sub-culture.

 All over the world people of most nations know that rock music is associated with mistrust, sex, drugs, and rebellion.  So, some churches have accepted a style of music that muddies the water of clear Christian witness.  When Satan completes his stratagems concerning church music the new synthesis witness is saturated with the antichrist witness simply by association.  Is this theory farfetched?  I do not think so.

 

Thinking Through What Really Matters-part 3

 

Thinking Through What Really Matters-part 3

            I hear well-meaning pastors and worship leaders assert that we do not have to preserve our Christian heritage of how we have musiced unto God.  That is seriously flawed logic if I ever heard it.  Nothing lasts unless it has a champion.  We are unwise if we think for one single moment that Christian musical worship cannot be, over a period of time, debauched by secular influences.  If the church persists in its assertion that there is no difference between the sacred and the profane, our musical worship will without doubt amalgamate and mutate into a new synthesis that is not Christian.

Although the inspired writer was not addressing music or musicing, what is being taught in Ezekiel 44:23 extends to how we music unto God.  Eze 44:23 very clearly that it is the responsibility of leadership to make a distinction between the sacred and the profane when it states, “And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” One of Satan’s stratagems is to amalgamate music styles to the point that the church has no way to separate sacred music from secular music.  He is doing the same thing with God’s plan for the family.  Same sex marriage so confuses gender and the holy bond of marriage that future generations will have very twisted views concerning marriage and family.  Satan is doing the same thing with our understanding that being a born-again Christian means a total life changing relationship with a personal infinite God.  The whole “added dimension” theory effectively does away from the “old man” versus the “new man” and passing from death unto life when one becomes a truly born-again Christian.  Once Satan has convinced the church that becoming a Christian only means the old man plus an encounter with Christ, being born again has lost its former meaning.

 

Thinking Through What Really Matters-part 2

 

Thinking Through What Really Matters-part 2

That being said, those who are responsible for safe-guarding corporate Christian worship have the right and responsibility to set guidelines for how a particular Christian fellowship of believers will music unto God.  Frankly, that means that there some ways of musicing must be rejected because of their destructive influence.  When we stand at the judgement before Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire (Revelation 1:14b) we will give an account for what matters in church music.  Since Church Music Matters and all music in the life of a Christian matters so much, a Christian must define philosophically just what his or her musical convictions are.  It is my belief that we may be required to give up some of our musical preferences, but we cannot remain true to true truth and give up our convictions concerning music that are Bible based.

For instance, if every church in the world denies the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the inspiration of the whole Bible, the inerrancy of all Scripture they are all still true.  If the whole world denies that the music part of Church Music Matters, it still is true.  I believe that God demands that we stand up for truth concerning church music.  We must be like the energizer bunny.  We must keep going and going and going and going and going...  If it takes a constant fight to ensure that we preserve our Christian heritage of music by rejecting trends and methods of musicing that are destructive to Christian worship, we must keep fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting…

 

Thinking Through What Really Matters-part 1

 

Thinking Through What Really Matters-part 1

There are a host of things about church music that matter to a conservative Bible believing Christians.  Style matters, words matter, how we arrange the elements of music matters, what this music does to the whole life of the auditor matters, how appropriate the music is matters, how suitable it is matters, and what God thinks about this music matters.

            Since conservatives and liberals think differently style phobia is a concomitant of both views.  Peaceful, agreeable co-existence therefore is not possible. Since conservative musicians do have style phobia, we must carefully analyze why we take such an adamant view.  Does our praxial view involve conviction or preference?  If it is based on preference then it is certainly not worth all the fuss.  In this post postmodern age more and more Christians are beginning to recognize that believers in Christ need each other.  Since we live in a post-Christian age, all Christian believers are in the minority worldwide.  Splitting  into two “belief” camps over music style has hurt our worldwide Christian witness.  In some cases it is necessary, but before believers break fellowship with other Christians  they must be sure that what they are splitting and splintering over is truly destructive to Christian worship. 

Putting Specifics to What One Believes-part 2

 

 

Putting Specifics to What One Believes-part 2

As to the issue of naming names, St Paul mentioned Demas in 2Timothy 4:10 and in Galatians 2:11 Paul mentions Peter, ”But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed”.  Note that Paul mentioned people by name in his letters to other Christians.  Certainly modern thought would consider that St, Paul was not politically correct, but I would remind the reader that he wrote these letters under the inspiration of the blessed Holy Spirit.  It is one thing to think about what is right and wrong with religious music, but it won’t do much good if we do not share, in love, that knowledge with other Christians.

1John 4:1 teaches, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”  It seems that almost everyone is an expert on church music in this century.  Just as prevalent is the notion that worship leaders have heard from God that this or that way of musicing is “of the Spirit”.  Certainly, what 1John teaches in the fourth chapter of his epistle is apropos today.  Every worship leader is responsible to “try the spirits whether they are of God”.  A wise man once said, “You should believe almost none of what you hear and only about half of what you see”.