The Concert Mentality, Music, Church and Us

A great concert is a great time. No one will argue with that statement. I sure won’t. Unless the band sucks and you’re just going for your wife or girlfriend or something. You hear an amazing artist perform your favorite music on a stage where hundreds or thousands of people stand amazed at how skillfully the artist performs. How they sing, dance, play, look, emote; how they feel the music, how they “get into it,” how easy they make it look, and, most importantly, how great it makes us feel and how enamored we are with how great they are. We get a great satisfaction from seeing, hearing, experiencing and responding emotionally to the concert. Why else would we go?  Most concerts are meant to be multisensory and engage and amaze as many of our senses as they can.

How does all of this affect how we perceive music during our meetings as a church? I think a couple good questions to consider are: What is the church after, and what are the concert artists after? What motivates each? You can probably think of a few different answers. The concert artist may be out to demonstrate good art and therefore run people through a fast gamut of emotions during the evening. They may excite you, make you happy, remind you of a sad moment, make you cry, make you contemplative, make you very serious, and make you apathetic, perhaps all throughout the course of one song. Or they simply could be out to make money. How is the church motivated? What are they after? Again, there are probably many different answers. To make people happy? Mad? Upset? Comfortable? To make money? To win them to an upright lifestyle? To dive deeper and further into the gospel and proclaim it to their community? Regardless of what the answers to either of these scenarios or questions are, they each require and affect people. 

Whatever people are won with, they (and their emotions) will be won to.  -Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters

If the church wins people with the “concert mentality,” they’ve won them to desiring to come to church to experience a multisensory, emotionally expressive show. If you win them with your smooth style, what happens in 20 years when style looks nothing like it does now? If people are won with a pastor, what happens to them and their emotions when he leaves? If they’re won with the coolest children’s tube maze and ball pit in the area, what happens when their kids grow up?

On the other hand, if people are won to a church with the good news of the gospel and meetings are framed with the foundational, never-changing, all-satisfying truths of the gospel, we will be won to an all-satisfying Savior, Jesus Christ, who transcends all of the above. In Christ, who lived perfectly as God in the flesh, died an unjust death on a cross so that imperfect people like you and I can be made perfect (whereby this Christ acted as a substitute, absorbing our deserved punishment that we might be completely acquitted of our sinful crimes), who rose from the dead and now sits at God’s right hand; in Christ and His work, not ours, lies the steady rock on which to base our lives and emotions that will never fail, crumble or disappoint. If that’s true, it seems logical then that we would base and frame our lives and church meetings first and foremost on the gospel; discerning then which is the best means in our current cultural context by which to re-present the gospel without compromising any gospel necessities or priorities, lest our meetings possess only the form of godliness without the power of God (2 Tim 3:5). If we win people with the gospel, they’ll be won to the gospel.

That means when we’re about to get bent out of shape because our favorite songs don’t get played in church, we’ll more quickly and easily remember what our motivation is for being a part of a church community: to be reminded and refreshed by the gospel, remembering also that our CDs, MP3s and radios are all sitting in our cars filled with all our favorite music waiting to be blasted through our speakers after church and all week long.

That means that when the pastor won’t do a series on how terrible rebelling teens are to their parents, before we write him and the elder board an angry, hurtful letter, we’ll more and more quickly remember the reason we hear from God’s Word is to be transformed yet again by the power of the gospel, not to make our kids feel guilty, which won’t really work anyway.

That means the next time we think our ministry is the most important one in the church, before we go around gathering people to be a small, loud voice revolting against an “unfair” decision, we’ll catch ourselves before we start and remember that our ministry is but a hand or a foot on the body of the church that exists solely to preach the gospel collectively.

I could go on and on and on with these kinds of examples, but they’re all to say that Christians exist to continually gaze into the gospel, to be transformed by its power, build each other up with it and preach it to those who have not heard the news.

Again, we need to be reminded that this gospel is not simply an evangelism plan; it is the message of how the good news of God’s provision affects our whole lives every day. Not only is the gospel the narrative of God’s past saving acts; it is the story of how those actions give us confidence for today and hope for tomorrow. (pg 100)

We do not gather simply to extol some great attribute of God or to reflect the relations of the Trinity. Heaven’s glories would devastate us, if God’s grace did not shelter us. Our shame would destroy us, if his grace did not provide a pardon. We also do not worship only to learn our obligations. God’s law would be our death, if the Lamb had not been slain for us. Christian worship inevitably makes Christ’s work its central theme. (pg. 113)

-Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Worship

Corporate Musical Worship 9.18.11—10.9.11

Sorry for the delay on getting our meetings updated. I would still like to post our corporate musical worship selections here at MBC for the past few weeks. You are welcome to click here to see outlines and listen to the sermons for each of these weeks.

9.18.11—

We began this Lord’s Day with Praise to the Lord the Almighty, text by Joachim Neander and music by Stralsund Gesangbuch, 1665.

Let the “amen” sound from His people again; Gladly forever adore Him!

We continued with the traditional version of Holy, Holy, Holy transitioning directly into Everlasting God (Brenton Brown & Ken Riley), Immortal, Invisible (Walter Chalmers Smith), and The Doxology (Thomas Ken & Louis Bourgeois). This took us to our morning offering, where we worshiped though our giving and by singing Behold Our God (Jonathan, Meghan, and Ryan Baird & Stephen Altrogge):

Who has held the oceans in His hands? Who has numbered every grain of sand? Kings and nations tremble at His voice. All creation rises to rejoice. Who has given counsel to the Lord? Who can question any of His words? Who can teach the One who knows all things? Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds?

Who has felt the nails upon His hands, bearing all the guilt of sinful man? God eternal, humbled to the grave, Jesus, Savior, risen now to reign!

Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him.

We finished our meeting by singing Here I Am To Worship (Tim Hughes) and How Great Thou Art (Stuart K. Hine).

9.25.11—

Songs for corporate worship:

All Hail The Power Of Jesus Name (Edward Perronet)
The Solid Rock (Edward Mote and William Batchelder Bradbury)
There Is A Fountain (William Cowper)
Jesus Saves (Travis Cottrell)
Show Us Christ (Doug Plank & Bob Kauflin)
All I Have Is Christ (Jordan Kauflin)

10.2.11—

Songs for corporate worship:

Blessed Be Your Name (Matt & Beth Redman)
How Deep The Father’s Love For Us (Stuart Townend)
At The Cross (Isaac Watts & Ralph E. Hudson)
Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken (Henry Lyte & Bill Moore)
Let My Words Be Few (Matt & Beth Redman)

You are God in heaven and here am I on earth, so I’ll let my words be few. Jesus, I am so in awe of you.

10.9.11—

Songs for corporate worship:

Better Is One Day (Matt Redman)
Fairest Lord Jesus (Text: Anonymous/Music: Volkslieder, 1842)
Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin)
I See The Lord (Chris Falson)
A Mighty Fortress (Christy & Nathan Nockels)
Holy, Holy, Holy (Traditional)

9.11.11—Corporate Worship

The Lord’s Day, Medinah Baptist Church, September 11, 2011, corporate worship tunes:

Crown Him With Many Crowns- Traditional | arr. Mike Lang
Jesus Shall Reign- Isaac Watts, John Hatton | add./arr. Ryan Foglesong
Christ Is Risen- Matt Maher and Mia Fieldes
Revelation Song- Jennie Lee Riddle
Behold Our God- Jonathan, Meghan, and Ryan Baird; Stephen Altrogge
In Christ Alone- Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

We began this Lord’s Day declaring the Kingship of Christ over all. We gave Him praise and glory and rehearsed the gospel by singing this:

Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side,
Rich wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.
No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends his wandering eye that mystery so bright.

Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed o’er the grave,
Who rose victorious to the strife for those He came to save.
His glories now we sing, Who died and rose on high,
Who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.

We ended the tune with a triumphant shout: “Crown Him, ye kings with many crowns, for He is king of all!” We then had a welcome from our senior pastor, Craig Jarvis, and continued by worshiping in song to Jesus Shall Reign:

He shall reign in glory, crowned with grace and might. Bless His name and praise the sovereign King. He shall reign forever with His chosen bride, and all the earth shall sing that Jesus is the King!

We moved directly into a declaration that this very same Jesus who is king bled on a cross to save us. Christ Is Risen:

Let no one caught in sin remain inside the lie of inward shame; but fix our eyes upon the cross, and run to Him, who showed great love and bled for us, freely You’ve bled for us. Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death, come awake, come awake, come and rise up from the grave … we are one with Him again … O death, where is your sting? O hell, where is your victory? O church, come stand in the light; the glory of our God has defeated the night!

We continued as one of our worship leaders, Kathi Bowman, led us in Revelation Song. For our morning offering and preparation for worship in the word, we worshiped to Behold Our God, a grandiose perspective of how big, great and mighty God is, and yet He is the One who, through nail-pierced hands, lived a perfect life and died to save sinners. Check it out:

After worshiping in the hearing of God’s Word by our senior pastor, Craig Jarvis, we ended our meeting by once again rehearsing the redemptive power of the gospel by singing In Christ Alone together.

‘Til on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on Him was laid; here in the death of Christ I live.

9.4.11—Morning Worship

Here’s a list of our corporate musical worship tunes at MBC for this date:

Let Your Kingdom Come- Bob Kauflin
And Can It Be- Thomas Campbell and Charles Wesley
I Will Glory In My Redeemer- Steve and Vikki Cook
My Savior’s Love- Chris Emert and Charles Hutchinson Gabriel
Behold The Lamb- Keith and Kristyn Getty, Stuart Townend
All I Have Is Christ- Jordan Kauflin

Communion Sunday at MBC started off with God’s glorious cause engaging our hearts, and with us as a church corporately lifting up a prayer for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done in our lives and in our church. We also rehearsed the gospel truth that the cross has saved us, which enables us to pray and, by grace, preach the gospel ’til our dying day.

We did And Can It Be in a refreshingly brilliant 6/8 feel. It really brought the song to life and hopefully turned people on afresh to the powerful gospel truths contained in this song.

Died He for me who caused His pain; for me, who Him to death pursued. Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

‘Tis mercy all, immense and free, for, O my God, it found out me.

My chains fell off; my heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread; Jesus and all in Him is mine! Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine; Bold I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown, through Christ, my own.

After singing about what our Redeemer did for us, we then moved into declaring together that we put our glory (weight, worth) in Him by singing I Will Glory In My Redeemer.

Then we simply stood in awe and amazement, praising Jesus for loving sinners like us who were condemned and unclean. We sang My Savior’s Love:

I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful! And my song shall ever be: How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior’s love for me!

Behold The Lamb (The Communion Hymn) was our song for communion this day. These lyrics speak for themselves:

Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away,
Slain for us: and we remember
The promise made that all who come in faith
Find forgiveness at the cross.

The body of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
Torn for you: eat and remember
The wounds that heal, the death that brings us life,
Paid the price to make us one.

The blood that cleanses every stain of sin,
Shed for you: drink and remember
He drained death’s cup that all may enter in
To receive the life of God.

And so with thankfulness and faith
We rise to respond and to remember
Our call to follow in the steps of Christ
As His body here on earth.

As we share in His suffering,
We proclaim: Christ will come again!
And we’ll join in the feast of heaven
Around the table of the King.

We ended our gathering by rehearsing the gospel once more before we left, declaring that at the end of the day as our source of lasting hope, never-ending joy, unfathomable comfort and unshakeable stability, all we have is Christ.

Hallelujah, all I have is Christ! Hallelujah, Jesus is my life!

8.28.11—Morning Worship

Here are our corporate musical worship tunes from MBC this past Sunday:

Come People Of The Risen King- Keith and Kristyn Getty, Stuart Townend
How Firm A Foundation- Rippon’s Selection of Hymns, 1787. Traditional American melody.
Be Thou My Vision- Eleanor H. Hull
Holy Is The Lord- Chris Tomlin
Victory- Cody Carnes

We started the morning off with a song of unity and adoration, such a great way to gather God’s people together to remember His greatness and worship Him. Here’s the chorus:

Rejoice, rejoice, let every tongue rejoice! One heart one voice, o church of Christ rejoice!

We then shifted to remember our sufficient foundation in God’s Word by singing How Firm A Foundation. This song is taken directly from Isaiah 43 and also puts our trials in perspective. Check out this verse:

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

God designs our trials to be like fire purging the imperfections in our lives, only to refine us like gold. We then proceeded to ask God to be our vision for the morning, declaring we only need Him:

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise. Thou mine inheritance now and always, Thou and Thou only first in my heart. High King of Heaven, my treasure Thou art.

Declaring the holiness of God is one of the greatest things we can do together in our meetings. We did so by singing Holy Is The Lord, remembering that all we need to do to see the glory of God is look at creation.

We then heard from our senior pastor Craig Jarvis, a message from the Word of God from Joshua 24:1-28 on God’s Loyal Love, and closed the service by singing Victory:

Oh how great a love, to take my sin and shame, there’s power in the blood of Jesus. This same Spirit that’s in me overcame the grave, there’s power in the blood of Jesus. There’s victory in the cross, I’m breaking free, all my chains are gone. I will sing ’til my lungs give out, I’m gonna shout, now that I’ve found victory.