Some Thoughts on Songs Used for Worship

I like the assembly where we have been attending for a year now, because the teaching is good and fundamental, the people seem to be solid believers and fellowship is good.  Oh there are things which they support or promote which I disagree with but there will never be an assembly which is totally acceptable to anyone!  But sometimes I really wonder how much thought goes into the selection of songs to sing for worship services.  At least at this assembly I haven’t encountered anything totally aberrational or heretical, or even a “Jesus is my boyfriend” song.  There’s been some slightly aberrant and some odd ones which get close to the “Jesus is my boyfriend,” but nothing to the extent of what was happening at the assembly we left after 13 years.  However, it would surely be a better assembly if we ceased with the Hillsong and Vineyard songs! 

The topic of this post is some examples of songs which aren’t really offensive with the lyrics, but they become senseless because they are sung over and over, and are really better for personal devotion rather than congregational singing with lots of musical bridges.   Please, worship leaders, use some discernment and quit using songs for their “feel good” effect or for rousing emotions.

The theme of the sermon was the love of God and our love for each other because of the love of God. We started out the service with these two:

No Greater Love, by Tommy Walker

There's no greater love than Jesus, 

There's no greater love than He gives 

There's no greater love that frees us So deep within

Bridge

All the worlds empty treasure will soon pass away 

But His love will last forever

In my heart it will remain

Chorus

We praise Your name stand in awe of 

Your never-ending love

Love so great that it covers

All my sin and shame

No greater power there is no greater force 

In all the earth than the strength of His love

[and of course we repeated this song a couple times before transitioning to the next one, and that is the irritant]

Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing) [a Vineyard song]

Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging

Your love is a mountain, firm beneath my feet

Your love is a mystery, how You gently lift me

When I am surrounded, Your love carries me

Chorus

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing

Your love is surprising, I can feel it rising

All the joy that's growing deep inside of me

Every time I see You, all Your goodness shines through

And I can feel this God song, rising up in me

Bridge

Yes, You make me sing

Lord, You make me sing, sing, sing

How You make me sing

I don’t sing Vineyard no matter how good the lyrics may be, but this one, especially with the  emotion-driving music, as well some repeating of the lyrics, was quite irritating.  The disturbing parts are

1. “Every time I see you…”  Do we really see Jesus or God the Father?  How can we sing this lie?

2.  “I can feel this God song, rising up in me”  God song?!?!

After prayer, offering, and Scripture reading (1 John 4:7-5:5), we had a breath of fresh air with this song — and we didn’t repeat it!

Oh How I Love Jesus

There is a name I love to hear,

I love to sing its worth;

It sounds like music in mine ear,

The sweetest name on earth. 

Chorus

Oh, how I love Jesus,

Oh, how I love Jesus,

Oh, how I love Jesus,

Because He first loved me! 

It tells me of a Savior's love,

Who died to set me free;

It tells me of His precious blood,

The sinner's perfect plea. 

It tells of One whose loving heart

Can feel my deepest woe,

Who in each sorrow bears a part

That none can bear below. 

The choir then sang a song titled “Because He Loved Me.”  I don’t do well understanding lyrics sung by choirs (or even soloists), but our choir hasn’t sung anything with poor lyrics and I don’t have a problem with a choir singing a “radio” song which is inappropriate for congregational singing, so I wasn’t concerned.  I did look up the lyrics once home and they were fine.  Anyway, after the choir’s song, we sang the following as a congregation.

Your Love Compels Me, by Doug Holck

Your love compels me Lord,

To give as You would give,

To speak as You would speak,

To live as You would live.

Your love compels me Lord,

To see as You would see,

To serve as You would serve,

To be what You would be.

Now the lyrics are fine, but we sang it over and over.  I’d much rather sing one of these short songs once and then go right into another song rather than going around in circles working up the emotions.  So my plea to song leaders is that we don’t go around in circles with any song!

The service continued with the excellent sermon about what our motivations should be when doing the works of God, followed by a soloist singing Steve Green’s “The Mission,” which was a good song:

There’s a call going out

Across the land in every nation

A call to those who swear allegiance to the cross of Christ

A call to true humility, to live our lives responsibly

To deepen our devotion to the cross at any price

Let us then be sober, moving only in the Spirit

As aliens and strangers in a hostile foreign land

The message we’re proclaiming is repentance and forgiveness

The offer of salvation to a dying race of man

Chorus:

To love the Lord our God

Is the heartbeat of our mission

The spring from which our service overflows

Across the street

Or around the world

The mission’s still the same

Proclaim and live the Truth

In Jesus’ name

As a candle is consumed by the passion of the flame

Spilling light unsparingly throughout a darkened room

Let us burn to know Him deeper

Then our service flaming bright

Will radiate his passions

And blaze with holy light

The song was fine for solo performance but I hope they never decide to use it for congregational singing because the tune was difficult.  However, after the song was completed, the congregation sang the chorus again — and again.  Why must we always have the repeats?!?!

One of the problems with the contemporary songs being used, even if the lyrics are okay, is that all we get is a projected view of the lyrics with no musical notations.  Now, this is fine for people who listen to the radio all the time or buy the CDs and learn the songs, but for us who are not musically inclined (and take many times to hear a song before I can even begin to remember the tune), we need a hymnbook with the music included!  It really is time to think about the congregation’s ability to know and sing the songs chosen; otherwise many members of the congregation are marginalized.  

Please think about that, worship leaders.

Your “Old Man” Is Dead!

What the Apostle [Paul] is saying is this: if you are a Christian, if you have been born again, the you that you were is dead; it is gone.  That “old man” died with Christ upon the cross on Calvary’s hill; it was “crucified with him.”  Now Romans 6:6 and the following verses are not an appeal to us to die with Christ (there is no more tragic misinterpretation of Scripture than that); they are telling us that we have already done so.  There are those who say, “Ah well, you believe that Christ died for you?  Now you must die with him.”  You cannot do that.  As Romans 6:6 tells us, you have died with him, you were “crucified with him.”  He does not tell you to die.  If you are in Christ you have already died with him; the “old man” is already dead.

Now let us be clear about this.  it does not mean that the old nature is dead; it is “the old man” that was crucified with Christ.  There are relics and remnants of the old nature still left in us.  That is why Paul has to tell us, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (6:12).  It is there, but do not let it reign.  Why? Because you are dead.  You once were one, but you are now two as it were; you are a “new man.”  You are aware of the old nature in you, but you know for certain that as a being you are no longer what you were born as.

Is this clear to you?  This is what gives you an assurance that you are a Christian.  You are imperfect still, you sin still, you fail still.  There are many things about you that are wrong, but you know that the man you once were is dead; you are not that man.  You are not a perfect man yet in Christ, but you are not that “old man.”  The old man has died; he has been crucified and buried with Christ.  You no longer belong to the world; you are no longer under the dominion of sin and Satan.  Oh, the apostle Paul has again summed it up by saying, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Experiencing the New Birth: Studies in John 3,” pg.216-217

The Son of God Goes Forth to War

Alec Satin posted this great hymn, which I just had to share:

The Son of God Goes Forth to War

by Reginald Heber, 1783-1826

The Son of God goes forth to war
A kingly crown to gain.
His blood-red banner streams afar;
Who follows in His train?
Who best can drink His cup of woe,
Triumphant over pain,
Who patient bears his cross below–
He follows in His train.

The martyr first whose eagle eye
Could pierce beyond the grave,
Who saw His Master in the sky
And called on Him to save.
Like Him, with pardon on His tongue,
In midst of mortal pain,
He prayed for them that did the wrong–
Who follows in his train?

A glorious band, the chosen few,
On whom the Spirit came,
Twelve valiant saints; their hope they knew
And mocked the cross and flame.
They met the tyrant’s brandished steel,
The lion’s gory mane;
They bowed their necks the death to feel–
Who follows in their train?

A noble army, men and boys,
The matron and the maid,
Around the Savior’s throne rejoice,
In robes of light arrayed.
They climbed the steep ascent of heav’n
Thro’ peril, toil, and pain.
O God, to us may grace be giv’n
To follow in their train!

Go to Alec’s blog for a good rendition.  What is interesting to me is that we worshipped at LCMS churches for 8 years and never heard this song, even though it is in the current hymnals!

Private Revelations?

False Teaching Is To Be Hated and Opposed

Finally we are taught here [Eph.4:14], as elsewhere, that all false teaching is to be hated and opposed.  We are told in the New Testament that it was hated by our Lord and all the apostles, and that they opposed it and warned the people against it.  But I ask again; is that being done today?  What about your personal attitude towards this?  Are you one of those people who says that there is no need for those negatives, and that we should be content with a positive presentation of truth?  Do we subscribe to the prevailing teaching which dislikes warnings and the criticizing of false teachings?  Do you agree wit those who say that a spirit of love is incompatible with the negative and critical denunciation of blatant error, and that we must always be positive?  The simple answer to such an attitude is that the Lord Jesus Christ denounced evil and denounced false teachers.  I repeat that he denounced them as “ravening wolves” and “whited sepulchres,” and as “blind guides.”   The Apostle Paul said of some of them, “whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame.”   That is the language of the Scriptures.  There can be little doubt but that the Church is as she is today because we do not follow New Testament teaching and its exhortations, and confine ourselves to the positive and the so-called “simple Gospel,” and fail to stress the negatives and the criticisms.  The result is that people do not recognize error when they meet it.  They accept what appears to be nice, and are impressed by those who come to their doors speaking about the Bible and offering books about the Bible and prophecy and so on.  In their ignorant child-like condition they often help to propagate the false teaching because they see nothing wrong in it.  Moreover they do not realize that error is to be hated and to be denounced.  Imagining themselves to be full of a spirit of love, they are beguiled by Satan, the predatory beast who was on their track, and who has suddenly caught them and pounced upon them in his cleverness and subtlety.

it is not pleasant to be negative; it is not enjoyable to have to denounce and to expose error.  But any pastor who feels in a little measure, and with humility, the responsibility which the Apostle Paul knew in an infinitely greater degree, for the souls and the wellbeing spiritually of his people is compelled to utter these warnings.  It is not liked and appreciated in this modern flabby generation, but if it is not done the people will be beguiled by false teachers “as the serpent beguiled Eve.”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16,” pg.239-240

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

Too late for this Christmas, but some good apologetic information for future use is a series by Tekton Apologetics Ministries:

Christmas is Pagan and other myths.  Good short video warning about crazy sites.

In the series, Part 1: is it unbiblical to celebrate birthdays? And were pagan gods born on Dec. 25th?

Part 2: why December 25th?

Part 3:  Stuffing the tree up

Part 4:  Christmas Tree Potpourri

Some good discernment articles by Gary Gilley:

Inner Healing and Visualization

The Bible Code

The Biblical View of Self-Image

A Look at Depression Through the Lens of Scripture

Mormonism Research Ministry has several videos available for free viewing on-line.  I own all but one of these and can vouch for the accuracy of the information provided, as well as recommending them for viewing by Mormons as well as by those who want to learn more about proving that Mormonism is a false belief system.

The Two Faces of Rome

A former nun speaks out.

This video clinches the fact that the Pope does NOT represent Jesus Christ.

John Piper shared preaching duties with heretic Christine Caine at Passion 2016.  In the past he shared with false teacher Beth Moore.  So why is he still being held in such high esteem as a great teacher?!?  To make matters worse, he is also promoting the racist “Black Lives Matter” movement!

The NAR is getting more and more bizarre.  Avoid their teachings at all costs.

The Impotence of the False Church.

Alec has another episode in his series, “Biblical Christianity.”

Thanks to Alec’s comments on another blog, I was led to this site where you can get come good information about the mysticism entering the Church and how to counter it.

A site with good examinations of the Word of Faith and other charismatic excesses (and other stuff now and then) is by Robert Liichow.  Liichow is ex-WOF who ended up going to seminary and is now a Lutheran (LCMS) Pastor.  I met Bob 14 years ago at the first apologetics conference we attended, and he’s got some good stuff.  One thing you have to look out for when he’s discussing true Christianity is the Lutheran stuff which is almost like Calvinism.  Otherwise he’s okay :oD.  His site isn’t up-to-date, and I think he probably just ended up not having time for it, but the articles are still good reference.  “Truth Matters” is 

The modern Church and “The Sin That Became An Evangelistic Technique.”  The major problem is that too many church leaders have forgotten that the assembly is NOT an evangelistic event and was never meant to be.

Another good response to those who say Christians should not have guns, let alone use them or any weapon for self-defense.

David Barton, known for lots of books on various historical issues, really can’t be trusted.

A list of names to be familiar with - so as to avoid their teachings!

Lastly, just when you though Joel Osteen’s heresy couldn’t get any worse he now claims God is NOT omnipotent!!!

What Is the Basis of Your Hope?

There is no better test as to whether we have been born again or not than this very thing.  To men or women who are born again, this is everything.  Christ is risen!  But if they are not born again, this is certainly not the center of their life or the basis of their hope.  That is why this is such a thorough test; it cannot be counterfeited.  The Devil can counterfeit many things that we experience as Christians, and that is why we are always told to prove the spirits, to “try the spirits,” to test them to see whether they be of God or not.  But here is something that cannot be counterfeited.  The Devil is never anxious for people to say, “Christ is risen!”  He received his greatest defeat there, and that is something that he tries to get people to deny, even those who call themselves Christians.   Many are denying this today; they say the literal, physical resurrection is not true.  But this was the basis of the hope of the early Christians, and so they greeted one another with the salutation “Christ is risen!”  I repeat, the vital question that comes to us: Is that the basis of our hope and of our whole position?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Experiencing the New Birth: Studies in John 3,” pg.213-214

“Seeker-Sensitive” and “Market-Driven” Appeal To the Spiritually Immature

The last characteristic of this childlike state and condition which leads to the danger and the susceptibility of being carried about by every wind of doctrine, is that the child is peculiarly susceptible to showmanship.  The child instinctively likes a showman.  The greater the element of showmanship the more the child will like it.  The child has no discrimination, he has no means of assessing these matters.  The bigger the show, the bigger the deceit in a sense, the more the child is likely to believe it.  Because he lacks knowledge and the ability to discriminate and to understand, he tends to be seduced by the spectacular, the big, the gaudy, anything which is done in a self-confident manner.  Showmanship always appeals to children; that is why the child has to be protected, and also why it is so essential that the child should be disciplined and taught.

All this is but introductory to that which the Apostle goes on to say.  It is important that we should understand this child mentality because of the terrible dangers which surround us.  And of all the dangers none is greater than “the sleight of men,” and the “cunning craftiness wherein they lie in wait to deceive.”  But there is no purpose in proceeding to consider these further matters unless we examine ourselves and are aware of the characteristics of the child mentality.  Two things are essential.  The child must realize that he is a child; and he must also realize that because he is a child he is in an extremely dangerous position.  The Apostle places these things in the right order.  May God forgive us for being so unstable, so fickle, so ready to be imposed upon, so ready to react violently!  May He also forgive us that we are so lacking in discipline, and in that true understanding which leads to a concern for the glory and honour of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and also the glory of the Church which is His body!  We have all entered this life as children, we are “born of the Spirit,” “born from above,” “born again.”  Some of us may have been in the Christian life for a long time.  Are we still children “tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine”?  May God have mercy upon us!

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16,” pg.229-230

Entertainment Is For the Immature

The child likes entertainment.  This was true of all of us in childhood. The child tends to have a secret antagonism even to its own parents, if they are parents worthy of the name, because they exercise discipline. …

Unfortunately, this tends to be true of us as Christians.  I have sometimes thought that one of the first problems and trials a young pastor has to meet is due to this very thing, that he has to accommodate himself to the fact that so many Christian people display this characteristic of childhood.  They like a change; anything as long as it is different; change and novelty and newness, and especially the craving for the element of entertainment and excitement.  How much more enjoyable it is to be entertained than to go through the drudgery of a lesson!  If you keep you eye on the religious periodicals and their advertisements and apply this teaching of the Apostle you will understand what I mean.  The unusual, especially if it has the element of entertainment and excitement, is clearly that which is most popular.  That is a clear indication of the child outlook and mentality.  The Apostle is concerned to impress this on the minds of the Ephesians, because if they did not realize it and understand it, they would never grow out of it.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16,” pg.229

Pornography Is Slander Against God’s Creation

Pornography is a slander against the goodness of God’s creation and a corruption of this good gift God has given His creatures out of His own self-giving love.  To abuse this gift is to weaken not only the institution of marriage but the fabric of civilization itself.  To choose lust over love is to debase humanity and to worship the false god Priapus in the most brazen form of modern idolatry.

The deliberate use of pornography is nothing less than the willful invitation of illicit lovers, objectified sex objects, and forbidden knowledge into a man’s heart, mind, and soul.  The damage to the man’s heart is beyond measure, and the cost in human misery will only be made clear on the Day of Judgment.  From the moment each boy reaches puberty until the day he is lowered into the ground, every man will struggle with lust.  Let us follow the biblical example and scriptural command that we make a covenant with our eyes lest we sin.  In this society, we are called to be nothing less than a corps of the mutually accountable amidst a world that lives as if it will never be called to account.

R. Albert Mohler, Jr., “Desire and Deceit: The Real Cost of Sexual Tolerance,” pg.41-42