There’s a nice misunderstanding in church buildings of the aim of music in Christian worship. Church buildings routinely promote their “life-changing” or “dynamic” worship that may “deliver you nearer to God” or “change your life.” Sure worship CD’s promise that the music will “allow you to enter the presence of God.” Even a flyer for a current convention for worship leaders boasted:
“Be a part of us for dynamic educating to set you on the fitting path, and provoking worship the place you’ll be able to meet God and obtain the power and love it is advisable be a mover and shaker in right this moment’s world… Alongside our educating program are worship occasions which put you in contact with the ability and love of God.”
The issue with the flyer and with many church adverts is that these sorts of guarantees reveal a major theological error. Music is considered as a method to facilitate an encounter with God; it is going to transfer us nearer to God. On this schema, music turns into a method of mediation between God and man. However this concept is nearer to ecstatic pagan practices than to Christian worship.
Jesus is the one mediator between God and man. He alone is the One who brings us to God. The favored however mistaken notions concerning worship music undermine this foundational fact of the Christian religion. It is usually ironic that whereas many Christians deny the sacramental position of these ordinances which the Lord Himself has given to the church (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) they’re desperate to grant music sacramental powers. Music and “the worship expertise” are considered as means by which we enter the presence of God and obtain his saving advantages. There may be merely no proof in any way in Scripture that music mediates direct encounters or experiences with God. This can be a frequent pagan notion. It’s removed from Christian.
In his useful guide True Worship Vaughan Roberts provides 4 penalties of viewing music as an encounter with God. I’ll summarize them.
1. God’s Phrase is marginalized.
In lots of Church buildings and Christian gatherings it’s not uncommon for God’s Phrase to be shortchanged. Music offers individuals the elusive “liver quiver” whereas the Bible is extra mundane. Pulpits have shrunk and even disappeared whereas bands and lighting have grown. However religion doesn’t come from music, dynamic experiences, or supposed encounters with God. Religion is birthed by means of the proclamation of God’s Phrase (Rom 10:17).
2. Our assurance is threatened.
If we affiliate God’s presence with a selected expertise or emotion, what occurs after we not really feel it? We seek for church buildings whose reward band, orchestra, or pipe organ produce in us the emotions we’re chasing. However the actuality of God in our lives relies on the mediation of Christ not on subjective experiences.
3. Musicians are given priestly standing.
When music is seen as a method to come across God, worship leaders and musicians are vested with a priestly position. They change into those who deliver us into the presence of God slightly than Jesus Christ who alone has already fulfilled that position. Understandably, when a worship chief or band doesn’t assist me expertise God they’ve failed and have to be changed. Then again, after we consider that they’ve efficiently moved us into God’s presence they are going to attain in our minds a standing that’s far too excessive for their very own good.
4. Division is elevated.
If we determine a sense as an encounter with God, and solely a selected form of music produces that feeling, then we are going to insist that very same music be performed recurrently in our church or gatherings. So long as everybody else shares our style then there isn’t any drawback. But when others rely upon a special form of music to supply the sensation that’s vital to them then division is cultivated. And since we routinely classify specific emotions as encounters with God our calls for for what produce these emotions change into very inflexible. This is the reason so many church buildings succumb to providing a number of kinds of worship providers. By doing so, they unwittingly sanction division and self-centeredness among the many individuals of God.
Scripture is stuffed with exhortations to God’s individuals to sing and make music to the Lord. Our God has been gracious to present us this implies to worship Him. However it is very important perceive that music in our worship is for 2 particular functions: to honor God and to edify our fellow believers. Sadly, many Christians are likely to grant music a sacramental energy which Scripture by no means bestows upon it.
Todd Pruitt serves as Lead Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Raised a Southern Baptist, he’s a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas Metropolis. He blogs recurrently at Ref21 and 1517. Todd, together with Carl Trueman and Aimee Byrd, is likely one of the hosts ofMortification of Spin. He and his spouse Karen have three kids.
Picture courtesy: ©Getty Photos / Arkira
Initially printed February 13, 2025.
