How our Theology Informs our Doxology
The dictionary defines doxology as, “a hymn or form of words containing an ascription of praise to God.” Within the church at large, there are many doxologies, some more popular than others. At the end of our chapel service, you will occasionally hear this doxology sung:
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him, all creatures here below
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
However, more broadly speaking, any song sung within a corporate worship setting could be defined as a doxology, since what we are doing as we stand, and sing is ascribing praise to God!
In a book titled “Doxology & Theology,” various authors describe how our doxology is informed by our theology. Michael Bleecker, a worship pastor at The Village Church in Texas says it this way, “Our biblical theology (study of God) should inform and propel our doxology (praise to God)”.
When we stand together with our Christian brothers and sisters on Sunday morning and sing our praise and adoration to the Lord, our hearts AND our minds should be fully engaged with the words we are singing.
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” - John 4:23
John Piper, pastor and theologian, says, “Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full (or half-full) of artificial admirers. On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.”
In 2014 I competed on a tv show called “The Voice.” As the season was coming to an end, we were told that we would be performing and releasing an “original” song. Though my song would be released as a Chris Jamison song, I hadn’t actually done the writing. Other writers and producers that I had never met created the song and then pitched it to show for one of their contestants to record and release.
After a long day of rehearsing and filming, the producers pulled me aside and asked me to listen to a song that they felt would be a good fit for me as my original song. I listened to the song, heard the beat and feel of the music, and responded quickly, “yeah, this sounds great!”
At the end of the day, I got back to my hotel room and put my headphones on. I thought it would be a good idea for me to become more familiar with my new song.
My heart sank.
Though the beat and feel of the song were great, the lyrics were awful. They were suggestive, to say the least, and not words or phrases that I felt comfortable saying, let alone singing.
Unfortunately, I didn’t speak up and went on to record and perform the song on national television. I’m not proud of that but am thankful for the lesson that it taught me.
Lyrics matter - words matter.
Don’t let a catchy beat and cool instrumentation deceive you into singing lyrics that aren’t true, or in my case, don’t clearly represent your character and values.
The words that we sing in church MUST be fueled by our theology.
The songs that we sing in church MUST be built upon the foundation of God’s true, perfect, and holy word.
This isn’t to say that all song lyrics sung in the church have to be word-for-word verses from the Bible. The songs we sing must be aligned with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and our Christian biblical doctrine.
Michael Bleecker concludes his chapter in “Doxology & Theology” with this - “We should be worshippers who know (the word of God) richly, feel (the word of God) deeply, and express (the word of God) passionately.”
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him, all creatures here below
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
