REFLECTIONS ON THE HISTORY OF CHURCH MUSIC

The Puritans exclusively sung Psalms without instruments during the 1500’s and 1600’s. Then came along Isaac Watts with his new and controversial hymns in the 1700’s. Rather than singing scripture alone, he created songs that were scripturally themed. What a contrast and stark change to prior worship forms. It was scandalous that he’d do this and many frowned upon this innovation and form. Yet today, those songs are revered by many and rightly so. 

Over a century later the organ was introduced into Baptist churches and scandal broke out again as some songs were put to popular tunes people were accustomed to. The organ was viewed as a worldly instrument and costly.  Yet if you lived on the 1950’s you wouldn’t have known anything else and considered it to part of your godly heritage.

Eventually praise choruses erupted on the scene played by a guitarist who looked like a hippie during the Jesus Movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s. And these hippies, or Jesus Freaks, were frowned upon with their folk worship music and innovation.  Those accustomed to organ and hymns did not care for this new trend. Eventually, it came to be accepted as normative in churches to sing songs by Randy Stonehill, Larry Norman and Keith Green. Many of these songs are still sung today.

Now in the 21st century, we have complete music teams with drums, keyboards, electric guitars, violins, banjos, mandolins, ukuleles. These songs sound very poppy or rocky...and guess what, they’ve had their moment to be frowned upon as well, by my generation and the one before.

I’m not sure what the future holds for music in the church, but as I look down through church history I can clearly see that what was once new and innovative and considered scandalous by the previous generation soon became the norm and tradition of the next generation. And then that generation considered what they did as right and considered new forms as scandalous. 
 

Perhaps there are times when forms are not scandalous at all, just different than what we are used to. The Lord is delighted with new songs that arise out of God's Word rightly understood and applied to current situations. Creativity is part of who God is and I believe that is one reason why our Creator advocates for new songs, while we sometimes cling to tradition and forego innovation in music and songs. Jesus radically changes people in all generations, right where we are.  God doesn't yank us from our current context and call us to sing like Europeans did several hundred years ago.  He doesn't call us to time travel and live like previous cultures.  In fact, he calls us to live within the culture we find ourselves and to express Biblically guided love and devotion to Him. The fact that Gentiles were not required to live like the Jews upon faith in Christ makes that abundantly clear under the New Covenant.  Certainly, there's nothing wrong with singing older songs and connecting the living saints to our heritage and spiritual ancestors.  May we never forget the price many paid to pass on the faith. May we take joy in singing to God through songs they have written during their lives within their culture.  But may we also embrace what God is doing now within the hearts of His people.

I pray that I am discerning enough to know that the next generation’s form of music will be different from what I know now so that I’ll be gracious to foster their soon-to-be godly and beloved traditions. Trust me, there’s coming a day when those who love praise bands are going to be upset that something like a DJ will be leading people in music. Don’t call me crazy just yet, but there will be a revolt over such a scandal! Why? Because sometimes we worship the form of music more than the Creator to whom we sing. If you don’t think so, just look back at the history of church music. Hymns were once hated and considered worldy. We just weren't around to witness the transition and worship wars of centuries gone by. The organ, guitar and praise band have all been accused of the same worldliness and compromise. There's nothing wrong with tradition, but there's also nothing wrong with innovation. Barring content, there's nothing wrong with old songs and there's nothing wrong with new songs.   So, will we be part of the protestors or part of embracing those that will outlive us and continue to pass on the faith of Christ within the culture they find themselves? Do we want to foster protesting in them against forms that we know will fade away...or will we foster in them an embracing of the truth through forms that are culturally acceptable to God while being preferentially different that their own personal tastes?  Because one day, they too, will be faced with a revolt of the new while clinging to the past. Why can't both be accepted?

I’ve grown up with hymns, sung the Jesus Movement hippie music, transitioned to modern praise music while never letting go of the past. I’m not sure how I’ll embrace the next change, but I hope it’s with grace. I don’t want to be a part of worship wars. We have an enemy already and it's not Jesus' church.  I just want to be a part of passing on the torch of the light of Christ through preaching and songs that teach us the Word of Christ and help us to worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

WORSHIP MYTH #1 - HYMNS ARE OLDER SONGS

At the age of six I came to know Christ as Savior.  My earliest memories as a Christian are about memorizing Scriptures on note cards, using those note cards to share the gospel with my friends and family, and singing in the church before the pastor preached.  I honestly don’t recall any of those early sermons, yet I distinctly remember some of the songs that we sung.  Music has a way of sticking with us long after the memories of lectures and sermons have disappeared, especially at a young age. Just the tune of a song is enough to awaken memories of places, smells and lyrics not sung in ages.

The first church I attended was a Southern Baptist Church in National City, Ca. In our children’s class we often sang songs that were deemed appropriate for kids.  I remember the right arm, left arm movements of the infamous song Father Abraham.  Having just the tiniest grain of truth in the song, I never understood or was explained how this Abraham guy was our father. I certainly didn’t understand why we did all the motions but it was a fun memory as a child and a cringe-worthy one as an adult.  It wasn’t until decades later that the dots were connected and I understood the reality of Romans 4:16, 9:8 and Galatians 3:7-8.   Indeed Abraham is our father if we have faith in Christ to save us.

Another song I recall from that church was They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love.  I’ve never played this song as a musician, but I can distinctly hear in my head this tune from nearly forty years ago and I can tell that minor chords are predominantly used in the song. The minor chords are what give this song a serious feel.  It wasn’t a silly song like Father Abraham and the message was certainly more weighty that a right arm, left arm lyric. The song starts with “We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord.”  The unity and communion of believers because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection is an important theme to know and even sing about. This unity that believers have is to be demonstrated in our love and care for one another.  Hence, the chorus of the song, “They will know we are Christians by our love,” which is drawn from John 13:34:35 and perhaps Philippians 2.

As a six-year-old Christian I recall that we didn’t stay long at this church.  We attended another church for a couple years and then we finally landed at an independent Baptist church not too far away from the first two churches we attended.  This church is where I spent the next nine years being discipled and growing with other believers.  It’s also the church where I grew to love very old songs commonly called hymns.  Here are just some of the titles I recall from the top of my head, songs I still love:

Doxology

Amazing Grace
How Great Thou Art
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
All Hail The Power of Jesus’ Name
Holy, Holy, Holy
It Is Well
Rock of Ages
Be Thou My Vision
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Blessed Assurance
To God Be The Glory
Jesus Paid It All
At The Cross

These songs taught me a lot about the gospel of Christ. They were commonly called hymns in our church and hymns were the only thing we sang—from a book that looked like a Gideon’s hardcovered Bible—from a book that had musical notation that I could not read—from a book where the 3^rd verse was often skipped in a song and no one knew why—from a book that an organ player used while a song director waived his arms in some fashion that somehow kept the rest of us in line. When you are new to hymnody that’s what it feels and looks like.  To the noob hymn singer, it all has an unfamiliar feel to it, but you soon realize that it has a part in teaching you about God.  Unfortunately, in our church, we didn’t have a well-communicated theology of worship, so it often felt like were only singing about God.  I don’t ever recall actually singing to God.

But what an odd word that hymn is.  Some people pronounce the n and some people don’t—sort of like the l in almond. Properly understood a hymn is simply a praise song to God.  It actually has nothing to do with the age, style or structure of the song, although many people equate hymns with a certain sort of religious song from a particular time period.

Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 use the term hymn to simply refer to songs that are spiritual in nature. This plain meaning and usage of this term was well in place before the popular usage of the term that we now often misuse.  So properly understood, hymns are not old songs from the 1600’s to the 1900’s. Hymns are not songs with five verses and a refrain.  Hymns are not songs that adults sing while children sing praise choruses. Hymns are not theologically rich songs while contemporary songs are theology light.  Properly understood, hymns are songs of praise to God.  Understood in this way, even praise songs and praise choruses are hymns, if they are songs of praise to God.

It’s very important to understand this because we may be tempted to superimpose our current understanding of the term hymn onto Scripture and mistakenly relegate our musical worship to the usage of songs that are of a certain age or from a certain time period or contain large quantities of theology.  Accordingly, we may distance ourselves from new hymns or older hymns simply because of our prejudices, preferences and stereotypes and thus cut ourselves off from the spiritual treasure troves that God's people produce in song.  Nowhere in Scripture are we told to sing songs only from a certain time period.  Rather, we are admonished to sing songs that are spiritual in nature—primarily songs of praise to our God.  Thankfully, there is a lot to praise God for and thus there are lots of songs we can sing.  Now some hymns are poor and some hymns are great.  It just depends on how accurate those songs are according to God’s self-revelation.

So the first myth I’d like to dispel is that that hymns are really old stuffy songs that contain a lot of theology, while modern day songs are really cool fluffy songs that contain a lot of emotion.  Both are caricatures of different periods of hymns.  There are really old hymns that are just theologically horrid.  There are really new hymns that are equally suited for the scrap heap. Conversely, there are songs written from centuries long ago that are beautiful treasures for believers today.  There are also beautiful treasures being written and composed today that will direct minds and hearts toward God in praise for centuries to come.  Christians from the 1^st century to the 19^th century do not have exclusive rights in adding to Christendom’s hymnody. Christians from every era are free to create fresh hymns for the church to use in corporate or private instruction and the worship of God.

In summary the period from which the song arises is not what makes a hymn a hymn.  The amount of theology in a song is not what makes a hymn a hymn.  The instrumentation used in a song is not what makes a hymn a hymn.  What make a song a hymn is whether or not it praises God.  And by that definition, every song we sing at church during our services is a hymn.

Stay tuned for more articles to come on worship myths.  Up next: myth #2 - Repetition in worship is bad.

So what are some of your favorite hymns: new or old?

THEOLOGY: JUSTIFICATION

You may recognize that the word justification looks much like the word justify. We use it all the time. Oftentimes when someone does wrong and they are caught they try to justify their actions. In our modern day usage of the word, it carries the idea of trying to explain one's action so as not to be guilty.

In scripture the greek word for justify can mean:

1. to render righteous or such he ought to be
2. to show, exhibit, evidence, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered
3. to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be

Whoever God predestines to salvation, He will call to salvation. Those whom God calls to salvation, He has justified. The reality is so secure that even the past tense of the word is used in Romans 8:30. It is not that God is going to justify us. We are justified. We are declared just or righteous.

Romans 8:30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Simply put, justification is the act whereby God declares us to be perfect, righteous or just. The word declares is very important to consider because you and I still sin on a daily basis. We exhibit unrighteous behavior more than we'd like to admit. Yet God declares us righteous. On what basis then are we declared righteous? Is it by our own good deeds...our own righteousness? Scripture answers with a resounding "no!"

Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

We are not justified by our law-keeping. The law was given to reveal our sin, not so that we could attempt to keep it and earn our own justification. In both Romans and Galatians Paul shows us that it is not by works of the law that we are justified, but by faith in Jesus Christ.

Galatians 2:16 Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we are justified we are at made to be at peace with God. It is assumed then that God is angry with us for our wickedness--we are not just. Since Christ is the one who puts us at peace with God, it must be that Christ has done something for us so that God would consider us and pronounce us just. Christ has! He has given us His own righteousness by faith (Romans 4:22). We trust in Christ to take our sin upon Himself and we trust in Christ to give us His righteousness. That is called imputation (which we'll talk about another time).

In Romans 10:10, Paul says also that we are justified as we believe with our heart. In other words, belief in Christ and faith in Christ are synomous for both result in justification.

Romans 10:10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Scripture undoubtedly teaches us that although we still sin, God pronounces us righteous as we put our belief, faith or trust in who Christ is and what He has done for us. Therefore, it is not our own righteousness whereby God declares us righteous. It is the righteousness of Christ that is given to us by faith. That is how we are justified or pronounced righteous in God's eyes. We are declared righteous even though our daily experience shows that we sin abundantly. That is the grace of God in action

The practical and personal applications of understanding justification are numerous. It keeps us humble knowing that it is God who justifies us, not our own seemingly good deeds. Justification also leads us to delight in and worship God for His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Justification also causes us to hate the sins for which we've been declared righteous. Lastly, understanding justification rightly causes a deep compassion to well up inside of us for the unjustified, the sinner, the condemned.

Thank the Lord for declaring you righteous instead of declaring you guilty!

THE COURTEOUS COURTHOUSE JAYWALKER

Whilst driving to work today I encountered a jaywalker. I see them every day on the way to work precisely at 8:28 a.m. You see, the dealership at which I work is located just a block away from the courthouse.

Ahhh, the courthouse. You may not know it but the finest citizens in the high desert tend to accumulate there every morning to spend time with their comrades and their mentors in black robes. Yes, these law-abiding aficionados can be seen scurrying off to their appointments with eager anticipation. I imagine that is the same kind of anticipation you feel when you arrive to Disneyland except there is no tram or husky Spanish voice telling you to “remain seated please.” But every thing else is the same but not.

Well, today I encountered a very polite and courteous jaywalker. He was well dressed in a gray suit and brown shoes. I imagine he may have had a thing for an unnamed female judge so he was dressed to the nines in order to either impress her or to mitigate her wrath. In either case his attire was on fleek! Inwardly I wished him well on his justice-is-blind-date and pronounced the A-Aronic Blessing upon him from Numbers 6:24-26.

Now normally I have to slow down or make a complete stop in the middle of the road to let the jaywalkers cross safely like a train of ducklings. This usually makes me thirty seconds late to work, but “uh uh, not todayyy!” This guy actually had the courtesy to try and expedite his law-breaking stroll through Victimville. He began to swing his arms higher and harder than his previous causal walk. In his mind he was moving faster than a speeding bullet in order to not hold me back and make me late for work. But the brisk wind that had just kicked up only made it look like he had a speeding mullet. I’m not sure what the official Olympic name is for this sort of sport walking but if it doesn’t have a name, it needs one. With elbows tucked in nice and firm...head tilted slightly forward and down...rapid arm movements...all while keeping the leg speed at the same casual walking pace he first started with, he earned my love and affection. I don’t know that anyone will show me such concern today, but this guy made me feel appreciated and valued.

I can tell you that he didn’t move any faster getting across the street but he was definitely more tired after that display of physical prowess. I hope he didn’t get all sweaty for nothing because I was still “late” to work and that’s not a way to impress the lady judge he got all dressed up for.

Good luck Flash! May A-Aron’s blessing be upon you.

RAINY DAY STROKES OF GENIUS

So I was at a light waiting to turn right and traffic was backed up pretty good. The guy in front of me, whose superior intellect I do not possess, had an Einstein moment rarely seen by the human eye and ne'er caught on camera. He decided to hang a right into the Del Taco parking lot and bypass the four cars in front of him. Genius! What a brilliant way to shave three seconds off of your drive—only the light turned green as he was turning into the parking lot of one fine Mexican cuisine dining establishment, if I do say so myself. Everyone in front of me began to make the ensuing right hand turn including the five cars behind me. As I rounded the corner I passed by Einstein, who had made it to the other side of Del Taco’s customer parking exit area. Albert was also poking the nose of his car out onto the puddled street waiting for the caravan of cars to pass him by so he could re-enter the fray. I didn’t have my window down because of the rain but if it had been a bright sunny day I imagine I would have rolled down the passenger window in order to enjoy the vroom vroom of his gnarly V-6. I enjoyed the next ten seconds of my life as I kept glancing in my side-view mirror waiting to see what would become of his new position in the pack. Yet the size of his car increasingly decreased until I saw him no more. It seemed like I would never see him again. How I missed him in those few seconds. What would become of him, I wondered?  Had he put his car in reverse to retreat to dine on fine Mexican cuisine? Was he now chowing down on a Cali Steak & Guac Burrito with extra chipotle sauce? I tried not to covet, but I found myself in need of repentance. During my moment of missing him and envying him it felt like an eternity had passed and the hope of seeing him again had long faded away. Likewise, his 3-seconds-saved-dream had blown away in the wind like the white fuzz of a dandelion only to carry off his dream-seed that would soon be planted in some other fool’s head. And no sooner than my hope of seeing him again had vanished, that the proverbial sun had broken through my proverbial cloudy moment and shone upon me. It was a warm and cozy feeling, not unlike putting on a warm jacket after being out in the freezing cold.  After the five cars behind me passed him, he was back in my side-view mirror and back in the game like a race car driver after a pit stop. My Jedi powers could sense the force of his foot pressing firmly down on the gas pedal...vroom, vroom, vroom.  Simultaneously the coveting had ceased and my heart leaped as I knew that Albert's dull silver 3.5L Toyota Camry was closer than it appeared--my mirror told me so.

So that Einstein moment put him six cars behind me. A smile crept across my over-sized face and head as I nodded it with much effort and pleasure. I’m no Einstein myself but I’m a finance manager at a dealership that can add and subtract with the best of them. He had gone from 5th place to 11th place. That’s a net gain of -6. I'm confident he will not be qualifying for any NASCAR races this year until he gets his shortcut game up to speed. (Did you like that pun? I did.) Maybe it was a physics experiment of negative numbers on a rainy day. Maybe it was a moment for me to write about to make your day. But at this moment, I’d just like to thank the Lord for instant justice with a sense of humor.

THEOLOGY: GLORIFICATION

The word glorification is a form of the word glory. We know that we are to glorify God. That is, we are to make much of him. We are to honor, display and proclaim His worth and excellence. The Greek word for this is doxazo--where we get the doxology, which means to praise God. So when scripture refers to God glorifying us, does it mean the same thing? Is God worshiping or praising us? Of course not. The word doxazo has several possible meanings.

Doxazo can mean:
1. to think, suppose, be of opinion
2. to praise, extol, magnify, celebrate
3. to honour, do honour to, hold in honour
4. to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with splendour
a. to impart glory to something, render it excellent
b. to make renowned, render illustrious
(1). to cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to become manifest and acknowledged

In order to choose the proper definition (1-4) we must let the context determine the meaning. In Romans 8:28-30 we see the word glorified used at the very end .

Romans 8:28-30 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Notice a couple of things. God predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. In other words, God predetermined that His children would be transformed to look like Christ. If you observe the path that God has predetermined for us, it will end in us looking like Christ, who is glorious.

In verse 30 we see Paul laying out the order of salvation. He predestines us to look like Christ. In order to achieve this result He must call us to turn from sin and turn to Christ. Having turned from sin to faith in Christ, God justifies us or pronounces us righteous because of the righteousness of Christ. Although Paul does not mention it here, there is another thing that God does for us inbetween justification and glorification. God sanctifies us. That is, He is making us experientially, day-to-day, more like Christ. One day He will glorify us.

Glorification then is the end result of all that God does for us in salvation. It is when we are fully conformed to the image of His Son. His predestination of us will finally come to the destination--which is glorification. Simply put it is when God adorns us with our new bodies that will live eternally. He will clothe us with the splendor of Christ. He will remove all our desires to sin. He will render us excellent. This is something that God does for us. This is one of the great gifts of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 15:50-55 describes this further.

1 Corinthians 15:50-55 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

When Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead, this transformation will take place. Believers who have died will be raised and glorified as well as those of us that are alive and waiting for Messiah to return.

Does this truth have any practical application for our lives? Indeed it does. It leads us to greater love for God and His future goodness to us. It also guards us from being deceived by false teachers who claim that Christ has already come the second time. If you still feel pain, still have sinful desires in your body, still get tired, then be assured that Christ has not come. Because when He comes He will glorify the Father's children.

We serve a great God. That He would glorify us one day is simply amazing to ponder. There is no god like our God!

SERMON: PHILIPPIANS 2:12-13, GODLY JOY IN SANCTIFICATION

PHILIPPIANS 2:12-13

Godly Joy In Sanctification