[ c c m ]
Pop-Idiom Music
In Worship and Evangelism
by Dr Peter Masters
Dr Peter Masters is minister of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London,
England (C.H. Spurgeon's church) and has kindly granted us permission
to reproduce "Pop-Idiom Music" here. If you have any questions
or queries about this article, please feel free to write to Dr Masters
at the address given below, or
contact us at Freedom Ministries.
Section 6
Worship Must be in Spirit and in Truth.
|
Thousands of Christian young
people have been led to believe that
worship can be expressed by groups,
choirs and dancing. They have been
taught that praise can be rendered
through the exercise of physical gifts.
However, this is a gross misrepresentation
of God's definition of true
praise. All praise and worship must be
spiritual for, as the Saviour said, God
is a Spirit; and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth
(John 4.24).
This means that all praise must be
utterly sincere, and intelligent. Also,
it must be carried out according to
God's revealed manner.
Praise and worship must therefore
always be a personal, intelligent,
spiritual activity in which the mind,
heart and will join together and submit
to God in expressing praise, love,
gratitude, and obedience. The Saviour's
words also mean that praise can
never be carried out by proxy.
All this obviously means that worship
cannot be produced or expressed
by any spiritually lifeless physical aid,
and it is absolutely vital for us to grasp
this. The fact that musical instruments
are used in the Bible teaches us that it
is valid and good to use some physical
assistance to help us carry out our worship,
but only redeemed souls can produce worship.
Just as we provide ourselves with
church buildings and heating equipment,
so also we use musical instruments to help
us sing together in a
worthy manner. We are permitted to
use various 'creature aids' in worship,
and we are permitted to compose
appropriate melodies to encourage us
to focus our minds and hearts for
praise. But such aids do not play any
direct spiritual part in the essential
worship, they merely assist it. We
must never say, 'I worship with music'
or 'I worship by directing the notes
played on my guitar or violin to God.'
The unbreakable principle is that
God is a Spirit, and they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and
in truth. Truth is something which we
understand and express in words,
whether actually uttered or not.
Some friends retort - 'But according to Scripture
I must do everything
to the glory of God, so why can't I
praise Him through my skill on the trumpet?'
The answer is - we may do any
number of things to God's glory, and
we must indeed present our entire
lives as an 'act of praise', but direct
worship is a quite separate activity in
addition to that and it is the special
function of the mind, heart and spirit.
These 'faculties' must join together to
frame or express intelligent thoughts
of love, praise and obedience.
Whatever assistance we may derive
from music or instruments, these
things can never of themselves make a
spiritual, intelligent act of worship,
and must never be allowed to develop
such significance and importance that
it begins to eclipse or interfere with
the worship.
Musical aids must never be allowed
to draw the minds of the worshippers
away from the Lord. It is important to
stress these distinctions because in
these days so many people are speaking of worshipping through the outward
physical senses; they want to
express worship by instrumental
dexterity and dance.
When we, are engaged in direct worship,
as in our Sunday services and
private devotions, all purely human
activities of craft and skill must retire,
unless they are simply assisting direct,
spiritual worship. Instruments and
melodies may certainly be of help. A
melody which is appropriate to the
sentiments of a hymn will often help
powerfully to prepare our hearts for
the words. A tune which is triumphant
and strident will challenge us to realise
that we are meant to be a rejoicing,
victorious people. Solemn music may
equally affect us and help us to sorrow
over sin, examine our hearts, and
dedicate ourselves afresh to God.
God trusts His people to keep the
aids-to-worship under control. We do
not have to agree with those who condemn
the use of any instrument and
who fear the slightest physical help to
worship, but we must never betray
God's trust and permit the use of
music and instruments to be so abused
that the enjoyment of them becomes
paramount. Instrumental accompaniment
must be subservient, modest and
fitting, not an exhibition of musical or
instrumental skill.
Revelling in the aids always leads to
praise and prayer being relegated to a
minor place. At best, worship is
reduced to a 'happy feeling' as people
play their instruments to God, or
simply enjoy listening to the music
while thinking vaguely spiritual
thoughts.
Pop-idiom music is the usurper of
true worship and cannot be used without
violating the Saviour's principle.
These articles remain
© Copyright Dr Peter Masters 1983
The Metropolitan Tabernacle
Elephant and Castle
London SE1 6SD
England, UK
who should be consulted before any further copying, storing or distribution, either
in whole or in part is made by any means.
|
|
 E-mail a friend about this page
 Printer friendly page
 Search the site
Top
|
|
Daily Devotional
|
|
Click here for today's reading from Faith's Check Book by C.H. Spurgeon.
|
|
|
Free Booklet Offer
|
|
Click here to
sign up for our free booklet offer!
|
|
|
