There are strong Christians on both sides of this question, but when you dig into the songs we sing on Sundays, you’ll see we feel free to use songs associated with movements that don’t align with our beliefs. There aren’t many movements that completely do.
Instead, we judge each song on its own merits. When we’re choosing songs to sing on Sunday, we ask three questions:
1. Does it conform to God’s Word?
Many of my favorite songs are taken straight out of Scripture. I love to sing Ephesians 2, the song taken straight out of Ephesians by my friend David Tamaoka. But there are also many songs that offer poetic reflections of biblical revelation. For example, Great Things is a simple song that reminds us of great truths: God’s faithfulness through Christ (2 Cor 1:20), his power and greatness made manifest for our benefit (Psalm 126:3), and his redemptive work to free us from our chains (Psalm 107:14).
When we find a solid song with a few questionable words, we’ll just change the words. For example, The Father’s House is a super-encouraging song that describes how the death of Jesus took away our guilt and shame. One verse says, “Arrival’s not the end game, the journey’s where You are; You never wanted perfect, You just wanted my heart.” While the intention of the lyric is probably the biblical truth that God doesn’t demand perfection in order for us to be accepted by him, the lyric as written goes directly against Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
God demands perfection and that’s why we need Christ to exchange his perfection for our imperfection. When we put our trust in Christ he starts a process of conforming us more and more to his perfection every day (Romans 8:28-30), so we rewrote the verse to say, “You’re making me like Jesus, and you’re starting with my heart.”
2. Does it proclaim Jesus?
There are plenty of songs that teach scriptural truths, but leave out the good news. There are great songs that proclaim God’s glory and majesty, but leave out his grace. Any Jew or Muslim can sing songs about God’s justice and wrath. Only Christians sing songs about his mercy through Christ. So we’re always looking for songs that proclaim Jesus.
Some songs revel in the grace of Jesus but need a little explanation. For example, we occasionally sing “Reckless Love.” It powerfully speaks of God’s sovereign, pursuing love. While God is never “reckless” in the way we often use the word (unthinking and uncaring about the consequences of our actions), his unjustified love and unmerited grace appears to be reckless from our perspective.
When Tim Keller reflected on the parable of the prodigal son, he said:
The word “prodigal” does not mean “wayward” but, according to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, “recklessly spendthrift.” It means to spend until you have nothing left. This term is therefore as appropriate for describing the father in the story as his younger son. The father’s welcome to the repentant son was literally reckless, because he refused to “reckon” or count his sin against him or demand repayment. This response offended the elder son and most likely the local community. (The Prodigal God, introduction)
So when we sing a song like that, we might offer a quick explanation along those lines.
3. Does it complement the theme of the Sunday?
Every Sunday we build a theme around the text we’re covering. For example, this Sunday we’ll be studying 1 Corinthians 9, and the mission we have to give up our rights and desires in order to reach unbelievers with the good news of Jesus. We’ll sing songs like “Mighty to Save” that proclaim God’s sovereign power to save through Christ, and “I Will Follow” that proclaim our desire to join Christ in his mission.
We hope that these songs will cement scriptural concepts into our heads and hearts, allowing us to meditate on God’s truths throughout the week. There’s always one song that sticks in my head from Sunday, that I find myself singing over and over throughout the week. And that reminds me to be praying about how to apply the things we learned from Scripture that week.