And when they had come to him, he said to them: "You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:18-21 (emphasis mine)
Corporate worship in a local church is the primary ministry of the local church. Corporate worship has four indispensable components: (1) Reading & Preaching the Word, (2) Prayer, (3) Worship in Song, (4) The Sacraments—Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
We have considered the Word, both reading and preaching, and Prayer. This time: we continue with part two of Worship in Song.
We considered last time that worship of God is not entertainment for us, and that worship in Song is about Him—not about us. This time let’s understand that worship in song must be done with songs that are: (1) Biblically and theologically sound. (2) Singable. And (3) Beautiful.
(1) What we sing is every bit as important that we sing. That is why we carefully vet every song before it is used in a worship service at GBC. We sing songs that are to our about God and His grace, rather than songs about making us feel good. Believe me, there are many “Christian” songs that miss the mark on this essential point. What we sing must be biblically and theologically sound.
(2) Worship singing in church is congregational. The musicians, sound system, and words on the screen all have a singular purpose: to help the congregation sing. There are songs that are too musically complex for congregational singing. We stick with songs that are singable.
(3) Have you heard the phrase: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”? We all have, but that is simply not true. God is beautiful. We are told to worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. Listen: God is the only one who is qualified too define beauty—especially when it comes to how we worship Him! The point is, there are styles of music that we may like (my preference will always be jazz), that are simply not beautiful as God is beautiful. Though it is not easy to define beautiful music, I think that most of us recognize beautiful music when we hear it. I’ll just say that music that has a beat but no melody lacks the beauty required for worship in church. Worship in song must be beautiful because God and His holiness are beautiful.
Next time a little more about worship through the sacraments.