So nobody is singing at your church? It may not be the music....

Just read yet another blog railing against modern worship music and why people don't sing at church anymore... *sigh*..... here we go...

It's interesting how many people want to put the blame on the worship leaders, musicians, the volume of the music, the style of the music, etc. Bla bla bla bla blaa. Frankly, I'm a little sick of it. There is one really major reason why more people don't participate in corporate praise that nobody ever mentions, and it has nothing to do with music: nobody is preaching about it from the Bible.

Despite the fact that singing is commanded in the scriptures repeatedly, and that music plays a crucial part in biblical congregational worship, almost no one ever teaches it as a mandatory spiritual discipline. It's hardly mentioned and when it is it is relegated to an optional expression for those who enjoy it. That is not what you see in the scriptures. It is not optional. There are nearly fifty verses in the Bible that directly command believers to sing praises to God, as well as four hundred references to singing in corporate worship. Ephesians 5:19 says Christians should be in the practice of "addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart." Notice it never mentions musical style or personal preference. It never excuses anyone who doesn't like the volume level or the spectator-style layout of the auditorium (never mind the fact that almost every concert ever is set up with the band on a stage and the audience facing them; it never seems to discourage anyone from singing along if they really want to).

In our church almost everyone sings because we teach singing as a command of scripture and an expression of love and joy. They may not like every song but they love every expression of adoration towards Christ and are eager to participate. Why? Because the leadership values it and has taught the congregation to value it from the scriptures.

Take Colossians 3:16 for example, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Sounds like a command to me, with all the same authority of the Word of God behind it as any other command. I wonder if we taught obedience in the area of congregational singing from the pulpit the same way we teach obedience in the area of tithing or praying or sexual purity, we just might see some people begin take it more seriously.

If people aren't singing at your church, it might not be because the music is too loud. It might not be that no one knows the songs (it takes like 5 seconds to learn a pop song off the radio; I think we can handle a new chorus or two every now and then). But it just might be because the leadership of your church doesn't teach it as a command to be obeyed. Maybe we should quit blaming the band and the worship leader and start looking to the pulpit for a change.

(ok, deep breath.) I'm good now. Whew. For more on this perspective, here is a great blog on the biblical approach to congregational singing.

David's Worship Band

Week 17, Day 4 of the Grand Story…. David assembles a worship band…

“David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy…"
(1 Chronicles 15:16)

When it came time to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, David assembled a team of singers and musicians to accompany it. The ark represented the very presence of God Himself among the people, which is the end goal of the entire redemptive plan of God. This was an occasion of significant joy to the Israelite people. The presence of God was everything. It was their identity. It was what set them apart from every other nation on earth. It had been gone from the center of their culture for some twenty years. Now it was being restored to its proper place: the very center of their entire lives.

To celebrate appropriately, David commanded a worship team be assembled. I want everyone to notice this: He established the percussion section FIRST! Guess what? God likes drums in worship. And He wants them played loudly. If you don’t like that, guess who has to adjust? (I didn’t write the Bible; I’m just showing you what it says.) Next he brought in guitars. He even designated lead guitarists! Six of them! There was a horn section, too. And a musical director who “understood” how to arrange it all. (1 Chron. 15:19-24)

David’s job description for the worship band was simple: “play loudly on musical instruments… to raise sounds of joy.” The volume of the music is directly tied to the hearts of the people. Consistently throughout scripture, when the people were overwhelmed with the greatness of God, they declared that His praise by making a loud and joyful noise. It was believed that it was due Him – that He deserved it by right – and to withhold it was an offense.

Look, everybody has an opinion when it comes to church music. We all have our preferences and tastes. The problem is when we kid ourselves that what we think actually matters. It just doesn’t. What we ought to be asking is, What does kind of worship music does God like? Does He have a preference? Because if He does, and if we elevate our traditions and opinions and preferences over His direct commands, then whatever else we think we are doing, we are not worshiping. We are merely singing religious songs about God to make ourselves feel better.

David knew worship music. He was not only a man after God’s own heart (God’s words, not man’s), but he wrote a significant portion of the worship music we find in scripture. David seemed to know what God wanted from our worship music, and it can be summed up in one word: LOUD. Not for the sake of being loud, or trying to be relevant to the culture of the day, but because loud is what joy sounds like, based on the authority of scripture.

Christians have a lot to celebrate – more than anyone else in the history of the world, in fact. When people celebrate, they throw a party. So, because the Bible commands it, Sunday mornings at The Ridge will continue to be more like a wedding reception than a funeral.