PC: Share your Biblical philosophy of music and worship?
Biblical worship is not about fulfilling the requirements of Old Testament law any longer but rather about the law of love instituted by our Lord. (1 Corinthians 13:1) We can "sing and praise" all we want, but if we are not motivated by a heart of love for God and others we are only making noise! Loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength AND loving our neighbor as ourselves is what God is after. Secondly, Biblical worship is not about performance but priority - the priority of God first in our lives and the priority of a God-centered lifestyle which is itself an act of worship making our lives a "living" sacrifice. (Romans 12:1) not Sunday morning only but sacrificial living… not the art but the heart,…not the song but the Lord of the song…not the lyrics but the lifestyle. Thirdly, as the late Dr. Robert Webber said in his book, Worship Is A Verb, Christian worship is not something done to us or for us...but "by us"! This carries with it the idea of service. Worship requires from us an active personal and holistic response to all that God has done, is, and has revealed himself to be. Fourthly, Biblical worship flows naturally out of a passionate, loving, and Christ-centered life. “A lukewarm heart can not perform boiling hot worship” (Warren Wiersbe) so we should guard our heart at all times and make sure we are working to maintain our intimacy of relationship with God at all times for our heart is the fountainhead from which all life issues flow. (Prov. 4:23) If God has our hearts -- he has us!, but if God does not have the "bedroom" of our hearts he doesn't have anything! What God sees in our hearts is what he sees as our worship. The danger is disconnecting our actions from our hidden attitudes and motives. Yet again, we are only fooling ourselves for God sees it all. When we go through the motions of outward worship but our hearts are not engaged we are only fooling oursevles -- not God. We should avoid practice of so-called "worshippers" who honor God with their lips yet their hearts are far from Him. God forbid! Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (sings), Jesus said. New Testament worship has little to say with regard to the externals and trappings of worship because worship has everything to do with the condition and quality of the individual heart. So the church should be encouraged to not simply offer outward physical responses but true and sincere worship that flows from the well-spring of a righteous, sanctified, and obedient heart. Finally, we must remember not only the "what", but the “who” of worship! Worship is to God, for God, and about God…not unto us, for us, or about us! If worship is for God then we should be diligent about offering to Him acceptable worship offered in humility, out of deep reverence and love, and in spirit and in truth.
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