-Lyrics-

The most crucial of all four points is that of the lyrics. Why is this? Think of it this way. One can know much about a church without even hearing from the pastor or following the order of service by simply assessing the songs that are sung there. In the message of the song you will see what they truly believe in regards to Christ, His Word, the Gospel, and man. You can easily see where the focus is and if the gospel and the cross centers around man or the Supremacy of Christ and glory of the Father. More times than this is where the tension lies. You can have an excellent worship band that creates excellent music but if the theology of the songs they sing aren't grounded in Scripture and promote a correct understanding of the gospel than there is no hope and what they sing are lifeless melodies and not life changing Truth. It is so important church that you understand what I am saying, whether they are timeless hymns or contemporary worship chart toppers, an emotional reaction to the melody or music can do nothing more than create a pretentious and even self convincing front that there is some type of heart change happening. The fact of the matter is that only the Word of God changes the heart and if there is going to be some type of emotional reaction (which there should be and we will discuss that in the post on emotionality) it needs to be from the understanding that man is utterly depraved and God is far beyond our highest thoughts. So we stand in awe of the fact that a Holy Self Glorifying God would see fit to redeem for himself a remnant of people and that we are graced enough to be apart of that remnant, being set free from the bondage of sin and counted slaves to Christ under the obedience of His Lordship. The lyrics in the songs we sing must be held to the highest priority because we hold the Word of God in the highest priority as Psalm 138:2 says, "...for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." So the point being God takes His Word extremely seriously so we must not take it lightly. It is the lyrics that change the heart of man because they should be Christ centered and Biblically centered. "Worship songs should serve the church as take-home theology, reinforcing God glorifying doctrine and teaching through Christ-centered lyrics and memorable melodies. – C.J. Mahaney