Lyrics+Musicality+Emotion+Response=Singing

So often there is a great misunderstanding when it comes to musical worship. I say musical worship to differentiate or rather specify this form of worship, because obviously everything about us is to be an act of worship (Rom. 12:1). But in the realm of musical worship we often see a great lack in the true sense of Biblical worship. We face two very real extremes. One of those extremes is what we would see as a lifeless liturgy, a group of people unaffected by the gospel and rather worship the seat they sit in for weekly tradition's sake than the creator God who saved them from His wrath through the killing of His Son for the glory of His name an the salvation of men (Isaiah 53). We become frustrated because there is a lack of passion for Christ and the things of Christ and therefore see a great deficit in musical worship in the church. The other extreme we often see is on the other end of that spectrum. That is an intense emotionality or "passion" in regards to musical worship without any backing or understanding as to what they are being emotional about. There is no sound theological stance towards the gospel. Rather theology has been replaced with good musicianship and emotional manipulation to make one feel as though they have "encountered" or experienced the true living God. It is as though we are a pendulum people swinging from one extreme to another and our praise is a pendulum praise doing the same. The problem with both is that both may be attributed to a misunderstanding of what true Biblical worship looks like in a very practical way. Psalm 117 is very clear in what it says pertaining to our worship: "Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!" We see that there is no pulling of punches here we are demanded to praise the Lord! And why according to Psalm 117, for His steadfast love and enduring faithfulness. In the following post we want to look at how we don't fail to swing to one extreme of that pendulum or the other but rather fall Biblically centered in light of what God has in mind for true Biblical worship.