WWJLT?

The question posed this past Wednesday night was all about What Would Jesus Listen To?  Ok, it might not be the next fashionable bracelet or t-shirt design, but it is a good question to ask.  If Jesus was alive today and listening to music, which music would he be listening to?  The first thing we did was clarify what makes music good or bad.  No, I don't mean quality of musical performance... but rather, what makes a song appropriate or not?  There is nothing in the notes or instruments that makes it evil or not, as music in itself is neutral, so lyrics are the thing we want to focus on.

So, what makes the lyrics good or bad?  Is it just language?  Is it content?  Is it more subtle, perhaps with suggestive ideas or innuendo?  All of these things play into deciding if a song is worthy of praise or pure or honorable, as we looked at in Philippians 4:8 last week.  But what if it sounds really cool?  Is there a way to listen to a cool song for the music and ignore the lyrics?  How big of a role do lyrics play in our lives?

Obviously there isn't anything in the Bible that directly speaks to music in such a way.  And so, we looked at a couple verses that speak into the heart of decisions that we make, not just as it relates to music, but all choices in life that aren't clearly called out in scripture.  The first places we started was 1 Corinthians 6:12 followed very closely with 10:23 as Paul clarifies that everything is allowed, but not always good.  Part of the difficultly of the new covenant that God created with man through His son was the freedom of making choices for ourselves.  The old system was so much easier: God gave rules and you followed, or as you felt led, added to the rules to make other rules that you used to judge people in their ability to follow rules.  Well, ok, maybe it wasn’t that much easier…

But Paul brings up an interesting point that God doesn’t give us specific instructions about all of the things in life we’re going to encounter.  Whether it is music, movies, books, television or even something huge like jobs or who we should marry, our choices have to be based on more than the law itself.  And so, God provides a type of filter that we see here.  Imagine everything is permitted… then which things do you choose to do?  Well, if it goes directly against a commandment of loving God or others, then it’s a no (including if our parents tell us no, since we are commanded to obey them).  And, if it is against the law of the land, you can’t do it because God commands us to obey the laws. We looked at the Philippians 4:8 filter last week, and now Paul adds to it by saying if it isn’t good for you, if it causes dependency and if it causes someone else to stumble, then you shouldn’t do it. So, even without saying it directly, God has some pretty descriptive guidelines for us to use as we make the choices in life.

Lastly, we looked at Paul’s instruction in Colossians 3:16-17 about what we should sing and why we should sing it.  Does that mean that only songs about God are good?  I’m sure that could be argued, but what about songs of love or victory or hope?  And what would the book of Psalm look like without David lamenting and writing songs of despair, loss and anger?  How do we reconcile the music we choose to listen to with the Bible and our freedom?  These are great questions and ones that I personally struggle with.  But the great news is that God has provided some guidelines for us in His Word and has given us His Spirit to help us discern.  And as we asked in class, if God was sitting next to you (which of course He sort of is), would you listen to that song?