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Bible preaching from the pulpit of Choice Hills Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina
All right, very good.
Let's get into our study here on church music.
We're on part number five of our church's music.
And we'll have this week and maybe next week
that we'll be going over a few things.
Someone did mention to me that if you have
a question or something like that, we need to
make sure we get the mic to you because
there are people that are listening in that can't
hear your question.
And I don't always remember to repeat it so
that they can hear it or your comment as
the case may be.
So try to help me remember.
Maybe that's the best way to put it.
Okay, so we're looking at our church's music as
a part of our study on our church speaking generally.
And we talked about music and specifically styles of
music and how styles of music have cultural contexts
and associations, and how we must be careful with
the various styles of music that we have and
the associations, because whatever style we use to give
praise to our God is going to then be
associated with whatever that style is associated with.
And so therefore,
we definitely don't want any styles or types that
have associations that would bring reproach upon the name of God.
And so that's part of the issue with styles
of music beyond the question of lyrics.
So we won't rehash all of that, but then
we went a little bit further.
And I do want to go back to Ephesians chapter 5.
And we looked at Ephesians 5.19 and Colossians
3.16, which say essentially the same thing.
But let's look at Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians 5,
19. And the Bible says here,
of course, remember, we covered this already, but this
verse, verse 19, is actually part of a sentence
that's referring to being filled with the Spirit.
So being filled with the Spirit has characteristics,
and this is one of them.
Verse 19, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your
heart to the Lord.
All right, let's pray together before we continue our study.
Our Father, thank you for the opportunity to study
your word here this morning.
We thank you.
I thank you for your people,
Lord. Your people are the plants of the Lord,
people who you have planted in your garden.
People that you care for personally.
And Lord, people that you love and are dear to you.
Lord, I thank you for the church of God, the saints.
I thank you for how you are continually working
in us, even though we sometimes don't perceive it
or don't feel it in ourselves.
But yet you are working because you said that
you will continue your work until the day of Christ.
And so even as we look at this subject
this morning, these practical things and scriptural things,
would you please guide us and help us to
understand and also to apply these things, not only
in our church setting, but also to ourselves personally,
we ask in Jesus' name,
amen. All right.
So again,
Ephesians, it's important for you to remember that Ephesians
5, 19 is in the context of verse 18,
which is being filled with the Spirit.
That's going to be important here in a minute,
okay?
But what we covered from that is the three
terms that are used to refer to the music,
which is psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
And we saw that the psalms refer to singing
the actual book of Psalms, psalms from the book of Psalms.
And we saw that in various places in Scripture,
which is, we could roughly say, is roughly equivalent
to singing the words of Scripture, which is thoroughly
biblical, perfectly biblical.
In fact, there are some people who have taken
the Psalms, because the Psalms are written as poetry,
but not English poetry, but Hebrew poetry, so they
don't readily go into English music, which would require English poetry.
People have taken the Psalms and have made out
of them a Psalter, which is the Psalms put
into English meter and put it into music.
And we actually sing some of them.
We just don't know that we do.
We sing parts of them.
But that's thoroughly scriptural.
That's exactly what the Hebrew believers did in the Old Testament.
They would sing the Psalms.
Then you have hymns.
Hymns can be defined as any kind of ode
or praise directly pointed toward God.
And we see hymns mentioned in Matthew 26,
30. We'll do that today when we do the Lord's Supper.
So hymns are not psalms in that they are
not scripture, but they are words of praise from
our heart toward the Lord.
Okay?
And so let's not be confused.
Let's not get confused.
But what are in this book are not just hymns.
Okay?
When we say, when the Bible says hymns,
it doesn't necessarily mean what's in this book.
We call them hymns.
Songs and hymns, this actually says the word songs.
But all songs, spiritual songs, are not necessarily hymns.
And we're not going to split hairs over the difference.
But the point is that when we say hymns,
it doesn't necessarily mean it's in a book like this.
It just means it's a song of praise to God. Okay.
Spiritual songs.
Spiritual songs basically encompass all other kinds of songs
that would not fit as psalms or hymns.
Direct praise to God.
In other words,
songs about spiritual themes.
Like you might think of,
and you find them in various parts of the Bible.
The Song of Deborah, as an example.
The Song of Deborah.
After Deborah the Judge, in the book of Judges,
she sang a song, she wrote a song,
not a hymn,
not a psalm, but a song, S-O -N-G,
that was not really so much a song of
praise to God as it was a recounting of
what God had done.
That would be a spiritual song.
She's talking about the things that God had done.
That is perfectly right and scriptural.
We have songs like that too, and they're excellent,
and we enjoy them.
In fact, this morning we have a special treat
from our soul refresh with the gentleman, I hope,
planning to sing.
Ari tried to throw me off.
So that'll be a blessing, and that'll be a spiritual song.
But when we say, the warning is though,
when we say spiritual song,
when we read that in Scripture, this is important
for us to understand all the time when we
read the Bible, that we don't want to read
into the Bible something that's in our mind.
We want to let the Word of God say
what it says in its context.
Here's what that means.
Spiritual song does not mean a genre that might
be roughly equivalent to Christian music.
That's not what's indicated there.
It doesn't mean Christian music.
That's how some people have understood it.
This refers to the genre of Christian music.
That's not how the Bible uses the word spiritual.
That's not at all.
And that's where we want to pick up today.
So spiritual songs is not a reference to a
genre of music.
It's a reference to songs that are spiritual.
And to understand what that means, we have to
look at the Bible and what the Bible says
and how the Bible defines the word spiritual.
And this is the part where it becomes really,
really applicable to us and really helpful to us
when we're talking about church music and when we're
talking about our own personal music.
Spiritual songs.
Again, we're not talking about,
well, I don't listen to secular music.
I only listen to Christian music.
That's not what this is talking about.
This is talking about songs that are spiritual.
Okay?
Okay.
Before we go there, we have already seen,
we've covered a little bit of this already.
Songs should contain the word of Christ.
Songs should contain, should teach the church.
Songs should admonish the church.
Songs should be biblical expressions of praise to God
in the church and privately.
And then we go to Galatians chapter 5.
So let's go there.
We're looking to understand the definition of spiritual songs.
Galatians 5, verse, excuse me,
Galatians 5 and verse number 18.
Actually, let's start in verse 16.
So we have to define the word
spiritual in spiritual songs by the Scripture and how
the Scripture describes it.
Verse 16,
Okay, so as you can see in this,
there's a strong contrast.
And this is throughout the New Testament.
There's a strong contrast made
the things of the Spirit of God and things
of the flesh.
They are on opposite ends of the spectrum.
They are polar opposites and have no relationship to one another.
They are actually in direct conflict.
Anything that is of the flesh is not of
the Spirit of God and anything that is of
the Spirit of God is going to be contrary
to the flesh.
That's why you as a believer, as a child
of God, find it so hard to do things
that you know for sure is the will of
God and spiritual.
You know why?
Because that flesh absolutely hates anything related to the
Spirit of God.
So that conflict in us is what is actually
being described here.
It's not unusual.
Now we continue verse 19.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these.
Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance,
em
related to anything in that list or similar to
it, God says that's of the flesh.
That is fruit of the flesh.
Okay?
That's the flesh.
Now we go to the Spirit.
love, joy, peace,
long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness,
temperance.
Against such there is no law.
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh
with the affections and lusts.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of vain glory,
provoking one another,
envying one another.
So what you have here is both for the
flesh and the spirit.
You have marks.
You have fruit.
You have characteristics.
You have signs of the flesh and of the spirit.
That is what the Bible describes as spiritual.
That's what it means.
And these are spiritual songs.
Now, that does not, a song is not only the words.
A song also includes, and certainly this applies to
the lyrics of a song.
But the lyrics is never the point of contention,
is it not?
It is never the point of contention.
The lyrics are not the issue.
The issue is the style of music, the music
itself, the tune.
And that tune is part of the song, spiritual song.
And that also must be spiritual.
So I ask you to consider the associations of the music.
And not only the associations of the style of
music, whether it is of the spirit, that is,
it is consistent with the fruit of the spirit,
or whether that style is consistent with and primarily
associated with the flesh.
And I've already discussed some major genres, although I
don't think we need to just look at genres
and say, well, this genre is good and this
genre is bad.
I don't think that's good enough.
I think we've got to be a little bit more specific.
But we've already looked at genres that to an
honest person we know are associated with certain things
that are on the list with flesh.
And I keep on bringing up hip-hop because
hip-hop and rap are kind of the extreme example.
Or I could use heavy metal.
Those are associated with drug use and drunkenness and
revelings and fornication and adultery and all of those things.
And again, those are cultural matters that we have
been born into.
You can't just simply say, well, this is a
Christian song and so those associations don't exist.
No, that's not true.
But there's another factor, which is this.
What does that style of music produce in us?
Because that's another vital point.
Spiritual songs produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Songs that are not spiritual songs, songs that have
associations with the flesh, will produce the works of the flesh.
And so it is, and I'll say this several
other times today, but there is some subjectivity to this.
I readily acknowledge that, that every person has to
come at this and judge their music, right,
by these scriptural principles.
What does it do to me?
What does it stir in me?
And you know what?
If you are going to be able to answer
that question faithfully and honestly and intelligently, you're going
to have to have a good grip on your
own wicked nature and understand when it's being encouraged
and when it's not.
And when your spiritual side, the Spirit of God
in you is being encouraged and when it's not.
So part of this is just, part of this is that.
You know, it's judging yourself.
So,
and to put it bluntly, there are plenty of
Christian songs that are where Christian lyrics are attached
to styles of music that appeal to and drive
and stir up the flesh.
You know how I know that?
Because those same styles of music are used at
the proms that everybody goes to.
This is fresh on my mind for a particular reason.
You know, at the end of the school year,
when all the girls lose their mind as far
as what they're supposed to wear, and parade themselves
like women of the street, it is wicked.
And then, and I've been to one, so I
know what I'm talking about, and then go and
indulge the flesh using those same styles of music
that are then taken later and applied to Christian lyrics.
It's the same style.
So it cannot be that this style appeals to
the flesh in this circumstance, but appeals to the
spirit in that circumstance.
That is not consistent.
That's not consistent.
So we have to honestly look at ourselves and
we have to say, what does this do in me?
Why do I like this style?
Right?
Is it a loaded question?
Well,
yeah. It's a question by which we're examining our own heart.
Now, where do you draw the line between a
spiritual song and one that's not?
Or carnal?
I don't know that I can tell you a
hard and fast line.
I definitely do not, as the pastor of this
church, definitely do not want to be in judgment
of every song that any particular person in our
church listens to.
You are going to have to make those decisions.
You are going to have to go before the
Lord and say, Lord, what kind of music is
pleasing to you?
What kind of music produces in me spirituality and
walking in the spirit?
And which type of music stirs up the wicked flesh?
I don't need any help in that department.
I definitely don't need any help in that department.
There are absolutely, there exist carnal songs with Christian words.
No question about it.
Not to speak of, not even to speak of
carnal songs that are just carnal without any Christian
lyrics at all.
So there is a matter of subjectivity and it
will take you and your walk with the Lord
and His Spirit to be able to discern these things.
Because sometimes it's not super simple.
This song or that song.
And so you have to be a discerning Christian.
And so the principle has to be that we
have to be willing to be honest and judge
ourselves and the effect that music has on us.
Not, does it remind me of songs that I
used to listen to before I knew the Lord?
Or is this music music that my friend,
my peer group likes to listen to and if
I don't listen to it like them, I'll be
the odd one out?
Or any other consideration?
Okay, I'm going to go on a hobby horse.
Is everybody okay with a hobby horse real quick?
I'm going to nail this thing.
I'm going to nail it good,
okay? Oldies.
Oldies are a good example of a genre that
has some things in it that aren't bad,
but has some things in it that are wicked,
in no way different than what Taylor Swift says.
You see, I have heard it said in churches,
though.
I've heard it said in churches,
well, oldies are okay.
What about the one where they're under the boardwalk?
Hey, did people not sin back then or what?
Those of you that live, how many of you
lived in the 60s?
Did people sin back in the 60s? Okay.
You see the danger in broad brushing it?
There's danger in broad brushing it.
Now, does that mean everything?
No, that doesn't mean everything.
But again, using discernment, applying the scripture.
And you know what?
I'll go a step further.
It also doesn't mean that everything in our hymn
book is nice and right and good either.
We're just trying to be consistent here.
Right?
Just trying to be consistent.
The covers of a hymn book does not a
godly song make.
Okay?
This is a...
Let's talk about that a minute.
Why does our church continue to use a hymn book?
We're on the subject of music.
Why does our church continue to use a hymn book?
Is that what it is?
We've spent so much money on these hymn books,
we feel like we have to use them until
they fall apart.
No, that's not why.
That's not why.
And I actually do want to address the issue
of the screen, because anytime you talk about music
in church, the issue of the screen comes up.
So I am going to get to that.
It probably won't be today, but I am going
to get to that, Brother Ari.
Thank you for prodding me and provoking me to
either good or bad,
whatever. He's like, I did my duty.
I did my duty.
Generally speaking, the reason we sing from the hymn
book is because the hymns in the hymn book,
I'm speaking broadly now, are generally very rich in doctrine.
They're generally very rich in doctrine.
And that's a good thing because that's what Colossians
3.16 says.
They're supposed to teach us and admonish us and
affirm and strengthen our faith.
And hymns in the hymn book often do that.
Many things that are not in the hymn book,
that is things that are written more contemporaneously with
us, are just not that way.
There are a lot of repetition and a lot
of praise choruses and things like that, which it's
not that those things are evil necessarily, but they
do not contain the depth, often do not contain
the depth that many of our hymns do.
So it has to do with the actual songs.
Now, am I saying that every song that's not
written in the last 50 years is bad?
No.
In fact, there are many songs, especially relatively recently,
that have been written intentionally to have depth.
Have you ever heard of My Jesus Fair,
written by Chris Anderson?
Or His Robes for Mine?
And there's plenty of other ones that are rich
and they have rich doctrine, not just those,
that are written, that are contemporary songs.
That is, they were written recently.
So it's not just that, but that is one factor.
That is one factor.
The hymn book also, and hymns in general,
provide a spiritual connection between ourselves and previous generations
of the saints of God.
You know, there's just this nefarious little thing among
people, among younger people.
And I would include myself in this group.
I'm at maybe the old man end of this
group that I'm referring to.
But there's a tendency among younger people to always
chase the most trendy thing.
Always chase the most trendy thing.
The way you decorate your house.
The kind of music.
And the color schemes.
Chasing the trendy things.
Because trendiness is a big thing with people my
age and under in particular.
But the problem is when you always chase that,
you often lose the connection to the past.
And what you have in the hymn book is
you have preserved generations of saints of God who
walked with God and as a result of their
walk with God wrote songs,
wrote spiritual songs and hymns that reflected their walk with God.
And that continuity is not something that should be lost.
We should not, never should young people look down
upon and disdain prior generations.
No, it's that they produce this.
The Isaac Watts,
And the fact that we sing it provides a
connection to that.
And that is good.
We didn't believe in Christ on our own as
No.
an island, separated from everybody that came before us.
No, we're a long line of people.
And we should maintain that connection.
That's part of what the hymn book is about.
Now, can you do that without the actual book?
Of course, you can do that.
So it leads me to my other things.
The third reason is that hymn books retain notes.
It goes to the question of screens.
All the songs in that hymn book have notes.
How many of you know how to read music?
I didn't say you were any good at it,
but you understand it at least.
A lot of people do.
The notes in the hymn book provide an opportunity
for the congregation to sing in parts.
If I could snap my finger and transform the...
Some of you are waiting with bated breath about
what I'm about to say.
If I could snap my finger and transform the
music of our church,
here's what it would look like.
There would be a congregation full of people singing
four-part harmony.
Sometimes with the piano,
sometimes without the piano.
That is what I envision as the pinnacle.
That's me,
okay? But you've got to have the notes to
do that, unless you're exceptionally skilled, like people in
my family, some of them.
Some of you are like that as well.
You've got to have notes.
So it provides us, the hymn book with its
notes provides an opportunity for us to learn that,
to grow, to progress, to get better in our congregational singing.
And it also provides an opportunity.
Now, I know that what I'm saying is not
a scriptural argument.
I get that.
I'm not reading a verse.
I get that.
I know that.
This is a judgment.
This is a judgment.
But I think it's a valid judgment because the
moment you take the hymn book away, the first
thing that goes is the notes.
And with the notes goes the ability, speaking generally,
to sing in parts.
And what it does is it kind of dumbs
down the music.
Everybody's going to be singing the same thing and
is going to be singing the same line in unison.
And there's no opportunity to advance in that way
as a congregation, even if there are skilled musicians.
And this leads to another thing a little bit later.
Now it is true that using the hymn books,
like we see here, does limit the songs that
we sing as a congregation.
Now we have Brother Ari, he has done this,
and this has expanded what we sing as a
congregation for this very cause.
But this does limit what we sing.
Well, I don't like our hymn book because it
doesn't have this song or that song.
Well, that's why we have this.
We can add to it whenever we want.
This is our Choice Hills hymnal.
Okay?
But that limitation of songs is actually a good
thing, I think.
And often, the limitation of the songs we sing
is one of the primary complaints of using a
hymn book, other than the fact that, and this
is the one I hear so often, so often.
The reason we don't use hymn books is because
people sing like this.
How many of you have heard this before?
I've heard pastors say it to me recently,
actually. He said, yeah, we went to the screens.
Here's what they said.
We went to the screens because when you have
a screen, everybody looks up and they read it
and they sing out.
Why not just do this?
Why not just
do this?
Besides that, one of the primary complaints is that
a hymn book limits the songs you can sing.
But here's the good part of that.
Is that limitation provides a kind of barrier to
the entrance of new songs.
And it makes us slow, therefore, to adopt new
songs that are on the top 10 trendy Christian list.
Some of which are good and some of which
might not be good.
But it makes that process slower.
And that's wise.
Again, it's not to say that every new song is bad.
I certainly don't think that.
But I think we ought to be cautious.
Knowing all that we know about music and its
use and how the devil uses it and all
the issues we've looked at in these four parts
so far, we ought to be cautious in what we introduce.
And the hymn book provides a way to be cautious.
But once we see, look, this is a good song.
We can put it in here, no problem,
and sing it together.
Not an issue.
So we're not being rigid about it.
We're just trying to be cautious.
And is it a judgment?
Absolutely.
It's a judgment.
It's trying to be discerning.
Now, I only have about five minutes.
So I'm not going to be able to get
to what I want to get to.
But I would like to get to one more thing.
If you'll go back to Ephesians 5, verse number 18.
Ephesians 5, verse 18.
It says this, And be not drunk with wine
wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
Okay, so we see the idea of being filled
with the Spirit, and right on the heels of
that, it says, Speaking to yourselves in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs in verse number 19.
You see that?
So there's a strong connection made between being filled
with the Spirit and singing.
Right?
And I know for me, this is just me
talking now, and I think this is what this
verse indicates, that when I sense that the Lord
is in control of me,
right? That's what the feeling of the Spirit is primarily about.
That songs are generated in my heart by the
Spirit of God.
I think that's what it's talking about.
A happy, Spirit-filled Christian is a singing, joyful Christian.
Okay?
Now,
but I think there's a pitfall.
The pitfall is this, that often we mistake being
filled with the Spirit and the fruits of being
filled with the Spirit, we confuse that with singing.
Let me explain.
We think that singing itself automatically means that a
person is filled with the Spirit.
And the effect of that, and I have seen
this played out, the effect of it is this.
You guys have seen things like the worship team,
the praise team,
whatever. The people who are appointed to, you know,
our church doesn't do that kind of thing.
Some churches do,
whatever. That's beside the point.
But when you see those people, you see the
singers, you see those who are skilled in singing,
the assumption, and this goes for preachers and teachers
as well, anybody who is in front of the congregation.
The assumption is, well, they're doing that.
They must be spiritual.
And here's the thing.
Sometimes they think that themselves.
Due to the fact that I sing, I am spiritual.
Now, nobody ever puts it like that, of course.
And I certainly am not saying anyone who sings
has this attitude.
But if you look at the Christian music world
in general,
is there not an assumption that all these Christian
artists are awesome Christians?
Is there not that kind of baseline assumption of that?
I just challenge you to take some of these
Christian artists' names that you hear and just do some research.
Just do some research.
Not in every case, but in many cases you
will find lives that are not consistent with the
message that they sing.
Now, for the ones that are consistent, I'm not
hoping that they sin.
I'm not hoping that their life is inconsistent.
But there is, because of Ephesians 5, 18 and
19, there's this idea.
Well, they sing that is spiritual.
They're spiritual.
And it is actually, so let me put it
to you like this.
Singing spiritually themed songs is not equal to being spiritual yourself.
And the truth is that this is a more
common problem, a broader problem than just related to singing.
It's very common for people to mistake Christian activity,
whatever that activity might be,
for spirituality.
And there are few places where this question or
this tendency is more relevant than singing.
Because you're singing direct praise to God.
How can you be singing praise to God and
not be spiritual?
But it's true.
Those of you that have singing ability and musical
ability, you know for a fact that that's the case.
I preach, that's the gift God has given me,
and preaching and teaching, and I can tell you
it is absolutely possible to do that, just like
Brother Robert said,
not in the Spirit.
You see, there is no act that a person
does that makes one spiritual.
Being filled with the Spirit is not described as
an act, but as a yielding.
And the evidence of being filled with the Spirit
is not so much in what we do,
but in the Spirit's influence on our personal character
and our interactions with others.
Scott Pauley, I was listening to a clip by
him, and he put it like this.
He said the question, the evidence that you're filled
with the Spirit is not whether you preach a sermon.
It's not whether you sing a song.
The evidence is how you treat the waitress at
the restaurant, how you treat your family at the
house, how you treat one another when you're wronged.
Those are the real evidences of the Spirit of
God, not these out front kind of acts that appear spiritual.
And again, I'm not trying to cast shade on that.
Certainly not.
In fact, we specifically want the men to get
up here and sing a song, but it's a
commonly misunderstood thing.
And really, it's a kind of a dangerous thing
to equate spiritual activity with spirituality.
How many harms, listen now, how many harms have
been done by people who were doing spiritual things
and were thought to be spiritual, but were exactly the opposite?
And you know that's true.
We know that intuitively. That's true.
So, we return to the original question concerning,
which is our question, this music or that music.
And here's where it applies.
We should not look at an artist or a
song and assume,
well, that is good because it is spiritual.
It is spiritual sounding.
Or that artist is good because look how well they sing.
Or look how, you know, they have tears coming down.
None of that matters.
That is not the way that you tell.
That is not the way that you tell.
That is not an indication of spirituality.
But the reverse.
If a person is filled with a spirit,
one of the outflows and characteristics of that is singing.
That's what Ephesians 5.18 and 19 say.
So, we do need, whether it be preachers, teachers,
spiritual leaders, whatever, we do need a healthy skepticism,
a healthy caution when it comes to that kind of thing.
I don't know about you.
I mean, just as a principle, this is me
talking now, I want to listen to a song.
If I'm listening to something on Spotify, for those
of you that know what Spotify is and are
into that, if I'm listening to a song on
Spotify, I would like to know, if possible,
that the person I'm listening to is actually saved,
that the guy loves his wife,
that, you know,
don't you?
I want to know that.
Just like I want to know it with a preacher.
You know what will ruin a sermon?
When you know that the preacher is a hypocrite.
That will ruin a sermon pretty quick.
It will ruin a song too.
Or it should.
So again, it's not just about, it's all of
these things put together.
And now I know you can't know everything about
everybody all the time i get that so you
have to make judgment calls with the information you
have i get that and but to the extent
that we can we should apply these principles not
only to our church but also to ourselves personally
let's pray together