I think I am musical. After all, almost everyone is. But I am not a musician. I am a minister, a pastor. It's my job to "preach the Word."
Now you who sit here in this chapel this morning will soon be scattered around the world. When this happens, you will find that your relationship with your local churches will be very different from anything you can remember in the past. College graduates are expected to take leading positions in their churches. You will therefore be sitting on boards and committees that, among other things, help determine the music for the church services and evangelistic meetings.
I would like to talk to you on the important subject of church music. In recent years a great deal has been written in our denominational journals about church music, but in all that has been said very little has been quoted from the Bible. Since I am a minister rather than a musician, I would like to help to fill the gap here by presenting a Biblical philosophy of church music under seven heads.
1. It should be peaceable. Whatever else must be said about church music, this much is basic: Our behavior in respect to it must be gentle, loving, and peaceable. James says, "The wisdom that is from above is . . . peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated" (James 3:17). As we pray to God to give us guidance from above, we must remember that any wisdom God gives us in answer to our prayer will not make us belligerent, dogmatic, or selfish. Paul calls on us to "live peaceably with all men" (Rom. 12:18). There is no room here for proud little groups clinging to their own private philosophies at all costs! In music as in all other areas of life, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8:9).
It would probably help us a great deal to be "peaceable" if people with different viewpoints on the question of religious music would avoid dogmatic statements as to their positions. We sometimes hear people making strong statements condemning everything that Bach wrote, or on the other hand, condemning out of hand everything that Rhodeheaver published. This is most unfortunate. Take Bach first: There is probably no one who cannot enjoy some of the things that Bach wrote, and there is probably no serious musician among us who really recommends playing for church all the things written by Bach. There are probably not many Adventists, even of the least musically educated, who cannot enjoy Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," or his "Air on the G String," while on the other hand, there are but few accomplished organists who are willing to play in church such thunder-and-lightning pieces as Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in D Minor," and probably none would ever play in church his "Fugue in G Major," called "The Jig."
On the other side of the picture, there are probably very few "gospel song" people who recommend absolutely everything that could be called a gospel song. We hardly ever hear any more such amorous songs as "He Whispers His Love to Me," and I suppose almost any Adventist would feel that "Do Lord, 0 Do Lord, 0 Do Remember Me" is out of place in an eleven o'clock church service! I am sure I have never heard anyone, however much of a "Rhode-heaver man" he may be, sing No. 182 in Rhodeheaver's Gospel Solos and Duets, vol. 2, "I Wonder How the Old Folks Are"!
It is an unfortunate thing that in debating great questions people attempt to simplify the views of the other side in order to counteract them with the least possible effort, and in doing so oversimplify them to the point of caricature. In this way both parties in a debate are soon arguing against ideas that actually neither party really holds. In a matter so important as the selection of music for our religious services, this must be avoided at all costs.
It would also help us to be "peaceable" if we would respect generously the sincerity of those who disagree with us. It would help, for instance, if people would remember that the accomplished church musician of today is not clamoring for permission to play his special kind of music for the purpose of showing off his skills. There is, on the contrary, a strong self-effacing movement going on today among church organists. They do not play quiet, nondescript pieces because they have some perverse passion to be disliked! They do it because they want to interfere as little as possible with what the minister is doing. I have read this in music magazines. On an occasion so sacred as a church service they believe that they should not attract attention to themselves.
Our first Bible principle, then, is that as we seek to do the right thing in respect to church music, we must be "peaceable." "The wisdom that is from above is . . peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated."
2. The second Biblical principle is that church music should be spiritual. Both Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3;16 speak of "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."
In the writings of Paul "spiritual" means that which has to do with the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is described in John 14 and 16 as being to "reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment," to guide us "into all truth," to take the place of Jesus among us.
Other verses teach us that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us the new birth (John 3:5), to teach us how to pray and offer praise (Rom. 8:26), and to produce in us such fruits of the spirit as love and joy (Gal. 5:22, 23).
From these texts it is evident that music suitable for a church service ought to be religious, that it should reveal Christ, and that it should be redolent of the earnestness, faith, and joy of the born-again Christian.
Very much could be said on this point, of course, but let us go on to the third point.
3. Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, the Bible verses just quoted above, indicate that church music should very often be directed to the congregation. The first of these verses exhorts Christians concernino"speaking to yourselves" in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, while the second speaks of "teaching and admonishing one another" in spiritual songs. These verses go on to say that we should also make melody to the Lord, but the point I want to make is that they tell us to sing to one another.
This is a highly significant point. I have been amazed as I have read articles on our topic recently which have said that church music should always be directed to God and never to the people! This is certainly not what the Bible says.
The Bible says that many of our songs should be of the testimony-exhortationteaching type rather than always of the prayer-and-praise type.
Many of the psalms fit into this testimony-exhortation category. Psalm 23 is a good example. It is true that David addresses the last few verses of this psalm to God when he says, "Thou anointest my head with oil," but the first part is addressed to the people. David is talking to us, not to God, when he says, "The Lord is my shepherd."
A study of the rest of the psalms reveals the same thing. Many of the ones that have been set to music and have proved their usefulness in religious services are indeed directed to God, such as Psalm 43, "Send Out Thy Light," and Psalm 84, "How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings."
On the other hand, many of the other psalms are directed to men, such as Psalm 2, "Why Do the Heathen Rage?" which Handel included in his Messiah; Psalm 24, "The Earth Is the Lord's"; Psalm 27,
