In case you missed Part 5, find it here: You Are A Type Of Pastor
Nothing new is needed in
order to incite people to worship, indeed there is nothing new under the sun
(Ecc 1:9). Nothing particularly creative
is needed in order to interest people towards God, indeed only God can draw
people to Himself (John 6:44). Dear friends and fellow musicians in God’s
church, we are servants of God with gifts to use for the edification of the
church and there are times that we will be unappreciated, criticized, and even
replaced by fickle churches who want something that stimulates them more.
We have to realize that while we can try and maintain a legitimate
repertoire of old and new hymns and songs, we will not make everyone happy and
in fact we should not be trying, per se, to make everyone happy; rather, we
should be trying to encourage and exhort everyone to a higher view of God that
is rooted in a deep knowledge of Scripture. This should be the goal of the
entire pastoral staff, ultimately. As much as it pertains to us—the musicians—we
must be ever so careful to play music that naturally complements the words we
sing, rather than chanting phrases that complements our jam sessions. We must
be diligent to teach our churches why
we sing and why we sing together.
With all of that said, we need to remember that if we are really
sold out for being a faithful minister of music for the glory of God, then
there could be consequences. For millennia, faithful men of God in preaching and
teaching roles have been ousted for remaining unmoved in their conviction to
preach the true Gospel, not skipping over such topics like the wrath of God,
the sovereignty of God, the exclusivity of Christ, etc.
We remember people like Jonathan Edwards who was voted out of his
church after 23 years of faithful ministry because he maintained that only
those who professed the Christian faith should be allowed to take communion. He
was right and yet he was still voted out by a majority of about 90% (!). The
controversy at that time was massive. His careful concern to not desecrate the
Lord’s Table was looked down upon with great disdain even though the Apostle
Paul warned that eating the bread and drinking the wine in an unworthy manner
would be eating and drinking judgment on oneself (1 Cor 11:27–29).
If Jonathan Edwards could be forced to step down due to his
biblical position and conviction of the reverence of God in the church through
the Lord’s Table, then we must also realize that there is a real possibility
that we, as modern church musicians
(and oh how shifty is our taste in music), will be asked to step down because
we maintain a biblical conviction to draw lines at songs and bands that we feel
are insufficient expressions of worship and reverence to God, be it in the
lyrics, or in the music itself.
You may be replaced because you simply aren’t drawing the crowds
that other churches are. You may be replaced because enough people in the
church have voiced their opinion on what “better worship” looks like, thus concerning
the church leadership as to whether or not they are about to lose some of their
congregants.
No matter what, we must be patient with people and help them see
why it is we sing what we sing and why it is we sound different than the church
down the street and why it matters. We do not come to church to be get entertained, but to give expression in our worship with
singing as our worship is really seen in our life that walks according to the Spirit
rather than according to the flesh (Gal 5; Rom 8).
I have found that this is a very, very difficult thing to get
across to a church unless the entire church leadership is on board with a
united stance on the theology of worship. Where no official position is held,
then anything is subject to change based on the loudest, or most convincing
critic. Of course, with criticism always comes the threat of people leaving, so
the church leaders are faced with a seemingly difficult situation as they
either let the congregant go, or the Instrumental Worship Leader go if enough
people voice their complaints. To be sure, these situations do not have to be
difficult if the leaders all have a conviction on what biblical worship is as
well as have a conviction on what the biblical use of music is. Notice how I
separated those two topics. While they do overlap, they are not synonymous
terms. Furthermore, if the church leadership does not actively teach the
theology of worship and music, then the church will be more apt to complain.
No matter the umbrella of leadership that you find yourself in,
you have to be willing to be traded out for the next newest thing when the time
comes. Wherever you are serving you are serving as unto the Lord and not as
people-pleasers for eye-service as Paul told the Ephesians (6:5–7).
You can only do so much in your position as you are not primarily
responsible for leading the church. When there comes a point that your
conviction of biblical worship differs significantly from the leaders in the
church, then it will probably result in you moving on, rather than them. God is
sovereign over these things and will always work together everything for the
good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).
I remember when I was sat down by our church leadership with the
concern that worship was at the lowest point ever, people were complaining, people
were leaving, and the quality of the music was not very good anymore. I
received this list in a few seconds and needless to say it was very bothersome
to me, but not for what you might think.
I was mostly bothered that our leadership was actually moved by
the fact that people were leaving over matters of musical taste and then considering
that to be indicative of a ministry problem. This gets right back to how important it is to define worship. It is one’s adoration
and obedience to Christ in their life, not their preference in church music.
Our church at that time had seen a massive decline in our band
size because of graduating college seniors who made up the bulk. This
practically changed overnight in the spring and we suddenly sounded a lot different. Well, people hear the sudden
difference and realize it is not going to change anytime soon and grow
complacent, thus becoming critical. This really requires a tactful,
teacher-spirit on the part of the leadership to help people understand how the composition
of the band has no bearing on the acceptability of one’s song sung to God while
encouraging them to be patient for the minor details and not to be derailed by
them as they are inconsequential.
Unfortunately, too many times leaders succumb to the temptation to
validate these criticisms. They see people leave for petty, illegitimate reasons
and instead of trust God for the size of their congregation, what do they do?
They turn to the musicians and formulate a plan to draw people in with better
music. Such it was with our church. Though we declared every Sunday that we
were an expositional church, we were suddenly adopting seeker-sensitive
methodologies to attract a younger crowd.
Do we not tire of this charade anymore? Do we not grow weary of
the senseless, programmatic approach to the ministry that usurps the role of
the Holy Spirit of God? Friends, whether we realize it or not, we prove that we
understand little of the power of the
Word of God preached that draws the true elect church to a place of fellowship—people
of all ages—when we think that music is the key to a successful ministry. We
have to rid ourselves of the immature notion that we can draw people in with
music to hear the sound preaching. We’re kidding ourselves. This improperly elevates
music and inappropriately lowers the authority of God in our lives.
“No one can come to me,” Jesus said, “unless the Father who
sent me draws him” (John 6:44).
It came to a point where I had to say I wasn’t their man for the job
if they were going that direction. I felt they did not hold to a biblical
theology of worship, or ecclesiology for that matter, and that there wasn’t a
real, genuine problem, rather an opportunity to teach the church more about
these things to take the wind out of the sails of the critical voices. To no
avail, the leadership had decided to continue on with their new plan and asked
me to step down, which I agreed. When it comes to a point like that it doesn’t
do any good to stay and cause a scene. If you really do care for the people of
God, then you will do whatever you can to minimize the wake of conflict.
In hindsight, the Lord has only blessed our family by bringing us
to the next place he would have use serve at and grow at—one that has a deep
love for sound doctrine and a consistent application of it.
Look, if we are servants, then we are expendable, yet never
outside of God’s sovereign plan. He ordains these things to teach us, grow us,
and mold us, while bringing glory to Himself. I am already amazed at how much I
would be missing out on with new friends and opportunities to grow and serve
had this frustrating experience not happened and I am extremely thankful for
it.
The prophet Jeremiah once said, “I know, O Lord, that the way of
man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps”
(10:23).
Fellow musicians, let’s also remember what the Apostle Paul said,
namely, “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Rom
12:3). We are not rock stars, just musicians. The church does not revolve
around us, but the glory of the only living God and His Son, Jesus Christ. We
are not irreplaceable personalities, but servants that are moved by God to
serve wherever he would have us.
When it comes to the music ministries we have been given by the
mercy of God, let’s have a heart that cries what the expatriated Jews did in
Psalm 137:
“If I forget you, O [God], let my right hand forget its skill! Let
my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not
set [God] above my highest joy!” (5–6).
In His Sovereign Grip,
Ben
