Music

Music is a universal language, and a tool which needs no translation of words sometimes. “If music be the food of love, play on”, is the first line of the play “Twelfth Night”, by William Shakespeare, and he was a man who knew a bit about drama and the human need to be calm.

We have music all around us 24 hours a day, every day. It’s playing in the supermarkets, shopping malls, radio stations dedicated to various genre, clubs, elevators, and you can’t have missed the masses of people walking around with headphones or earbuds in place listening to their favourite singers and bands. These people, whatever their taste in music, and whether you like their taste or not, are good at expressing their thoughts and inner feelings through the medium of music. Yes, it is universal.

Churches make the most of the gifts of music too, and the singing voices of the congregation, lifting their hearts and voices in praise to the Creator is a good example. We know that He is the creator of all things, and that includes music. The uniting fellowship of singing together is special and unique to the family of God. It can lift your spirits, or move you to tears, and we have to thank our musicians for using their talents in this way to foster a spirit of worship.

Good musicians don’t just happen. They didn’t decide one day to pick up an instrument and hey presto, they turned out a melody. A player of any musical instrument will tell you it is hard work, especially at the beginning, because they have to keep at it. Our faith is a bit like that. We don’t reach the fullness of our faith quickly, and in fact we have to practice it daily. There may be times when we don’t feel that God is close, or that he is listening to our prayers, but we have the assurance that He is near, and He knows our frame that we are frail. Don’t give up or lose hope. God is faithful and He will never let us down. I like the way the Good News Bible translates 1 Thessalonians 1:3 when it says…..

For we remember before our God and Father how you put your faith into practice, how your love made you work so hard, and how your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ is firm.

Persevere

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Hebrews 10:36 NIV

Have you ever tried to learn a musical instrument? When you were in primary school, did your mum send to piano lessons? If the church had a praise band, did you want a guitar? That way you could join them, after all they sound like they need a new and better player. With a brand new, expensive instrument. Right, now I have a piano, or a guitar, or a flute, or a clarinet…. and the list goes on. Ok so you are ahead of me because you have figured out what’s missing.

Learning. Practicing. Long hours spent when your pals are out in the sunshine, and here you are, stuck in the house trying to bang out “Three Blind Mice” for the twentieth time. It’s not fun anymore. The shine has gone off the desire to play in the Praise Band, or for the choir.

In the same way, if we want to “receive what God has promised” we must stick at practicing our faith. That includes when things are not going our way, and when we have those serious, unanswered questions that we expect from God right NOW! The writer of Hebrews, generally thought to be Paul, makes it very clear that although the gift of salvation is free, we must persevere and see it through to completion. The reward for persevering with your music is great, but look at the reward when we press on in faith for God’s prize. Makes it all worthwhile, doesn’t it?

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-15 NIV

Symphony Of Praise

Encourage each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord. Ephesians 5:19

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Psalm 100:1,2

So the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 51:11

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16

When we come to God, once we claim Him as Lord, we will bring (or at least try to bring) our best gifts and talents for His good pleasure to use, and we do this willingly. Our gifts or offerings are useful in God’s hands and we must let him be God. But he does not like our second best, especially when we already know it’s second best. These best gifts could include speaking, teaching, preaching, music, singing, friendships, fellowships, and the list could go on.

Is it good enough to offer God a cacophony of disharmonic noise when we can offer Him the better offering of music and song straight from a redeemed and thankful heart?

At harvest time, Cain brought a gift to the Lord. He brought some of the food that he grew from the ground, but Abel brought some animals from his flock. He chose some of his best sheep and brought the best parts from them. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift. But he did not accept Cain and his offering. Cain was sad because of this, and he became very angry. The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why does your face look sad? You know that if you do what is right, I will accept you. But if you don’t, sin is ready to attack you. That sin will want to control you, but you must control it.” Genesis 4:4-7

It's War

I don’t know what else to call it, except an all out war a bit like the American Civil War of 1861-65 but this has already lasted longer. Is this happening in the Middle East, Africa or Asia? No it’s much closer to home, it’s in our evangelical, progressive churches and it’s all about two major differences. Age and music, but they seem to go hand in hand in this case.

For some background (in case you have been away or sleeping for the past couple of decades) we need to recognise that there has been a seismic shift in the way church music has evolved in the recent past. The shift in some people’s style of worship has meant the rise of the ‘Worship Group’ in the musically capable hands of mainly younger folks. In many cases, copying the work of major Christian artists who attract a huge following.

Prior to this was the Gaither music style followers who are now in their later years, but who look back in nostalgia when music had a tune, but not necessarily a heavy metal beat. What’s the difference You may ask? Well, ‘Gaither or Southern Gospel’ was a style of music sung as specials and not as part of mainstream worship, so hymns and traditional Gospel Songs were never in jeopardy. Not so with the newer style of progressive Gospel beat music. Now this has become the main musical diet of the progressive churches who want to reach out to the younger generation. In the process, some older folks are accepted as the collateral damage and part of the change. We are losing good people.

Instead of finding a middle path, we go to war. Older against younger. Traditional Hymns set against Newer Gospel Songs and the two factions are intertwined. There is no doubt that the church preaches and teaches love, forgiveness, patience, and longsuffering, but we are not good at acting this out at any age. That is true for both sides of this trench warfare who only seem able to bad mouth, and pop their heads up to fire a well aimed insult at the other side, who are so obviously in the wrong, and why can’t they see it after all?

We need a few words from the author of our common faith, Jesus Christ, who said "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John13:34,35

Music

Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:18-20 NIV

Music is a different thing to different people, but one thing is sure. Music is a universal language, which crosses cultural barriers, and at times can even cross the age divide. I think that is because music touches our 'inner self' in a way that little else does. Take a thought of how many love songs there are, and which types of music are the most commonly used. We have songs and music from Classical to Jazz to Pop to Rap, and to each listener it is music, actively talking to their inner being.

I am of the opinion that music has a significant part to play in our church life too. Why shouldn't it, because it does talk to our inner being? I would even go as far as to say it speaks to our soul (my own opinion). In CS Lewis's book, 'Surprised by Joy', he explores the effects of 'external' things on our 'inner' selves. Music is one of them, and in his own journey to find faith, he says music was a factor in his spiritual awakening.

Many churches rely heavily on repetitive prayers and chants to make a link with God, but for the most part, the reformed churches use hymns, psalms and spiritual songs. In all cases the reason is the same. It is our way of talking to God, whether we realise it or not, so not only is the music important, so too are the words. We are talking to God, and praising Him, so we are praying. Let's not take the significance of music in our churches so lightly. If we go to church, sit quietly and listen (we all have a voice, it's just that some are more in tune than others!) and leave having only listened to the sermon, we are missing much of the blessing God wants us to have, because music adds to our worship. 

Next time at you are at church, join in the singing, and use your voice to pray and praise in music to God. He loves to hear praise from His children, and you will come away very blessed, having entered into that two way communion which people of faith all need. If you take the time to read the words of these songs, you will see that they all contain hidden depths and so take us deeper in our faith walk.