Welcome today to New Life Community Church.
Glad that you're here. My name is Kyle serve as lead.
Pastor here. If you're visiting extra, thanks
to you today from showing up and we pray that your heart would be
edified along with the rest of ours.
If you have your Bible with you today, you can open the
Colossians chapter 3, the book of Colossians chapter 3, they're
kind of in the middle of those New Testament letters and give
you a second to find it. We are entering the the very
home stretch of this series on worship.
This is the first of our last four weeks together in the
series and which we've been examining what happens when we
worship. And again, we're faking not
specifically about the songs, we sing, but more of the totality
of the service, what's going on in the worship service?
Why does it matter? And so today, we're going to
examine a bit more closely songs why We sing and worship service.
What's the purpose of singing? The title of today's sermon is
singing a new song. In the point, I want to make to
you, is this that you have been given.
If you have been regenerated by the holy, spirit's you've been
saved to new lives by the work of Christ and the work of the
father through him. Then you have been given a new
song to sing. Amen.
We're going to talk more about that in a moment.
Martin Luther said this Martin Luther, was one of the initial
reformers in the early 1500s and he said, this about singing.
He said the good news of Christ, great Deliverance, Tunes.
The heart to sing Luther was big on singing, especially singing
the word of Christ. And so the good news of Christ,
great Deliverance, Tunes, the heart to see, regenerated
Hearts. Then what we're saying is, Is
that regenerated heart, sing a new song, quite literally.
And so to do, they sing and worship of their great Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. So Jonathan Cruz and his book
lays out a helpful outline for singing.
Why? It's important and I've summed
it up this way, you can write this down.
If you're taking notes, God's Gift of song, equips us with a
fitting way to praise him. Pray to him and Proclaim him.
God's Gift of song, equips us with a fitting way to praise
him, pray to him and Proclaim him.
Now, if you would, would you stand to your feet, as we read
God's word. Today, Colossians 3 just reading
one verse today. Verse 16.
When I'm finished, I'll say this is the word of the Lord and I
would ask that you respond. Thanks be to God.
Austin's 3, verse 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in
you richly teaching and admonishing one.
Another in all wisdom, singing, Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual
songs with thankfulness in your hearts, to God.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God, let me pray
for something, you can be seated.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for christ and his work of Salvation that by him.
We have a new identity. We are brothers and sisters with
our lord Jesus. We are children of God, born of
your spirit and we praise you for that literally, Lord wheat,
seeing a new song, You have given us a new identity and out
of that new identity, we praise you.
And you've given us the gift of Saul Lord, music is yours, and
you've created it so that people might worship and magnify and
pray, and pray. Claim truths to one another
Lord, we love you and we thank you for this gift.
I pray. Now that as we study your word,
that you would open our hearts and Minds by your spirit that we
might understand. It may our hearts be good soil
today. Soil, that the word is planted
into and bears fruit in due season for Generation season.
Lord, we love you. It's in the Name of Christ.
We pray. Amen.
So just want to start with this general question of why do we
sing? Because if we're honest, singing
in community seems to be coming becoming this extinct not
distinct. We wanted to be distinct but
seems to be coming more and more extinct, right?
It's not normal for us to see people singing in communities
anymore. There once was a time really not
too long ago where it was perfectly commonplace.
Ace to sing at parties neighborhood, Gatherings or with
a few close friends over dinner, or after dinner with your family
after dinner, you see in many war movies men, singing together
after battles, or as they're gathered in foxholes, as ways to
encourage their own heart, for the battle that lays ahead But
now our singing is largely limited to the privacy of the
shower or our vehicle rights. Like I'm going to sing there
because no one hears me. I'm going to sing there because
I won't embarrass myself. I'm going to sing there because
it's Anonymous, right? And there's nothing wrong with
that. We might sing happy birthday,
right? I was at a party yesterday from
mr. Ethan we say, happy birthday to
him and Easton as well. And we might seem Take Me Out to
the Ballgame if we're at a baseball field.
You might sing at a concert with a bunch of strangers may be
there with a few friends but it's a collection of strangers
singing familiar songs together. So people do sing but it takes a
special occasion to get the majority of people singing, One
author, wrote about The Disappearance of singing in the
Atlantic the on the website, the Atlantic.
She said this, she said the reasons why we do not sing or
many We are insecure about our voices, we don't know the words
we resent being forced into an activity together.
We feel uncool, and since we're out of practice as a society,
the person who dares, to begin a song risk, having no one join
them, right? So, you end up seeing alone.
And what this means is that our culture may find our weekly
congregational singing weird, It's weird to come together and
seeing if you're not normally, in places where you sing now,
you might think of color racial seeing is perfectly normal.
I hope that you do right, and it's not so recently where we've
inserted singing in the home groups, or even a Biblical
manhood where you start to think menaces kind of strange, right?
Because it's supposed to happen here but we start taking out of
here and it gets odd. Some may find it surprising But
there's nothing quite like a church of people who were
willing to sing together, we're willing to lift their voices,
and proclaim, the truths of God's word, alongside one
another. So, why do we sing?
Why do we do it? Why, and why do we do so much of
it? The short answer is that
regardless of our culture's feelings, about singing God
commands, his church to sing God's gifted.
His church with voices to sing, God has created Created music
for singing. He's given his people, a new
song to say. And so it's important for us to
understand why we sing on Sundays.
Why are we seeing on Wednesdays and hungry?
Why are we singing biblical manhood?
We need to know what is happening when we worship
through song. And the main thing I want to
show you is that God's gift to the main truth.
We're going to Rally around. Is it God's Gift of song, equips
us with a fitting way to praise him to pray to him and to
Proclaim him? Amen.
Let's talk a bit more about singing.
Singing is intended to be Melody, with theological
meaning, Christian singing ought to be Melody with theological
meaning so looking Again, at Colossians 3:16, let the word of
Christ dwell richly in you or in you richly teaching and
admonishing one. Another in all wisdom, singing,
Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.
I want to say something about that, that's not necessarily
categories for, so that was the way.
Let me, let me do it this way. That was the way the Septuagint,
which was the Greek old. But that's the way it breaks up
the Psalms it, breaks them up into songs and hymns and
spiritual songs. Those are categories in the
Septuagint, for the songs. And so we may rightly deduce
that these are the kinds of songs we can sing.
Yes, but not just any song, not just any him and not just any
Psalm, the ones that the word of God would approve of amen.
And we're to do that with thankfulness, you do it with
thankfulness and in your heart to God.
And so first, we must understand that all our singing is Melody
with theological meaning. In other words, both the roots
and the aim of singing is theological it must form from
Theology and it must declare. The words of theology.
It must declare truth about God and beef come come from be
rooted in the truths of God's word.
It's rooted in the work of God through Jesus Christ.
And so, therefore, it is aimed at worshiping God for his work
through Jesus on our behalf. If we don't understand this and
we began to see, we are going to write songs and sings songs that
are vain, they're going to have no meaning, worshipful singing
is not determined by the emotions that you feel.
As you see, whether it is about understanding that God, God is
worthy of our songs. He is worthy because of the
Redemption, we have through the Gospel of Jesus.
Now, this is not to say that worship should have no emotion
to it. That's not what we're saying.
But worship is not only emotional, amen.
We should sing songs that make us joyous.
We should sing songs that inform our tears, whether they're happy
tears, or sad tears. We should sing songs that are a
buttress and a truth for us. When we're going through great
sadness or Darkness. Or that help us fly high on the
wings of the Lord. Amen.
And so there is much emotion in singing.
You know this if you've heard any song at any point in your
life that moved you in some way, whether it moved your foot to
start tapping or your body to start making movements that you
shouldn't have done in public or it moved your heart toward your
wife or toward your husband, or it moves you to tears.
Tears in some way, or cause you to reflect on the goodness of
God, right? Music moves.
But I want you to understand that music moves, because God
designed it to do this. It's his first.
And so, like anything else that belongs to the Lord, we can
misuse it. And so not all music is good.
Not all music is healthy for you.
Not all music is good for you spiritually and I'm not going to
preach that sermon this morning. We don't have time for that.
We just need to recognize this, that, just because something is
musical, does it mean it's Godly?
Amen. We want to be careful of that.
And so, our songs are worshipful when the word of Christ dwells
richly in us. That's what Colossians is laying
out here. When our songs, teach us, when
our songs admonish Us in all wisdom, then we can understand
that, we are singing the word of Christ, and then we can sing
with thankfulness to God. And the songs which is the
greatest song book of God's covenant, worshippers we are
instructed repeatedly to sing a new song.
One old comment, one Old Testament.
He was probably old as well, but one Old Testament, commentator
said this, he said a new song is a, what is in?
So he's talking about, what is Psalms mean?
When it says, we are to sing a new song, he sang a new song is
a Hymn of victory. It's sung after God has made all
things new by his defeat of the forces of evil.
And so on the songs when they were instructed to sing a new
song, it was to declare something that the Lord had done
on their behalf in the defeat of evil.
And so singing songs like that, only come from receiving a new
song from God, which really means that we sing songs with
new songs with a new heart. Once your heart seems one at one
time, your heart saying the songs of the world but now your
heart sings, the songs of worship to God.
If you've been redeemed by him Jesus Christ victory over sin
and death by his death on a cross and his resurrection from
the tomb informs and inspires all of our worship, all of our
sons. And so we have said over and
over again during the series that there is no part of our
worship. There's nothing that we're doing
when we come together. There's nothing in our meeting
with God, that is possible without the past, present, and
future work of Jesus Christ in view.
The same is true for our singing.
It must declare the truths of the Lord, it is Jesus who gives
us a new song to sing? He is the content of the songs
in heaven. As we look at Revelation in the
songs that will be sung and heaven, or at least get glimpses
of the kinds of songs that will be sung of Heaven.
Guess who the man Main player is and all of those songs Christ,
the Risen Christ, the one who triumphed over death and sin,
the one who has brought to himself a people from every
tribe tongue and nation that. They might declare the
excellencies of the Lord and to enjoy new excellency's from the
Lord Without End for eternity. They are singing the victory of
Christ. And so of Christ is the message
of the song is of heaven, then we can Riley.
Say the Christ has to be the message of the songs of Earth.
Amen, the ones that were singing here he informs and inspires all
of our songs And so we must be the constant and so God gives us
with Saul. It gives us with the ability to
sing and to play music. All of this as a fitting way to
praise him, to pray to him to Proclaim him to one another,
don't think Cruz said this, he said, so whether we were
praising God for the work he's done.
Whether we're praying to him and our trouble or were proclaiming
the truth of the Bible to one another.
Every song is Possible. Only Because Jesus has made it
so amen. So let's look at praising him.
As first point of Praise Him, let the word of Christ dwell in
you richly teaching and admonishing one.
Another in all wisdom singing songs, and hymns, and spiritual
songs with thankfulness in your hearts, to God, in a word, you
are praising God. The gift of song equips us to
praise God. For his work in us, and to
praise him. For his work, for us.
And this is Is what Paul was charging this church of colossi,
these Colossians and this is what he's telling them to do.
He's saying let the word of Christ dwell in, you richly
singing songs with thankfulness in your hearts.
The word of Christ here is the content of the good news of
Salvation. It's the same word of Christ
that's mentioned in Revelation. Sorry, Romans chapter 10, where
we read there that, how can they believe if they have not heard.
And how will they hear if they've not have a preacher and
then says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the
Lord or by the word of Christ? When we say the word of Christ
were talking about the totality of the Gospel.
We're talking about the content of your new testament.
We're talking about all the things that are revealed in Old,
and New Testaments about the work and the person of Jesus
Christ. Amen, this is what's to dwell in
US richly As we sing. It's the word of Christ.
It's the content of the good news of Salvation through Jesus
Christ God's word teaches us. And when that gospel word,
dwells in you, or in other words lives in you, When you are a
Made Alive by this word of Christ and that word of Christ
is what causes you, your heart to beat, and your mouth to sing.
That's when you sing the new song that you've been given its
by a redeemed heart and you'll sing it with great thankfulness.
In other words, you will praise him.
To say more bluntly, you can't help but praise him.
It's the natural response of a heart that is overflowing with,
love for God. C.s., Lewis.
Once said this. he said to not appreciate God is to have lost
the greatest experience and in the end to have lost all when I
read it again, because I think it's really important for us to
understand this To not appreciate God is to have lost
the greatest experience. What's the experience?
The appreciation of God is the greatest experience of the human
heart and mind and soul. And if you don't have that, he
says in the end you have lost all.
I don't want you to miss this point either.
Praise is a command from God, yes, but it's a command that's
meant for the Delight of your soul.
Amen. Praise is a command from God.
That's meant to be a delight for you.
And here's something else to understand, God, never, ever,
not once commands, his people to do something that if they obey,
it won't result in their deepest delight and all satisfying
pleasure in God himself, This is the point of the commands of
God, they're not to put a thumb on you.
They're not so just box you in and keep you from experiencing
the greatest Pleasures that you might experience as the world
would have you believe. But they're actually to unleash
upon you the greatest Pleasures available to man which are the
very pleasures of God himself and this is why the psalmist in
psalm 16 says you make known to me the path of Life at your
right hand, another words as were walking together on this
path. Your right hand is just leaving
for me Pleasures forevermore he says, Incredible.
This is the greatest experience for you is to know the all
satisfying, deepest delight in God.
C.s. Lewis went on to say this which
is again, very hopeful. We Delight to praise what we
enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes
the enjoyment. It is the appointed
consummation. That means it is the appointed
end of the prey. Raise.
And so let me explain it to you this way.
A husband who enjoys his wife Her beauty.
Her love her presence. Her feminine nature.
Her glory. A husband who enjoys all of
those things about his wife, yet never expresses, his enjoyment
and verbal praise or in gift to giving, or in an Embrace is
missing out on the divinely designed consummation of his
enjoyments at best. It's only a partial enjoyment to
look at something that is beautiful and lovely, and not
say that's beautiful. And lovely to not, praise it.
In some way is to It's to relinquish or to hold onto the
designed end of noticing, the something as beautiful and
lovely, you're withholding it. And so, you're missing out on
the greatest experience. And so, we take this to our
thoughts about the Lord, to recognize that the Lord is
awesome. To recognize that the Lord Is
Holy and just that he is altogether different than I am.
Where I am riddled with sin and a nature that wants to run as
far from God as I could, he is in his goodness pursuing me.
He is in his goodness, allowing me to persevere by his Spirit.
He is in his goodness. Holding me so to speak. and if I
look at that, And I don't say something about it, and it just
sits here. I've not finished the praise
yet. I'm not come to the end of the
praise. Yet.
The end of the praise is to acknowledge that he is good and
holy and just and righteous and altogether different and lovely
and perfect and all of his attributes.
Rice. The enjoyment comes, as you
begin to say those things about the Lord, the enjoyment comes as
you as I praise my wife. That's where it comes.
And so God commands us to praise him because he is the expression
of true enjoyment. Listen to this, God is the only
He's the only being who can demand praise for for himself.
And it not be egomaniac. Equal, right?
Because he's the only one worthy of Praise.
Anyone else demands? That someone Praises them.
They're an egomaniac. But when God does it, he's
perfect and he's righteous and he understands that your
greatest enjoyment and all of life will come in the praise of
his glorious name. but the greatest enjoyment in all of
your life will come as you recognize his glorious Grace
Amen. And this is the purpose of
worship. It's the purpose of what God's
done in your life. It's to create a people for
himself, who loved him and who Praise Him and who submit to him
and all of life and bring him the utmost Glory, because giving
God, the utmost glory is for the utmost, good of his people.
Amen. And you don't want to miss that.
You don't want to miss that because all of the commands of
God are tied to pleasure. They're tied to your pleasure,
all of the commands of God are tied to bringing him glory.
And if you start thinking that God is Like a disgruntled
parent, who's just trying to keep you from having fun?
You're going to resent God and you're not going to want to
submit to him anymore. You're going to really struggle
with sin. Not only, you're going to
struggle with sin. You're going to struggle with
his providential acts in your life, the giving and The Taking
of things because you won't see those as good either.
And you'll think that God is like a maniac, will lover, whose
emotions go up and down, who are like the wind or the waves
they're unpredictable. But he's not, he's not he's
well-thought-out everything that he does is according to the
counsel of his perfect will for the praise of his glorious
Grace, and his name in all the Earth.
Amen. And when we see that will trust
him. Will live for will honor.
Him will sing songs that magnify his name?
Above all names? Amen.
The psalmist in Psalm 92 verse 1 says, it is good to give, thanks
to the Lord to sing, praises to your name.
Almost hi, that's the response of a heart that's been
transformed by the love of Christ.
It is good to give, thanks to the Lord, to sing, praises to
your name. O, most high to praise him, is
to be an all of him to praise him as to Revere him.
And this must be the posture of our heart.
As we sing these songs to God, alongside our brothers and
sisters each week. We rightly praised God as he
calls us into worship as he pardons us of sin as he
illuminates, our hearts and minds and with the word as he
invites us to his Heavenly table as he blessed.
Those with this high and holy calling and purpose.
We sing to him because of these things.
And so God's Gift of song, equips us with a fitting way to
praise him. The second thing it does, is it
equips us with a fitting way to pray to him.
Again, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and
admonishing one. Another in all wisdom, singing,
Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your
hearts, to God, We are commanded to do all of those things to God
with thankfulness and our hearts to God.
And so, truly Christian singing is an address to God.
Its first and foremost in addressed to God, truly
Christian singing is not about the congregation singing.
It it's not about the songwriter thinking of those people.
It's not about thinking first, and foremost of how will this
song Moves someone? It's not about how to get, you
know, this course right with this bridge or this verse with
this chorus. It's none of those things are
first and foremost, and singing. Singing is first and addressed
to God, We're addressing the Lord, and if we're addressing
the Lord, then it is prayer. It's a form of Prayer.
Now, we are going to look at in just a moment.
How singing also does address those around us but first and
foremost, it's about addressing the Lord in prayer, is any type
of direct address to God and so singing falls into this
category. the reformer, John Calvin taught this, he said, as
for public prayers, there are two kinds The one consists
simply of speech, which is when we say, let's pray as I did
before the sermon, the other is song.
The idea of sung prayer goes against the grain of mainstream
evangelicalism which mostly employees upbeat and joyful
songs and worship. Should we sing songs of praise?
Yes. And amen.
Absolutely. We should we've noted this just
a second ago, right? This is one of the first things
were meant to do is to praise the name of the Lord to sing in
major Keys. Amen.
However, we must also leave room for songs of petition and
supplication. I'll admit that when it comes to
music, I'm boxing way outside my weight class.
All right, I cannot sing. I cannot play.
I cannot do any of the sort mostly what my music knowledge
is is some weird form of preacher theory about music,
right? I'm just analyzing songs, that's
what I do. And I'll analyze the mess out of
them from the tune to the words. All of it.
I want to know why we're seeing what we're seeing.
Why it matters. I'll let the professionals do
the playing amen. They're the ones that need to
lead us in that. The crews had a quote in his
book. Deeply resonated with me that I
want to read the see, it's a bit lengthy and so I apologize for
that. I try not to use leafy quotes
but I did want to read this one to you because it it struck me
in a profound way and I think it's worth reading life.
He says does not always play out in a major key.
So why should our salts The students to be more of an issue
in those striving after an entertainment aesthetic and
worship after. All, what does entertaining
about Sin Calamity or distress? But life, he says it's difficult
and messy. Can God wants us to come and
cast our cares before him? Moreover.
He goes on to say church singing offers a cathartic forum for us
to express our deepest troubles without having to pretend like
everything in life is a okay. The heavy concentration of
Psalms of lament and distress, and the Psalms he says, shows
that it is appropriate to come to God with our troubles,
concerns problems and worries. And not just come to him, but to
come to him insult. Amen.
Over the last six months since when he passed Psalms of Lament.
Songs of despair. Songs of trust when trust is not
what you want to do. Songs of Hope.
When Hope is the last thing, you think you have have been really
close friends for our family. There are many times I've
struggled to pray. I've struggled to get words out
and so songs become my prayers. I have to playlist on Spotify
for this very reason. One is Hope and Christ, oh,
aching heart and the other is heart strengthening jams.
These have taught me a first-hand experience this
season of life. I should say his taught me by
first-hand, experience the importance of singing songs of
lament. That provide deep gospel truths
and so they enrich our petitions to God in times of trouble and
trial So many of modern worship songs are really just all about
us. The focus is on our side
typically and it's not nice but I typically call them Jesus is
my boyfriend songs. And I've joked with Patricia
that I could insert her name where his name is and it would
just be a love song to her because there's nothing deeply
theological about them, the songs.
We sung this morning I could not sing to my wife Right.
It declared things about God that no human possess his.
And so it matters what we sing but many songs today are all
about me. Me and me why?
Because me sells itself help music in a self-help world.
And we must be very careful. But let me tell you when you
lose your daughter. Or you come face-to-face with
some other tragedy, you're not going to go searching for a song
that makes Christ your boyfriend.
You're going to go searching for a song that comforts you and
strengthens your faith. You're going to crave something.
With some meat in it, you're going to sing songs that dwell
richly in the word of Christ, because that's what your soul
needs in those moments. and so singing songs that have the word
of Christ dwell in you richly in them each week, those songs are
going to become the soundtrack for your life.
And so it matters. I praise God.
We have a team that thinks deeply about what we seeing and
why we sing it. Our singing must teach us how to
pray it. Informs our prayers.
They must teach us how to praise God.
And how to cry out to God. At the same time, when we call
out to him in prayer or singing, he hears us because of Christ
Our mediator, amen? We know the Christ.
Takes our cares before the father.
We know that in Christ, our prayers, become his prayers are
request, become his petitions to the father and as our great high
priest, he sings our humble Soul into the father's ear and so we
can know that we are heard, amen, this is why you're
instructed in Hebrews 4 to come boldly to the throne of grace,
that you might receive grace and mercy and your time of need,
because you have a great high priest in heaven, who is not
unable. Able but is totally able to
sympathize with you and your weaknesses though he was
tempted. He is without sin. and so you
can be confident, you can come boldly to him and he hears you
God's Gift of song, equips us with a fitting way, to praise
him to pray to him, and finally, to Proclaim him.
Want to read Colossians 3. One more time.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and
admonishing one. Another in all wisdom, singing,
Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your
hearts, to God, so what we learned here is that singing is
a means of proclaiming God's truth to one another It's not
just from the worship team to us, right?
It's not just that they're up here singing songs and we're
just joining in the focus of the team up here is to hear our
voices. Amen.
And so that we Proclaim truth to one another.
So our singing though, we're looking this way are singing is
also sideways It's to the person sitting next to you.
The person in front of you, the person behind you.
And so, when we sing on Sunday mornings, we are proclaiming.
We're doing so much so much has happened.
But one for sure, thing that we're wanting to get right in
our singing is that were proclaiming truths.
Deep, gospel, truths, that are going to grow your face.
Grow your love for others. To one another, amen, we're
trying to edify one another in our singing.
It's why we won't have a drum solo or a guitar solo or
something that's drawing the attention away from the singing.
We want to promote the singing. Amen.
It's about the voice. And so whether we've got a full
team up here, where we come in, and no one's available, Right?
And somebody's going to stand up here, I'll do it.
If I have to, okay, I don't want to, but I will, if I have to
somebody's going to stand up here, and we're going to sing
together, amen. Because we're going to proclaim
the truths. Alan said, it really well in an
elder meeting recently. That what we do in here must be
able to be replicated, anywhere else in the world, Right.
If I can't do in here, if you can't take these songs and sing
them in a group in the jungle of Brazil somewhere.
Then what we're doing here isn't gospel-centered, it's not
christ-centered, he goes everywhere.
Amen. Pragmatism does not.
And so we must not be pragmatics first.
We must be gospel-centered christ-centered men and women
first. Amen that travels that goes
everywhere. Cruz says this congregational
singing acts as a sort of communal preaching, singing
allows the word of Christ dwell in us.
Singing as a means by which faith in the gospel is plan.
Stood. And cultivated in our hearts, a
moon, one of the tried and trued ways of learning, anything is in
song, you learn this in grade school, right?
Used to and in many ways, it still is grade.
School is the time where you're memorizing things.
Why are you memorizing things? So that you can later build on
the things, you've memorized it's the learn things.
And so many of the things in kindergarten grade school are
taught through song. How did you learn your ABCs
assault? Right, catechism with children
throughout church history and even in adults, as largely
happened in song or just in short memorization of truths
about the Lord, memorizing things is essential to learning
things to getting truths in us so that we can build on those
trees expound on the streets. And so we sing for memorization,
it's a great tool to memorize And so this is an effective
Communicator of God's truths. I would dare say, it's one of
the great things that God has wired into music.
I've messed with people for a long time who say they don't pay
attention to the lyrics of songs.
And yet when I hear them, they're not reciting.
The beat of the song, The reciting the words of the psalm,
right? Those things stick driving down
the road and you're listening to your radio.
Those those things stick even if you're not totally paying
attention, but you'll find yourself singing along.
Why God has made music powerful? It's impressive.
What music does? Martin Luther new this again,
he's the reformer. I mentioned earlier, he knew
this and so he began to write music like crazy that he could
get into the hands of people that they might sing God's
truths. And he said this, he said music
and notes which are wonderful gifts and Creations of God, do
help gain a better understanding of the text talking about the
scriptures especially when sung by a congregation and sung
earnestly. We are made better.
He goes on to say and stronger and Faith when his holy word
isn't Pressed on our hearts by sweet music.
Amen. Like a good singing German man,
right? And this kind of gospel
saturated truth. This magnifying singing is never
better than when song in the company of the Saints in the
house of God. This is where truly shines,
Yeah, I mentioned to you earlier that I listened to songs to help
my prayers, to help my heart, seeing when it didn't want to.
But my favorite place to sing is every Sunday in here with you
guys. My favorite place to saying is
on Wednesday night, sitting in a circle in my whole group
awkwardly trying to figure this out, right?
But it's amazing once it starts to come together.
And it's important for what we're doing.
Singing must be a part of weekly worship so that we learn to
praise God. For his work.
So we learn to pray to him and are desperate times and we learn
to Proclaim God's truth to one another.
Again Alan read Psalm 149 earlier but verse ones can read
it, praise the Lord, sing to the Lord, a new song, his praise in
the Assembly of The Godly. This is what we're after the
best part of singing. God's truth says that we are
teaching God's truths to one another.
When we sing songs that are soaked in the word of God, we
must realize that God is using those songs to deepen our faith
in Christ to grow our love for our neighbor.
Where and when we sing, We partake of the glory and the
Splendor of God. John Wesley.
Methodist, you know, basically founder of the Methodist
movement but he wrote this at the beginning of his hymnal.
He said, Beware of singing, as if you were half dead or half
asleep, but lift up your voice with strength, be no more afraid
of your voice noun or more ashamed of its being heard.
Then, when you sung the songs of Satan, he just said it.
Like it was. He goes on to say have an eye to
God and every word you sing aim at pleasing him more than
yourself or any other creature. So, shall your singing be such
as the Lord will approve of here and reward when he cometh and
the Clouds Of Heaven, Hey Beth God gives us with song and in
doing so he's equipping us with a fitting way to praise him.
Pray to him and Proclaim him. Let me see if I can tie all this
together real quick. Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Once said this he said the heart sings because it is overflowing
with Christ. If the word of Christ is
dwelling richly within you, you will be unable to do anything
but sing. Therefore, it is of utmost
importance than that. Our songs be richly filled with
the word of Christ and nothing but the word of Christ.
Amen. Again, a helpful quote, from
Crews word, centered songs will produce a word centered people
songs based on in filled with scripture songs that are
godward, not man word Christ, Focus not self-indulgent,
grounded and objectivity not aimlessly, floating and
subjectivity. Amen.
And so brothers and sisters, we aim then to be the kind of
church where men and women and boys and girls sing aloud.
The new song that God has put into our hearts, we need not be
a shame. Amen.
And Men, I always want to encourage you but I especially
want to encourage you in singing.
We Must lead the congregation in singing.
Men's voices must be loud and singing not to drown out the
women. I'm not saying anything of the
sort, but we are under the assumption, I think.
At least in practice that singing is effeminate mostly.
But singing is masculine as well, singing is meant for boys,
and it's meant for girls. Singing is meant for men and
it's meant for women. Amen.
Singing is for all of God's people, and it's must be a big
Mark of a congregation. That's pursuing the Lord
faithfully and so men, I encourage you to sing.
If we want to lead our holes, we must be men who sing if we want
to lead our church and having the word of Christ dwell richly.
And us, we need to be Men Who scene.
It must be deeply committed to singing songs that teach and
admonish us with the word of Christ and we must do so with
thankfulness in our heart to God, we don't want to sing
begrudgingly. We don't want to sing shyly.
We don't want to sing without courage or without boldness, we
want to be courageous and bold and singing.
We want to sing with Vigor with love for Christ, with love, for
our family and with love for our church.
Amen. Amen.
Let me pray for us, heavenly father.
I thank you for today. I think you for your word, I
thank you, Lord that you have created song that you've given
it as a gift to us that we might one.
Praise you? That we might to Proclaim your
name and three pray to you father.
Oh Lord, all of these things are great benefits of song, their
huge, huge Health, to our spirits I thank you Lord for
these truths. I thank you Father for a people.
Who loved you enough to examine the songs.
We sing to think deeply about them.
And to not be unafraid father to just say that one's not for us.
Let's sing this one Lord. We pray that you would help us
to be a people of men and women and boys and girls who love you
whose Hearts so singing to you. Because of all that you've done
and our lives and for us through Christ Jesus, our lord.
Lord, forgive us for being shy and singing.
Forgive us for thinking that singing is mostly about how I
sound. Lord, it's true.
You've gifted some of us. With a voice that should be
heard allowed. From a stage leading.
Others in singing. you've gifted some of us with music ability to
pluck, it strings, and to beat on drums, But Lord, all of us,
all of us have been given the gift of solo.
All of us have been given the gift of belonging to the people
of God redeemed as those who are in Christ.
And we've been given a new song in this.
And then our new song We Are to sing loudly.
But we might not be on the worship team.
But oh, are we in the congregation?
Are we among the saints, the people of God who are belting it
out week after week. So Lord is true.
Sometimes we come in here and our hearts fail us.
Hope Wayne's were overcome with difficulty and pain and trouble.
And so your Saul lifts us as though, an eagle on wings, And
we praise you for it, Lord. We praise you.
Thank you, Lord. Let us commit now to be men and
women and boys and girls who seem to hear it's in the Name of
Christ. I pray.
Amen.