Worship songs in church have a specific purpose. It’s not entertainment. It’s got another purpose. Let’s look at what the Word of God says about this subject. Colossians 3:16 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.
1.Songs should teach something
Our songs should be full of Truth. We don’t choose them just for the music. We also check to see the lyrics are Biblical. Then secondly, is the truth real to you? The more a song means to me personally, the more it will be real as we sing. There is an element of teaching and encouraging to a praise service. I like to think of the worship service as a sermon that teaches a truth. Every song doesn’t have to have the word “love” in it to teach about love. But there can be a theme that ties the service songs together. Sometimes teaching songs can be reminders. “Great is Thy Faithfulness is a teaching song and also a worship song. It contains specific ways God is faithful.
2.Songs should admonish us
Admonish means to remind, reprove or warn. That kind of sounds like preaching to me. Songs that urge us or challenge us are admonishing songs. The song “Holy Spirit You are Welcome Here” reminds us to be sensitive to God’s presence right now. Admonishing deals more with the heart than the head. “ Lord I Need You” is a worship song but also admonishes us that we need Him to be Lord. It elicits a heart response to God. These songs make you want to do something like worship Him or devote yourself to prayer or tell somebody about Jesus.
Challenge:
- Look at your song list and ask yourself ” what am I teaching?”
- Check your song list to see if they urge you to some action (not just mental words, but heart connection).
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