Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. Hey everybody, welcome back to the sanctuary.
As always, it is great to have you with us. This
episode is another one of those sermons that
I had a while back when we were getting our equipment
and everything upgraded where the audio just
didn't work out. So I wanted to come back and
re -record it. And of course, you know, the great
thing is when I come back and I deliver these
sermons again, you know me. I like to go down
those rabbit trails. So there's always something
new that wasn't there the first time. That's
the beauty. And any pastor that's out there will
tell you, especially like... In those churches
where they have multiple services in a day, you
know, like two in the morning and one in the
afternoon or just whatever. And they're delivering
the same message over. It's never the same. There's
always something different. And I love that.
It's exciting. You know, and to me, it just says,
hey, the Lord has something for someone out there
who's listening, which is absolutely awesome.
So with that said, let's get started. This time
around, we're going to talk about something that
I've spoken about before. Everybody knows it's
something that's near and dear to my heart. As
a matter of fact, in our church, before we even
do announcements, the first thing that we have
is our music, our praise and worship. I grew
up. playing music. I've played the flute. I played
drums for years, bass guitar for a year still.
I've played with a lot of great people because
of that. It's been a great blessing in my life.
So music is something really, really important
to me. And really, it's something that's biblically
important as well. So yeah, music. That's right.
We're talking about music. And the reason I've
brought it up here is because it's something
that can be controversial depending on who you
ask. I've talked about this before, so some of
this may sound familiar to you. Depending on
where you go and what kind of service you have
for some people, music is... It's a huge thing.
There's some places that are extremely legalistic
about it and insist you have to bring out the
old, you know, hymnal, aka the Red Book. Some
of you know exactly what I'm talking about. You
know, in other places, they drop the lighting,
they crank up the speakers, and it's like walking
into a concert. You know, it's a whole show.
It's a thing, right? You know, and of course,
you know, here at the Cross, At 66, we tend to
fall more in the middle. It's very relaxed, almost
a campfire -type playing music. Some people want
to say it's like a cowboy style because we don't
drop the lights. We don't crank it up too loud
or anything like that. It's just a real peaceful,
just come in, and we're just going to do our
thing, and we're going to do our version of what
we play, which is great. And right now, you know,
we're blessed. We've got three of us that are
doing it. Hey, matter of fact, if you're in the
Albuquerque area and you're interested in joining
us, you know, we are always looking for more
musicians to join our lineup. So guitar, drums,
keyboards, you know, even singing. If that's
something that tickles your fancy, if that's
in your gift set and you'd like to share that
with the world, come on out. You know, we'd love
to talk to you and get you plugged in. And with
that said, let's get into the message. All right,
so let's go ahead and let's open our Bibles up
to the book of Psalms. Specifically, we're going
to be looking at Psalm 98. All right, so I'll
give you a second. Let's look at Psalm 98. It's
kind of towards the middle of your Bible, most
cases, a little bit before. But with that said,
Psalm 98, specifically verses 4 through 6. The
word says, Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the
earth. Break forth in song. Rejoice and sing
praises. Sing to the Lord with the harp, with
the harp and the sound of a psalm, with trumpets
and the sound of a horn. Shout joyfully before
the Lord, the King. You know, I would encourage
you, underline, highlight, make a note right
there where it says, joyful. noise because it's
such a perfect description of what we're talking
about or what this is. I mean, noise, you know,
music to some, but not all. Let that sink in
from it. Meditate on it, you know, because the
kind of music you like might not be the kind
of music another person likes and vice versa,
right? And throughout the Psalms, it repeatedly
talks about making a joyful noise to the Lord.
And that's all it really is. You know, it's just
noise. It's all You know, we all have that style
that we love. Some of us can't carry a tune despite
our best efforts, and you know who I'm talking
about. You know, all right? Matter of fact, some
of you know you can't carry a tune, but you still
do your darn understanding away, and God bless
you for that, because that's what it's all about.
You know, depending on where you live in the
world, matter of fact, it's different. Even in
our country, here in the U .S., the predominant...
Form of music changes from one area to the next.
Even the sound of individual genres change. But
when we use it to praise and worship and bring
glory to God, it all sounds beautiful to Him.
And that's what we're looking at. That's what
we're talking about today. I'm going to back
up here a second. Like genres, right? I'm going
to date myself a little bit. I remember the East
Coast, West Coast wars with rap. I'm not big
in rap music at all. But East Coast versus West
Coast, there are substantial differences there,
at least back in the 90s there were. I couldn't
tell you about today. I couldn't tell you a rap
song to save my life. I'm more, especially considering
the instruments I play, I'm more of a pick up
that guitar and let's do something, let's jam.
Not to say that there's bad stuff out there.
I've heard some pop songs that are pretty good.
But again, we're talking about that today. Even
forms of country music change from one decade
to the next, one area to the next. Some areas
it's a little bit more bluesy, other ways a little
bit more bluegrass. Some places a little bit
more folksy. Rock music is no different, right?
So let's bring it to the first point. Since the
beginning. Music has been here since the very
beginning. And when I say beginning, I mean the
beginning. We're talking Genesis 4. Verse 21,
the word says, And his brother's name was Jubal.
He was the father of all, such as Handel, the
harp and organ. Other translations say harp and
organ. In Exodus 15, verses 1 -20, we find the
song of Moses and Miriam believed by many to
be the absolute oldest recorded song. You know,
and it's all about, you know, it's a song about
God's victory. It's, you know, the music, it's
an expression of so much. Moses and the Israelites
used it to praise the Lord and as a way to preserve
and pass on the oral traditions, right? How they
shared their history. You know, music hasn't
always been and it still isn't simply just a
form of entertainment. Even back then, music
was a way to show their love and their thanks,
to celebrate things, to celebrate the Lord, to
share their culture, to share their history.
And you see, even then, it was used much like
it is today. It expresses relief and praise and
joy and stress and troubles. It heals us from
those pains, those stressors in the world. We
hear a tune and it takes us back in the day.
It reminds us of places and people and events,
things that are long gone even, right? It connects
us emotionally. It changes our very state of
mind. You know, prime example here. My wife.
My wife knows. that if I have a really stressful
day, and she'll hear it in my voice when I call
on my way home from work, and I say, hey, babe,
I'm on my way. She knows, and she's like, you
know what? Hey, I'm going to let you go so you
can crank that music up and enjoy it on your
way home. Because she knows, especially when
I'm stressful, one of my go -tos, especially
when I'm by myself, is I crank it. I make it
loud. And I just jam out. Even on my motorcycle.
My motorcycle helmet has Bluetooth in it. And
I can do the same thing when I'm writing. I can
just crank it up and let the music play. And
it just takes everything else away. As a matter
of fact, it's one of the many ways in which God
even talks to me. Because it's such an important
part of my life. Music is always with me. shape,
or form as it is with all of us. You see, it's
not just what services start with in many places,
but it's part of our daily lives. It's very much
a soundtrack in a show, and it's all around us.
It's the soundtrack of our daily lives. We all
have a soundtrack in our life, and that soundtrack
connects us to each other, to God. It even connects
us to our environment. If you've ever thought
about it, it connects us to our environment.
Think about this even. And I know I've talked
about a lot of this before. But you go to a concert.
Matter of fact, here this weekend, we're going
to a concert. My wife, my kiddo, and one of my
kiddo's friends. We're going to go see a show.
Thank you VetTix for that. I'm going to give
them a shout out. Because that's the only way
we can really afford it right now. But we're
going to go see this show. And what happens when
you go to a show? You're surrounded by strangers.
Strangers! You don't know anybody. Everybody
looks different. Everybody acts different. Everybody
talks different. But here's the thing. Nobody
cares who you are outside of there. Nobody cares
where you're from, what you do, what your social
or working class is. Everyone's just excited
to be there. They're pumped up. They're like,
hey, we're here. Let's hear that glorious sound.
Let's do this. And as soon as that first note
hits, You're surrounded by instant friends and
family. You're in the moment. You're feeling
good. You're pumped. It's exciting. Those of
us who served in the military and first response
services, those who are still serving, we're
seeing military cadences and shanties. There's
trumpet and bugle calls. From one moment, they'll
have a standing at attention, saluting, or even
bidding farewell to a fallen warrior, that brother
or sister in arms. And because of all this, music
is often referred to by a lot of people as the
great uniter. If you've never heard that before,
a lot of philosophers and whatnot, even in psychology,
music is looked at as the great uniter. We may
not always agree on music styles or genres or
volume level, but we all love it. Throughout
history, every single known society and culture
has had some form of musical expression. Which
brings me to the next bullet point. Roll the
opening credits! Because many churches these
days open with music, right? We're not the only
ones. 1 Chronicles, or as some people will say,
1 Chronicles, chapter 6, verses 31 and 32, the
Bible says, Now these are the men whom David
appointed over the service of song in the house
of the Lord after the ark came to rest. They
were ministering with music before the dwelling
place of the tabernacle and meeting until Solomon
had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,
and they served in their office according to
their order. Again, that's 1 Chronicles 6, verses
31 -32. Now, this is when and where David brought
music in, not just as a form of individual worship
or as a hobby or anything else, but as a part
of the whole. You see, David was an accomplished
musician. If you refer back to 1 Samuel 16 verses
15 through 23, you'll see he was commissioned
to play the harp for King Saul. So we know he
wasn't a novice or just some random person pulled
off. He was far from being an amateur because
it's not anyone. who gets to play for someone
of stature or office or position, you know, someone
of prominence. You think about it. Do we just
call in a kid who's learning how to play a recorder,
you know, and tell them, hey, we want you to
serenade the president? No, of course not. You
know, we don't call in some random guy off the
street, you know, carrying a guitar and telling
him, hey, guess what? You're going to play before
the Royal Court of England. You know, no, I mean,
it's ridiculous. It just, it doesn't happen.
So we know David was a professional musician.
And he was exactly the kind of person that you
would want to bring in to establish song leaders
and choirs and bands and that sort of thing to
perform and worship. And also, he wrote many
of the songs that we find in the book of Psalms.
Not all of them, but many. Now, the next one
that we're going to go to, Psalm 81 specifically,
was actually written by one of David's top musicians
himself. It was written by Asaph. Psalm 81, we're
looking at verses 2 through 4 here. Again, Psalm
81, verses 2 through 4. These verses sing, raise
a song and strike a timbrel, the pleasant harp
with the lute. Blow the trumpet at the time of
the new moon, at the full moon on our solemn
feast day. For this is a statute for Israel,
a law of the God of Jacob. It's the opening of
worship. In the words of the cars, let the good
times roll. Now, music and worship, they go hand
in hand. Why? Because music reaches... deep down
into us. It gets into our emotions. It lifts
up our thoughts. Music helps us to get out of
ourselves and to lift up our worship even. Some
might say to lift it up fully. Some would say
body, mind, and soul. This would say hearts and
minds. It gets down. It gets in there to your
soul. It really does. And with that said, that
brings us to my next point. I'm going to tell
you. Rebel against the legalist. That's my third
point. Rebel against the legalist. There are
a lot of people who will say that modern music
has no place in worship. None. Can you believe
that? It's crazy, right? Let me read to you a
couple of letters. And some of you may have heard
me read these before. It's not the first time
that I've done this. The first one reads, I am
no scholar, but I feel I know appropriate church
music when I hear it. Last Sunday's new hymn,
if you can call it that, sounded like a sentimental
love ballad one would expect to hear crooned
in a saloon. If you insist on exposing us to
rubbish like this in God's house, don't be surprised
if many of the faithful look for a new place
to worship. The hymns we grew up with are all
we need. This was a letter written back in 1863
about the song Just As I Am. I'm going to read
another letter to you now. This one reads, What
is wrong with the inspiring hymns with which
we grew up? When I go to church, it is to worship
God, not to be distracted with learning a new
hymn. Last Sunday's was particularly unnerving.
The tune was unsingable, and the new harmonies
were quite distorting. This was a letter written
back in 1890 about the hymn, What a Friend We
Have in Jesus. Now, that one is still popular
today. We've got modernized versions of that.
It's insane. Insane numbers of people have done
that one. The point is, people become stuck in
their ways, and they want the music of their
youth, or possibly to go back to the old hymnals
that they used to know. On a side note here,
I'd like to just mention, the music that these
people want to go back to, when it came out,
when it was new, it was considered controversial
as well. Of course, these are the legalists.
They get all wrapped up in their traditions.
They're more wrapped up in that than actual worship,
right? Because it's all about going through the
motions. Everything has to be done a certain
way at a certain time. And they're missing out
on the point. Ecclesiastes 7, verse 10, the Bible
says, Do not say, Why were the former days better
than these? For you do not inquire wisely concerning
this. We hear this, a lot in different things.
People cling to the good old days, right? The
good memories. They forget about the rest, right?
It's like, oh, back in the day, it's like, okay,
grandpa, sit down, right? And I'm the first to
admit, I've done the same thing, right? However,
you know, when we look back at it, there were
troubles back then too. You know, legalists,
they like to think that if we just go back to
how they remember things as, you know, the good
stuff, the good old days, that everything's going
to be well. You know, they forget that our focus
isn't on the past and how the world, you know,
our focus should be on Jesus. Not how the world
has changed, but on Jesus. In Mark 7, verses
4 -23, Jesus talks about this hypocrisy and how
legalists place tradition just as high and often
higher than God's word itself. Don't get me wrong.
Traditions are good and fine. We have them for
a reason. However, they're only good and fine
as long as they shine a light on God and serve
to encourage or point the way to Him. Once they
become elevated, To a point of equal or higher
than God's word? You know, or even replace it?
Guess what? They've become an idol! Now, musical
taste, they have an influence here. But it's
not as much as it's widely accepted that Christian
music is just different, right? But does it need
to be? No! Now, it doesn't mean that it all needs
to be pop or it all needs to be country. I mean,
it could be rock. It could be punk. It could
be blues, metal, rap, hip -hop, R &B, and so
on and so forth. All genres can be used to the
benefit of the Lord and getting His Word out
to the people. And the Word tells us everything
can be used by the Lord. He will use everything
to His glory, right? This is going to bring me
into our next point here. I'm trying to stay
on course and not go down too many rabbit trails
because I know this is already a lengthy message
as is. Our next point is the power of music.
And I promise you, we're getting close here,
folks. We're getting real close. Earlier, I mentioned
music impacts so many parts of our lives. And
it helps us to cope with things. In Acts 16,
verses 22 through 25, Paul and Silas, they were
wrongly arrested, stripped, beaten, and then
not only jailed, but their feet were put in stocks.
Let's paint this picture. Their clothes were
taken off. Usually ripped off, right? And then
using rods, they were flogged. Basically, they
were beaten mercilessly. And then as if that
wasn't bad enough, they're sat down in a jail,
likely on a surface that wasn't very comfortable
to begin with, right? Just a hard, dirty floor.
And they were locked in the stocks around their
ankles. So they're already sitting down on the
floor and then their ankles are locked in those
stocks. So their backs are already in severe
pain. So they probably couldn't even sit back
because of it, let alone lean back on something.
And they were locked. So trying to adjust to
try to find some kind of comfort is out of the
question. And prisoners in these positions, well...
I'm not trying to get graphic here. I'm not trying
to be gross. I'm just trying to be honest and
paint a real picture here. How well do you imagine
that they relieved themselves when they had to
go? It doesn't matter. Number one, number two,
whatever. Not a pretty sight. Not a pretty smell.
Matter of fact, some people after getting beaten
like this became nauseous. Where do you think
they vomited? I'm not trying to be gross and
I apologize if that hits your ick factor. I'm
not trying to do that. I want us to realize the
real picture and the true gravity of the situation
that they were in. This is one of the worst positions
for anyone to be in. But what did they do? What
did they do? They sang. They prayed and they
sang. They sang hymns to God. And the Bible says
it right there in Acts 16. 25. They prayed and
sang hymns to God. They used their music to help
with their situation and to continue to praise
God. Not to beg for help or mercy, rather simply
just to praise Him. Because they knew He was
with them. It's something they continued on and
praised for other prisoners to hear even. They
demonstrated that no matter what's going on in
our lives, no matter how hard it is, how tough
things get, no matter our situation, we still
need to praise the Lord. There's still something
there to praise Him for. The bottom line, we
need to praise God. Even at our lowest points,
He's there with us. He cares for us. He wants
what's best for us. Best for us. He wants that
relationship with us. He wants to be able to
get us through those tough times. And they knew.
They knew God was with them. Just like he's here
with us. He's here with you. He's here with me.
He's here with all of us. And the music. The
music took their focus off that torment. Off
the troubles. Instead of filling them with hate
and discontent. It filled them with joy. Because
it helped to elevate their mindset. Above what
was happening to them. And focus on what was
most important. That first love that we should
all focus on. God. That is the power of music.
Because of the glory of God. Did you ever think
of that? Go ahead into Colossians chapter 1.
So Colossians chapter 1 verses 16 through 17.
So Colossians 1, 16 through 17, the word says,
For by him all things were created that are in
heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities,
also translated as rulers, or powers, also translated
as authorities. All things were created through
him and for him. And he is before all things
and in him all things consist. Music was created
by him and for him. So how can using it in worship
possibly be wrong? The answer is it can't. The
legalists are wrong. They're dead wrong. In Colossians
chapter 3 verse 16. Oh, I love that. Colossians
3 verse 16. No, not your Austin 316 for your
wrestling fans. Get that out of your mind. Yes,
I know. It came to my mind too. That's why I
said it. I was a big wrestling fan back in the
day. But Colossians 316, the Bible says, Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Gratitude.
It's a thankful heart. One that opens easily
to the Lord and praises Him with cheer. Not hate,
not discontent, not the need to be constantly
evaluating what's wrong in your life, trying
to compare it with others. You know, I gotta
tell you, it must absolutely suck to always feel
like everyone's out to get you. You know, I feel
bad for people who feel that way. You know, that
feeling that everyone has an agenda or that they're
trying to take you out. And I'm going to tell
you right now, if you hear this and that's you,
stop. Stop. Stop looking at your life like that.
If you're truly a believer, if you're truly a
follower of Christ, you're truly a Christian,
you truly trust in Jesus, you don't have to worry
about others coming after you because he has
your back. There's always going to be a naysayer
out there. There's always going to be someone
saying out there that there's no anointing over
you or your life. They don't know what they're
talking about. They just want the limelight on
them. Ignore them. If you feel compelled that
you have to do something, pray for them and move
along. Getting back on track. We need to recognize
that Jesus was a rebel. Yeah, he was a rebel
who stood. for what was right, for what is right.
Rock music and other forms of music have always
been regarded as rebellious forms of music as
well. You know, people talked about, I don't
know how many musicians, Elvis is a prime example.
Oh, that's the devil's music, right? So don't
worry. Don't listen to them. Raise your hands,
raise your voice, and raise a hallelujah to the
Lord. Psalm 150 tells us, Praise Him with loud
cymbals. Praise Him with clashing cymbals. Let
everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise
the Lord! So raise your voice, sing, and play
your music for the Lord because it truly is His
favorite noise. Let it all praise the Lord. Remember,
you are loved and you are blessed. Now go and
be the church. Until next time, take care and
God bless.