“Sing to the Lord a New Song!”

Worship and the Church—Part 3

In the previous two articles of this series, we’ve seen the frequent commands in Scripture to give God our worship, because He is infinitely worthy of it. We defined worship as the act of giving God His due, declaring that He is worthy of worship. In Peter’s words, we are to be “proclaiming His excellencies.” This article focuses on the biblical mandate and model for corporate worship.

We’ve seen that because He is infinitely worthy of worship, God both seeks worship and is pleased by it. We’ve defined worship that pleases God as worship that comes from sincere, obedient hearts; that worships God as He has revealed Himself to be, the Triune God; that is centered on the Gospel, remembering His saving acts; and that is saturated with His Word.

In this article we’ll look at a part of worship that is so intrinsic to it, it is often mistaken for worship itself, and that is music. Music is huge part of worship, and not just in our contemporary culture. The longest book in the Bible, Psalms, is a collection of songs which over and over commands God’s people to sing His praises.

In Job 38:4, God asks Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know…Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Angel choirs sang at the dawn of creation and at the end of it, in the book of Revelation, they are still singing, joined by the saints and all creation. Music came from God, and surrounds Him still. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is filled with music in praise of God.

Our Triune God sings: “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing” (Zeph. 3:17). Jesus sang a hymn with His disciples in the upper room (Mark 14:26), and Ephesians 5:18-19 tells us singing is a part of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

There are some practical reasons why music is such a central part of worship. Music helps us express our unity in the Gospel as we sing it together. Music helps us remember God’s Word. No matter how hard it is for you to memorize Scripture, setting it to music always helps cement it in place. Songs I sang to my children 20 years ago stick in my head to this day because I sang them to my kids. We remember what we sing.

That’s why want to make sure we don’t sing fluff. In the Rossini opera, The Barber of Seville, the main character says, “If a thing is too silly to be said, it can always be sung.” And if you know much about Italian opera, you know that’s true. Sadly, it can also be true of much music that is called “worship”. Far too much is dominated by sentimental, human-centered lyrics that focus on how we feel about God instead of who He is and what He has done. We need to make sure our songs reflect the truth of Scripture and the Gospel.

Finally, music helps us in worship by stirring up God-honoring emotion. Hearty, vibrant singing combines truth about God with passion for Him, and that honors Him. Some have a problem with emotion in worship, but emotion is not the problem, emotionalism is. Emotionalism pursues feelings as ends in themselves. God, however, created our emotions and He wants them stirred up in response to who He is and what He has done for us. Emotion in worship is important enough that we will focus on it in the next article.

The command to “sing to the Lord a new song” is repeated 7 times in Scripture. Singing a new song doesn’t mean God prefers contemporary music, but it does indicate that God wants our music to reflect His creativity. How could the same old songs all the time do justice to God’s beauty, grace, and power? His mercies are new every morning, and from time to time, so should our songs be.

Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19 both command us to sing to one another in “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” That’s three different types of songs, and implies that God wants variety and creativity in our worship. He wants us to explore different ways to praise Him. “In Christ Alone” and “Blessed Assurance” both speak to the rock-solid certainty of our salvation, but both are very different. And along the lines of variety, while most of our music is vocal, and rightly so, to express our praise explicitly, there is also time for instrumental praise. “Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to Him with the harp of ten strings!” (Psalm 33:2).

In the Psalms, we often see the word “Selah” in the margin. It most likely refers to an instrumental interlude or transition to go from one thought in the text to the next. Instrumental music, done well, is a fantastic aid for meditation and reflection.

So God wants our music in worship to be creative, to sing His praise with a variety of music, new, old, vocal, instrumental, and God also wants our music in worship to be characterized by excellence. Scripture tells us that we should offer God our best. “You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God” (Ex. 23:19). “Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the Lord, from all the best of them…” (Num. 18:29).

That is no less true of our music. “Play skillfully on the strings…” (Ps. 33:3). “Sing praises with a skillful psalm” (Ps. 47:7). Excellence refers both to the songs we sing and how we sing them. We want to use the best music. But what does that mean?

I could make the case that, musically, the best writing in most hymnals is “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” With a text by Bernard of Clairvaux, a melody by 16^th century German composer Hans Leo Hassler, arranged and harmonized by Johann Sebastian Bach for the St. Matthew Passion, hymns don’t come with a finer pedigree than this. So if we are going to sing only the best music, do we only sing this one tune? Of course not! Again, we need creativity.

The best music isn’t necessarily the most polished, classically excellent. What determines excellence? The Hebrew words translated “skillful” means “to know, to understand.” In relation to music, that means to know how to play well, how to sing well, how to write and arrange well. To worship with excellence means we have to use our minds as well as our hearts, to use the skill He has given and the skill we have learned to craft good songs, meaningful texts, and to sing and play them well.

What it does not mean is that every song has to be an excerpt from the St. Matthew Passion. It does not mean that if you can’t play like Horowitz you can’t be on the keyboard. It does not mean that every singer has to have a golden voice.

It does mean that we give careful thought to the songs we choose, how they relate to each other, and what Scripture they illuminate. It means that those who lead in music meet together regularly to rehearse the songs for the Sunday service, to learn new ones, and to improve their playing and singing. We want to offer God our best, and we want the music to be excellent so that we don’t distract from His praise.

Gordon Fee said, “Show me a church’s songs and I’ll show you their theology.” Ask yourself, what is it about the songs you love that makes you love them? Is it a lovely melody? A great beat? A wonderful text? I encourage you to examine the songs you listen to. What do the words say? Does the music serve the text well, undergirding and emphasizing the lyric?

Decades ago it was easy to dismiss what used to be called “praise choruses” because the music so rarely matched the character of the truths the song expressed. But for a number of years there has been a real move in contemporary worship music towards songs of great depth, both theologically and musically. There are plenty of new songs that are truly excellent: “In Christ Alone,” “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,” and “The Power of the Cross” are just three examples.

Some Christians don’t care for hymns, and I encourage them to consider that the hymn tradition stretches back to the 4^th century. We need to take care not to be arrogant, dismissing the worship of 1,600 years. Some don’t care for contemporary songs, and I encourage them to remember that 1 Corinthians 14 says our worship must be intelligible. Most churches have at least three generations present every Sunday morning, and our music should speak to all.

I believe that the bottom line on excellence is that the best music is music that enables you to genuinely, consistently magnify the greatness of God in your own mind and heart.

God wants our music in worship to be creative and excellent, and someday, it will be those things, perfectly, when we worship Him face to face. What songs will we be singing then? Revelation 5:12 tells us, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” Even in heaven, we will never get over the cross. There is nothing better we could sing about.

Tim Schoap is co-pastor of Signal Mountain Bible Church in Signal Mountain, Tennessee.