Worship is Not Entertainment, Should Christian Music Ever Be?
I recently had a conversation with a young man preparing for ministry that turned a bit differently than I expected. He casually made the case that based upon his understanding of the Psalms, there is some religious music that is intended for worship and other religious music that is intended to be used outside of worship in everyday life. His application for his own life is that contemporary entertainment oriented Christian music is fine for driving in the car and in the home, but not for the worship service.
I have been considering his statement, and I have come to the conclusion that I disagree. We cannot, we must not consider Christian music as appropriate for entertainment.
Should worship be entertainment?
Not if we truly understand who God is and what worship is. I do not think the young man would disagree, but many would. If a worship service is designed simply to please the “audience” or congregation or crowd, it is entertainment based. We live in an entertainment culture. That mentality colors everything we do. It is easy to morph our approach to pleasing the crowd rather than pleasing the Master—even in our preaching. We must be constantly vigilant to avoid this error.
Can we use “God songs” for personal entertainment?
The definition of entertainment should inform our answer. If entertainment is amusement, then absolutely not. We can enjoy worship, but that is a byproduct of true worship, not the essence of it. True worship is sometimes terrifying (Isaiah 6 comes to mind). We do not cease to be worshipers when we leave the worship service. Peter says that we should live our lives with a sense of reverence before God (1 Peter 1:17). That should be with every-moment awe of His holiness and righteousness and truly humbled view of self.
To use the holy name of God simply for personal light-hearted pleasure can be a way of taking God’s name in vain—just as much as the cursing of the lost—more of a sin for one who claims to be His child. We take God’s name in vain more in our thoughtless, selfish, worship than many sailors do in battle.
So, let me think out loud for a moment.
The entertainment culture is corrupting our view of God and the way we address Him in daily life. I sometimes even wonder if using “God music” as a soundtrack for daily activities can be dangerous. If it keeps us appropriately meditating on Him, all is well. If it is just a mindless, (though beautiful and peaceful) background noise, it is not. It might be better to reserve “God music” for times that we can meditate on it as we listen. We live in a different context that our biblical forebears. They could not turn on the car radio, stereo, or pop in the earbuds. The music that accompanied their daily lives was in their minds and on their lips as they provided their own musical soundtrack for life.
It is at least something to consider.
I am not disagreeing. I do want to share that my niece, who knew nothing of God, church, or the Bible heard a contemporary Christian song from a FB post. The song is titled “You say”. She also heard another song titled “You’re Beautiful”.
My niece grew up with an abusive father having no knowledge of God’s love for her. But she said to me this week and I quote… “Well I was thinking this morning. That I might not be very religious and go to church. That’s just not really me, but even though some don’t believe and even if it wasn’t true, and I’m not saying that it’s not true. But even if it wasn’t, what’s wrong with believing that there is someone who loves you unconditionally, for exactly who you are and doesn’t expect anything from you besides believing in him. Even if i don’t attend church, I feel like even just believing can be enough.”
This is a young woman who has no self worth and is eating up that there is “someone” that loves her unconditionally. She doesn’t know much about this “Someone”, but she is seeking Him out. She told me she attended church for the first time yesterday and was extremely fearful and full of anxiety, but was smiling and so happy that she went after she left. She said she wants to go back. This song spoke to her and got her to start thinking about who this God is who says He loves her so much. I think maybe there is a place for different types of music.
Just my thoughts.
The Messiah and Brahm’s Requiem come to mind.