Why Milk and Meat?

DJ Liv Strong has been creating quite a stir with the ratings on his album reviews and as such we felt the need to explain from his standpoint 'Why milk and meat brother!' Within a recent Gospel Globe meeting, some members posed questions expressing that they and readers found the ratings to be harsh or somewhat 'over one's head'.

Getting the full explanation of his choice of rating, I'm fully convinced that we need to look more into the music with discerning hearts and fully appreciate the content of a song in it's entirety. From the music generated to the lyrics used. We aren't judging but just merely siting that Gospel can be categorized. We can't judge what is already good. Read on and be encouraged to listen music in a different light.

Q: Why not 1 to 10?

A: Way too subjective

That would be me deciding what I think is good or not good. The gospel of Jesus Christ is already Good. I aim to classify what type of message is portrayed and whom it is for. It makes standardization easier because it's bible based and gives different types of music a chance to stand up against others that may be more popular at that point in time.

Q: Why Milk and Meat?

A: Album Lyrical Content

In judging the content of a Gospel album we must first define the standards that the Word of God classifies Christian messages. It is Gospel music and the message it carries that has a lot to do with scriputres, and should find all its ground on a scriptural basis. In the same breath, the album should be reviewed in this light.

1 Corinthians 3:2 - I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

When the Apostle Paul was dealing with the Corinthian Church and their issues, he specifically said something to them which was that he purposefully fed them with milk, because he knew they would not be able to bear the meat. A milky message is sometimes more important than a meaty one. It causes to bring things down to the level of the listener.

What really defines milk and meat? As the scripture says in Hebrews, "when ye ought to be teachers". Meaty messages focus on teaching and imparting things from the Word of God. They rarely focus on issues and viewpoints. It comes straight from the word of God and seeks to impart it to men so that they can understand the deeper things about God.

The writer in Hebrews clearly states that those who should be teachers needed to be taught again and hence be given milk and not meat even though it was expected that they should be giving meaty messages already. All this shows is that there is a differentiation and teaching in the standard for Meat.

Q: So which one is better than the other?

A: None.

If you begin to classify the gospel of Jesus and assign a class of Milk is better than Meat you become the Law and Judge of how the Gospel of Christ should be applied. The law however is the Bible. Once something is scripturally sound, the spirit uses it for the Kingdom of God, wether it is milky or meaty. The FOCUS is not the complexity of the message, but the Central theme of the message with is the Gospel of Christ and the redemptive purposes God used him for.

Q: Why Timbrel and Harp?

A: Distinction of lyrical support/beat complexity

What we consider music to be now is not how it was originally used. In times past the focus of the music was the instruments and not the message. What it has morphed into (which is not a problem) is the focus is now on the message and the support is the beat. Since the beat is the support of a song, the beat plays a major role in the delivery of the song. Think of a house without a foundation, it may look nice but something about it is unstable. The same goes with a beat. The content of the song may sound nice, but without a complimenting beat something just does not match up.

Psalm 81:2 take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

This is Just one of the many references to the timbrel and the harp. If these instruments are researched from a biblical and musical standpoint, you would find that the timbrel is a blunt instrument only capable of a few variations in its sound. The harp however is a stringed instrument that had countless variations and iterations in terms of sound production.

Why are they used together in scripture so much? Music could have easily been made with the harp alone because of it's apparent "higher complexity". The timbrel was however used a lot. The fact that praising God often refered to these two instruments that are fundamentally different shows that their functions have a place in musical production.

The same applies in present day musical production. Some beats are simple and catchy, some are ornate and deep. Every beat must compliment the message of the song or else the message would be lost or mis-interpreted. There may be songs that require a simple piano and some that require heavy synthesis from the latest Pro Tools software. What matters is that the foundational emphasis that the beat of a song has become is maintained.

Q: So are harps better than timbrels?

A: No they are not.

Exo 15:20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand. And all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

Exo 15:21 And Miriam answered them, Sing to Jehovah, for He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea.

In this case here the Israelites were just delivered from the Egyptians after crossing the Red sea. Arguably one of the most celebratory times for the Israelites. They were delivered form 400 years of bondage. And what did they use to praise God? A timbrel. A seemingly lame instrument. But they danced and they praised Jehovah. Was it necessary at this point in time? God seems to have put it in the bible and it showed people praising Him. Am i saying the simple beats praise God better? It certainly lends itself to people catching on easily.

1Sa 16:23  And it happened when the Spirit from God was on Saul, that David took a harp and played with his hand. And there was relief for Saul, and it was well with him, and the evil spirit departed from him.

The next case is David playing the harp and it relieved Saul to the point that the evil spirit departed from him. The harp was a ornate instrument that was used. A lot of effort would have gone into using this instrument and there would have been various tones, semitones, octaves and what have you (i'm not the most knowledgeable of musicians). God deemed it necessary to show this illustration in the bible. Am I saying that more ornate beats drive out spirits? No. I am saying that there is a distinction between simple musical arrangements and complex ones, they both have roles which is to complement the song being sung.

Q: Why Jew and Gentile?

A: That defines the target audience

When doing Gospel music, an artist is doing music that reflects the message of Christ and all that He teaches. All that Christ teaches is a wide and broad spectrum. Scores of parables and teachings are found in the Gospels that can go from the simplest message of "To inherit the kingdom you must become as a child" or "I have not come to abolish the law but I have come to fulfill it".

When a song is done, the artist would know who they are targeting with with part of the Gospel of Christ. They could be totally consumed with breaking down the message into a simple form so that the layman who knows nothing about church can understand what Jesus really did in terms of salvation. Conversely they could be trying to break down the topic of Regeneration through the Atonement with a parallel to the Mosiac Law of the Tabernacle. They are both things people SHOULD KNOW, but they are both things that an artist chooses to do.

Jews are the original Hebrews and their lineage. They would have had a firm knowledge of the institutes of God via the Pentateuch (The books of Moses) and the writings of the prophets like Iasiah, Jeremiah, Amos and those guys. So they would know about God and hence need more meat to help them Grow. Basic salvation and God's love and giving thanks are pieces of information that they would already know about and studied in depth. What they would need to know was information about the new covenant and the application to the Church Age where Christ is the Husband of the Church (Eph 5).

Gentiles are the people who knew nothing about the history of God and what He did for the Hebrews. They would have grown up with many mythological customs and Gods and have no information about the God of the Israelites (Jehovah). They would have been converted primarily by the witnessing of miracles, signs and wonders which show the true God.

The messages that would impact them would be the simple breakdown of salvation because is the point in time where they were seeing signs and wonders they would be humbled and extremely receptive to the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, that He died for their sins, and they were in need of a Savior. After that they could be given meat to further explain the whole story starting from Adam come up. What we do is break down the Gospel simply to Gentiles so that they would repent and believe. (A study of the book of Acts would reveal this)

The artist would plan their album to target a particular group, wheather they like it or not. Once they are portraying the true Gospel, they would classify their target as either strengthening the knowledge of believers or targeting the unbeliever for salvation.

Q: Who is the better target?

A: There is none.

That comes like saying I am going to try to teach an unbeliever soteriology (the study of the application of salvation) and teach a believer who is in church for 10 years that hallellujah is the highest praise and that's all you need to do to get be Godly, when you should really be studying 1 Tim 4:12.

Targets vary depending on circumstances. What really matters though is that we (including artists) should be always ready to become Jews to Jews and Gentiles to Gentiles ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN.

Written by :

Esther James

 

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