Category: General Reflections
This does not have anything directly to do with the topic of the message tonight at the Workers' Retreat, but it was provoked by it. As many pastors and other church leaders in America abandon the careful exposition and proclamation of God's word, their congregations are left to find some other way to know Christ. The alternative to knowing Him mentally is to know Him experientially. Instead of reading the Word, they strive to feel the Word. Consequently, the gathering of the church is no longer about being disciples who are taught all that our Lord has commanded us (Matt. 28: 18f.), but about experiencing Christ. The music becomes a way of entering the presence of God (an ability the Scriptures do not give it, by the way) so that people can have a visceral encounter with Him.
I find myself singing for a different reason. Rather than a means of encountering Christ, I desire to sing in response to having encountered Him in His word. The truths of His holy character and majestic glory are made known on the pages of Scripture, and after contemplating them, whether studying by myself or listening to the sermon of a spirit-empowered preacher, I am ready to express praise, thanksgiving, wonder, and honor to Him. This is why the great songs of history were inspired by meditations on the truth of Christ revealed in the Scripture (and the same can be said for the great works of all art forms).
The Bible does not teach us to experience Christ, it teaches us to know Him, obey Him, serve Him; in a word, love Him. Our singing is an expression of this love which will become more and more passionate, visceral, and demonstrative as we grow in our knowledge of who He is and what He has done for us. When singing becomes our means of knowing Christ, then we are left to manufacture the emotional response, rather than it flowing naturally from our contemplation of His beautiful Person. It's the difference between a husband who is truly aware of his wife's glowing attributes--her hard work in the home, her devotion to their children, her kindness to others in need, her beauty, the way she generously meets his needs, etc.--and raves about her incessantly, and a husband who doesn't take the time to notice what she does, but wants to feel that she is worth raving about. In the latter case, the raving is not about commending the wife, but about the husband having the experience of raving. So also, worship can become less about lauding the Lord Jesus Christ, and more about the worshipper's experience of lauding. Those two things are not the same (nor are they both worship).
I believe that the impetus to real, passionate, emotional worship of God is the clear, passionate articulation of His character and grace as revealed in His word.