Family Worship and the Music We Choose

By Josiah Horton, GCCA Music Teacher

Christian worship should relate to Scripture; this includes family worship.

“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. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” - Colossians 3:16-17

The Bible teaches an unavoidable truth; we should teach and admonish one another through song. Ephesians 6:4 states, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” We are commanded to train our children in way of the Lord. If we understand it is ultimately the father’s duty to raise up and teach their children, this must include leading children in song. 

We should be teaching and admonishing through song, but what does this look like practically? First and foremost, a hymn should teach clear biblical doctrine.

“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” - 2 Timothy 4:2-4

We do not teach through false or weak teachers, neither should we teach through false or weak hymns. Songs have a unique ability to become incorporated into our minds, and then they continuously resonate throughout our life. Hymns become memorized sermons, but do we treat them as such? Matthew 6:7 states, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” A musical application of this verse means that songs should not simply repeat words for the sake of repetition. The songs chosen during family worship should be viewed as biblical teachers rather than mere entertainment. Music must represent God’s truth.  

Does style matter? Christian music should sound uniquely Christian. This includes household worship. We tend to get caught up in the modern idea of worship wars, contemporary music against traditional. However, I propose that the competition is not between new and old, but rather Christian culture and secular culture. But is this an issue? There are hymn tunes written based on the cultures of various times, so why would it be an issue today? The problem lies in the flow of culture. Many hymn tunes are based on folk melodies, but folk culture is not secular culture. Folk cultures, and therefore folk tunes, were based on the religious practices of the area. For the majority of Western society, the church influenced folk culture, rather than folk culture influencing the church. Folk culture had undertones of Christian culture. However, this is not the case with today’s secular culture. Secular culture does not flow from Christianity, but rather produces what is profitable. Secular culture is global. Global must be devoid of religious meaning because of the numerous different religions of the world, therefore global music must be agnostically composed. Many would be able to recognize an unknown historic Christian song devoid of words as being a Christian hymn, yet for many contemporary Christian songs this feat would be difficult; the former adheres to Christian culture and the latter to secular culture. By no means should we cease composing Christian hymns. One example of a contemporary hymn that adheres to Christian history or culture from our Cantabile book is “From Depths of Woe.” This hymn tune was written in 1998, yet clearly conforms to Christian culture. Most Christian music labeled as “contemporary” in fact are secularized Christian songs. 1 John 2:15-16 states, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.” During family worship, we should choose songs that were composed for the strict purpose of glorifying God, rather than music composed to glorify the world. Music must represent God’s goodness.

This of course does not mean that Christian hymns should be unpleasing. Philippians 4:8-9 states, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” Christian songs should be lovely, but for something to be lovely or beautiful it must represent aspects of God. Psalm 50:1-2 says, “The Mighty One, God the Lord, Has spoken and called the earth From the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.” God is the perfection of beauty. Zion is described as beautiful through God’s shining forth. When art or music runs contrary to God, it is repulsive. It would be a waste to sing ugly music during family worship, so sing beautiful songs. Music must represent God’s beauty.

Historic hymns are intentionally composed with the congregation in mind with regards to the melodies, harmonies, and rhythms; they are composed prudently. The composers could easily create complex music, yet when composing for congregational singing they emphasized simplicity. Composers in this vein believe that the music must submit to the words. The music should enhance the text, yet many modern Christian songs overshadow the text through an increased complexity. Take J.S. Bach for example, he could easily compose complex music such as the master work, St. Matthew Passion, yet when he composed his Chorale tunes, songs meant for the congregation (such as the harmony for “A Mighty Fortress”), he dialed back the complexity. Not only is this to emphasize the words, but also it allows the congregation to participate. These hymns are composed to be singable, but many modern Christian songs are composed to emphasize the ability of the musicians. When choosing songs, think is this for a congregation or is this for a performance? During family worship, our family is the congregation, therefore our worship should incorporate songs that can be sung by the family. 

The Bible warns us about the blending of worship practices from different religions, this is known as syncretism. These warnings can be seen in verses such as Leviticus 10:1-2: “Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” God cares about the way we worship; Nadab and Abihu were worshiping God in a manner that was not commanded and were punished. A more well-known example is Exodus 32:4-6, 35: “And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” Then they rose early the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play…So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.” The key line is Aaron’s proclamation that the feast was for Yahweh, translated here as Lord. The Israelites were worshiping God, however they were worshiping like the pagan Egyptians. Our family worship must not become syncretistic by using secularized music. When we take off the old self and put on the new self, there should be a change, and this should include our music. Ultimately, the goal of family worship is to sing songs that represent God’s truth, goodness, and beauty. 

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Underneath is an example of what I consider a good hymn. It has a clear message, and the music coincides with church history. The hymn below clearly teaches Substitutionary Atonement.

Choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifRdosvMmb8&t

Piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkI838hBO9M&t

1. Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended, 
that man to judge thee hath in hate pretended? 
By foes derided, by thine own rejected, 
O most afflicted! 

2. Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee? 
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee! 
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied Thee; 
I crucified Thee. 

3. For me, kind Jesus, was Thine incarnation, 
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life's oblation; 
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion, 
for my salvation. 

4. Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered; 
the slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered. 
For our atonement, while we nothing heedeth, 
God intercedeth. 

5. Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee, 
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee, 
think on thy pity and Thy love unswerving, 
not my deserving. 

In syntax, the first verse shows the sinlessness of Christ and how He was judged through hate. The second verse shows that Jesus died for our sins and not for His own; emphasizing that we are the reason He was crucified. The third verse confirms the divinity of Jesus by referring to the doctrine of incarnation, while also continuing the overall theme of our salvation through His death. The fourth verse continues this theme, yet also includes our atonement through Christ. The final verse indicates that through grace alone we are saved. We cannot “pay” for salvation; therefore, we worship Christ.