What is the role of music in wor­ship? Many pas­sages in Scripture address this question, but we'll limit our­selves to this passage from Colossians.

The text begins, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly..." Put simply, this is what it means to be a Christian — to have the very words of Scripture live in our hearts.

To fill out the significance of this statement we can look to the beginning of Colossians 3. The Apostle Paul talks about the position and calling of the Christian. Our lives are hid­den with Christ in God, and we are to seek those things which are above, where Christ is, by "putting off the old man, and putting on the new man." We are to "put on love" and we are to "let the peace of God dwell richly" in us. And having the Word of Christ in our hearts is directly connected in this passage with music.

The music role of church music is not only for the purpose of praising God, and its inten­tion is definitely not to enter­tain or sooth us. The design of church music in the context of this passage, is to make God's Word vivid and memorable ­to make it stick in our minds and hearts.

Music is a powerful force by which God's Word is driven home to our hearts. Churches that don't pay particular attention to their music — the kinds of music sung or played or how it is sung and played ­are seriously impoverished churches. Why? Because they are denying themselves one important means of driving home the Word of God in the hearts of the congregation.

The strong influence of music is especially evident in children. Play a "Praise" tape or video and for the next few days the children are singing the lyrics throughout the house. Adults are not much different. While Scripture verses may fade from memo­ry, the words of familiar psalms and hymns are indeli­bly written on their minds.

In worship, while the reaching of the Word is central, the psalms and hymns sung around the Word help to drive home the message preached. That's why it's cru­cial for the songs to fit the text preached, as well as for the other elements of the ser­vice to be in harmony with each other.

According to Colossians 3 music is also important as a teaching tool. Good music teaches sound theology and obedient living. Music is also useful to admonition and warning, warning of the dan­gers of disobedience and of the judgment to come.

Notice also the kinds of songs we are to use in wor­ship: psalms, hymns and spiri­tual songs.

First mentioned are psalms. The psalms have always been used by God's people to sing His praise. By using them ourselves we express oneness with the church through all ages.

The psalms are emphasized in the Reformed church because they are God-cen­tered — revealing His works and ways.

The reference to hymns in the text probably refers to various songs of praise used by the early church. Hymns contrast with the psalms in this respect: they aren't often based on one particular text, and they are more explicitly Christ-centered. The psalms do present Christ, but in shadow form (Psalms 2, 22 and 118). Hymns, however, expressly place His name upon our lips (for example, the Good Friday, Easter, Resurrection and Ascension hymns).

Finally, our text mentions spiritual songs, which proba­bly refer to a broad category of songs expressing spiritual truths — testimonies about God's power, His help and comfort, for example.

The point is this: there is a wide variety of songs that may be used in worship. If our God is so diverse as to who He is and what He has done, so should be our praise. To put it another way, the diver­sity of our praise should match the diversity of our God.

The text concludes with an explanation of how we are to sing: "with thanksgiving in our hearts to the Lord."

How we sing is an important matter to God. Yet how easy is it for us to merely allow our lips to glide over the words. Minds wander, and the result is often spiritless, thankless singing. Worship takes work.

Singing takes work. They require effort and concentra­tion.

Other factors can also come to play in listless singing, such as a poor tune, difficult or archaic lyrics, slow accompa­niment, etc. The combination of poor music and dull hearts is a potent mix for spiritless singing. Yet God calls us to praise Him from the heart.