The Power of Biblical Based Music

Ephesians 5:18-20;Colossians 3:16

Paul said that one of the ways that we maintain our spiritual fullness and Biblical mind is by singing. Music has a way of getting into the depths of our feelings in ways that many other pleasures can’t. I have always loved music and growing up as an only child music was a sort of companion for me in my times of loneliness. I listen to all types of genres and have over the years learned a lot about culture and the state of culture, especially in our culture today.

Andrew Fletcher, who was a Scottish politician and writer said “Let me write the songs of a nation and I don’t care who writes its laws.” This was not only a statement but it was a true statement because whether we realize it not, music has a great influence on culture. Fyodor Dostoevsky once said that “Life would influence art, then art would influence life, and then ultimately life would find its meaning in the arts.” What Dostoevsky said was that it wouldn’t be the facts of history and politics that would shape and mold a culture, it would be the feelings of a disgruntled generation that would be the voters and adopt social/liberal ideas out of ignorance and rebellion that they have learned from the cultural philosophers such as the musicians, actors, and sports figures they idolize. What we are reaping in America today is the the music of the 1990’s that was full of anger, disappointment, despair, and one that flourished in a highly saturated secular culture.

I say all this to make a point. Music influences culture. It not only has an influence on a people, but also influences the values that those people embrace. This is not only a secular truth, but even more than that it is a Biblical truth. Paul said that “singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” was one of the ways to maintain our spiritual fullness and a sound Biblical mind.

Music has somewhat brought a division in the church in the last couple of decades because of the paradigm shift in it. For over a couple of centuries the church sung the great hymns that came about as a result of the Great Awakenings and The Wesleyan revivals. These were the foundational songs that were so saturated in Biblical truth and theology and they were a constant reminder of the tenants of our faith as they were sung in the home, in the workplace, or the field. But as the culture changed from reason to romanticism (feeling) so did the church follow suit and move from sound Biblical theology to spiritualism or charisma. Many songs were no longer based on what we believed, but what we felt.

I am not opposed to contemporary Christian music in any way just as long as it finds its meaning and message in the truths of scripture. That’s what I like about the old hymns and we are beginning to see a trend of going back to these timeless classics. And that’s were revival begins! By going back! One other form of music, especially in the early church was the singing of the psalms. Singing and praying the Psalms gives us the link between the theology and depth of feeling we have in our suffering, afflictions, and temptations. David and the others who were the writers of the Psalms faced their struggles and depths of emotions, with the timeless truths that they found in Jehovah God and the scriptures. By singing these we keep in mind that some of the greatest songs came out of suffering and it was the depth of theology that kept them focused and encouraged in trying times.

So make a habit of singing the Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs that usher in a Christian culture, not of one that is made up of just people, but also of the very presence of God as well through the Holy Spirit.

Make sure you read the poem that Kathy Crouch posts today. It confirms what I am writing about.

Pastor Robby