10 Principles of Christian Music

The Day of Rest
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Biblical Teaching About Time

—An online book about rest and worship—
By Dr. Al Franzmeier

Chapter 8
God's Word of Power in Worship

(continued)
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The music of Christian worship
Let's shift our discussion from clothing in worship to the area of music. I have no bones to pick with people who like Christian music composed and written in our day. Most of us have song those songs in our worship services. I do have some other questions, however. How does one decide what is Christian music? Here I’m talking both about words and musical sounds joined together. After all is said and done, I’d like to offer ten fundamental principles to guide us.

1. Christian music is always guided by the Word of God. Its purpose is to enhance the message of the gospel, exalt and praise the God who created and redeemed us in Christ Jesus. While it may speak of God’s law, it must also proclaim the gospel of God’s love in Christ.
2. Christian music serves as the handmaiden, the servant girl of the Servant King. This servant never draws attention to herself, either by her melodies or by causing worshippers to focus only upon their personal feelings and emotions. Her task is to assist the worshippers to hear the message of God’s Word proclaimed through music and to respond to that message in faith.
3. The type of Christian music chosen for a worship service is always determined by the themes of the church year. Some seasons, like Christmas and Easter, reflect excitement, joy and happiness. Other seasons, like Lent and Advent, reflect a more somber, meditative and penitential mood. Music is chosen accordingly.
4. Christian music mirrors patterns of speech rather than bodily movement and dance. In other words, Christian music is not dance or marching music. While it certainly reflects emotions, it always remains the handmaid, carrying the message and meaning of God’s Word to the minds and hearts of the worshippers. So Christian music normally patterns poetry and the cadences of that art, not dance or processions.
5. On the other hand, Christian music does involve the entire person, body, mind and heart, as the psalms suggest. Psalm 47, for instance, tells us, “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.” Worship music may properly allow us to express our emotions of joy, perhaps even by clapping our hands to the melody.
6. Christian music draws upon many styles, ages and cultures. One of the things that happens in many so-called contemporary worship services, is that the music is contemporary to only a tiny minority and a narrow culture. The Christian church, on the other hand, has been in existence for two millennia. It has a vast treasury of music from many cultures from which to draw, much of it quite contemporary to our times, but too often ignored by these contemporary worship services.
7. Christian music helps the church to proclaim in worship that we are the church catholic. That means that we are part of a vast body of people of all races, cultures, nations and climates. We celebrate our diversity even as we celebrate our unity in Jesus Christ.
8. Christian music assists the church to perceive that we come into the presence of God by grace alone. In that sense, our music encourages us to “take off our shoes,” for we are standing on holy ground. We are sinful by nature, but forgiven by the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus.
9. Christian music is created and presented by artists gifted by God, fellow believers led by the Spirit of Christ. These musicians recognize that we are a body of many parts, yet one body in Christ, all given the one Spirit to drink. These musical artists have the duty of presenting their music to all ages, cultures and generations gathered by Jesus, with the joy, humility and love that come from the Holy Spirit. They seek only to serve others and their Lord with their music. 
10. Finally, Christian music teaches us to worship the true God alone. The church catholic recognizes that music has often been used to promote idolatry instead of godly worship. So it once was used during the days of the Exodus to worship a golden bull calf. Consequently, no man-made successes resulting from the use of the music of popular culture are good works pleasing to God. In that sense, Christian music is ever counter to the world and its gods.  

All of us should remember that Christian worship is the public service of God's people, living and working together. The Greek word from which we get our word 'liturgy' means exactly that, the service that a good citizen carries out on behalf of his or her city or state. So we, as citizens of heaven, gather publicly to be served by our King, as we said. Then we respond to him with prayer, praise and thanksgiving. Then, as the ‘mass’ ends, we continue with our personal liturgies by serving him in various callings as mother, daughter, husband, worker, policeman, engineer, judge, pastor, teacher and on and on. These are our public and our private liturgies. And they all work together in the service of our serving Lord.

Christian music and contemporary culture
There are still have some questions about contemporary Christian music. For many, such music helps them to worship God, while lots of the old music, doesn’t cut it. The music, even without the words, carries a message. But what if the music is so loud, so filled with beat and so overpowering that the words are lost? Such music is used to get one into a mood or to express feelings.

And that makes my point. Blues, country, rock, bebop or whatever style you can name, is essentially man-centered. The themes of these various popular musical styles focus on human feelings, foibles, relationships, anxieties, loves and on and on. Such secular themes focus upon the feelings of the hearer rather than upon the exalted character of God. That’s why it is always be difficult, maybe even impossible, for a Christian artist simply to adapt this music for worship. Sinful human themes come embedded in this music, rather than the message of Christ, the message of self-denial and the worship of our Creator and Redeemer. They can be adapted, but it takes careful thought, adept musicianship and planning.

Think about these things. Pray about them with your brothers and sisters in Christ. The Holy Spirit will lead and guide you as He promises.

In a separate posting I will give you a brief outline of the Christian Church Year as it has been handed down to us across the centuries. It will help everyone to understand more about what we’ve been discussing throughout this book. That will be followed by some discussion questions that may prove useful for the classroom or in groups gathered around the topic of rest  and worship in the 21st century.