A People for His Name

A Prayer That Is Especially Important for Musicians

March 17, 2012

David directs Psalm 19 “to the chief musician” (19:1). As it does in every other instance that it occurs, this inspired heading signifies that the content of this Psalm is of special importance to believers who are musicians.

We are not told specifically what that special importance is. By examining the ending of Psalm 19, however, we at least learn that David here has provided musicians with a prayer that is of patent significance for them.

David closes the Psalm by saying,

“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins: let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (19:12-14).

Certainly, this prayer is vital for all believers. Because of the public nature of their ministries, those believers who speak or write to others must especially entreat God to sanctify them wholly in this manner.

The special importance of this prayer for Christian musicians lies in the singular effects of their verbal ministry to others—words that are sung, especially repeatedly, are far more often remembered and uttered by others long after words preached in even striking messages have been forgotten. Because the potential for their words to have this unique influence on others is exceedingly great, musicians who minister to others must beg God fervently for His work in their lives to make their words and the meditation of their hearts acceptable to Him!

In Exhortation, Music, Prayer

David’s Instrumental Music Was Not Amoral

March 15, 2012

Scripture provides us with the truths that we need to be fully equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17). Music is not an exception to this truth, and we must apply Scripture to all problem issues in our churches concerning music.

Many people today hold that music without words is amoral. The account of David’s music ministry to Saul (1 Sam. 16), however, makes clear that instrumental music is not amoral.

God judged Saul by sending an evil spirit to afflict him (1 Sam. 16:14). To relieve him of his affliction, Saul’s servants sought a skillful harpist to minister to him (1 Sam. 16:15-16). They found David and brought him to Saul (1 Sam. 16:17-22).

Whenever the evil spirit troubled Saul, David’s playing made Saul better and caused the demon to depart (1 Sam. 16:23). The passage does not say anything about David’s singing any words to Saul as he played his harp.

It was David’s instrumental harp music, therefore, that caused the evil spirit that tormented Saul to depart from him. Had his music been amoral, it could not have had this effect for good.

Because the music did drive out the evil spirit, it was a force for good. We thus learn that David’s instrumental music was not amoral.

Please see these important articles related to this passage:

Did an Unholy Spirit from God Torment Saul?

Correcting a Wrong Handling of the Accounts of David’s Music Ministry to Saul

The Importance of 1 Samuel 16:14-23 for a Sound Theology of Music

In CCM, Interpretation, Music

Reading 50 Times through the Psalms

March 13, 2012

Prior to this year, I had read through the book of Psalms 25 times, including twice in the LXX. This year began with my reading through the book in January and in February.

Because of a work project concerning Christian music, I have read through Psalm 101 again so far in March. At this pace, I expect to finish the book by the end of this week, which would bring my total times through the book to 28. Reading through one more time by the end of March would make my total 29 times.

Then, to get to 50 times through the book, I would need to read through the book 21 more times by the end of the year. With 9 more months left in 2012, I would need to read through the book at least twice a month each month and also read through it a third time in at least 3 of the 9 remaining months.

Reading through twice a month requires reading an average of 10 chapters a day for 30 days. Three times a month would require reading 15 chapters a day for 30 days.

Although 10-15 chapters a day sounds like a lot, many of the chapters are fairly short, so it is not as much as it might seem initially. If God leads me to persevere with this project and enables me to do so, I will have read the book through 25 times in 2012.

I look forward to seeing how God is going to open my understanding of this marvelous book through this intensive study!

Update: Praise God that I made it through the Psalms 25 times in 2012!

In Bible reading

Bible Chapters Explicitly Directed to Musicians

March 10, 2012

Scripture has at least 56 chapters that are explicitly directed to musicians.

1. Psalms has 55 chapters that have the same wording in their headings, “To the chief musician”:

4-6; 8-9; 11-14; 18-22; 31, 36; 39-42; 44-49; 51-62; 64-70; 75-77; 80, 81, 84, 85, 88; 109; 139, 140

-Of these, only the heading of Psalm 88 does not begin with these words.

-Interestingly, although nine messianic Psalms are included (8, 22, 41, 45, 49, 68, 69, and 109), some key ones are not (2, 16, 72, 78, 96, 110, and 118).

2. Habakkuk ends with similar wording: “To the chief singer on my singed instruments” (3:19). It seems that this phrase applies only to the final chapter of the book.

Because these are the only chapters in Scripture that are explicitly addressed to musicians, it seems to me that every Christian musician should make these 56 chapters a special focus of his study sometime early in his life. They should also be covered in some manner in all music programs in Christian colleges and universities.

In Music

Titus 1 and the CCM Debate

March 8, 2012

The debate about the propriety of using Christian Contemporary Music has been going on for many years now. I recently was made aware of a dimension of the debate that I had not encountered before– some proponents of CCM who object to other believers’ using secular sources to address the issue.

According to this view, we should only use the Bible to decide whether or not music is moral or not. Almost immediately after I first heard of this objection raised against the use of secular sources, God brought to mind how Paul handled a serious problem in Crete.

Paul instructed Titus that he had left him in Crete so that he would “set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city, as [he] had appointed [him]” (Titus 1:5). He then related the necessary qualifications for such men (Titus 1:6-9).

He concluded his teaching about these qualifications by informing Titus that the elder must hold “fast the faithful word as he hath been taught [so] that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9). He thus stressed the centrality of the elder’s adhering to and using sound doctrine from Scripture to both exhort believers in that sound doctrine and refute those who were contradicting it.

Paul then explained the necessity of such ministry by the elders by declaring the presence in Crete of “many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision” (Titus1:10). The destructive works of these evil men in subverting entire households had to be stopped by the elders’ skillful use of sound doctrine (Titus1:11).

In support of his own evaluation of the Cretians and of the necessity for the mouths of their false teachers to be stopped, Paul informed Titus that one of the Cretians’ own prophets had said, “The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies” (Titus 1:12). The prophet thus confirmed Paul’s assessment of the Cretians.

Paul then affirmed the truthfulness of the witness of this secular prophet (Titus 1:13a). Finally, based on his preceding instruction and the corroboration of his assessment by that of their own prophet, he commanded Titus to rebuke them sharply so that they would be sound in the faith (Titus 1:13b-16).

Paul thus handled this serious problem in Crete by exhorting Titus about the necessary verbal ministry of elders to oppose the perverse work of the false teachers among them. He based his exhortation and instruction to Titus upon his own evaluation of the Cretians and the corroborating witness of one of their own secular prophets.

We thus learn that a Pauline approach to handling a problem issue at times includes the use of one’s own scripturally informed assessments of the problem and the use of legitimate supportive data from non-biblical sources. When, therefore, many Christian leaders today use both their own assessments and corroboration from secular sources to urge God’s people to reject the viewpoint that music is neutral, they are using a valid scriptural approach.

This analysis of Titus 1 in relation to the CCM debate has shown that contemporary critiques of using non-biblical perspectives to address the issue of whether music is neutral or not are invalid. In handling the difficult problem of the use of CCM in the Church today, we should employ a Pauline approach of using present-day sources to support our own Bible-based evaluations of the issue.

In CCM, Interpretation, Music

Toward Solving the Church's Music Problems

March 6, 2012

The Church of Jesus Christ is embroiled today in intense controversy about the music that it should use. Through careful attention to some key truths from Scripture, we can move toward solving many of the Church’s music problems.

Recognizing the Extreme Importance of Music

God inspired various men to pen the 66 books of Scripture. Of those books, Psalms is the longest by far. It has the most words, verses, and chapters of any book. It also has the longest chapter in Scripture (more than two times as long as the second longest chapter).

When these facts are coupled with the truth that every one of the 150 chapters of Psalms is a perfect song written by God, we should be awed at how important music is to God! We must also learn that God has through these facts greatly underscored to us how important music is for His people!

Focusing on God’s Emphases in His Music

Because the book of Psalms is a perfect songbook written by God Himself, those who desire to resolve the Church’s music problems should focus on learning everything that God stresses in this book. Apart from such immersion in the book of Psalms throughout our lifetimes, we will never have all the wisdom that God has provided for us to honor Him fully with our music.

Submitting to Divine Wisdom about Music

In His perfect wisdom, God has chosen not to give His Church the specific, detailed information in His Word about musical styles, etc. that we might wish that He had given to us. His not providing us with that information should instruct us that such information is not what we need most to resolve our music troubles.

Instead, we are to learn that through the Spirit’s filling, which will only fully profit those who have immersed themselves in His own words about music, God is able to lead His people infallibly about what He wants them to do in worshiping Him in music even though they do not have specific information from Him about musical styles. Only by submitting to divine wisdom in what information He has seen fit to give in His Word and what information He has not seen fit to give will we be able to deal properly with our music problems.

Sanctifying Chosen Men for Musical Ministry

In view of the truths treated above, what the Church needs most today is men set aside for leadership in musical ministry who have intensely immersed themselves in His truth as He has given it to us in His Word, especially in Psalms. Such men should be directed to do what leaders in other disciplines do in order to excel: many years of intensive study in preparation for proper ministry.

Having been through a very demanding doctoral program myself, I believe that it would not be asking too much to ask such chosen men to read carefully through Psalms 50 times in a five-year training period prior to assuming key leadership roles in musical ministry in the Church. That pace of reading would require them to read an average of five Psalms a day for at least 10 months in each of the five years of training.

Glorifying God by Glorifying His Word in Our Musical Ministries

Men who devote themselves to glorifying God in musical ministry—by glorifying His Word in their own lives in the intensive manner explained above—will equip themselves to be used greatly by God for His eternal glory. They will be the ones who will be filled with the Spirit to resolve our music problems through their supremely exalting in their musical ministries the truth that He has given us in the book of Psalms!

In Music

Does Acts 9 Record Instances of Great Evangelistic Success without Any Gospel Testimony?

March 3, 2012

The account of Saul’s conversion comprises the majority of Acts 9 (31 of the 43 verses in the chapter), and many have exposited this account carefully. Following that conversion account, however, Luke records two striking instances of many people being saved about which fewer people probably have heard a careful exposition.

These two instances of great evangelistic success are noteworthy because of what we know about what took place on these occasions. Even more remarkable is what we are not told about them.

Lydda and Sharon

In the first, Peter dramatically healed a man in Lydda who had been paralyzed for eight years by proclaiming to him that Jesus Christ was making him whole (9:32-34). As a result, everyone who was living in Lydda and Sharon saw him and “turned to the Lord” (9:35).

Luke does not say anything about any testimony of the gospel in this account, and yet, we read of two entire cities being converted. Are we therefore supposed to understand that these masses of people were saved without hearing any gospel testimony? If so, how were they saved?

Joppa

Luke then relates an even more remarkable account of Petrine ministry. Joppa was a city near Lydda (9:38a). Because a beloved widow among the believers in Joppa had passed away, and the disciples had heard that Peter was nearby in Lydda (9:36-37a-b), they decided to send for him (9:38c).

Coming with the two men who had been sent to appeal to him to come (9:38c-39), Peter unhesitatingly acted prayerfully to raise her from the dead (9:40) and present her alive to the believers who were there (9:40-41). This marvelous manifestation of God’s power became known throughout the entire city (9:42a), and “many believed in the Lord” (9:42b).

As with the preceding account, Luke provides no information about any gospel testimony being given in Joppa at this time. How then were these many people saved?

Interpretation

These two accounts record numerous people who turned to the Lord and believed in Him after receiving testimony either visually or verbally about His miraculous working through Peter. Because elsewhere Scripture makes clear that people cannot believe in Him of whom they have not heard (Rom. 10:14), we must conclude that Luke intends for us to understand that there was gospel testimony of some sort to these who were saved, even though he does not record it.

Two other passages support this interpretation. First, Luke records that all the multitude of believers who were present at the proceedings of the Jerusalem council kept silent and listened intently to Barnabas and Paul as they declared “what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them” (Acts 15:12).

In the flow of thought in the passage, this testimony from Paul and Barnabas follows the account of how the Gentiles in Caesarea had heard the word of the gospel from Peter and believed it to be saved (15:7-11). Because what was at stake at the Council was how were the Gentiles to be saved (15:1), it cannot be that Luke intends us to understand that these two successive testimonies bore evidence to the Council of two differing ways in which Gentiles had been saved: some were saved by hearing the gospel and believing it (15:7-11), but others were saved only by hearing and seeing the miracles and wonders that God was doing among them (15:12).

This interpretation is confirmed by a second passage that also confirms the interpretation provided above of the two accounts in Acts 9:

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” (Heb. 2:3-4).

God’s miraculous working among the apostolic company (including therefore what happened in Lydda and Joppa) thus was His acting to witness along with as well as to those who had provided verbal testimony (of the very great salvation that had been first spoken of by the Lord) both to the writer of Hebrews and to others.

Conclusion

Based on this handling of the accounts in Acts 9 and related passages, whenever we read in the NT of people being saved, we are to understand that they received testimony to the gospel prior to their being saved, even if the account does not say anything directly about such testimony being given to them.

In Evangelism, Gospel, Interpretation

"We're Singing" – An Excellent Christian Guitar Resource

March 1, 2012

I have been teaching guitar for more than seven years. In that time, I have used We’re Singing, 7^th ed. (by the Wilds® Christian Association, Inc.) extensively as a supplemental text in teaching believers how to play the guitar.

Features

198 songs in SATB with lyrics and chords

Capo information for songs originally in keys that are difficult to play on the guitar

An extensive chart of standard chords, including diminished chords, and a chart of other chords

A comprehensive index of songs

Evaluation

This book is geared for use by both piano players and guitarists, and the author(s) have done an excellent job overall in supplying the chords for the songs.

The capo information and chords supplied for the many songs that are originally in harder keys for guitar work well toward making strumming or picking the chords for these songs generally straightforward.

The book provides a good number of simpler songs that are in good keys for guitar (with and without the use of a capo), which allows the beginning student to use it effectively to learn most of the important chords in the common keys (F, C, D, G, A, and E) that are used in guitar music.

This has been the most useful book that I have found for guitarists who want to play Christian songs.

In Christian Books, Music

Learning Greek Verb and Noun Parsing through English Sentences

February 28, 2012

I am teaching a beginning Greek student about parsing nouns and verbs. I have explained to him the basic concepts of tense, voice, mood, person, and number (Greek verbs) and of gender, number, and case (Greek nouns).

While reviewing these with him yesterday, I recovered an approach to helping students learns these concepts that I first came up with a number of years ago. Using many English sentences and explaining how each word works in the English sentence, I then showed him what Greek would use to convey those same functions for the nouns and verbs.

The following example illustrates this approach:

Tim, Joe gave Frank his book.

Tim – direct address = vocative;
Joe – subject = nominative;
Frank – indirect object = dative;
his – (shows possession) = genitive;
book – direct object = accusative

gave – aorist active indicative

Here are 25 sentences that I made up to use this approach. For nouns/pronouns, give the case. For verbs, give the tense, voice, and mood, unless directed otherwise. Skip the underlined words.

Dave sent flowers to his wife.

Flowers were sent to Dave’s wife.

Dave, have you sent her flowers?

Dave has sent his friends Christmas cards.

The old man had bathed himself until he fell and hurt himself yesterday.

Roy was watching TV.

Mike is listening to the news.

Roy is her husband.

Joe had been mistreated by his boss until recently.

His car is being damaged by hail.

Tim had hoped that he would get a good grade in the class until he failed his test.

Will she do her homework on time?

I had lived in sin until God opened my eyes.

Were you being watched?

The picture showed the accident.

The men of Rome were hating themselves.

Have their children been saved?

The policemen should be arriving home soon. (Present ____________ _______________).

The children may be taught by the new teacher. (Aorist ____________ _______________).

Don hit himself with his racket.

You are hearing for yourselves how bad things really are now.

I will be satisfied when I get to heaven.

Joe has burned himself before.

What should I send mom for her birthday? (Aorist _____________ _____________).

Bill will wash himself.

In Biblical Greek, Biblical Languages

Repentance unto Eternal Life!

February 25, 2012

Through Peter’s preaching of the gospel in Caesarea, God saved a Gentile centurion and his entire household (Acts11:14). When Peter’s ministering to them was later called into question by some in Jerusalem (11:2), he defended himself by relating how God had given the Gentiles the Spirit on that occasion, as He had also done previously for Peter and others “at the beginning” (11:15).

Peter then recalled how on that occasion he had remembered the Lord’s teaching about how the apostles would be baptized with the Holy Spirit (11:16). Based on that statement and how the experience of the Gentiles matched that of the apostles (11:17a), he asserted through a question that he was in no position to oppose what God was doing (11:17b).

Hearing these things, those who had objected earlier were satisfied, “and glorified God, saying, ‘Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (11:18). Saying this, they acknowledged that those Gentiles had been saved by God’s granting them that repentance.

When, however, the preceding account of what happened in Caesarea (10:1-48), including Peter’s message, is examined, we find no specific statements about what these Gentiles had to repent of so that they would be saved. Despite this lack of information, we can reasonably infer many likely aspects of their repentance by analyzing carefully the information given about them and about what Peter preached to them.

Information provided about Cornelius and those who were with him

Cornelius was a Roman centurion who was devout, feared God with his entire household, gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always (10:2). He was also a just man who had a good reputation among the entire nation of the Jews (10:22).

Furthermore, Cornelius and those who were with him when Peter preached to them had heard about the word that was “published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached” (10:37). He thus had familiarity with the ministry of John and what had taken place throughout that entire Judean region after his ministry. This statement also informs us that they had some prior information about Jesus because John preached about Him when he preached his baptism of repentance (cf. Luke 3:1-18).

Cornelius’ having a good reputation among all the Jews suggests that he was not one who had openly differed with them in his perspectives about what he had heard about Jesus. Otherwise, we would hardly expect the Jews to have spoken well of him.

Hostile Jewish views about Jesus versus Peter’s preaching about Jesus

Many of Peter’s statements in his message directly controverted key aspects of hostile Jewish’ perspectives about Jesus:

The Jews did not believe that Jesus was Lord of all, but Peter preached that He was (10:36).

The Jews blasphemed the Spirit by saying that Jesus cast out demons by Satan’s power. In stark contrast to their assessment of Jesus, Peter preached that God had anointed Jesus with the Spirit and with power, and that He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, because God was with Him (10:38). He thus trumpeted that Jesus did all that He did and triumphed over the devil through the Spirit and the power that God had given Him.

The Jews believed that Jesus was a lawbreaker and a deceiver, but Peter preached that Jesus went about doing “good” (10:38).

The Jews did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. They said that the disciples came and stole the body. Peter, however, preached that God raised Jesus bodily from the dead and attested to that by testifying that he and others had seen Him, and eaten and drunk with Him after His resurrection (10:40-41).

The Jews condemned Jesus for His asserting that they would see Him coming one day in the clouds of heaven, which signified to them that He was claiming to be the Danielic Son of Man who would come and judge the world. In contrast, Peter declared the same essential truth that Jesus did when he testified that the God-raised Jesus had commanded them to proclaim that God has appointed Him to be the Judge of the living and the dead (10:42).

The Jews did not believe Jesus’ claims that He was the Messiah whom the prophets had spoken of that would come, but Peter asserted that He was that Christ (10:36, 38) of whom all the prophets are still testifying (10:43).

The Jews condemned Jesus for saying to people that their sins were forgiven and that He had authority on earth to forgive sins. Peter, however, triumphantly declared (10:43) that the Jesus whom he had been preaching (10:36-42) was the promised One spoken of by the prophets through Whose name all who would believe in Him would receive forgiveness of sins.

These seven points show that Peter’s message forced Cornelius and all who were with him to repent of their holding any of these false Jewish perspectives about Jesus.

Eternal life through repentance of false views about Jesus

Repenting of any of these false views of Jesus that they had previously held, Cornelius and the ones who were with him would now have to believe what Peter preached to them about each point in order to be saved. They were saved in that manner because God granted such repentance unto them (11:18)!

Their repentance was a God-given “repentance unto life” (11:18). Because this statement pertained obviously to people who were already physically alive, we understand that they were granted repentance unto eternal life!

Appreciating fully the universal value of what Peter preached for bringing about repentance unto eternal life

This analysis has argued that Peter’s message pointedly called his hearers to repent of any false Jewish views that they held about Jesus concerning at least seven key truths about Him:

He is Lord of all.
He did all that He did through the Spirit and the power that God gave Him.
All that He did was good.
God raised Him bodily from the dead.
God has appointed Him to be the Judge of the living and the dead.
He is the Messiah about whom all the prophets are still testifying.
He is the promised One through Whose name anyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.

These are all key truths that Peter preached about Jesus to the Gentiles; through their reception of these truths as well as the other key truths that he preached (e.g., the crucifixion; 10:39), God granted them repentance unto eternal life. His people later glorified Him for doing so!

We would do well to proclaim all of these truths to every Gentile whom we desire to be saved through their receiving the same “repentance unto life” (11:18). Through such proclamation from us, may God be glorified through His bringing many Gentiles to Himself!

In Evangelism, Interpretation, Theology

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