Dear Reader,

This topic comes to you by way of a request from one of our readers. The subject is sensitive, but let’s see what we can discover.

Music is a gift of God. Someone has said that music is the language of the soul, and, as such, it deserves a proper place in our worship of God. There’s no question about the fact that music and musical instruments can be discovered in the Bible as far back as Genesis 4:21. Nor can it be disputed that music and musical instruments were a significant part of the worship of the Israelites in the days of tabernacle, and then later, temple worship. Apparently, whole choirs and bands were implemented in the acts of giving praise to God.

So, why then this question about contemporary Christian music?

There are probably two main concerns that arise in the minds of persons who raise the issue, that, in turn, point to other concerns.

The first concern would be the beat and volume of the music being played. For those who were born in the early 60’s and before, contemporary Christian music smacks of the influence of rock and roll made so popular in that era. If we give credit to the thought that music is the language of the soul, then we can understand that music in any form has the capacity to sway the hearers, even to the point of “driving” them to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do. One reason (among others) this is true is that music touches our emotions. Therefore, music can be used to bring a group of people to a state of frenzied emotion, and this reaction to the music may be indeed what some would look for in determining whether the musical experience was a success, or not. Note that this is true even in the environs of Christian worship. We can accurately conclude, then, that music in any setting that exerts an influence or control over the hearers, especially to point of causing them to act in indecent or immodest ways would not be pleasing to God, who would have us yield to the control of the Holy Spirit. But from that, we can also conclude that music in the control of the Holy Spirit can easily be used to bring people to a sense of worship, or of praise, or of prayer, or other fitting and godly demeanor.

The second concern would be the vast amount of repetition one finds in contemporary Christian music. Someone has dubbed this style of music as “7/11 music” – seven words or phrases sung eleven times. Many contemporary songs are songs of praise, and one song leader I heard said that those songs can only be really sung with true meaning by the Christian, and not by the unsaved. (I would say that’s true of most any hymn or gospel song.) Others have said that there is no real message in this type of music, and/or no real testimony or statement of faith. You can decide those issues for yourself.

Ravi Zacharias, in his book, “Cries of the Heart”, makes the observation that the music of the church plays a very strong role in the life of the believer in various ways. As one gets older, and experiences more of the storms, heartaches, and disappointments that come our way, there is the need for the cry of the heart to be met, and music os one tool that effectively ministers to the individual. To rob them of this balm by removing the old songs and hymns from our memories is to leave us with little or nothing with which to bolster our faith and strengthen our hope.

So let us remember that there is more to life than “Now”, and those very young persons we may hope to win through contemporary Christian music will one day stand in need of a song or hymn of comfort, inspiration, and testimony.

Thanks for reading,
Pastor Ritchey