CHURCH MUSIC

Overview: Course Outline

In relation to music, this course traces the acts of God for mankind as recorded in the
Bible:  creation, redemption and restoration from the perspective of music as a witness,
as a vehicle of praise and adoration, as a tool for the proclamation of the Gospel and
the development of character for the restoration of man. 

Lesson 1
Music and Creation

A.    The love and joy of God over the creation of man and the earth: 

1. How are the “morning stars” and the “sons of God” witnesses to the creative
power and works of God? Job. 38 verse 4 , 7  (“sons of God”: Job 1:6. “Shouted
for joy” 6T456; PP 65; 8T 42- creation, redemption, recreation of the earth)

2. How does the “musical celebration at creation” reveal the love of God and all heaven
over the creation of man and the world as his home?

B.  Music, Sabbath and Worship

3. How is music linked to the Sabbath? How can music, like the Sabbath direct our
minds to God, to inspire and awaken us to praise Him as our Creator?

“The Sabbath was given to all mankind to commemorate the work of creation. The great Jehovah, when
He had laid the foundations of the earth, when He had dressed the whole world in its garb of beauty, and
created all the wonders of the land and the sea, instituted the Sabbath day and made it holy. When the
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, the Sabbath was set apart as God’s
memorial. God sanctified and blessed the day in which He has rested from all His wondrous work. And
this Sabbath, sanctified of God, was to be kept for a perpetual covenant. It was a memorial that was to
stand from age to age, till the close of earth’s history”. – {LHU 53.2} – LHU 53.2

“God designs that the Sabbath shall direct the minds of men to the contemplation of His created works.
Nature speaks to their senses, declaring that there is a living God, the Creator, the Supreme Ruler of all.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” Psalm 19:1, 2. The beauty that clothes the earth is
token of God’s love. We may behold it in the everlasting hills, in the lofty trees, in the opening buds and
the delicate flowers. All speak to us of God. The Sabbath, ever pointing to Him who made them all, bids
men open the great book of nature and trace therein the wisdom, the power, and the love of the Creator.”
– {PP 48.3} – PP 47-48

4. What is the purpose of music?

“Music was made to serve a holy purpose, to lift the thoughts to that which is pure, noble, and
elevating, and to awaken in the soul devotion and gratitude to God”. PP 594
5. What connection can we see between the joy of music for worship , particularly on the
Sabbath when God’s people come together to worship him on His holy day? Ps. 95:1-6; Ps.16:11

C. Music, Accountability, judgment

6. Like the Sabbath, how does music become not just a “celebration” but also a reminder
of accountability and judgment?

A departure from the fourth commandment will not now be immediately visited with temporal death; yet
God does not regard the violation of his commandments any more lightly than he did the transgression of
Aaron’s sons. Death is the final punishment of all who reject light, and continue in transgression. When
God says, Keep holy the seventh day, he does not mean the sixth, nor the first, but the very day he has
specified. When men substitute a common day for the sacred, and say that it will do just as well, they
insult the Maker of the heavens and the earth, who instituted the Sabbath to commemorate his rest after
the six days of creation. It is a dangerous thing to deviate from the commands of God. He who is infinite
in wisdom has given explicit directions in regard to his own worship, and all who desire to serve him
should follow the exact course he has prescribed. God will teach all his creatures that he means just what
he says. – {ST July 8, 1880 Par. 3} – ST July 8, 1880 Par. 3

Read : Genesis 4: 3-5; Amos 5:22-24 ; Revelation 18:22 ; Ezekiel 33:32 ; James 1:22

D. Musical creativity and the Law of God

7. Just as nature operates under the law of God, from the above verses, give the relation between
music and the law of God. Our Creator endowed man with the power of “creativity,” that is-our
capacity for unlimited musical ideas from the resources He provided at creation. When we
compose music, are we also bound by the claims of God’s law? How does our knowledge of
God’s law guide and expand our capacity for musical creativity to God’s glory?

1 Peter 1:25. Psalms 19:7 ; Isaiah 8:20 .

The same power that upholds nature is working also in man. The same great laws that guide alike the
star and the atom control human life. The laws that govern the heart’s action, regulating the flow of the
current of life to the body, are the laws of the mighty Intelligence that has the jurisdiction of the soul. From
Him all life proceeds. Only in harmony with Him can be found its true sphere of action. For all the objects
of His creation the condition is the same—a life sustained by receiving the life of God, a life exercised in
harmony with the Creator’s will. To transgress His law, physical, mental, or moral, is to place one’s self
out of harmony with the universe, to introduce discord, anarchy, ruin.

To him who learns thus to interpret its teachings, all nature becomes illuminated; the world is a lesson
book, life a school. The unity of man with nature and with God, the universal dominion of law, the results
of transgression, cannot fail of impressing the mind and molding the character. Ed. p.99

SHARE Share your new insights on music from your knowledge of Creation and God’s infinite
love for all mankind.