make music in your heart to the Lord.” Nowhere in this text of the Bible does it mention any certain way to sing songs, leave it alone for hymns only, or give us a specific way to sing these works. We are commanded to worship the Lord and to sing. There seems to be so much battling between worship and contemporary styles that we have done more harm than good in our churches. We have split our ages by making “traditional” and “contemporary services", our churches have split over this battle, and feelings have been hurt.
Christian worship should be a “happy marriage” between the contemporary and the traditional.
Why? Because Christ called us to unity the night before he was handed over in the garden, and
they can work together for the edification of the church all the way to reaching the lost of our
world. Hymns are loaded with rich text and deep Scriptural meaning, but recent songs written have wonderful melodic lines and come with a more personal side of language from the one who worships to the One being worshipped. Having a “happy marriage” between the two means that as believers in the body of Christ, we are called to worship together all music and serve each other in ways that are biblical, Spirit empowered, and in love. There is nothing wrong with combining the two together in worship, and if one cannot sing one because they like the other then they aren’t worshipping God, but the style of music they prefer.
We live, especially America, in a culture that is rapidly becoming more urban and more
technologically fast-paced. If the style of music or the way that they connect is through certain
aspects, then the church needs to find ways to reach out without losing the authentic faith they’ve had for years. We do this by reaching out in ways relevant with the gospel and showing them that there’s more He has to offer. John M. Frame, in his book Contemporary Worship Music, says “Serious Christians aspire to be counter-cultural in that they reject the secularism that dominates our time and seek to replace it with biblical faith and life”.
Being united with many different music or worship styles is actually a sign of unity among
believers. If churches are able to come together as one body with so many different aspects of
people and styles, then there is a beautiful mix of what Christ has made us. Frame also says, “The unity of the church is a unity in diversity. Church unity is all the more remarkable, all the more difficult to achieve, because it is a unity joining a wide variety of people, different in ethnic
background, language, gender, gifts, and ages”. Romans 12:1 and 1 Corinthians 12 in the
Bible are beautiful chapters that show how the body of Christ is to work together, not matter how
different they are.
There are battles no matter what when change happens. Even almost one-hundred years ago there were books written to fellow believers about how certain songs we consider hymns today were threatening their music. The late 19th Century, hymn-singing Baptist, Charles Spurgeon similarly states the following:
“We ought to make every hymn of praise a new song. To keep up the freshness of worship is a great thing, and in private it is indispensable. Let us not present old worn-out praise, but put new life, and soul, and heart, into every song, since we have new mercies every day, and see new beauties in the work and word of our LORD.”
Songs will become new and old just as time changes, but the message and gospel of Jesus Christ will never change just like the love of our God. Scripture commands us to “sing a new song” unto our Lord. It is stated five times in the book of Psalms (33:3, 96:1, 98:1, 144:9, and 149:1), and in three of these passages it is the very first thing said; showing that this was important.
All over the book of 1 Chronicles, it describes Israel rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord with the clash of cymbals. Psalm 150:5 says, “Praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with
resounding cymbals.” Drums these days have even split churches two-fold when people think they can’t be used for the Lord. The Bible shows that percussion was a much used instrument and we are commanded to use even these things for the glory of God. Whether it’s a piano, organ, guitar, drums, or just one voice singing unto God, all of it is beautiful to the Lord Almighty and can be woven together to make beautiful music.
So if these things can be done, then why can’t we as believers join together and become a
community loving and united as the early church in Acts 2? We sing new and old songs, and they are all judged by the biblical truth within itself and sometimes even how it is musically written. There have been recent songs written that are questionable no doubt, but even certain hymns that were written in ages past were not good; that’s mostly why we don’t know of them today. It is easy to become so “box minded” as to knowing how we think to worship our Lord, but God is bigger than any one musical style or our own minds. Truth is, if we say we can't worship with drums or guitar in a church, then our true object of worship isn't God, but our own preference of style. If that becomes a hindrance between our heart and the Lord, then it's become a god to us. In the words of my seminary professor, Carl Stam, who has since passed, "Mature worshippers are easily edified."
Is it right to say that an African who worships God with just a djiembe (an African drum) across the Pacific with people dancing to God is less right compared to a full orchestration at a church having lights and screens or hymnals? God never gave us certain details in worship when it came to what type of songs specifically, if we should not do a chorus before a verse, or if hymns were more important than praise songs. He called us to join together and sing unto him with all these things while recognizing that we are nothing without Him and that He deserves all our praise.
That’s the beauty of the body of Christ; that we aren’t robots with strict orders on everything. It’s
the freedom that grace gives us to know that God desires to see His children come together and
love each other through song and the giving of ourselves for one another. If the church in unwilling to become one in such matters like music, then how will it ever become a faithful light to a world that desperately lacks security in these days.
The issue of reaching our culture is not about music, it’s about authenticity. Our worship services to the outside world don’t mean anything if we can’t love them first outside of it. Still, our desire for those outside the walls of the church can only be strengthened by our worship and love for each other. Matt Redman, a United Kingdom worship leader, in his song “Mission’s Flame” states, “Let worship be the fuel for mission’s flame.” May our worship as body of believers ignite our desire to reach out. May the songs we sing about our redemption in Christ and the glory of God be something that moves us in a way to be real in a world where “fakeness” is top priority. When we realize this, then maybe our battles will be with Satan and not within ourselves.
