DIFFERENT MUSIC - PRAISING THE SAME GOD

This was the 7th message in the Heart of Worship Series. After laying the foundation with stories and principles of worship in Scripture, it was time to get more specific about how these things apply to us. This includes the area of music. It is the most controversial thing in a church, and yet it has to be addressed in a biblical way.


DIFFERENT MUSIC – PRAISING THE SAME GOD
Ephesians 5:15-21

Please turn in your Bible to Ephesians, chapter 5.

Have you ever played: “Name That Tune”? I would like to play that for a few moments, as we begin to consider this issue of music in worship. And to show how powerful music is from our culture, and how long we remember it, I have chosen some selections from television programs that first aired back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Even if you don’t watch TV and even if your not over 60 years old, you may still recognize these theme songs. If you think you know it, just say it out loud.
· Track 3 - Flintstones
· Track 15 - The Beverly Hillbillies
· Track 20 – The Addams Family
· Track 28 – Gilligan’s Island
· Track 32 – The Andy Griffith Show
· Track 35 – The Twilight Zone
· Track 50 – Mission Impossible
· Track 58 – Hawaii Five-O

Even though some of these are older, the fact is, many of you still knew them. Why? Because these shows used music to help their show be recognizable; and even if you don’t remember an episode of the show, even if you have never seen the show, you may very well know the music that is their theme song. Music has great power. It connects us with a show, a company, a relationship. Some people hear a song, and they remember someone they dated, because that was “their song”. If you hear certain music, you identify it with a circus, or a sports event, or a funeral. And the same can be said for worship in the church.

We have been reviewing a working definition for worship. Do any of you know it by heart yet?

“Worship is responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”

Music is very powerful. It connects us to who God is and what He has done, responding to Him in a more memorable way than just saying words of praise.

If this is your first message from our Heart of Worship Series, this is a little of context. We spent the first 6 weeks of this series building up to some specific things the Bible has to say about music and our worship services.We have laid the foundation in previous weeks with some basic principles and stories of worship. Today, we begin to look more specifically at the musical part of worship. Music is used in all kinds of ways in our culture.

It is used when you call businesses and they put you on hold. It is used at sporting events, to get a crowd going. It is used to celebrate graduations, weddings or other great accomplishments. It is used in almost every area of life and at all stages of life. Most people listen to music in their leisure time, by choice. Some wouldn’t know what to do if they didn’t have earphones on and music playing! It is just a natural part of everyday life.

Music is also used in all kinds of ways in the Bible. Former President of Baptist Bible College and Seminary in PA – Dr. Milo Thompson, wrote a paper entitled The Ministry of Music. In that paper he lists several ways in which music was used in the Bible. Let’s look at some. And as we do, try to think about how, centuries later, we still use music in some of these same types of ways:
· Saying goodbye to a relative
Genesis 31:27 – “Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre?”

· Giving signals
Numbers 10:2-4 – “Make two silver trumpets. Of hammered work you shall make them, and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp. And when both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the entrance of the tent of meeting. But if they blow only one, then the chiefs, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.”

· Helping people to remember God’s teachings
Deuteronomy 31:19,22 – “Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel…So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.”

This reminds me of little song that our family has come up with. We kind of like it when we find out that we were right about something and our spouse was wrong. I won’t tell you how this all started. But, when it comes to light that someone was wrong about something and the other person was right, the person that was right asks the person that was wrong to sing this little ditty: “You were right and I was wrong, that is why I sing this song – you were right and I was wrong”. You can imagine how much fun that it is – atleast for the person that was right! I digress.

· Helping to win a battle
Judges 7:19-21 – “…And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, A sword for the LORD and for Gideon! Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.”

After the tragedy of September 11th, one of the first things we saw was the politicians in Washington, from both sides of the aisle, join hands and sing: God Bless America. The feeling was that we were united and that we were going to fight back – together. A song has that uniting power.

· Praising a hero
Judges 11:32-34 – “So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand…So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel. Then Jephthah came to his home…And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances…”

Cleveland was hoping to hold a parade in a couple of weeks for their world series heroes. Songs were written about them and music most certainly would have accompanied the celebration parade. We love to celebrate heroes, and we love to do it with music.

· Helping to heal a sick or disturbed person
I Samuel 16:23 – “And whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.”

Perhaps you have known people who are soothed and feel better and more relaxed when music is played. It can have a calming effect.

· Entertaining a king and his court
II Samuel 19:33-35 – “Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old…And the king said to Barzillai, Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem. But Barzillai said to the king, How many years have I still to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?..Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women?..”

· Crowing a new king
I Kings 1:39,40 –“So Zadok the priest…had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon. There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, then all the people said, Long live King Solomon! And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise.”

When presidential candidates meet with their parties and are nominated by their party, there is music; and when a new US President is inaugurated, there will be music played at the celebrations. So it was thousands of years ago in the Bible

· Helping a prophet know and speak God’s message
II Kings 3:14,15 – “And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts lives…now bring me a musician. And when the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon him.”

You wouldn’t believe the kind of encouragement I have coming to speak after I have heard special music or sang a song of praise led by our worship team.

· Accompanying a procession
I Chronicles 13:7,8 – “And they carried the ark of God on a new cart…And David and all Israel were rejoicing before God with all their might, with song and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets.”

· Celebrating a victory
II Chronicles 20:27,28 – “Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies. They came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets, to the house of the LORD.”

· Mourning the death of a king
II Chronicles 35:23-25 – “And the archers shot King Josiah…And he died…All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day…”

Music has been played at every funeral I have ever been to.

· Worshipping, praising, and thanking God
Ezra 3:10,11 – “And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the directions of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever…”

This, of course, is mentioned often in Scripture, that accompanies praise of God in worship. The song of Moses we mentioned a few weeks ago was written to thank God for His deliverance. Most worship services being held today around the world will use music to praise and worship God.

· Dedicating a newly completed building
Nehemiah 12:27 – “And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.”

· Making fun of someone
Job 30:1,9,10 – “But now they laugh at me…And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them. They abhor me; they keep aloof from me…”

Perhaps you have heard political songs that make fun of certain politicians; or other songs written to mock certain groups or people.

· Making a party more enjoyable
Isaiah 5:12 – “They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts…”

Many parties have some type of music don’t they?

· Making work go faster and seem easier
Isaiah 16:10 – “And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting.”

Many people that are allowed, choose to listen to music while they work. Most businesses I walk into have music playing somewhere in the building.

· Mourning the death of a relative
Matthew 9:18,23,24 – “And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping…”

· Playing Games
Matthew 11:16,17 – “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.”

· Welcoming a relative
Luke 15:25-27 – “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.”

Here is the thing. We know that in our world, music is used for just about everything. But, we should also know, that it was the very same way in the biblical world. And the Bible records the variety of life circumstances in which music was used. It is important to note, that music was very important to people in Bible times, and just like today, it was used for good or evil. Music was a part of every day life, just as it is today.

How powerful is music? “F. Olin Stockwell was one of the last missionaries out of the People’s Republic of China. He tells, in Meditations from a Prison Cell, how the Chinese indoctrinated their young people. By the hundreds, their youth spent their morning in study. But in the afternoons, they would sit in the presence of a leader with a pitch pipe, who used simple songs to teach phrase after phrase of the communist dictum. The young people learned all the doctrines of hate and fear and domination by way of melody.”

Andrew Fletcher said: “Give me the making of the songs of a nation and I care not who makes it’s laws.”

How powerful is music? We hear songs over and over again, and before long we know the lyrics but may not even be thinking about what they mean. As a young boy, my parents took us to a concert that featured a gospel group turned country music group, which sang pretty good music. But, the group that sang just before them was singing a song that included a line about hiring alchoholics to decorate our home. Well, my brother and I had heard this song several times on the radio even though we didn’t really know what it was about. When the group sang it, my brother just instinctively started to sing along. My parents looked at him with the death stare for what he was singing. But, we all know how music affects us, and we don’t even realize sometimes how much.

In His book My Heart’s Desire, David Jeremiah states: “While we may not think we’re taking in the lyrics, our minds are always busy with work that passes beneath the personal radar. Ask the gurus of Madison Avenue about the power of repeated words and phrases. They affect what we buy and what we believe.”

D.L. Moody, the renowned evangelist once said: “Music is just as important as preaching, sometimes more.” What he is saying is that music is that powerful, and can be used for incredible impact in worship. Why do you think, that in times past when evangelists and churches would do times of invitation at the end of services, asking people to come forward, that music would be played. It wasn’t just used as something to fill dead air, it was used to motivate people to be moved emotionally, so that they would move out of their seats and to the altar for a time of decision.

The power of music should not scare us away from using it in worship. In fact, the Scriptures encourage us to use the powerful tool of music for good in our worship services and life worship. One example of that is in Ephesians 5.

Just as music was a part of everyday life in the Scriptures and today, so worship music was a natural part of worship services. We will look at several of the different uses of music in Scripture, but let’s first go to the New Testament and listen to what God says through the Apostle Paul about the use of music in our worship. We are in Ephesians 5.

Remember that the epistles, many of them written by the Apostle Paul, were directed to churches – to believers, whom regularly met to worship God. And much of what Paul wrote was to be practiced in those early churches, as it pertained to worship. They are instructive to us as well, because they give us principles to live by and principles to worship by. God does not expect us to do everything exactly the way they did it 2,000 years ago. But, He does expect us to capture the same biblical principles and apply it to our day as we worship Him.

Let’s get the context here and read verses 15-21:

Ephesians 5:15-21 – “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

In the context of the command to live our lives wisely, walking with God, music is included. Instead of being controlled by alcohol, for example, which is unwise living, he says we are to be under the control of the Holy Spirit, which is wisdom. Instead of filling our human spirit with things that will destroy us, we are to fill our spirit with what will uplift us and encourage others.

And did you notice who gets the glory for all the music that comes from our overflowing spirits? Did you notice what all the different kinds of worship music is supposed to do? It is to give praise and glory to God. And it is to be done with hearts full of joy.

Charles Spurgeon said: “When you speak of Heaven, let your face light up, let it be irradiated with a heavenly gleam, let your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of Hell – well, then your ordinary face will do.”

So, then let’s concentrate on the three different kinds of music, listed in verse 19, that can be used to give glory to God in our worship: Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. There wasn’t just one type of music to be used in the early church worship, but a variety. This is an important principle we can learn from.

In His paper, Dr. Thompson offers another important thought here: “There is variety or diversity in music – psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs- for the purpose of worshipping God, ministering to mankind, and allowing for personal tastes (within a culture and with multiple cultures) and states of life. A great deal of variety in musical styles is possible because of difference in human personality, the abundance of cultural differences, and the different purposes for one’s expression (singing to two audiences - God and one another ). The church’s music program should be representative of this diversity, offering variety in worship.

One part of that variety is mentioned here as Psalms. This refers to Scriptural psalms set to music, songs of praise. You may already know that the Psalms were a huge part of the worship book for the people of God in Scripture. If you read the Psalms, you will see many notes to choir directors and those playing instruments, etc., because they were used in their corporate worship as a nation. There are more songs of praise in Scripture than just the particular book of Psalms, but this is certainly one place to start.

Let’s apply the command to sing Psalms together – right now. Please stand and sing with us, a song that is based on:

Psalm 84:1,2,10-12 – “How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trust in you!”

Song: BETTER IS ONE DAY

It is great to read that Psalm and how much the people of God want to be in God’s presence and praise Him for His faithfulness. But, how much more powerful when these same words are set to appropriate, corresponding music! It brings to the surface emotions within us, and it is like putting an exclamation point to these words – the music causing the words to impact us to a greater degree.

The praises of Scripture are to be a part of our worship. If we just sing hymns and personal, spiritual songs, we are missing an important part of musical worship – singing the Scriptures themselves!

But, this is not the only type of music to sing in our praise to God. There are also the hymns. Now, we first need to admit and understand that the hymns we sing today are not the hymns he is referring to in Ephesians 5:19. They’re not? No. The hymns we sing today were written after the Scriptures were written. However, I do believe that our hymns today, for the most part, carry the same principles that the hymns of the early church did.

According to Dr. Thompson, Hymns were worship songs about God and His character and works, expressing the theological depth of the Christian faith. That is not really different than many of today’s hymns. The principle is that the hymns have a lot of depth doctrinally and focus on God Himself. But, you should know that introducing hymns to churches was not an easy task.

Benjamin Keach, a Baptist pastor of the seventeenth century, is credited with introducing hymn singing to English Baptist churches. He began first by teaching the children to sing because they loved it. The parents, however, did not enjoy singing hymns. They were convinced that singing was “foreign to evangelical worship.” A major controversy occurred when Pastor Keach tried to introduce hymn singing to the whole congregation in his church at Horsley Down.

Finally, in 1673, he got them to agree to at least sing a hymn after the Lord’s supper by using the biblical precedent of Mark 14:26. However, Keach allowed those who objected to doing this to leave before the hymn. Six years later, in 1679, the church agreed to sing a hymn on days of “public thanksgiving.” Another fourteen years passed before the church could agree that hymn singing was appropriate in worship. The controversy was costly, causing twenty-two of Benjamin Keach’s members to leave and join a “non-singing church.”

This kind of stuff happened way back at the beginning of introducing hymns into the church – people arguing about them and leaving churches over them!

We are told in Ephesians 5:19 to use hymns in order to praise God. Our hymns today, in principle, help us to do that. Let’s apply this right now by standing and singing together, and consider these truths about out awesome God:

Song: IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE
I love the hymns that have such a majestic feel to them, as we lift up the name of God, speaking of His character and glory! It is important to sing Psalms, worship songs from the Scripture that emphasize Praise of God. It is important to sing Hymns, worship songs that emphasis God’s character and what He has done. But, there is still more variety for our worship. Just the Psalms and just the hymns aren’t enough, according to God’s Word. In verse 19, there are also spiritual songs.

What are those? Again, the spiritual songs we sing today are not going to be exactly the same as 2,000 years ago. But, in principle, they are the same. They have been defined as: “an ode that reflects a path or way of life, the experience of a person knowing God, a personal testimony, along with singing Scripture and brief expressions of praise to God.”

Many times, these spiritual songs have a very personal feel to them. Many times, these reflect a personal experience someone has, and they respond to God in song, based on who He is and what He has done from their personal point of view.

The next song we will sing could have been a spiritual song that a certain prophet would have written in response to his life experience. He was a prophet in a time when God had to discipline His people. It was not an encouraging time. In fact, God was going to use another, more wicked nation to do the disciplining of Israel. This was extremely disappointing and confusing to the prophet, Habakkuk. He didn’t understand what God was doing. The nation of Israel had experienced some times of great blessing from God, and now they were going through a dry time, a tough time of trials.

But, Habbakkuk’s concluding remarks leads us into the spiritual song we are going to sing together this morning. Please stand with me as I read and then we will apply this right now as we sing with joyful hearts:

Habakkuk 3:17-19 – “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”

Song: I WILL PRAISE YOU


In his discussion of this passage in Ephesians 5, Dr. Thompson concludes: “Different styles elicit different physical, emotional, and spiritual responses, which should be carefully evaluated for desired results…There is no one style of biblically acceptable music that is more spiritual or sacred than another. The kind of biblically permissible music you like is determined to a great degree by your background and culture. Certain tones and scales sound pleasant to Asian ears, while others sound pleasant to Middle Eastern ears. Africans enjoy different rhythms than South Americans. The Bible does not say that any one of these is superior or wrong per se. Many of the growing, dynamic, intergenerational churches in today’s culture are employing a blend of traditional and nontraditional music.

We will talk more about music next week. But, let me conclude this morning with some suggestions on how to apply the passage from God’s Word to our lives today:
SO WHAT?
1. Understand that our worship music will be different than the worship of the Bible.

Why is that important to accept and admit? Because some believers start to think and act as though they use the worship music that Moses and Noah and Abraham and the Apostle Paul and Jesus used. The fact is: our music is not going to be exactly the same as the Scriptures and it is important to understand that. So, we can never say that our worship music is what was done in the Bible and yours is not!

I think this is a good time to make another important point about how others worship – especially in the area of music. It is the natural tendency of believers and churches to be critical of other believers and churches that worship with different styles. If we will admit that we cannot do exactly what they did in the Bible, then hopefully that carries over to the understanding that just because other people also do not do it exactly like they did thousands of years ago, and just because they don’t do it like we do it, it doesn’t mean they are wrong or dishonoring God.

I love what Warren Wiersbe said, in his book Real Worship, as it relates to learning from other traditions and churches. He said: “Most of my worship experience has been in the fundamentalist independent church tradition, where the word worship was found only on the cover of the hymnal…Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I could learn a great deal about the worship of God from churches that I had excluded from my fellowship. What a rude awakening!...believe me, it wasn’t easy! More than once I longed for those days of comfort and security, when all truth was safely tucked into my notebook, every question answered, and every Christian was accurately identified and pigeonholed.”

Hopefully, we can demonstrate grace in this area of music, understanding this important point.

Although we will never have the exact same worship, we can use the same principles that God gave for worship at all times in all cultures!

2. Apply biblical principle by enjoying different types of worship music

A Psalm and Hymns and spiritual songs are not only going to have different words and emphasis, they are probably also going to vary in style and rhythm and instrumentation. We will discuss this more in the next couple of weeks, but the words are what are emphasized in the Scripture, and the way in which it is sung and the instrumentation used simply had to do with the culture in which it was used.

Since we live here in American in the 21st Century, we hope to apply the biblical principles to our culture in which we worship God. We are not trying to worship exactly like the Hebrews worshiped in the Old Testament or exactly like the early church in Acts. We are interested in praising God, according to His guidelines, in our particular culture, just as believers always have. I believe that is what God expects.

So, although all of us have our own personal preferences when it comes to music to listen and worship to, as a church we will use a variety. And, specifically, we will utilize the principles of Psalms, Hymns and spiritual songs. Let’s enjoy the variety! Let’s appreciate the diversity! Let’s give all that we are to our worship of the one and only true God, whether we are singing a song we like or not. If it is biblical in its content, then let’s sing it with all we have for the glory of God!

The greatest way you can apply this message today is responding to God with a humble, pliable, heart attitude in this area of worship music. Will you take a moment to commit yourself to God, that you are willing to put aside the criticism and concentrate, instead on praising God with other believers in worship, regardless of your personal preferences.

Keep in mind that Ephesians 5 tells us we are to be encouraging and strengthening one another with this music. And since we are not all alike, that means variety and diversity! And that is a biblical thing! Let’s pray.