Quotes from "This Little Church went to Market" by Gary Gilley

Chapter 9: A Church that Misunderstands Worship: How Shall We Then Sing?

“Music by itself, apart from the truth contained in the lyrics, is not even a legitimate springboard for real worship.”

“Aroused passions are not necessarily evidence that true worship is taking place. Genuine worship is a response to Divine truth.”

How shall we then sing?

“Preaching has fallen out of favor in our entertainment age as a means of communicating God’s truth.”

“Pulpits are taboo, notes are hidden, expository preaching is abandoned for ‘relevant’ topical dissertations, references to church history are rare, and doctrine is considered too heavy.”

“But when it comes to the modern church attempting to connect with this generation, a generation born and raised in the era of entertainment, nothing is more prominent than music. So, we are not surprised to find that one of the great attractions for many toward this new way of ‘doing church’ is its music.”

“Far too often in modern worship music’s place seems to be that of setting a mood. With the right music and talented musicians it is possible to create almost any mood.”

“But is the setting of a mood or atmosphere the biblical purpose of Christian music?”

“…the central role of music in the New Testament church is to be a partner with the teaching of the Word of God.” (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19)

“Just as the authority and truth of Scripture should dominate our preaching and teaching, so should it dominate our singing.”

Music as teaching

“…the Apostle Paul informs us that music serves the role of teaching and admonishing. Christian music is at its best when it instructs in sound doctrine.

“Conversely, music has often been used within the church to teach and promote a wide range of heresies and aberrant doctrines.”

Arius used music to spread his belief that Jesus was a created being and not fully God. While the church councils, such as that of Nicaea, condemned Arianism, it continued to be popular among the masses for decades because Arius’ teachings were placed to music and sung by undiscerning congregations.”

“Contemporary Christian music, in particular, is long on inspiration and short on instruction.”

“…do the modern praise choruses have a place in our worship service? I personally believe that they do, but….”

“Martin Luther said, ‘Music is the handmaiden of theology.’”

“Charles Wesley’s hymns included verses from every book in the Bible except Nahum and Philemon. He viewed his hymns as a primer in theology….”

“Isaac Watts, the father of English hymnology, wrote hymns to complement his sermons.”

“By contrast, much contemporary Christian music bypasses the mind and aims directly at the emotions.”

“Many modern choruses teach questionable doctrine….”

David Wells analyzed 406 praise songs along with 662 hymns of a traditional hymnal. He found “…that 58.9 per cent of the praise songs he analyzed offer no doctrinal grounding or explanation for the praise. By contrast, among classical hymns it was hard to find hymns that were not predicated upon and did not develop some aspect of doctrine.”

What should we do?

“If we are concerned about our Christian music being more than entertainment there are numerous things we could do…”

“First, we should evaluate all the music we sing in our churches. Does it teach solid theology? Does it admonish us to correct living? Does it worship God in truth?...?”

“Second, churches must receive training regarding this whole area of entertainment.”

“Third, we could study with great profit the Psalms to discover how music is to be used to accomplish its biblical mandated goal.”

“Fourth, we need to teach our children good Christian music within the context of the church.”

A final consideration

“The reaction of the concerned Christian is to be ever mindful that the Word, and not our experience, is our authority.

“…we should take a good look at the Psalms to study the kind of music that pleases God and accomplishes his purposes.”