The Purpose of Music in the Church - Part 2
“Our purpose as church musicians is not to manipulate emotions or to focus purely on external things - because true worship is foundationally a matter of the heart.”
As we continue to look at the purpose of music in the church, we now focus on one of the reasons this relates very specifically to our role as church piano players. Why do we use music in the church service? How should we use music in the church service?
The answer to both of those questions is...
To facilitate the worship of God in spirit and truth
What an immense privilege we have, to play a part in helping to facilitate that connection between the congregation, and God as believers enter into His courts with praise.
Our purpose as church musicians is not to manipulate emotions or to focus purely on external things - because true worship is foundationally a matter of the heart. Furthermore, true worship is a spiritual response, not just an emotional response.
We must understand this.
In John’s gospel, in the fourth chapter, we see Jesus in an interaction with a Samaritan woman at the well. They get into a discussion and she tries to distract Jesus away from her real need, which is for her to deal with her sin, and she does this by talking about worship.
Of course Jesus doesn’t take the bait, but He does use the opportunity to give the woman some important truth about worship. Listen to what it says in John 4:20-24 as the woman tries to distract Jesus. She says…
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
So what does that mean, to worship God in spirit and truth?
Well, to worship in spirit, refers to the fact that worship is a spiritual practice. It involves responding to God, who is Spirit, as His children, in whom His Holy Spirit dwells.
If we hadn’t been redeemed by Christ, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, we could never worship God. However, in Christ, the veil has been torn away. We can now enter freely into God’s presence, and worship Him. We come, not based on our own merits, but by grace, based on the merits of Christ alone.
To worship in truth means that our worship must be biblical and consistent with biblical commands and principles. It means that our songs and words need to be theologically sound and speak of God in the same way the Scriptures speak of Him.
To worship in truth means that how we worship must be in line with God’s Word too - which essentially means our worship needs to be God-centred, rather than man-centered.
When we seek to do this, we get to experience the joy, and blessing of what we see described in Psalm 100 which says…
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
So in summary, the reason we have music in our church services, and how we should use that music, all serve to facilitate that beautiful privilege of worshipping our God in spirit and truth. That means it has nothing to do with performance, selfish gain, or worldly pleasure, but rather it has everything to do with supporting our brothers and sisters to be wholly focused upon the glories of Christ.
[Return to The Church Piano Player Website]
This blog post was written by pastor and pianist Kris Baines, from The Church Piano Player. Kris lives in the UK with his family, having recently moved back New Zealand where he worked as a pastor for the past 26 years (also leading worship/worship teams). Kris has also spent over 35 years writing, recording, and performing music and is now bringing all that combined experience together to help equip church piano/keyboard players.
Check out the church piano player website for more information on online courses by Kris Baines.
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