December 11, 2003 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following by the late Bruce Lackey is from his sermon on Colossians 3:16, which was preached in 1977. Dr. Lackey taught at Tennessee Temple in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for nineteen years and was the dean of the Bible school department. He trained several generations of “preacher boys” who revere his name to this day and who thank the Lord for the godly influence that this “man of the Book” had in their lives and ministries. Dr. Lackey also pastored the Lakewood Baptist Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee, for eight years, and pastored two other churches before that. The last few years of his life he traveled as a Bible conference speaker and authored several books.

Before his conversion, Dr. Lackey played the piano for a band in sleazy dance clubs. After he began serving Jesus Christ, he instinctively knew that Christian music should sound different from music that is used to glorify the flesh and the devil:

SPIRITUAL MEANS NOT WORLDLY
Bruce Lackey

“We are to sing spiritual songs. The spiritual man judges all things with the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:15-16). The question we should ask of every song that we sing or play is, Would Jesus do it? It’s not a spiritual song if Jesus wouldn’t do it. I not only want to sing a song that Jesus would sing but also in the way that Jesus would sing it. You can sing a good song in a bad way and give the wrong impression altogether.

“I am ashamed of the fact that I used to pray the piano in a dance band, but you know what? I do know the difference between songs that are played and sung in a worldly fashion and songs that are played and sung in a Christ-like fashion.

“I don’t understand folks who supposedly come out of the world, but when they perform God’s music they sound just like the world’s music. I don’t understand that. It ought not to be. It’s not a spiritual song if you perform it in a worldly fashion.

“Can you imagine Jesus with a microphone up close to his mouth like a nightclub singer, wiggling his hips, dancing around? Can you image that? I can’t.

“We need to sing spiritual songs, songs that we judge with the mind of Christ.”

CONCLUSION BY BROTHER CLOUD

I agree with Dr. Lackey, and, in fact, these were the sentiments of almost all fundamentalists and independent Baptists 20 years ago. What has happened? Is the contemporary music more spiritual than it was 20 years ago? No, but the churches are far more worldly and are therefore much less able to discern the difference between the world and Christ, the things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit.