Lesson 1
First Things First
The first lesson in Christian music does not really involve music at all. For us Christians, it is about understanding the Father and Jesus Christ and what is asked of us by God. There are a couple of things we must understand if we want to make the kind of music that is suitable for the Kingdom.The first thing to understand is that God is the creator of all good music, and as such He is an orderly God. The apostle Paul said in Corinthians to let everything be done decently and in order. The originators of what we know as western music -- J.S. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven -- were very devout men and understood this principle very well. This is why their music is considered the greatest music of all time. This does not mean that we have to do "classical" music, but it does mean that God requires a certain orderliness and quality. The fact is, God's Spirit can be carried by music, and poor quality music can quench the Spirit. The level to which our music adheres to certain quality standards is the level to which the music will minister Spiritually (all other things being equal).
The second thing to remember is that God in not a God of imitation. (Satan is the great imitator.) For this reason, we should not be imitators. We should be seeking the Lord on how we as Christians can be originators of high quality musical styles. One of the things that is discouraging about the Christian music industry today is that it is largely an imitator of the world's musical styles. Some would say they are doing this to win the youth, and it can be argued that it has increased sales, however, the biggest consequence of this is to make Christian music the tail of the musical world. God says that He desires us to be the head and not the tail. the question is, if we are following a particular music style, what does that make us? The tail!
For Christian music to be the best and ultimately minister at its' best, we must understand these two priniples. We must always strive for quality and we must always be originators rather than imitators.