Bad Lyrics: A Call To Better Worship

Do we have a content crisis?

As a caveat before I start, I know there are all kinds of songs to be sung to our Lord; simple songs, deep songs, short songs, theologically rich songs, and songs about personal devotion and commitment. I’m not calling for all songs sung to be old hymns and Getty music. I am calling for us to be more thoughtful about what and why we are singing. 

I was motivated to write this article after being at a conference where we worshiped through song for an hour every day. I was startled by the lack of thought required by the songs we were singing. We weren’t singing heresy; in a sense, there was not enough content in the songs for there to be heresy. We sang tropes and platitudes. One person even commented to me, “Did this guy write these songs himself?” Another person jokingly sent me his own lyrics he just made up, 

“I saw you and said hello

You said I’m here

And I said wooooooow

Wooooooow. Wooooooow

You are so great!

I told My heart to feel

It said for who

And I said for Jeeesus

Jeeesus oh yeah Jesusss

Now I’m running to him, running to him, 

all the days of my life, days of my liiiiiiife

Come run with me, run with me

Oh yeah

Hallelujah”

In my own journal, I wrote, 

“The content of our worship to God has been platitudes and slogans. The songs have almost all been something like this; ‘I once was lost walking in sin and darkness, covered by shame and blinded by night. But you broke through and transformed my life; you gave me wings to fly with eagles. You are the God who gives wings. You are the God who gives wings, you are the God, the God who gives wings. And now I’m flying.'”

Here are a few lyrics of actual songs we sang: 

“Bring your heartache, bring your burden

You can lay them down at the door

There is no fear, you belong here

Step into the house of the Lord”

“I’vе never felt at home like this

Just like a child, so innocent

And I’m safe inside Your arms ’cause You won’t let go.

I’ve never known a love like Yours, no.”

Can you feel the emptiness of these lyrics? 

Most of the songs were packed full of phrases so overused that they are no longer interesting or thoughtful. 

“Your name is power” 

“Your name is breath and living water.”

“You won’t fail me” 

“You’ll never let me down” 

“There’s power that can break off every chain”

“I won’t stop singing”

We have a real problem with the content of the songs we are using to worship God. Our minds have been conditioned to think of corporate worship as no more than singing our favorite Christian songs from our favorite Christian bands and artists, with little or no thought to what we are singing and why we are singing it.

We are so unfamiliar with God-centered, Christ-exalting, Gospel-saturated music that we think because we mentioned God in a song, it is God-centered. We think because the song mentions the cross, it is Gospel-centered. We think because the song says, “It’s all about you, Jesus,” that it is Christ-centered. And we think because there is no heresy in the song, it’s acceptable for corporate worship. I’m afraid we’ve spent so much time around songs that lack any sort of meaningful and thoughtful content that we’ve lost our ability to think about what we are singing.  

My goal in writing this article is not to attack any particular song, genre, or style of worship. My goal is to call us to better, more thoughtful lyrics for the sake of the people we are leading into worship. 

Here are Six questions to ask yourself as you choose or sing songs in corporate worship

1. Is this song God-Centered, Christ-exalting, and Scripture-saturated? 

Or am I just singing about my own posture, commitment, and worship? 

I find most worship songs are chock full of tropes taken from the Bible, but not in any meaningful way. So we find lyrics like; Run to the Father, the heavens roar Your glory, I won’t stop singing, hallelujah to the King, etc. One gets the feeling, however, that they are thoughtlessly placed in a thoughtless song. Is this song’s basic, overall theme and content God or me? Does this ultimately point to God or myself? 

2. Does this song give me something to praise God about? 

Or is it asking me to praise God without ever telling me about God? 

More than not, I find songs declare God’s greatness and wonder without having really said anything about God. We are often being asked to praise God but not given something to praise him about. The song often starts with my devotion and commitment to God, then moves into praise. 

It might sound something like this, 

“You take my breath away as I stand in awe of you. 

I lift my voice with the angels, 

I sing a new song to the one who deserves it all. 

You’re great, and I stand in awe of you.” 

Here I’ve said nothing, really, about God but have declared my undying commitment to him. Give your people something to sing about. What aspect of the character and work of God has this song unpacked for us to lead us to a place where we sing “You are great and stand in awe of you”? 

Two good examples of this are O Praise the Name of the Lord our God and How Great Thou Art. Check them out and learn from them. 

3. Does this song teach me rich theological truths? 

Songs of worship should teach God’s people rich theological truths about God. Every song, in a sense, should be a seminary class on who God is and what he has done. Your people will remember the songs they sang long after they have forgotten the sermon. 

What are we teaching in the songs we’re singing? Is this song mainly tropes and platitudes? Is there a better song that conveys the truth we want to sing about? If your audience is educated, maybe you could ask, Will this song put the mind through its paces? If your mind is not engaged in the song’s lyrics and does not need to think deeply about its content, perhaps you should not sing the song. 

Wherever your people are spiritually, the content of the songs should slightly outpace them to bring them higher and deeper into their knowledge of God. Teach your people through the content and lyrics of the songs you are singing. 

4. Is this song meant for congregational singing? 

Some songs just don’t work in congregational singing, so don’t use them in corporate worship. 

Is this a worship-leader-led song, or a congregational song? Is the melody easy to sing? How familiar is the congregation with this song? Will it be hard rhythmically for them to follow along with? Is the congregation actually engaged during the corporate worship, or are people blankly watching the worship leader do his thing? Is the congregation being led into corporate worship, or is this more something the band is performing? The more your songs are designed for corporate worship and have content that is more than tropes, the more your congregation will rise to the occasion, as it were. 

5. Does this song require me to engage my mind and think as I sing it?  

Or is it just tropes, platitudes, and slogans? 

I’ve already said enough about this topic and don’t need to expand further. I will only repeat myself once by saying that good lyrics should touch our minds and thoughts, not merely our emotions. If your mind is not engaged in the song’s lyrics and has no need to think deeply about it, you do not have a complete song. A good song should put the mind through its paces. What subject is this song concentrating my mind on? Give us something to sing about! 

6. Have we sang any songs that are older than me? 

Enduring hymns have endured because they are very good. Never be afraid to sing old songs. Set a rule for corporate worship; for every one modern song, we will sing one tried and true hymn of the past. The song “Be Thou My Vision,” is from the 6th century!

Never be afraid to sing songs the church has sung for hundreds of years. Usually, the best songs throughout the generations are the ones that endure, this means we have the ability to sing the best worship songs the church has produced over the last five hundred or so years. Sing them! 

7. Is this song better suitable for corporate worship or my headphones? 

This is a bonus question for you. Some songs are great for personal use but not for corporate worship. Have you thought about the differences between the two? Is this song better suited to worship God in your car on your way to work than it is for corporate worship? There are some songs I love to sing along with and that stir my heart in worship and praise to God, but I would never want them to be sung on a Sunday morning during the public gathering. 

Closing thought

I want to be grace-awaked about this, and fully acknowledge that sometimes it’s good to sing simple songs to the Lord that don’t require much thought at all. I’m fully on board with that, so don’t hear me saying we should never sing simple songs of devotion to God. But in general, I am calling us to a reformation in how we think about the content of the songs we sing in the public gathering.

May God be praised.