Are You Too Busy to Commune With God?

Are You Too Busy to Commune With God?

            It is possible for a Christian musician to become so busy doing good things that he or she neglects being good.  2Timothy 3:5 states, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”  Malachi 3:2-3 asks and answers the question, “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”  A musician’s musical offerings will not be accepted by the LORD unless they are given “in righteousness”.

            The Hebrew word tsadaqah (6666) translated here as righteousness means with moral virtue.  So, if a Christian musician is not truly a righteous person, his or her musical offerings and ministry may be considered to be wood, hay, and stubble in the sight of God (I Corinthians 3:11-13).  Also, 1Cointhians 3:3 explains that, “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.” I do not want to become so busy that I fail to keep up with my spiritual walk with God.  When I face Him whose eyes are “as a flame of fire” (Revelation 19:12), I do not want to then realize that being busy had caused me to not be a truly righteous musical servant.

 

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day  

Heavenly Father, search my heart and see if there is any wicked way in me.  Purify my heart of anything that would offend you.  Help me to give You musical offerings in righteousness.  Lord, I do not want my musical ministry to be wood, hay, and stubble in your sight.  Help my heart to be hot toward you.  Please do not let my ministry not be about religion only, but about the outpourings of relationship with You.  These things I pray in Your holy name.  Amen.  

Song for the Day Purify My Heart by Jeff Nelson  

Thought for the Day  

Why do so many musicians resist the belief that God can and will purify our hearts in this life?

 

Religion or Relationship?

Religion or Relationship? 

            It is one thing to be involved in a religion that believes in and is centered on God, but it is another to have a relationship with God.  It is one thing to say prayers to God, but it is another to commune with God.  It is one thing to believe in God, but it is another to believe God.  Being associated with a religion that recognizes God as one to whom one can say prayers is not the same as having a real relationship with God the father, Son and the Holy Spirit.  

            Second Timothy 3:5 talks of the spiritual condition of “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away”.  Certainly it is possible for a musician to go through all the formalities of worshiping god and at the same time not really believing what god has said in His Word.  So, we are brought directly to the question, are you, as a church musician involved in a religion or a relationship? 

 

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

I believe the “Music is benign” and “anything goes” church music theories have done more to debauch sacred music than any other single influence in the last century.

 

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 10

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 10 

            As we mentioned yesterday many branches of absolutist music philosophy believe that music’s meaning is part of a closed system that does not relate in any way to life outside of music.  Christian musicians have fallen into this philosophical pit by the thousands in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This philosophical viewpoint became the easy way out of taking the responsibility of discerning just what on earth the “joyful sound” is philosophically.  This belief became the basis for a musical praxis that released the Christian musician from the responsibility of knowing if the musical genres they use in music worship are carnal forms of musicing.  Because of this belief their often unwritten and unspoken thesis became “There is nothing sacred about the music part of music” i.e. its formal properties do not matter when musicing unto God.

            All a Christian musician has to believe is that in the context of musicing unto God the music part of music says nothing, represents nothing, means nothing and is incapable of exerting any positive or negative influence on the performer or auditor and he or she is free of any philosophical restraint. This lackluster music philosophy allows the use of a music praxis based on the belief that “anything goes, anything works, and anything is appropriate” for public or private worship. P.S. We will Continue with part 11 in a few days.

 

Thought for the Day-

Thought for the Day-  

If it was true that music is part of a “closed system” then it would be an autonomous art.  However, this theory is false since no part of God’s creation escapes the Lordship of Christ. 

 

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 9

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 9  

            Absolutists believe that musical meaning lies exclusively within the work of music itself.  In other words, to most absolutists music is not about anything because its meaning is its own and thereby it is a “closed system”.  Remember that these absolutists believe that music’s meaning lies in the perception and understanding or the musical outside influence. 

            Another school of absolute music philosophy called absolute expressionism disagrees with the main stream of absolutism and teaches that music’s relationships are capable or exciting feelings and emotions in the listener and performer.  This belief has become known as “arousal theory”.  Some music philosophers believe that these feelings and emotional meanings are actually embodied (found in the music) or are designated or referential (assigned) to the music. 

            Still another school of music philosophy called formalism teaches that music has no meaning at all.  These philosophers believe that music is enjoyed simply by appreciation of its formal properties or structure and technical construction.  These strict formalists believe that music does not have a subject or meaning beyond the combinations of notes we hear and that music only speaks or means nothing but else but its sounds and that these sounds have no relationship to life outside of the music.  This philosophical belief is what I call the “music sound is benign and in a bubble” theory. 

Thought for the Day-

Thought for the Day-   

 When a Christian musician is making a choice concerning whether or not to listen to and perform a style of music, he or she must first consider the particular nature of that music before assessing its value to one’s whole-life.

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 8

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 8  

            I believe somewhat like Leonard B. Meyer who wrote the book Emotion and Meaning in Music that the meaning that comes from music will tend to have at least some connection to meaning which is found outside of the formal properties of the music.  I believe that all musicing i.e. “doing” and listening to music is affected somewhat by the references one brings to the great art of music from the world outside of music.  I also believe that although some of music’s meaning is intellectual (cerebral), some of its meaning is emotional (aroused from the sounds).

            Those who believe that music’s essential nature, its essential meaning, and its real value are musics and musics alone will most often not admit that any of this meaning is imported from the world around us, because they believe that music is a closed system.   I do not believe any of the above theories because, although I am not a strict referentialist by definition, I do believe that association from the outside world does affect the music we listen to and perform.  Although a Christian musician can and should learn from the major schools of music philosophy, he or she does not have to align his or her music philosophy with any of them.  A Christian musician does not have to swallow the tenants of one or all of the various schools of music philosophy “hook line and sinker” in order to develop a congruent Bible based music philosophy. 

 

Thought for the Day-

Thought for the Day-
In my opinion church musicians who desire to present religious music with sexual innuendos have a heart condition that needs cleansing.