Acceptable Music for Worship

Up until now, we’ve dealt with music in general and the basic Bible principles that
make it acceptable or unacceptable. Those principles apply to worship music as
well, but some additional principles also apply because worship is a special
activity set apart from everything else. Webster defines worship as “the act of
paying divine honors to the Supreme Being.” In worship, we are no longer
interacting with our fellow man; we are directing our hearts to God.

This is well illustrated by the arrangement of the Ten Commandments. The first
four commandments are Godward—written to keep us right with God. The last
six commandments are manward—written to keep us right with our fellow
man. It’s true that God inspired all ten of the commandments and that it’s a sin
against God to violate any of them, but the first four still have their own special
purpose. This corresponds to worship and how it has its own special purpose.

Most readers of this booklet know me well enough to know that I am not
advocating ceremonialism or ritualism in our worship services, but I can’t go
along with the slothful and half-hearted approach to worship that prevails in so
many churches today either. If God is special to us, then our worship services
should be special. We don’t come to church services for the sake of having a
social gathering; we come to worship God. Our promptness, our appearance,
our lessons, our sermons, our attention, and our prayers all deserve our very
best effort. Amen? Does God deserve less than our best? Of course He
doesn’t. If you’re going to give less than your best, then give it to yourself, to
your cat, or to your fellow man, if you must, but don’t give it to God! God is holy
and He demands a lamb without blemish (Exo. 12:5). A Christian should always
strive to do his best in all things, but if he’s going to compromise somewhere,
God forbid that it be in worship. Maybe we won’t “bat a thousand” during each of
the 168 hours of the week, but we owe it to God to pull together and make an
extra effort to knock every ball out of the park when we come to worship during
those few hours each week.

This naturally includes the music “ball.” In a worship service, it is time for our
very best. Just as a lady would bring out her best china for a special meal, God’s
people should bring forth the very best music in worship.

In his book, The Battle for Christian Music, musician and music professor, Tim
Fisher, writes that

“Christian music is that music in which text, music, performers, and

performance practices are conforming to the image of Christ.”

Satan knows this well. He knows that the power of God can move mightily when
God is praised and honored with proper music in worship, so he has a number of
“curve balls” that enable him to “strike out” a worship service with ease. We
need to learn to guard our worship from them. Here are a few pointers:

Major in Praise Music

By this I do not mean the worldly sounding “praise and worship” noise that has
crept into our churches over the past quarter century. True praise music is
traditional music like O Worship the King, Praise Him! Praise Him!, Crown Him
with Many Crowns,and All Hail Emmanuel. This kind of music is written to exalt
Christ alone, which should be the goal of any worship. Read through the Psalms
and see for yourself that most of Israel’s music was filled with praise.

Some other music is fine, songs like Farther Along and Jesus Loves Even Me,
but such music should not dominate our services. Probably seventy percent or
more of our music should be praise music. To illustrate this for yourself, just pick
which three lines below you would prefer hearing if you were the Lord:

Farther along we’ll know all about it

Crown Him with many crowns; the Lamb upon His throne

O tell of His might, and sing of His grace

To him that overcometh God giveth a crown

This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me

Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the new born king!

Please don’t take this to mean that many traditional hymns are wrong. It’s just
that we, being humans, have a tendency to say too much for ourselves and not
enough for the Lord. Songs like Amazing Grace and My Sins are Gone are good
songs and should be sung in worship, but they should not dominate.

Also, songs that are not praise songs should still carry an acceptable message, a
“new song” which testifies of God’s grace in ones life (Psa. 96:1; 40:3), not an old
song like Stand by Me or Lean on Me, which even unsaved people would sing.

Promote Worship, Not Entertainment

Of the 168 hours in a week, most of the people in a church have spent at least a
few hours being entertained, including the singers and players, so it’s very easy
for an entertainment spirit to hijack a worship service. Folks might want to
applaud after a special or “go on and on” later about “how well he did” or “how
pretty her dress was.” If we aren’t careful, this can quench the spirit of true
worship by directing the attention and glory to man instead of God.

Musicians Should Praise, Not Preach

In worship, musicians should know their place and stay there. It seems that
some people can’t sing a single song without first spending at least five minutes
talking into a microphone. Some of the dumbest things ever said in churches
have been said during these little “sermonettes” that are brought forth by
unqualified talkers. A good musician is not necessarily a good speaker, so these
talks need to be kept to a minimum. Besides, this steals from the real preacher’s
sermon time. Musicians should sing and play, not preach.

Music is Not for Evangelizing the Lost

This is where so many musicians are in error, especially among the CCM
performers. Somehow their style of music is supposed to be justified if it “gets
people saved.” Studies have shown that most of these “concert converts” aren’t
really converted at all because their lives do not change after their profession (II
Cor. 5:17).

This should surprise no serious Christian since the Bible never told us to reach
the lost with music in the first place. I Corinthians1:21 says, “. . . it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe,” not by
singing. Music can assist this effort by helping to prepare hearts for the
preaching, but music should not be thought of as a means of converting sinners.

Musicians Should Be Well Prepared

Just as a preacher must study to show himself approved (II Tim. 2:15), musicians
should prepare themselves if they intend to stand before God and men and
produce worship music. Unprepared people should never be called on to play or
sing before the church. “Ya’ll pray for us as we try and sang this song. Brother
Johnny kinda put us on the spot, and we didn’t get to practice.” No, thanks! You
can tell Brother Johnny to contact you ahead of time so you can be prepared to
do your best for the Lord Jesus Christ. Musicians should be taught and skilled (II
Chr. 23:13; 34:12), not half-hearted and slothful. If you don’t have time to
prepare, then I don’t have time to listen to you.

Use Live Singers and Players Only

Dead ones are no good. No, really, I’m referring to the use of “canned” music,
which is music that is played on cassette or CD while someone sings along with
it. “Did you bring a tape?” (or CD) is a common question in many churches.

In addition to promoting an entertainment spirit, this practice relieves the singers

from having to learn to play instruments. In plainer words, they are allowed to
do less than their best. If these people really want to sing for God, then they
should spend less time watching television and attending sporting activities and
start learning to play instruments. Meanwhile, they can sing a‘capella, have
someone play for them, or remain in their seat. I know this sounds rather harsh,
but God deserves our best, not a karaoke show.

All Music Should Be Clear and Understandable

In a worship service, no one should ever have to lean over to you and ask, “What
was that song about anyway?” The music should always be clear and
understandable to everyone present (I Cor. 14:7-8).

Sometimes music is unclear because of weak and generic-sounding

lyrics. Songs like You Light Up My Life are so generic that you can’t tell if the
“you” is a reference to Christ, to a baby, to a friend, to a lover, or maybe to the
devil (II Cor. 11:14!). You be the judge:

So many nights I sit by my window

Waiting for someone to sing me his song;
So many dreams I kept deep inside me,
Alone in the dark but now you’ve come along.

You light up my life;

You give me hope to carry on.
You light up my days
and fill my nights with song.

By contrast, no one has to wonder about the meaning of these lyrics:

Jesus keep me near the cross

There a precious fountain
Free to all a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary’s mountain.

In the cross, in the cross

Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
Then sometimes a perfectly good song is ruined by unnecessary electronic
devices, such as too many microphones (being held too close to the lips!), bass
guitars, drums, amplifiers, and other assorted gadgets. Some amplification is
usually necessary, especially in larger buildings, but this should not be
overdone. Musicians should not be permitted to turn a church’s auditorium into a
concert hall. As for bass guitars and drums, don’t get me started.
Some Recommendations

Having covered the basic Scriptural principles of music, it seemed appropriate to

end this study with some recommendations for anyone interested in improving
the music in their lives and their appreciation for it. As I tell my members, the
largest room in the world is the room for improvement. So, let’s consider some
recommendations for musical improvement.

Read Everything the Bible Says about Music

Simply take a concordance and look up the words musick (with a “k”), singing,
sing, songs, singers, instruments, melody, praise, played, and similar
words. Once you’ve carefully read each reference and mediated on it, you will
have studied over 500 musical references in the word of God, something that
very few Christians have ever done (performers included). Who knows, it might
inspire you to write a book.

Burn All of Your Musical Junk

Just as the believers burnt their trash literature in Acts 19:19, Christians should
burn their trash music. It’s actually fun to watch an ungodly tape or CD melt
down into a useless blob. Church bon fires for this are especially nice, but don’t
wear any white sheets or hoods to the event.

Start an Acceptable Music Library

Having burned all of the junk music, you’ll need something to replace it, which is
another Bible principle. Romans 6:13 says,“Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God,
as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God.” God doesn’t want us to simply stop sinning; He
expects us to REPLACE evil things with good things. This is a must because
simply quitting evil things leaves a vacuum in our lives, which Satan loves to fill
with other evil things. Isaiah 1:17-18 says, “. . . cease to do evil . . . Learn to
do well . . .” II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new.” So, you need some new music.

Well, I just happen to own a music store! No, not really, but you do need to start
doing some musical shopping. Don’t waste your time or your money with the
local “Christian” bookstore unless you know it to be operated by true Bible-
believing Christians, which is very unlikely. Most of what these people sell
amounts to the trash that we told you to burn. I’ll not try to push all of my
personal favorites on you, but hopefully I can head you in the right direction.

Go to Wal-Mart and buy a CD set titled Handel’s Messiah, performed by the

London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir (published by Madacy). If they don’t
have it, you can ask them to order it, or you can find it on the Internet. Some
music stores can probably order it also. You’ll get two CD’s with well over two
hours of music, and it’ll probably cost you less than $10.00. There are some
other good recordings of Messiah, but this one is as good as any I’ve heard, and
cheaper.

While you’re at Wal-Mart, if you have a few bucks to spend (and why would you
be there if you didn’t?), purchase any classical music by Handel or Bach. You’re
on safe ground with these two. Later, maybe you’ll want to get some music by
Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Vivaldi, and other composers, but start out with
Handel and Bach. This stuff is also available all over the Internet.

Now, go to “www.johnmarshallfamily.com” and buy everything you see. This

godly family has been producing excellent Christian music for three decades, and
you can’t go wrong with anything they produce.

Bible Baptist Bookstore in Pensacola, Florida, has some good music

available. Call and request a catalog at 850-477-8812, or visit their web site at
“www.kjv1611.org.” An entire page of their catalog is dedicated to music
recordings. My personal favorites areHymnworks I and II, Hymns Triumphant,
and anything by Rex Harrison. Of course, there are many others.

Still got money? Wonderful, dude! (Please bear with me. It’s getting late, but I
told my wife that I’d finish this booklet tonight, so please bear with me.) Now, go
to “majestymusic.com” and buy anything that looks interesting. Headed up by
Frank Garlock, whom we referenced earlier in the booklet, these people are fine
music specialists who produce really good sounding stuff.

One more stop. Go to “smsrecordings.com” and get anything you want. The
“sms” stands for Sacred Music Services. They specialize in fine Christian music.

Well, that’ll get you started, as well as getting you broke, but at least you’ll have
the best music of anyone on the block.

Seriously, it will take a while to get a good music library started. Most CDs will
cost you $12.00 to $15.00 each, except for the classical music that isn’t in big
demand anymore. Sometimes you can get three or four classical CDs for this
amount, sometimes even in a neat little pack that looks all sophisticated.

But, as much as I love classical music, I must warn you that it has the ability to
spoil you quite easily. The people who play and record classical music are
professionals who have practiced and performed for many years. Please do not
use their high standard of excellence to judge the Christian musicians in your
church who usually are not professionals. Enjoy the pros, but also enjoy and
encourage those humble believers who are doing their best for the Lord. Happy
trails!

Sing in the Home

And it won’t cost you a dime! Just spend time together as a family singing. If it
doesn’t sound good enough to call singing, then call it practicing. This will do
wonders for your family. If you live alone, sing to the Lord and to yourself, as
Paul told the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:19. Remember, there is great power in
music. Use this power to improve your home and life.

Memorize Music

David said that God had put a new song in his mouth (Psa. 40:3), not in his
hymnbook. Paul and Silas sang praises to God atmidnight (Acts 16), so I doubt
that Paul said, “Alright, Brother Silas, let’s turn to page 84 and sing My
Redeemer.” Obviously, they had their music memorized, and so should we, or at
least a good supply of it.

Play Music in the Home

If nice music could refresh king Saul by causing the evil spirit to depart from him
(I Sam. 16:23), then it can do the same for your home. Make God feel welcome
in your home by having nice music. Turn off the television (or just shoot it), turn
off the radio, and turn on some good music. Listen to it while dining, while
reading, while cleaning house, while playing games, or while clipping your
toenails.

Read Good Materials about Music

The sources that we’ve already mentioned also carry some good reading
materials, and even videos, that will increase your understanding of the moral
and immoral effects of music. Read some of this material, and be ready to
recommend it to others by name when necessary.

Study Basic Music Theory

This will help you to familiarize yourself with staffs, notes, and other funny-
looking musical things. Not that you need to major in this department, but it is
comforting to know that those peculiar-looking things in your hymnbook are not
strange people peeping through a fence at you.

In fact, if you have an imagination, music theory can become very enjoyable. For
instance, when they tell you to remember the line notes of the treble staff (E, G,
B, D, F) by memorizing the words Every Good Boy Does Fine, you can create
your own words and come up with something more relevant to the music world,
something like Every Good Boy Despises Fiddling or Elvis’ Giant Belly Did
Flop. You can even write your own song as you memorize the notes and how
they ascend in pitch:

Middle “C” is for Christ, the center of God’s plan,

“D” is for His Doctrine that we should understand;
“E” is for Eternity, a billion years and more,
“F” is for the Faithful who’ll stand on heaven’s shore.
“G” is for . . .

You get the point. Music theory does not have to be boring as so many believe.

A good resource for music theory is Essentials of Music Theory: Complete Self
Study Course by Alfred Publishing. You can get the printed version, or you can
shell out some bigger bucks and get the software package. Like everything else,
it’s available on the Internet. (I even found my wife on the Internet. Just kidding!)

Learn to Play an Instrument

For children, there are far greater benefits in playing an instrument than in
learning to run like a wild Indian all over a ball field. Having the ability to play a
musical instrument is a treasure you can carry all throughout your life, and best
off all, you can use it to praise God. Let’s see you try that with a soccer ball.

And you’re never too old to start. Even if you only learn to play by ear, it’s a real
joy to be able to make music (unless, of course, you play with your ear). Just get
the ole’ “I can do this” attitude and learn to play something. Yes, you can do it. If
Satan can teach his crowd to play instruments for his glory (Jerry Lee Lewis,
Keith Richards, Jerry Garcia, Liberace, Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Hank
Williams, etc.), then God can teach you to play something for His glory. If the
Lord puts no desire in your heart to learn an instrument, then maybe He has
other plans for you, but if He puts the desire there, then you can learn
(Phil. 4:13).

Well, I’m all done now. It’s 10:22 pm, and I’ve had a very long day. Lord willing,
I will now go home, take a cool shower, read for a while instead of writing, and, of
course, I’ll have to soak up a bit of nice and acceptable music. I sincerely hope
this material has helped you as much as it has helped me. Soli Deo Gloria!