“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,” (Ephesians 5:19 NKJV) “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16 NKJV)

 

I am hearing and reading a lot about how Christians need to improve their congregational singing. It only takes a casual observer to see that most congregations could improve. While we are improving we need to keep in mind that scriptural congregational singing has both a vertical and horizontal purpose, neither of which is entertainment.

The vertical purpose is directed to the Lord from a grateful heart (the word translated “grace” has an element of gratitude in it). The “grace” and “melody” in our hearts is directed “to the Lord.” Songs of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord are in order. But there is the horizontal purpose of “Speaking to one another” or “Teaching and admonishing on another.” The purpose is not to “entertain one another” nor “hyper-emotionalize one another.” Teaching is directed to the intellect of man. It requires learning and reflecting on the “message” of the songs. Little learning can take place when the song service is turned into a highly charged songfest geared to sweep the worshipers up into an emotionally fueled state of mind. We should always be suspicious of any song service that appeals more to the feet and bodily joints that it does to the head. Also, songs should be avoided that are either written or modified to jazz them up to the point that the worshiper cannot concentrate on the message of the songs because it takes all his concentration power to keep in step with the complicated arrangement of the song.

Should not our singing be an emotional as well as an intellectual experience? Of course, it should, as should all other acts of worship to God. But, in no act of worship can we allow our natural emotions to flow unfettered. As always, our emotions should be subservient to our intellect (thinking) rather than allowing our thinking to become subservient to our emotions. Even in the highly charged atmosphere of exercising spiritual gifts at Corinth, Paul had to remind the brethren that “the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” (1 Corinthians 14:32-33 NKJV) They could not just let themselves “go with flow,” they had to control their “spirits” so as to keep things decently and orderly (v. 40).

Until people understand that the public worship experience is primarily an intellectual exercise designed to praise God and edify (build up) the worshipers and not to satisfy the emotional desire of worshipers to satisfy their “felt needs,” they will not truly worship God “in spirit and in truth.” Are we saying that worship should be emotionless? It should be offered with all the feelings of love and gratitude that we can muster in our hearts. But we should control our emotions in worship as we do in all aspects of our lives, rather than letting our lives and worship be controlled by our emotions.