In Deuteronomy 31, Israel is getting ready to enter the promised land and God tells Moses to teach them a song so that they will not forget the words He was speaking to them. We are wired as humans to remember things when they have a melody to them. While this quality can become annoying at times, our ability to remember words and melodies is redeemed in the context of worship music. It is for this reason that our songs should be filled with rich theology and truths about God.
When we sing, we are combining head and heart. Singing is meant to stir up our emotions and our affections. One person said that there is no other reason that we should sing other than to move our emotions and affections. Our singing is a way to communicate with one another in the body of Christ. These hymns are one way we build one another up, by speaking to one another in song. We are teaching one another about God, reminding one another of the gospel, driving the truths of the gospel deep into the hearts of every member of the body.
Most of you have learned more theology from hymns than from preachers — or at least you remember a lot more of it. This time a different audience is in view. Here we are singing to Jesus himself, and we are not just singing with our mouths but with our hearts. When we sing as part of our worship, we sing both to one another and to the Lord. Both are important. When the first Christians gathered in homes, they sang hymns without accompaniment or books.
Several of those early hymns are quoted in the New Testament in, for example, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, and Revelation. Sometimes the group in an early church might be given the refrain, while the leader sang the verse. But do you know why they sang that way rather than using hymnals as we do?
Because books were expensive! They had to be copied by hand. When the invention of the printing press came along, it not only made the Bible available to the average person but it also led to an explosion in hymn singing because the people could finally be given words—and sometimes music.
Singing together as a congregation binds us together. The group that calls itself the Block Island Singers meets at least weekly at the Rescue Barn to sing a capella. Do not be afraid to join us. A couple of months ago I was looking for a guide to congregational singing, and I found a wonderful document online produced by—of all people—the Unitarian-Universalist Association. If the Unitarians can sing, surely the Baptists can sing!
But I want to quote what they wrote, because it is spot-on:. When singing a hymn or song together, we become participants rather than observers of worship.
We become givers as well as receivers. This is the beauty and power of congregational singing—a special time to be actively involved and contribute. You may not know that there were centuries during which the congregation was not allowed to sing in church at all. Early church life was modeled on the small synagogue with its singing, but as the church became institutionalized and built large buildings, some leaders began to think of the church as modeled on the Jerusalem Temple with its professional choir of Levites.
They also got scared because the Arians and theological opponents used hymns to teach their doctrine. When the Reformation began in the 15 th century, this began to change.
Martin Luther, who bridged from the late Middle Ages into the Renaissance, was influenced by the classical Greek idea that music has inherent moral virtue. And, as we observed in the last point, singing is a command. But this command comes with a promise: As we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs together, we are promised that the Word of Christ will dwell in us richly, which is what we should crave as believers!
Our singing is more than a warm-up for the sermon or a filler in the service. Colossians is clearly laying out for us that: Singing stands alongside of preaching as one of the two great ways that God has ordained for his Word to dwell richly in each one of us! We see the same thing in Colossians the exhortation to sing comes on the heels of bearing with one another v.
When we do what the Bible says and sing together as a church family, we are hearing confessions of faith all around! In Colossians 3, Paul is challenging the Colossians to literally put sin to death in their lives, to kill sin. So all the commands to love and peace and forgiveness and teaching and singing are attitudes and habits of the believer that will kill sin!
And the more you think about this, it makes total sense: What posture must be more hated by the evil one than the posture of a believer who is singing? We sing publicly in response to what he has done for us.
It can cause others to consider His goodness and turn to Him. Great reminder, David. We need to forget our inhibitions and rejoice passionately in the glory of the Lord. Notice how kids are happy to sing, dance, laugh, play in almost any situation? Oh, to have the faith of a child again….
So good, bro. One of the challenges of being a worshiper is keeping a childlike faith as we pursue Jesus. David—great stuff and great reminders as well!
0コメント