Scotty Smith, the RUF campus minister at Belmont University and singer-songwriter with Indelible Grace, rightly points out that the songs we sing are formative. In other words, what we sing matters for several reasons which I will aim to explain in this post.
Our tendency as Christians is to blindly accept the content of the worship songs we enjoy. We usually evaluate songs according to how they make us feel.While feelings are not irrelevant, they can be misleading. I have heard Christians describe how moved they were by a song that was at its best - theologically shallow and at its worst theologically erroneous. We may be tempted to think that as long as they mention God, Jesus, the cross in some fashion then the songs are acceptable. We are a reformed church which means we believe our beliefs and our practice must come from the Bible.What we sing in our service must be consistent with the bible. There are some songs we previously used in our services at Grace that we have stopped doing because we realized the song content was not in line with the Bible. There are some songs that use phrases from the Bible that are not biblical. This may be a confusing point so let me explain what I mean. Piling up lots of words or phrases from the bible does not count. We could write a song that simply had as its lyrics God, Jesus, Cross repeated over and over and we would not be communicating anything truthful. Or, what if we selected a phrase from the 4th verse of the first chapter of every book of the bible and turned it into a song? As you can imagine this would not work very well. The content would be from the Bible, but this is not the same thing as having content that is biblical because the Bible is not just random words or phrases thrown together. The pages of scripture reveal the truth about God, about ourselves and about the way of salvation in Jesus Christ. There is a message being communicated. Same is true of our songs. This is why we have to give serious consideration to precisely what the songs we sing are communicating about God, about ourselves and about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And just because its in the hymnal doesn't mean the lyrics are biblical!
In Colossians 3:16-17, Paul writes: “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. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (ESV). We often think of the sermon as the teaching segment of the service, but according to Paul, our songs are also tools for teaching God's truth. Bob Kauflin who directs Sovereign Grace music (and has written several songs we sing including Grace Unmeasured) says: "Leading songs is a pastoral function before its a musical one. Because the songs we sing are meant to enable the word of Christ to dwell in us richly. (Colossians 3:16) Our songs are meant to open peoples' eyes to the glories of Christ in the gospel." One of the worst pitfalls songs fall into is man-centeredness. A man-centered song is not a song that uses alot of first person pronouns or speaks from the individuals perspective. A man-centered song is a song that places man at the center of God's redemptive purposes. Why did Jesus come to die? To save sinners, yes. But why did he decide to save sinners? If we are reading our Bibles correctly we will see that all of God's reasons for saving is his own glory. God is at the center of his redemptive purposes, not man. God's passion for his own glory is what draws him to poor sinners, and also what turns him away from the proud and haughty. “For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.” (Psalm 138:6) Therefore, our songs need to be centered on Christ and seek to exalt him so that his word may dwell in us richly.
What about the music of the songs we sing? While lyrics are of first importance, music is still important. Music has a supporting role when it comes to worship songs. It is meant to highlight what we are singing. Often our preference for certain songs have more to do with our sentiments about the tune (how it makes us 'feel') than the biblical-gospel truths being communicated in the song. Those who prefer hymns are not immune. Often the preference for hymns has more to do with the familiarity or sentimentality of the tune than it does the lyrical content. There are many great hymns that we ought to sing (many of them we do sing) but there are many lousy hymns too. What makes them great or lousy can either be the tune or the lyrics. Sing-ability, is an important factor especially with some of the oldest hymns. If it is a challenge to sing then it will not be effective in communicating truth. Also, does the tune match the mood or meaning of the lyrics? If the lyrics are joyful but the tune is written with minor chords then it may be best to leave it be or put it to a new and more appropriate tune.
When it comes to selecting songs for worship at Grace, these are the standards that we try to use guide our decisions. We don't do this perfectly but our aim is to provide a worship service that is right with biblical truth, deep theological thought and overflowing with gospel-realities.
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