From Zac serving in Nigeria
QUESTION:"Christian" Music?
"What Makes Music Sacred or Secular? Is it the text/lyric or the musical idiom/style?"
RICK MUCHOW:
What makes a song sacred or secular is how the song it is used.
The Bible is the inerrant Word of God, so in the strictest sense, the only "Christian" music or sacred songs are Scripture songs, either Psalms or songs directly quoting Scripture. There are no musical notes included in the scripture. This could be because the music and style are not of eternal consequence. However the ministry of the musician is recognized in Scripture. The truth is in the lyrics not the music.
With that in mind, let's define a sacred song as a song that can be used in church. A guitar solo, piano solo, sax solo or a completely instrumental song can be powerfully used to communicate about and worship God.
Words and lyrics indicate the message of a song, and many songs don't have a message that can be put to use in the church environment, but there are songs that can be used in church to help direct the congregation's attention to God. Most people can tell whether the song is appropriate or not from the lyrics and content of the song. Be sure not to rule out a song solely based on the artist who wrote or recorded it.
An otherwise secular song can be sacred if used for the purposes of God in exactly the same way that nature can be used to point to God. Music is a gift from God and was intended to be used for His purposes. For many people, a flower is just a pretty thing to put in a vase, a sunset is just the sun going down, and the beach is just a place where the water meets the land, but God can touch our hearts with the beauty and fragrance of that flower, the intricacy of His creation exemplified by that sunset, or by the immense power released in the sound of those waves and the vast size of the ocean. In the same way, God can use songs that have profound spiritual implications because ultimately He is the one who has created us all. He put the talent in the songwriter. He put the God shaped hole in each of us. Whether a songwriter has realized the hole is there and let God into his or her life or not is irrelevant in terms of the spiritual usefulness of a song. "Secular songs" such as Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes," Lou Graham's "I Want To Know What Love Is" or songs from U2 and Sister Hazel are just a few examples of songs with profound spiritual messages that we've seen God use to touch people during our services at Saddleback.
Moses, one of the great leaders mentioned in the Bible, used a staff. We don't know who made the staff. Moses used that staff for his own purposes: to guide herds and to help him travel, until a day when God decided to use it. We read in Exodus 4 that God had a purpose for that common staff. God asked Moses to give the staff to Him, and from that day forward that staff became a sacred staff, the Bible calls it "the rod of God" used for His purposes. It was an ordinary staff that God used for His sacred purposes.
Things are sacred or secular based on their use in light of God's purposes. God is the only true creator. He redeems that which is secular and makes it sacred according to His purposes, even you and me. I once was lost, but now I am found... Praise God!
