Christmas Highlight (Bibles)
Christmas Highlight (Bibles)
9 Ways Musical Worship Leads to Fruitfulness
Why Music?
Christians know that musical worship is important as an opportunity to remember, adore, thank, and exalt our God. But when we sing together, it is not simply about what we are doing for God but what he is doing in and through us by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18–21 presents singing to and with one another as central to developing sobriety, thankfulness, and submission. In other words, singing helps cultivate spiritual fruits such as self-control, joy, and gentleness. Singing also plays a central role to Christian spiritual formation in Colossians 3:1–17. In this passage, a call to sing together appears at the end of a call to put on love, peace, patience, kindness, and faithfulness. When we join in musical worship, we have the beautiful opportunity to be refreshed in the Spirit and thus to bear the fruit of the Spirit.
But why music? While we are called to bear the fruit of the Spirit in all areas of our lives, these passages suggest that there is something unique about the relationship between singing together and spiritual fruitfulness. So, let’s briefly explore how musical worship can help us grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
1. Love
Anthropologists have long recognized music-making as a marker of human community, and secular scholars suggest that humans evolved musicality because it facilitates social bonding.1 This is not far from the truth! It is clear from Genesis that God created us as relational and artistic beings and that our artistic expression reinforces our relationships. When God first presents Adam to Eve, Adam bursts forth in a love poem (Gen. 2:22–23). Throughout all of history, humans have expressed and strengthened their love through poetry and music. Accordingly, when we gather for musical worship, we not only express and strengthen our love for God but are further “knit together in love” with one another (Col. 2:2).
Spirit-Filled Singing
Ryanne J. Molinari
Drawing from Galatians 5, Spirit-Filled Singing provides a biblical framework for intentional worship, exploring how singing and the fruit of the Spirit both work to glorify God and edify his church.
2. Joy
Ask any church-goer how they evaluate musical worship, and you will most likely receive answers such as “it makes me feel joyful” or “it leaves me uplifted.” We intuitively recognize the relationship between singing and rejoicing. Martin Luther, who described music as “queen of the emotions,” advises Christians to wage war against discouragement by making music: “When sadness comes to you and threatens to gain the upper hand, then say, ‘Come, I must play our Lord Christ a song . . . for Scripture teaches me that He loves to hear joyful song.’”2 Singing draws us out of ourselves; it forces us to stop stewing and worrying internally. Instead, it enables us to both express what is on our hearts and remember our ultimate joy in Christ Jesus.
3. Peace
As a fruit of the Spirit, peace is primarily about harmony between believers. While musical worship often is one of the most divisive aspects of church life, it also presents a beautiful opportunity for practicing wholeness as the body of Christ. Consider the typical composition of hymns. They often include four distinct lines written to suit different vocal ranges. Each part sings the same text in the same key and at the same tempo, but they remain distinct even in their unity. Singing together thus presents an aural image of unity in the body of Christ as many members operate together in health and wholeness.
4. Patience
Despite the familiar saying, practice does not make perfect. It does, however, make patient. Gathering for worship week after week will require and produce patience. Anytime we gather with others for fellowship, we have the opportunity to rejoice in one another’s strengths and to bear with each other’s weaknesses. With musical worship in particular, we do not have the option of skipping songs we don’t like. We cannot fast-forward slow songs or prayerful silences. We will have to grow used to singing beside people who not only have different voices but also different musical backgrounds and preferences. Instead, we must embrace a holier rhythm as we endure, participate, and wait.
5. Kindness
In the Christian life, kindness consists largely of encouragement—of building one another up and motivating one another to live for Christ. Is there anything more motivating than a crowd of people singing together? After attending a football match in England, my brother and dad returned home still struck by what they’d experienced: not only a fantastic sporting event, but the power of an entire stadium of fans singing their team songs together. Although the words of these chants differed significantly from those of our worship songs, the result was the same: a profound sense of motivation. When we gather for worship, we have a similar opportunity to rally together, proclaiming encouragement in Christ and sending each other out filled with determination.
When we join in musical worship, we have the beautiful opportunity to be refreshed in the Spirit and thus to bear the fruit of the Spirit.
6. Goodness
Goodness is a multifaceted and comprehensive virtue, but as a fruit of the Spirit, it seems to be primarily about generosity. Music itself testifies to God’s generosity. During the Covid-19 pandemic, fine arts such as music were readily deemed “nonessential.” It is true that music is not essential to our basic survival, but God generously invites us to abound and revel in music-making. Singing together also necessitates a base level of generosity in us. To participate, we must share vulnerable parts of ourselves—our very voices—with one another. We must expend our breath in service of lyrics that build others up. We must sing even when we are tired or self-conscious because we know it will inspire others to join in. Pouring ourselves out in praise is a way of engaging and exhibiting the goodness of our generous God.
7. Faithfulness
The most basic element of music is rhythm. This is true of faithfulness as well. A life of faithfulness is not accomplished in one burst or sporadic starts and stops, but a rhythm of steady diligence over time. Singing reminds us of this. We cannot sing an entire song in one second; rather, music exists note by note, beat by beat, in time. Likewise, a life of faithfulness is comprised of a long string of smaller decisions and habits. Much like music, the beauty of our lives becomes evident over time, and prioritizing weekly worship is a seemingly small rhythm that gradually crescendos to a legacy of faithfulness.
8. Gentleness
Gentleness is “the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance.”3 It requires submitting to and serving others over ourselves. Poor musical ensembles are perhaps more often the result of a lack of submission than a lack of musicianship; their singers act as soloists, each seeking to be the star of the show without regard for the tunefulness of the group as a whole. By contrast, good ensembles are not necessarily those with the best singers but those that prioritize mutual submission. The sopranos willingly tune to the basses, and the altos know when to sing softer than the tenors. The entire ensemble follows the conductor, who is seeking to honor the composer’s intentions. When we sing together, we practice such submission as we follow our worship leaders, sing songs that serve our neighbors, and focus on something far more important than ourselves: glorifying our almighty God.
9. Self-Control
One of the best reasons to pursue a music education is the development of discipline. Even young musicians must learn to manage their time to protect their practice. They must focus, engaging both the rational and creative parts of the brain.4 They also must regulate their emotions as they overcome anxiety and play pieces that may not match their current mood. Finally, they must work to control their bodies, making skillful music and maintaining proper technique. Gathering for regular worship likewise requires us to make the best use of our time, saying “no” to other opportunities and protecting an hour or so of every weekend (Eph. 5:16). It calls us to put aside distractions and set our minds on higher things (Col. 3:2). It calls us to rule over our emotions, rejoicing always (1 Thess. 5:16). Finally, it requires bodily discipline as we stand, breathe, listen, clap, enunciate, and vocalize.
Conclusion
When we gather for worship, we have the opportunity to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in and through our singing. May our worship thus not only resound with beautiful music but with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Notes:
- Patrick E. Savage et al., “Music as a Coevolved System for Social Bonding,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 44 (January 2021): e59, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X20000333.
- Martin Luther, “Music,” in What Luther Says, ed. Ewald M. Plass, II: Glory to Prayer (Concordia Publishing House, 1959), 982–83.
- Frederick William Danker, ed., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition, BDAG (The University of Chicago Press, 2000), 126.
- “Keep Your Brain Young with Music,” June 20, 2024, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/keep-your-brain-young-with-music.
Ryanne J. Molinari is the author of Spirit-Filled Singing: Bearing Fruit as We Worship Together.
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