Where God sees a difference between singing and preaching in worship, we must observe each one’s place. Both have appropriate places in developing reverence towards God: music the emotional; preaching the rational; music secondary by preparing hearts to accept Christ, preaching primary by moving human minds to obey Christ, leading to life-change. As Paul said in Romans 12:2, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” He made the same emphasis in Colossians 3:16.
We have but one account of Jesus singing: when he and the disciples sang a hymn before leaving the Upper Room Matthew 26:30. That he sang often is obvious from the many psalms used in Jewish worship. But the continued emphasis on preaching and teaching cannot be accorded secondary status; as Mark 2:2 summarized, he “preached the word to them”. God told the prophet Amos that he had built Israel according to “plumb”, that is, according to the truth revealed in his WORD Amos 7:7-8. By turning from his WORD—the prophetic message—they had “fallen out of plumb”, that is, away from God into apostasy. And, note, they lived in their fallen state even as they continued to sing their songs and offer their sacrifices. Because they rejected his WORD, God would no longer listen to their songs or accept their sacrifices Amos 5:21-24. The contemporary church should pay attention to this truth. The psalms, representing all musical productions, are but humanity’s upreach to God, whereas God’s Word is his outreach to humanity. The exceptions in the Psalms are Spirit-breathed revelations of God’s WORD through the Psalmist, over which he had no control, but which he wrote as “carried along by the Holy Spirit” II Peter 1:21. The same rule applies to Philippians 2:5-11 and II Timothy 2:11-13. Only as God-breathed truth through the apostle Paul did hymns become Scripture! Though like ancient Israel, the modern church has no excuse for substituting heart-felt music for head-rattling preaching, we have fallaciously “gone out of plumb” by thinking we can SING people, not PREACH people, into the kingdom. We think to ENTERTAIN them into, not REPENT them towards, then BAPTIZE them INTO the kingdom. We can’t, by “having a good time at church”, secure the interest of sinners. That “feel good” approach is nothing but Hollywood or Las Vegas fluff. By imitating professional-style productions, with flashing strobe lights and full orchestras and singers, we mimic a style of theater that offers a distraction from daily life, not the reconstruction of daily life in Christ’s image. Above all we deceive ourselves that a “good time” of fellowship, of singing, of playing instruments, of bible studies, etc., can ever compete with brain-blasting spiritual face-to-face encounters with God through his spoken WORD. How can we possibly be satisfied with such “cheap religious thrills” when God wants us to enter his presence and fall on our faces to receive grace and peace “from him Who Was, and Is and Is To Come” Revelation 1:4, and “from Jesus Christ, who...loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood...to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” Revelation 1:5-6. End Part III
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