In many Christian circles today there are large arguments about music. What is appropriate in church, what should we listen to out of church, and even the occasional question of whether Christians should listen to people in the music industry at all. There are a few things that come to my mind when talking about music. When it comes to what is appropriate in church, I would say that as long as it brings glory and honor to Christ alone, then it can be appropriate. I do believe that there are certain congregations that are in different places musically then others. Part of this reason is due to their upbringing and things that they have been exposed to. I do think that there are some styles of music that are less appropriate for a church setting. Not because they are in and of themselves bad, quite the contrary, but merely because they make it harder to understand and are not as easily understood. For instance, musical styles like rap or heavy metal/screamo. These styles may have many good things to say about Christ and his glory, but they may not be able to be understood by a congregation. I recently listened to a song by KB called, "Here We Go". I believe that it is one of the best worship songs that I have heard. In order to understand what I mean by that I think that we need to understand what worship is. I would define worship as any time spent declaring the glory and majesty of God. Therefore, anything that draws your eyes/heart to the throne of Christ should then be considered worshipful. If it draws your eyes away from Christ then there is an opposite effect that takes place in ones life.
I believe that there are many churches who do not use songs within their congregational worship times just because they believe that they may offend someone in attendance. Now, I am not talking about a certain style or genre, but merely because of the words that are said. More "Christians" would be offended by a song that talks about the sinful hearts of man that can do no good on his own without the divine intervention of God, then by a secular song being sung in their Sunday morning service. Again, more "Christians" would say rap in any and all forms is of the devil and should never be uttered within a church, and yet they would sing a song about Jesus not intruding upon our lives and waiting for US to open doors so HE can act. This is one of the sadest states within the church today.
KB's song "Here We Go" states, "Here we go, we're fighting just to see another day, to behold the beauty and the glory of his face, here we go.... every day I have one goal to convince myself there's one Lord, it's not me or the things i long for.... my heart's so prone to go astray, every morning i pray, its a call to grace, i beg the lord to give me vision, to see the beauty in the scriptures...If you could see what God does to our hearts, it's light breaking through the darkness... He will come and get US..." How can we see anything but Christ when looking at this song? Yet, because of the way that it is written and sung there are people who would say that it does not become a Christian to listen to or long to worship alongside the men singing that song. As John Piper has said many times before, God is glorified most when we are enjoying Him. He does not receive glory when all we do is think about ourselves. He does not receive glory by our statements implying that unless we act, there is no salvation. God takes glory in himself ALONE!
If you enjoy rap music, or would like to check it out, I would highly recommend KB's new debut album entitled, "Weight and Glory."
