1 year ago

479

I suppose the simplest way to break down the issue with the modern debate over Christian Music comes down to 3 questions:

What Are You Glorifying?
What Are You Offering?
Why Are You Doing These Things?

What are you glorifying? What I mean by this question is several things: Are you glorifying God, Man, or Feelings? Is our focus during worship on our feelings and emotions or is it upon the Lord? Are we in the same state of mental release as we would be in a stadium while listening to our favorite band, or are we in a state of gratitude and exaltation towards our Abba Father?

In the same vein, are we focused on the person or people leading the worship as much or more so than the God whom we claim we are praising? When we clap our hands, are we exalting the work and being of our Heavenly Father or are we exalting the musicians?

Why do we hold our worship services the way we do? Are we facilitating worship or attempting to increase numbers for numbers’ sake? Are we building a place of worship or a place of entertainment?

These are issues within the Church’s walls, but these same questions can be asked of any of the songs and hymns that we sing within the Church’s walls. Does this song focus upon God or the sinner? Does it glorify God, or an experience? Why are we bringing this song before God? Does it sound like an offering of penance, praise, worship, or glory? What I mean by that is: Does this song make an offering to God the Father that is focused on Him, or does it sound like we’re talking about ourselves?

Many songs, whether old or new, don’t pass the sincerity test. However, as many or more fail the theological sniff test. Whether we like it or not, some people walk away from a service with more from the worship service than they do from the sermon. Why then, would we allow poor or false doctrine into the service via a poorly or incorrectly constructed song?

Would you allow a false teacher to preach from the pulpit? Would you read his sermon? If not, then why would you sing the songs of someone beholden to such doctrine? People like Bethel, Hillsong, and Elevation hold to the Prosperity Gospel, why would we entertain their doctrine by singing their songs in front of our children and more importantly, our God? Again, why are we doing these things? If we’re singing to offer praises to God, would we not want the best of doctrine in the songs that we sing as an offering of praise?

(At the same time, being concerned about false teachers, should we not be concerned about false prophets. Those that are weaving the "New Age" beliefs into Christianity, like Bethel, have mislead Christians into believing that supernatural powers just need to be harnessed. As with the direction of CCM, the worship of one's self is being preached and written about in books. CCM must be analyzed before being brought into one's church also a through background check done on all worship leaders concerning the music they have sang.)

The final issue that tends to stand out in the Contemporary Christian Music world is that there is an incredible amount of reverence and respect towards the people who author these songs. It’s an attractive position to be a CCM singer or author. In the infamous interview with a reporter, Katy Perry mentioned that she had released a Gospel Album, but “That didn’t work out, so I sold my soul to the Devil.” Now, all of the issues with that statement aside, there’s an allure to the borrowed favor and fame that the CCM title gives people’s work. People who may be fine Christians with room to grow are put on the spot and fail miserably, I’m looking at you Lauren Daigle. These too are a tragedy.

While there’s nothing wrong with new songs by nature of their newness, not all old or new songs are created equal. We should carefully examine the words that we offer our Holy God as offerings of praise. Note, all of this needs to be done in light of grace.