An Earnest Plea to Everyone Who Loves Hillsong and Bethel Music
Summary
TLDRThe script delves into the contentious debate surrounding worship music within churches. It challenges the common arguments based on personal preferences and proposes a set of criteria to determine the best form of worship music. These criteria include the richness of biblical truth, prioritizing God's preferences over personal tastes, reflecting God's character and nature through the music, considering the highest form of human communication and musical expression, and adapting to the available means and context while preserving the essence of worship as an offering to God. The script advocates for a thoughtful approach that transcends subjective opinions and aims to present the most excellent and God-honoring form of worship.
Takeaways
- 😇 Worship music is a highly contentious issue within churches, causing division over preferences like traditional hymns versus contemporary styles.
- 🤔 Rather than simply voicing preferences, the speaker suggests deeper consideration of what we are presenting to God in worship.
- 🎶 Contemporary worship churches tend to prioritize criteria like evoking emotions, lighting, repetition, and musical elements aimed at eliciting feelings.
- 📖 The speaker proposes focusing on biblical truth and intellectual engagement through lyrics, allowing emotions to follow from knowledge.
- 🙏 Key criteria for evaluating worship music include: biblical depth, audience focus (God or self), God's preferences over human preferences, and reflecting God's character.
- 🎻 Music should reflect the highest form humans can produce, both in sound quality and lyrical content (poetry).
- 🌍 Worship should consider limitations like available musical talents and cultural context while still striving for excellence.
- 🕰️ Preserving ancient hymns connects modern worshippers to historical believers, though new compositions are encouraged.
- 🎼 Variety in musical styles is acceptable as long as the criteria of truth, excellence, and God's preferences are met.
- ✨ The ultimate goal is to offer worship that is a sweet aroma to God, not based on human preferences alone.
Q & A
What is the main topic of discussion in the provided transcript?
-The main topic of discussion is about determining the best form of worship music for churches.
What are the criteria that contemporary churches often use to determine their worship music, according to the transcript?
-The criteria mentioned for contemporary churches include: making people feel the presence of God, using dim lighting and special effects, using synthesizers and repetitive lyrics, choosing keys that elicit emotions, and having the worship leader engage the audience to evoke feelings.
How does the speaker suggest worship music should aim to produce emotions, as opposed to contemporary churches?
-The speaker suggests that worship music should aim for the intellect by teaching great truths about God first, and then emotions will follow based on that knowledge, rather than directly manipulating emotions.
What is the first criteria suggested by the speaker for determining the best worship music?
-The first criteria suggested is whether the song is filled with 'milk' (simplistic) or 'meat' (robust biblical truth).
What is the second criteria suggested by the speaker?
-The second criteria is determining for whom the worship is being done - for our own preferences or for God.
According to the speaker, whose preference should be paramount when choosing worship music?
-The speaker suggests that God's preference should be paramount, not our own subjective preferences.
What is the third criteria suggested by the speaker?
-The third criteria is that the musical offerings should reflect the character and nature of God, providing an example of a lofty, royal sound versus a chaotic sound.
What is meant by the term 'anthropological issue' in relation to worship music?
-The term 'anthropological issue' refers to the idea that worship music should reflect the best efforts of humanity as God's creation and image-bearers, both in the sounds produced and the lyrics (described as poetry).
How does the speaker suggest accounting for varying means and resources when determining worship music?
-The speaker suggests that churches should endeavor to produce the loftiest worship they can based on their available giftedness, means, and even zip code/location, while still adhering to the suggested criteria.
What is the speaker's view on incorporating both new and old hymns/songs in worship?
-The speaker suggests that while new songs should be created using human creativity, old hymns that have been sung by believers for centuries should not be neglected, as there is something special about that connection to the past.
Outlines
🎵 Contemporary Worship Music: Emotion vs. Intellect
This paragraph contrasts the approach of contemporary worship churches, which prioritize eliciting emotions and creating a spiritual atmosphere through techniques like lighting, repetition, and musical keys, with a more intellectual approach based on the Psalms, which aim to engage the mind with theological truths before evoking emotion. The paragraph sets the stage for a deeper discussion on what should drive the criteria for choosing worship music.
🙏 Criteria for Evaluating Worship Music
The paragraph offers alternative criteria for evaluating worship music, focusing on the substance and biblical truth conveyed in the lyrics, considering whose preferences should take precedence (ours or God's), and assessing whether the music reflects the character and nature of God. It encourages moving beyond personal preferences and considering the loftiness and excellence of the musical offerings presented to God.
🎼 Anthropological and Artistic Considerations
This paragraph suggests that worship music should reflect our highest human capabilities and forms of communication, combining theological depth in the lyrics with excellence in musical composition and performance. It acknowledges practical limitations in resources and giftedness while encouraging the pursuit of loftiness within those constraints. Additionally, it advocates for incorporating both new and ancient hymns, valuing the rich heritage of songs sung by believers throughout history.
🕊 Worship: An Offering to God
The final paragraph emphasizes that worship is ultimately an offering to God, not for our own preferences or entertainment. It encourages seeking to present our best efforts in a manner that honors God's character and deserves His pleasure. The paragraph concludes by reminding us that diversity in musical styles is acceptable as long as it aligns with the criteria of loftiness, excellence, and biblical truth.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Worship
💡Contemporary Worship
💡Emotions
💡Biblical Truth
💡Preference
💡Character of God
💡Anthropological
💡Means and Giftedness
💡Tradition
💡Variety
Highlights
Contemporary worship churches tend to bypass the intellect and aim directly for emotions, focusing on criteria like eliciting feelings, lighting, synthesizer effects, and repetitive lyrics.
The Psalms aim for the intellect by teaching great truths about God, and emotions follow from that knowledge.
A criteria for determining best worship music: Is the song filled with robust biblical truth or simplistic?
Criterion: For whom are we doing worship - our preferences or God's preferences?
Worship music should reflect the character and nature of God - the loftiest, most excellent being.
Worship is an anthropological issue - our music should reflect our best efforts as God's highest creation and image bearers.
Our lyrics should be the loftiest form of human communication - poetry filled with theology.
Limitations like available musical talent and setting should be considered in determining the best we can offer.
There's value in singing ancient hymns that have been sung by believers for centuries, connecting us to our ancestors.
New compositions reflecting our creativity and productivity are also valuable, not just ancient hymns.
Variety in musical styles is acceptable as long as the criteria for excellent, lofty worship to God are met.
We shouldn't condemn each other over musical preferences but seek to offer our best to God based on the criteria outlined.
Worship isn't for our preferences but for God, so we should aim to please Him, not ourselves.
Examples are given of diverse styles (southern gospel, contemporary, choirs, orchestras) that can meet the criteria when done excellently.
The call is to pursue lofty, excellent worship reflecting God's character, rather than favoring personal stylistic preferences.
Transcripts
which worship music is best that's right
it's time to have a worship conversation
which is the single most acrimonious
issue inside of the church churches have
divided over carpet colors whether you
should buy a frigid air or a Kenmore
refrigerator but there is no subject
that has caused more
consternation than worship music
traditionally the conversation about
worship tends to sound like
this that music's really stupid man the
old hymns are better on the other hand
you've got people who will respond
you're just a funy duddy you're a kudin
who doesn't know how to really have
joy I think I nailed it so I would like
to offer a different approach to this
entire oh this word conversation perhaps
some questions that will cause all of us
to actually think through the issue more
than just what is my preference so this
is an offering for all of us to consider
what are we presenting to the Lord let's
dive in with the mindset not to just poo
poo somebody's preference but instead to
go deeper and to sort out what is indeed
the best work worship the answer to that
question it depends on your criteria I'm
going to try to be fair with this but in
contemporary worship churches they
absolutely have a set of criteria that
drives what they present on Sunday
morning it's not that they don't have
other considerations but what really
determines what we're going to present
on Sunday morning tends to be driven by
these criteria One how can we make
people
feel the presence of
[Music]
God lord All I
Want You number two how dim should the
lights
[Music]
be and speaking of Lights should we have
lights that accent the worship
oh
three how long should the synthesizer
play in order to bring people into the
presence of
God four how many times should we repeat
one
sentiment good good father it's who you
are it's who you are
it's who you are it's who you
are it's who you
[Applause]
are five what key of music is best to
elicit
[Music]
emotions
[Music]
hallelu
Hallelujah
six when would a key change really
affect and move
people and the SE will walk at the
sound on your
[Music]
name of your seven how should the
worship leader sing in order to engage
the audience that's go one
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
two now this is not to suggest these
churches don't ever consider the content
of the music or the form but those most
of the time are secondary or tertiary
the theme that tends to drive
contemporary worship churches focuses
primarily and sometimes exclusively on
feelings now these churches see
worship as something that they have to
present almost almost like a
performance to get you to feel something
in other words contemporary worship
churches tend to bypass the intellect
and aim directly for
emotions I would offer that's just not
the way the Psalms which is basically
God's Himel were written do the Psalms
produce emotions they should but the
question is how do they do that and the
answer is the Psalms aim for the
intellect by teaching us great truths
about God and then once our brains are
filled with knowledge then our emotions
follow worship feelings which we can and
should have must in my opinion be
produced based on
knowledge not
manipulation thinking first feelings
second that I think is the biblical
order and so to that end I'd like to
offer a different set of criteria for
determining what worship music is indeed
best and again I offer
these not so that we can be shouting at
one another again but so that we all
actually just think this thing through
maybe on a level that we haven't
considered to date so here's criteria
number one for your
consideration is the song filled with
milk or meat is it simplistic or is it
robust in biblical truth there's a big
difference between say
[Music]
this and
this
[Applause]
[Music]
setting preference aside you you have to
admit one was just a little smarter
loftier contained more biblical truth
about God the more truth our music
contains the more our brains will be
engaged until it produces es the correct
unmanipulated
emotions criteria number two for whom
are we doing worship got to answer that
question because I bring my preferences
it look I'll I'll just put my cards on
the table if I had my DRS you would be
singing to a pipe organ because that's
God's inspired instrument it's actually
in the Bible don't you know that's
that's my
preference but I have to set that aside
this is an easy trap to fall into I need
to answer the question what am I doing
on Sunday morning who is this for we all
have subjective
preferences but we got to lose those
which actually leads us to criteria
number three whose preference should be
Paramount ours or God's in other words
if we can conclude which type of worship
songs God prefers then our subjective
opinions go in the trunk because it's
not about our preferences we're offering
up an aroma and it's either going to be
sweet or it's going to stink based on
God's nostrils not our preferences so
for instance just
because I love the pipe
[Music]
organ
much as I love that if we can conclude
from the Bible that God hates the organ
and loves Hard Rock then I swallow my
preferences to offer what God likes and
conversely let's just say I hate bag
pipes because I do I I really hate bag
pipes but no matter how much I hate bag
pipes if I discover that God loves them
then guess what I'm going to scrap in
and worship with bag pipes I'd prefer to
not wear the Kilt and you'd prefer that
too but I will worship to what God wants
and that brings us to our third criteria
to help us determine what God
likes our musical offerings should
reflect the character and the nature of
God I understand this can feel a little
bit subjective but what we offer to God
the music I'm not talking about lyrics
I'm talking about
music it it should somehow reflect an
attribute or the overall character of
God so knowing that God is the single
loftiest being in the universe our music
should be as lofty as we can possibly
make it and you say well that's
impossible to determine well let me ask
you which of these sounds more like
God
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
ask yourself the question which one
better reflects God's character and
nature and then you're charted in the
right direction to determine are we
offering the loftiest we can one sounded
like music for a king like royalty the
other sounded kind of chaotic what
attribute does a wailing guitar solo
represent but I know you object music is
really subjective and I agree that there
is subjectivity in music but only as it
regards my preference there are simply
some forms of music that are objectively
better than others and while you may not
personally in other words subjectively
prefer say
this no doubt you'd recognize the violin
makes a better sound than
[Music]
this
we should offer to God the music that is
most reflective of his Excellence our
next criteria worship is an
anthropological issue you say what does
that have to do with what we sing on
Sunday morning well we're God's creation
in fact we're the height of God's
creation we alone are image bearers and
and our music should reflect our best
efforts that reflect who we are example
is this man's
bestel God or is this
[Music]
better hallelujah hallelujah
hallelujah
additionally we need to ask the question
what is the loftiest form of human
communication so we got two things going
on when it comes to music you've got the
sound that we produce it should reflect
what we are capable of as human beings I
I I could just sit and bang a pot on
Sunday morning but that's hardly the
best music that human beings can produce
and we also need to consider what are we
communicating in other words the lyrics
what is the best that people can produce
and I think the answer to that is poetry
it's just requires more thought and
creativity and knowledge and even
artistic gifting so we should combine
our highest form of communication filled
with theology accompanied by the highest
form of music that we can produce but I
know what you're thinking
hey isn't there any variety furthermore
we don't have an
orchestra I get that there are
definitely limitations here's one of the
considerations what you have at your
disposal what are your means how many
people do you have that are musically
gifted can anybody play an instrument so
I get it there's definitely
limitations to what we can all produce
Grace Community Church basically has
half of the Los Angeles Symphony at
their
Church
[Music]
conversely our church it doesn't have
any of those means so we at our church
we just Endeavor to produce the loftiest
worship we can based on
giftedness and means and even to a
degree zip code there are different m
musical stylings so this brings in
another component we should have some
criteria
recognizing that setting is going to
make a difference now let's say you have
a 12 string guitar cool my encouragement
is that we play it in a way that simply
meets the aforementioned criteria you
can play a guitar like
this
or you can play a guitar like
[Music]
this which one comes closer to meeting
God's
criteria than the other one now does
this mean that we can only play old hym
no it doesn't mean that if a song meets
these criteria it doesn't matter if it's
new or ancient I will say this there's
something kind of special about singing
a song that's been sung by Believers for
centuries how encouraging is it to know
that Believers have been singing this
Hymn for
1,400
[Music]
years my heart hold on we can you can go
back further here is a hymn that was
sung by our ancestors you want a link
you want
ancestry your ancestors sang this song
since the fth
century Father's Love
begot and the words began to
be he is alha and
omeg
thece the
end does this mean all of our Tunes need
to be ancient no they they don't in fact
I would say they shouldn't we should
continue to use our human productivity
and creativity to create even more
Psalms hymns and spiritual songs I'm
just saying we shouldn't neglect the old
stuff because it's old I say that's a
benefit not a negative should all of our
music be absolutely monolithic no it
shouldn't there's a ton of ways to
fulfill these
criteria it can express itself in so
many different ways so we don't want to
be legalists we we don't want to be
banging our Fist and condemning one
another simply because we don't prefer
that type of music you can do lofty
southern
gospel
[Applause]
[Music]
turn you can you can do lofty with
contemporary instrumentation you can do
lofty with a choir and an orchestra
based on means and your zip code and
your giftedness so let's not squash
those elements that I think are a sweet
sent in the nostrils of the Lord but let
us simply seek to do the best we can
because worship isn't for us it's for
God
[Music]
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