Be Mindful of What You Sing

Words matter especially in worship. When we worship, we are declaring who God is and praising Him for what He has done. As we sing in worship, we should be mindful of what we sing.

There are a lot of songs that have great lyrics with great melodies and there are songs that are polar opposites. Some songs that have been written by those with solid theology and those that do not. Sometimes we can see the theology of the songwriter in the song they sing. 

I know there is great debate over the use of the worship songs from churches that preach a false gospel such as Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation Church, which there have been many great discussions over this issue, but that will be addressed hopefully in a post in the near future. 

One song in particular that some churches sing and has also been made popular by the duo Shane & Shane is "King of Kings." If you look at the lyrics they may seem innocent with a catchy melody the most can sing along to. 

In the final verse of the song, we see this:

And the morning that You rose

All of Heaven held its breath

'Til that stone was moved for good

For the Lamb had conquered death.

Many may look at this verse and wonder what is wrong with it. The song writer wrote that one Easter morning before Jesus rose from the dead, "All of Heaven held its breath." Who said "Heaven is my throne" in Isaiah 66? Yahewh, our God. Psalm 115:3 says that "our God is in the heavens" (LSB). 

What the writers of this worship song from Hillsong is implying is that God is not sovereign. In other words, they are implying Open Theism, which is the belief that God is not sovereign. He knows all things except the future. This goes against what the Bible says regarding what God for us in Christ.

The Apostle wrote to the church in Ephesus:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:3-6, LSB).

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Meaning that in eternity past, God already had a plan for the redemption of mankind. The Fall in Genesis 3 did not catch God by surprise. Sin coming into the world did not make God freak out and frantically look for someone to be our Substitute to pay for our sins. He knew what He was going to do. 

The cross was always plan A. God, the Father, knew the price He had to pay to redeem us unto Himself. That price would be the life of His Only Begotten Son. He did not held His breath nor chewed on His fingernails wondering if His divine plan worked. 

This "worship" song from Hillsong should not be sung all because it implies that God is not sovereign. In fact any song from them should be avoided. It is hypocritical for a church to have solid lyrics (lets be honest, some of their song do have good lyrics) yet preach the false gospel of prosperity and wealth. 

Back to the issue at hand, Christians need to be mindful of what they sing in worship whether they gather corporately or just singing in the car on the way to work. Are we singing based on what God has revealed about Himself in His Word or are we just singing opinions about Him that the Bible does not support? 

We need to be singing songs about our great God that are based on His truth, not ours. The Bible shows us who God is. Our opinions will vary and they will change over time, but God's Word does not.