The Music Pastor's Sure Foundation
I can’t imagine any greater need in today’s tumultuous world of church music than the need to build upon the sure foundation of God’s eternal Word. The Bible gives us mandates about worship and music, and it is our responsibility to know and obey them fearlessly and completely, no matter who agrees or disagrees.
For example, we are plainly told to sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). Sadly, some Christians ignore the clear command to sing the Psalms, saying, “It’s not our tradition to sing Psalms.” Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day, “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:9). We too can be guilty of using tradition as an excuse to ignore (essentially reject) God’s commands regarding worship and music. In all things we should study what the Bible says and obey it fearlessly.
Yet we are, by the wise design of God, left to make many specific music decisions without specific mandates or commands from the Scriptures. God has given us the liberty, and the responsibility, to choose, and He calls us to live out the Word, making decisions based on principles or patterns we read in the Word. These liberty choices show God how we are maturing in our knowledge of Him and our love for Him. Turning these liberty choices into our musical traditions is not inherently wrong. Musical traditions often represent the Spirit-led practices of godly men and women. Paul himself said, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
Humbly learning from believers in the past and how they lived out obedient worship acknowledges that God the Spirit has a history of leading believers. We are not the first generation to enjoy His wisdom. Traditions become a problem only when they are elevated to the status of the Word or become counter-productive.
Sometimes, though, you may catch yourself building your music philosophy on human traditions and not on the Bible. For instance, can you imagine Jesus gathering His disciples around Him and explaining, “My goal is to always err on the side of the _____?” Proverbs 4:25 and 27 say, “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. . . . Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” Christ’s testimony was, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father” (John 5:30). Like Christ, we should have a burning desire to know and obey our Heavenly Father, not erring on the side of anything. We must build our music programs on a “more sure word of prophecy”: the infallible Word (2 Pet. 1:19). Conventional wisdom, the philosophy of men, or even our wonderful musical traditions cannot be the foundation.
It may be time for you to step back and ask yourself whether you are basing your ideas about worship and music on the Bible or on tradition. Scripture should come to mind whenever you think or talk about your worship and music choices. God forbid that Jesus could ever say about our worship, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). Make it your goal to know the mandates, principles, and practices in God’s Word. Let’s build our musical traditions on the Word and not men’s ideas.
Dean Kurtz serves at Calvary Baptist Church, Watertown, WI. He also teaches as adjunct professor at Maranatha Baptist Bible College.