WORSHIP MYTH #4 - WE SHOULD ONLY SING OLD SONGS

In the last article on Worship Myths we explained that worship is not just about music but our whole lives being offered to God in response to the salvation brought to us through Christ's perfect life, death, burial and resurrection.  

This article will deal with the myth that we should only sing songs that are tried and true; songs tested by time that have endured over hundreds of years.  While this may sound like good advice, it is nothing but false piety. Before we look at the Scripture just think about the logic behind this. 

First, every spiritual song that has ever been written was new at one point.  If the time-tested rule were to be enforced then no songs would have ever been initially written about God.  

Second, you'd search the Scriptures in vain to find a commandment that requires us to only sing time-tested songs.  Writing extra commands for God's people to obey is arrogant and ungodly. You're in essence saying that God didn't give us enough commands and that He fell short a few commands and you think it's your job to bind on people's consciences rules that you have invented.  

Third, who decides how old is old enough? Is it arbitrary? 100 years or older? 200 years or older? What's the standard for time-tested and who decides when the goal posts can be moved?  

Fourth, songs are not just forms of worship but forms of instruction. Every generation of believers has communicated the truth of Scripture in ways that are culturally relevant and culturally appropriate. Teaching might come through a catechism, through pamphlets or books, through a Sunday school class or through music. Each of these modes are secondary to the truth being taught--truth derived from God's Word. And just as new books are written to help current and future generations, so too, new songs are written to teach current and future generations. Eventually some books become classics just like songs, but the mode is secondary to the message.  

Fifth, not all old songs are Biblically accurate.  Some are very sentimental and are the equivalent of the "Jesus is my boyfriend" type songs that many people malign as mushy worship. But because they are labeled as hymns they somehow get a free pass.  If you don't believe me, examine the words of the song, "I Come To The Garden Alone." It was written in 1913 which probably covers the time-tested period. It's certainly older than almost anyone alive today.  And it's still being sung in churches across the world today. It's time-tested for sure.

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses

And He walks with me and He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known

This song sounds like you're on a date with Jesus. Does it not? You can't give it a free pass just because it's old and uses poetic language or older words like tarry or discloses. It can't get a free pass simply because the syntax is more complicated. Yet I know people that will rave over a hymn like this while ripping on a song like "Draw Me Close."

Draw me close to you, never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear you say that I'm your friend
You are my desire, no one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take your place
To feel the warmth of your embrace
Help me find the way, bring me back to you

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know you are near

If you're completely honest about both songs then you'll have to admit that both are a bit mushy and sentimental. For what it's worth, I'm ok with both songs. I don't think a diet of spiritual music should only consist of these types of songs. But I think it's appropriate to love God with your emotions as well, not just your mind.  There ought to be a rich reservoir of music to draw from that covers a range of truth, a range of God's attributes, a range of topics and a range of expressions and emotions (grief, sorrow, trust, confessions, hope, joy, etc). Now with a song like I Come To The Garden Alone there'd need to be some disclaimers and qualifications. I don't believe God speaks audibly at the moment, but I do hear His voice by the Scriptures. It's in His Word that He talks to me and tells me I am His own. That's how I share joy with God as we walk together in life. The same applies to the second song.

Now let's look at some Scriptures to help debunk the myth that spiritual songs are only to be time-tested.

Ephesians 5:15-21 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Notice that according to this Scripture, one way you make wise use of your time is by doing what the will of the Lord is. Instead of being filled with wine, be filled with God's Spirit. Instead of being silent, address one another in song. That is to say, "speak to one another in song for the purpose of instructing, for the purpose of giving thanks, for the purpose of worship, for the purpose of encouragement, etc. Use your lips and vocal cords to sing psalms--which may refer to a spiritual song or even the plucking of stringed instruments for music. If this is a reference to the book of Psalms then the other terms for types of songs that follow may very well lead us to believe that songs other than Psalms were sung by the early church. In other words, new songs were sung in the community of God's people. 

We are to sing hymns to each other. The word hymns literally means sacred songs, not time-tested songs that have 4 verses and a refrain accompanied by an organ. Let's make sure we don't superimpose modern understandings of words onto the Scripture. Paul didn't have "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" in mind when he mentioned hymns. He simply meant sacred songs. 

Then we are to sing spiritual songs.  That is to say, odes that are from that part of us that relates to God...short songs or poems from our spirit, our soul. I find it interesting that it's as if Paul is encouraging the Christian to express the truth of Scripture and their relationship with God in personal ways. These were odes or short poems set to music...short expressions of their love for God and the truth of who He is. That certainly destroys the myth that praise choruses are unfit for worship--a myth we'll have to debunk another day.

And then Paul says something amazing. We are to sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord.  So we sing to each other...address one another AND we sing to the Lord. Worship music ought to contain songs sung TO the Lord and songs that are sung TO one another about God.  The idea is to stir up affections in one another towards God.  So we must all sing, not just outwardly, but from our hearts.

With these things in mind I want to continue to focus on idea that songs other than Psalms could be sung as long as they were to the Lord and for the edification of the believer. That means the songs must glorify God and instruct the believers. If we do that then it doesn't matter if the song is 1000 years old or 1 year old.

In Isaiah 42:10 the Lord tells Israel to sing a new song. For the sake of round numbers let's use the dates 740 B.C. - 680 B.C. for the writing of the Isaiah. That's roughly the time period of when he proclaimed the Lord's message to sing a new song. Interestingly enough the majority of the Psalms were written between 1000 B.C. and 950 B.C. One was written by Moses around 1400 B.C.  Another three were written around 700 B.C. and another two were written around 585 B.C.  So if we assume that the three Psalms written around 700 B.C. were written before Isaiah 42:10 then I guess that the new song that Isaiah desired to be written was one of the two around 585 B.C. Well, that's one way to look at Scripture. But it seems to be an absurd way to look at the text. It's obvious that the Lord permitted new songs for new occasions for which He deserved praise. Either that or He deserved new songs for old things He had done. But Isaiah 42:13 is a proclamation of what God will do. And that required a new song. Songs need not be time-tested to be sung in the congregation of God's people. They just need to contain biblical truth set to melody so that we can remember the truth of God's Word so that we can properly worship Him and direct others towards God. 

Church, new songs are great when they rightly proclaim God to each other. So are old songs. I certainly love old songs as well.  Let's not get caught up in a silly extra-biblical rule that wreaks of false piety. Sola Scriptura, right? It's God's Word that informs our doctrine and practice. It reigns over tradition, over culture, over opinion, over preference and anything else you can think of. So let's be a church that is always reforming. Sometimes the reformed folk need to be reforming folk. It's an ongoing thing, not a completed action.  So maybe instead of saying we are reformed, let's say we are reforming Christians. Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda. The church reformed, always being reformed. And in the area of worship myths we constantly need reforming. We aren't done being changed by God's Word. So let's sing His Word to each other so that we can be changed by the truth. Let's sing to the Lord as well and declare His infinite worth shown to us through Christ.  

Worship Myth #3

Worship Myth #2

Worship Myth #1

  

WORSHIP MYTH #3 - WORSHIP IS WHAT WE DO AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH SERVICE

 

It's very common for people to refer to the beginning of a church service as the worship part of the service. "Ahhhh! I was late to church today and I missed the worship! How was it today?"

It's even quite common for people to plant roots at a church where the music portion of the service is to their liking. "We chose this church because the worship is good."

Now just to clarify, the music portion of the service may or may not be true worship as you'll see shortly. I will also add that it's not wrong to like the style of music that is played and sung at a church. We all have musical preferences and that's not inherently sinful. But I want to focus on the notion that worship is somehow relegated to the first 20-30 minutes of a church service where music is played and songs are sung.  It's not.

I was once taught that worship is our response to who God is and what He has done.  As someone in their late 20's, at that time, I was blown away by this notion. It was a good attempt to steer people away from the idea that worship is just about singing to God. While there is some truth in that statement, I think the idea needs to be developed and drawn out a lot more. It's too vague and leaves room for error to creep in.  Yet there's something tangential to this notion that I want to draw out and in doing so I think it'll help develop this vague notion.

I firmly believe that worship is much more than the music portion of a church service. True worship must be centered around the saving work of Jesus Christ. Once that is in place, then worship is an obedient life to God through Christ and in response to Christ's saving grace. This seems, to me, to be a much better way of saying that worship is our response to who God is and what He has done. What has God done? In a display of His many attributes, He has saved us through Christ. What then should be our response? In response to God's saving grace, we may approach God through Christ's saving work and live for God by the power of the Spirit of Christ who dwells in believers. This includes not just singing but a life fully devoted to God.  This is not merely an opinion but an outworking of what Scripture teaches. So let's go to Scripture to see this drawn out.

At the beginning of Scripture we see the account of God creating mankind.  God placed them in the Garden of Eden and God commanded them to have dominion over creation. Since Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness of God, they were required to display His nature as they ruled over the creation that He made. In other words, they were to rule this world under the rule of God. In doing so they would imitate God and thus exhibit His perfect nature. And this perfection is what God required precisely because it represented Him! God is perfect and perfection offered back to God is the only thing He is deserving and worthy of. This would be how they showed God His worth and their love for Him.  That is worship! Today, God is still perfect and perfection is still required of every human being. The problem is that we are sinners by nature ever since Adam sinned and rebelled against God. So what we offer to God is not perfection but disobedience. We can no longer offer perfection to God because we are by nature sinners and our sinful deeds verify that corrupt and imperfect nature.  

So then, how is it that we are able to approach God and worship Him?  Well, that only happens on God's terms and a large part of the Old Testament teaches us how we may worship God. These conditions and terms all pointed the way to Jesus Christ. And these conditions are wonderfully outlined in the Jewish law that God gave to the Israelites when He met with Moses on Mt. Sinai.

Of course, there is way too much to cover in a brief article so we're going to fast track through some of this so we can correct this myth that worship is only the beginning portion of a church service.  In the minor prophecy of Malachi, we see God chastising the priests.  In Malachi 1:6-2:9 God rebukes the priests for their accepting polluted offerings from the Israelite citizens.  The burnt offerings that were to be offered to God were to be perfect and without blemish. They were to have no defects and to be without corruption of any kind. This meant that the animals offered to God could not be stolen or taken by violence either. The reason that God demanded perfection in their offerings was threefold: 

(1). God loves His name. That is to say, that God loves His nature. His name represents who He is. God loves everything about Himself because He is perfect and the first and best of all beings. There is nothing and no one more delightful and enjoyable than God. He loves His name and nature. Since He is perfect then He is worthy of perfection being offered back to Him. Nothing less will do. 

(2). Since the Israelites could not present themselves individually or as a whole to God in perfection, they needed something to stand in their place as a perfect representative.  Remember, they too, had a sin nature proved by their sinful deeds.  They could not offer themselves as perfect to God which God has required of all of us ever since the beginning of creation. So, if they could not bring themselves to God in His perfect likeness, then God required that something stand in their place as a representation of perfection.  That was one of the purposes of these perfect animals. It acted as a perfect representative on behalf of the citizen. It was as if the Israelites were saying, "Lord, I cannot bring myself to you in perfection so here is a substitute in my place. You are worthy of perfection." This, then, is why God despised the polluted offerings of the Israelites that the priests accepted. This is what enraged God. By their polluted offerings they were saying that God was not worthy of perfection and thus they were saying God was polluted as well. Thus, their worship of God was not accepted.

(3). The other reason that God required a perfect offering from the Israelites is because this offering would point forward to the saving work of Jesus Christ.  One reason that Jesus came to earth was to do what Adam failed to do--the same thing we fail to do, which is to perfectly represent God is this world. Again, that is what God is worthy of.  This is what true and perfect worship is. Adam failed. You and I failed. We have sinned and not displayed the perfect likeness of God. Jesus succeeded. He is the perfect image and likeness of God because He is God in the flesh.  He obeyed the Father perfectly, even to the point of death, and showed that God is worthy of this perfection (Philippians 2:8). And the perfect offerings that the Israelites brought to the priests were to be offered up as sacrifices to God. You see, the Israelites deserved to die for their sin and betrayal of God. And these perfect animal substitutes stood in their place, not only representing the perfection they could not bring to God, but these animals would then die in their place so that the Israelites would not incur the wrath of God. There was a double substitution taking place: a substitution of perfection and a substitution of death. These sacrifices portrayed, in advance, what Christ would do to reconcile us to God. Christ stands in our place as our perfect representative, offering to God what we are incapable of offering--perfection. And Christ dies in our place as a substitute taking the punishment that we deserve. Three days later Christ defeated death and rose again. Scripture says that those who trust in Christ to save them from their sin and imperfection have their sin removed from them--as it was transferred to Christ and He was punished for it. Those who trust in Christ to save them also have the perfection of Christ granted to them. We are then rewarded with eternal life, not because we are good, but because Christ was perfect and righteous for us.

Hopefully, now, you can see how the worship of the Old Testament informs us of our worship. In summary, God demands perfection. He is worthy of it. No one can give it as we are all sinners by nature proving it with our sinful deeds. Therefore, a perfect substitute must stand in our place to represent what we are supposed to give to God. That perfect representative must die in our place in order to suffer the punishment we deserve for not perfectly representing God in this world. That perfect life and substitutionary death is why God took on flesh and lived in this world: to be our perfection and to suffer our death, rising victoriously to defeat death for us. Thank God for Jesus.

So this brings us full circle to the idea of worship. From Malachi we learn that proper worship is us upholding Christ to the Father as our perfection. That is what the Father requires. We can't bring perfection to God so we lift up Christ to the Father and say, "Lord, I can't bring you perfection because I'm a sinner. So I come to you on the basis of who Christ is.  I approach you in prayer and in song through Christ, through His perfect life and death and resurrection. It’s in His name that I approach you. In fact, I offer my whole life to you in response to what Christ has done to make me acceptable to you. He's taken my sin upon Himself and suffered for it. He's given me His righteousness by faith in Him. You declare me perfect, not on the basis of what I have done but on the basis of what Christ has done. I can ascend the hill of the Lord."

When we look in the book of Romans, we get a deeper understanding of how worship is connected to the gospel--Christ's perfect life, death and resurrection. The Apostle Paul takes 11 chapters to explain what Christ has done to save us. Paul explains why obedience to the law can't save us--because we still have sin to account for. Paul explains how it is that God can reckon us just and perfect--through faith in the righteous Christ who never sinned. Paul speaks eloquently about the death and resurrection of Christ for sinners.  The first 11 chapters of Romans take us deep into the perfect requirement that God demands from us and is worthy of--a perfection we cannot give to God but one that Christ achieved for us. This is the gospel--the good news of Jesus Christ. And after 11 chapters of teaching what Christ has done to save sinners, Paul then begins chapter 12 with this:

Romans 12:1-2  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Do you get what Paul is saying? In order to properly worship you must first have a firm belief in the mercies of God. That is to say that you must believe that Jesus was perfect for you, that He died for you and that He rose again for you.  These are the mercies of God. In view of these mercies and only in view of these mercies, you must then present yourselves, not as dead sacrifices, but as living sacrifices.  What were Adam and Eve supposed to do? They were to be living sacrifices. They were to live lives in perfect obedience to God. That is what a living sacrifice is.  That's what worship is.  

    

In light of the fact that Christ has taken away our sin and given us His perfection we must present ourselves to God in perfect obedience. Another way to say it might be like this: in appreciation for Christ's perfection, you must imitate that perfection. Of course we aren't perfect as of yet, but God considers us and counts us as perfect because our sin has been removed and Christ's perfection has been granted to us. So now when God looks at us He sees Christ deeds. And so Paul is asking us to live like how God sees us out of appreciation for what Christ has done for us.  This is our spiritual worship! We are to do what is good and acceptable and not be conformed to the world's wicked desires. This transformation in deeds and thoughts comes by renewing our minds in God's truth--Scripture. And Scripture always points us to Jesus and His saving work. Therefore, it's the mercies and grace of God that continually drive us to a life of worship.

So Biblical worship, proper worship, true worship is a life that is fully devoted to God on the basis of God's mercies shown to us through Christ. It includes singing to God. It includes listening to God's Word. It includes a life of prayer and taking communion. It includes loving your brothers and sisters in Christ. It includes sharing the gospel with those who need Christ. Spiritual worship is your whole life, not just the beginning of a church service. Worship is a response to who God is and what He has done...and now you know who God is and what He has done. He came to earth in the flesh, lived perfectly, died and rose again...for us. So live your live fully devoted to God and you'll be worshiping God all throughout your life.

Brothers and sisters, true worship is centered around Christ because it is only by Christ and through Christ that we can come to God. And ultimately worship is not just made possible by Christ and through Christ, but it is also for Him. You stand before God and God declares you perfect because of our Savior. On that basis you lovingly offer your whole life back to Christ knowing that you have been justified and sanctified. That's why and how you worship God. So 20-30 minutes of corporate singing on a Sunday morning is just a part of the worship you should offer to God. Worship is supposed to be offered during the whole church service and after the church service and everything else leading up to the next church service. Worship is a life fully-devoted to God. Isn't God worthy of that? Isn't that why God made us? Didn't God save us from rebelling against that? So why would we ever live a moment of life that doesn't have the worship of God in mind?  

I pray that worship myth #3 has been destroyed in your mind once and for all. Now go worship the Lord in joy.

Stay tuned for worship myth #4: We should only sing songs in church that are tried and true and tested by time.

Worship Myth #2

Worship Myth #1

SERMON: MALACHI 2:1-9, GOD'S LOVE FOR HIS NAME - PART 3 - HE REBUKES THE PRIESTS

SERMONS: God's Love For His Name - Part 3 - He Rebukes The Priests

SERMONAUDIO: Audio

YOUTUBE: Video

TEXT: Malachi 2:1-9

SERIES: Malachi