Today I have the topic of worship
on my mind. I just listened to a sermon at my local church on the topic of
worship. Essentially, it was based on Psalms 150 and the message that was given
from it was that one must simply praise God harder and with more enthusiasm,
without mention of the content of that worship. The implication appeared to be
that any song, regardless of the content, will do. This was kind of disturbing
for me because of the passage that says, “God is Spirit: and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). In other words, we
can muster up all the emotions and hand-waving we want, but if we are not
worshipping God in truth, we are not true worshippers of Him. Another element
struck me. Namely that pure emotionalism or experientialism in worship appeared
to be the primary emphasis. By this, I mean that we could be, frankly,
screaming one word over and over at the top of our lungs and call it worship.
This is not worship. A big reason for this is that much worship today has lost
all (or much) semblance of intelligence and depth. At best, in this case, we
are often simply repeating the basic principles of the faith over and over, and
at worst, praising ourselves or some other god. The Bible says, “For everyone
that uses milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But
strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:13-14). I understand that this is
not often attributed to worship; however, as in my last post on the topic,
worship is to take place in every part of life. My point here is that those who
view praise as simply singing anything to or about God (with the proper
application of emotion and expression), cannot be more than “babes” in the
faith, who lack understanding of what worship truly is. They are spiritually
immature. To them, often, the more intense the feeling, the more they are
convinced that they have truly “worshipped.” For this group, there is often a
correlation made between heightened “feelings” and God’s presence, which is
used as justification for this trend. However, this idea is very foreign to the
biblical authors. There is no biblical backing for this whatsoever. The pursuit
of this “presence” in the form of emotional-excitement, is, in fact, a form of
idolatry. It has no connection to God, and one can believe whatever they like
about God (even substituting another religious system) with no consequence to
their felt “presence.” The Christian God is a God of truth, who does not change
(Deut. 32:4; Malachi 3:6). If the
truth of God is not in the music, then what is being worshipped cannot be God.
One
facet of worship is praise (singing, dancing etc.). There are no specific
limitations to what styles or genres of praise one chooses (apart from
endorsing paganism). In other words, it is possible to praise God through old
hymns, contemporary gospel music, and even rock. The main aspect that I am
discussing is the content of worship. Here is another verse to illustrate my
point: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing
one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with
thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). Notice that the “Word of
Christ” (Bible), “teaching,” and “admonishing in all wisdom” is needed for
right worship. These are not separate ideas, but one seamless thought. Worship
then, is not and cannot be anti-intellectual! It must be wedded with truth,
thanksgiving, exhortation, teaching, and application of Christ’s Word. In the
past, theologians would be the people who wrote the worship music. Today,
however, it seems that anyone who fancies poetry or tune feels qualified to
write. Yet, this is not about qualifications, but content; a content that
teaches, exhorts, challenges, and brings the worshippers closer to God in
spirit and in truth, as He ought to always
be the object of that worship. Macarthur wrote, concerning the
recent-historical shift in worship music:
“[In the
mid-nineteenth century and earlier Christian music was] composed with a
deliberate, self-conscious, didactic purpose. They were written to teach and
reinforce biblical and doctrinal concepts in the context of worship directed to
God. In other words, the kind of worship they embodied made demands on the
human intellect. [It] aimed to praise God by extolling and proclaiming His
truth in a way that enhanced the worshiper’s comprehension of the truth. They
set a standard of worship that was as
cerebral as it was emotional. And that was perfectly biblical. After all,
the first and great commandment teaches us to love God with all our heart,
soul, and mind (Matt 22:37). It would
never have occurred to our spiritual ancestors that worship was something to be
done with a subdued intellect. The worship God seeks is worship in spirit
and in truth (John 4:23-24).
But over the
past century and a half, the popular concept of worship has changed as
radically as the forms of music we sing. These days worship is often
characterized as something that happens quite outside the realm of the
intellect. This destructive notion has given rise to several dangerous
movements in the contemporary church. It may have reached its pinnacle in the
phenomenon known as the Toronto Blessing, where mindless laughter and other raw
emotions were thought to constitute the purest form of worship and a visible
proof of divine blessing.
As I have argued
in several of my published works, I believe this modern notion of worship as a
mindless exercise has taken a heavy toll in churches. It has led to a
decreasing emphasis on preaching and teaching and an increasing emphasis on
entertaining the congregation and making them feel good. All of this leaves the
Christian in the pew untrained and unable to discern, and often blithely
ignorant of the dangers all around.
Such
anti-intellectualism has infected our music too. Or perhaps trite and frivolous
music is what spawned so much anti-intellectualism in the first place. Indeed,
it may be the case that modern church music has done more than anything else to
pave the way for the sort of superficial, flippant, content-starved preaching
that is rife today” (p. 116-117, italics added).
(Macarthur,
J. (2005). Fool’s gold: Discerning truth
in an age of error. Wheaton, Illinois: Good News Publishers)
When
I see the music up on the projector, I often find it important to first analyze
the content of the praise music. One can often be surprised at what is actually
being sung and on whom we are giving praise. I cannot sing by good conscience
that which does not praise and whose object is not God. One example, among many
is the following:
All Who are
Thirsty
All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of his mercy
As deep cries out to deep
(we sing)
Come Lord Jesus come (3x)
Holy Spirit come (3x)
As deep cries out to deep (2x)
This
is often sung over and over to give those singing an emotional high. It is not
really saying anything, but rather, focuses on the emotion of repetitiously invoking
a divine name to fall on the audience. Frankly, this song has more in common
with Shamanism than it does Christianity. In Shamanism, the name is considered
to be very powerful, and to invoke power from a person or entity, as in the
preceding song, one simply invokes their name over and over. This often relates
to communing with those invoked spirits by getting into an altered state of consciousness
through repetition and focusing inward. When we look at this song
theologically, we notice that there is little or no theological truth in this
song. As Christians, for example, we already have the Holy Spirit and Christ
dwelling in us. We do not need to call Him in when He is already indwelling us.
What we would get in this instance, is something other than Christ and the Holy
Spirit. Also notice in the first half of the song just how vague the details
are. What is the stream of life? Can anyone just drink of it just because? Is
there some further commitment? Frankly, I could replace the word’s “Christ” and
“Holy Spirit” with almost anything else and it would make little or no
difference to the meaningfulness of that song. Also, notice the self-centric
emphasis. It is only about what God can do for us, rather than our worship of
Him. Once again, there are many, many songs that fall under this
anti-intellectual and truth-less camp, and they are discernable on the basis on
its content.
The
bottom line to this post is that, as Christians, we need to worship God in
spirit and in truth. We cannot please God through purely emotional and shallow
music that does not have God as its object. Rather, it must be biblically and
theologically rich, and call us closer to God. It is not simply saying “God is
good” over and over again. What good? Our good? What is good? We have to make
sure that what we are worshipping is God in truth, and not some emotional high
(which we may mistake as God’s “presence”). If you truly want great examples of
what biblical worship looks like, take a look at the psalms. All of them are
great examples, yet, in them, you will not find even a hint of
anti-intellectualism, meaningless repetition, or a lack of theology. Rather,
they are all theologically rich,
God-centric, and consequentially from the former, emotional. This is worship
that is theologically intelligent, and utilizes our heart, mind, soul, and if
lived out, strength, to love and praise God (The greatest commandment—Mark
12:30). I challenge everyone reading this
post to compare what you read in the Psalms with the contemporary music you
often sing in Church. Take special note of the truth claims, emphasis,
object, direction, and conclusions that the authors make. It may surprise you.
There
is much more that can be said on the subject, and with that, I will leave you
with some quotes from John Macarthur on the importance of the content in praise
music:
“Preaching is
properly seen as an aspect of our worship. And conversely, music is properly seen
as an aspect of the ministry of the Word, just like preaching. Therefore the
songwriter ought to be as skilled in Scripture and as concerned for theological
precision as the preacher. Even more so, because the songs he writes are likely
to be sung again and again (unlike a sermon that is preached only once)” 121
“Like it or not,
today’s songwriters are teachers too. Many of the lyrics they are writing will
soon be far more deeply and permanently ingrained in the minds of Christians
than anything they hear their pastors teach from the pulpit. How many
songwriters are skilled enough in theology and Scripture to qualify for such a
vital role in the catechesis of our people? The question is answered by the
paucity of expression found in many of today’s praise choruses – especially
when compared to some of the classic hymns. Although not true in every case,
the theological depth that generally characterizes contemporary praise choruses
is not as profound and not as precise. In fact, for some songs it might be
appropriate to ask if the contemporary church is collectively guilty of
dishonoring God with our faint praise.” 123
So
the next time you are singing at church, take note of the content and remember
just how important this topic is. And lastly, don’t forget about my challenge!
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