Restoring Biblical Congregational Singing (4)
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We’ve now spent the last 3 weeks discussing the vast importance of being a Biblical church in even in our song. It’s a ministry and a task that all of us shouldn’t take lightly.
But let’s remind ourselves again why it’s so important to SING.
And to do this, we will again review and memorize our acronymn.
S HAPED
I NSTRUCTED
N ECESSITATED
G UIDED
Knowing why it’s important then allowed us to look at what kinds of songs we ought to fill our lives and our churches with. Songs that teach and instruct and encourage one another in all doctrines that are sound and full of truth. By proclaiming truth, we also encourage one another in proclaiming things we already know, lifting up our voices in praise and remembering the things God has already accomplished. Things that should settle and affirm our hearts to truth. We are also to sing songs that are varied. Meaning of all different kinds of songs. Not just hymns which seem to deal with deep doctrinal truths, but also spiritual songs ie… songs about what the Spirit is doing in our lives. These are self-expressive songs of joy, contentment, excitement, life.... what God is doing in us and how we just want to share it with everyone. Then singing the very songs that God wrote himself. The Psalms. dealing with everything emotion, situation, guideline we can possibly think of. The Psalms is the most excellent song material because it is inspired. So our lives should be saturated by singing Psalms as they were meant to be sung. And finally, God instructed multiple times in scripture that our songs be fresh or new. That we never tire of the same old songs but sing them in a renewed way. But also learn and sing songs that have never been song before so that we may dwell on new ways of expressing praise to God for His infinite wisdom and grace. Let’s be honest, that very thought of God being infinite in all He is and does demands that we continue to aspire to think on Him in new ways (all of them of course inspired by the words of Scripture). No one song or even a thousand songs could fully convey to our feeble human minds all that God is. So as we continue to dwell on him and in new centuries where languages continue to change and words convey different understandings, our songs ought to also aid in this. So sing and sing what God has instructed us to sing.
So then should it really matter how we sing?
I don’t think to many would pick a fight about that. I believe that most of us would agree that it does matter how we sing, but to what degree does it matter. How important is it for us to sing rightly. Not many of us come into a Sunday morning with thoughts of how we are going to sing today. What’s involved in the actual process of singing.
Most of us really do care about how we sing. But is it even for the right reasons. I personally love it when a group of people really sing out or sing harmonies and the place is full of great sounding music. I think most of us really do to. We like being part of something life that. But there’s the bottom line to why we care of how we sing. Cause we like it. It sounds good to us. So our motivation for singing the right way may not even be wrong.
So that it what I want to spend our final week on. Addressing what Scripture has to say on how we are to fulfill our task of ministering to one another in song and what type of singing brings God glory and praise.
Does, yes it does.
The outline today is really going to be a list of sorts. What I hope to accomplish in sharing said list is to overwhelm in a sense with how much God’s word has to say about the way we sing and about the way we worship in song.
There will be alot of verses and the list is long, so I will be making short comments about each. Whole chapters how been written about each of these items so I will do my best to keep them brief so that you can at least begin to take in everything.
Beginning with point one… God has instructed that our singing be....
1. Meditative & Thoughtful
1. Meditative & Thoughtful
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
When you sing, where is your mind?
Is it worshipping? (Could be idolatry if we are elsewhere or having no thoughts at all).
Perhaps some of the reasons we struggle to really engage our minds in singing is because we haven’t been taught how. Here are a few good ways to be more thoughtful in song.
What should we be thinking of while we are singing?
What each line, phrase, and word means.
Through the progression of the verses as we sing through the song.
Scriptures that match up with the phrases and lyrics of the song.
The doctrines of the Bible that are being addressed
How the author speaks of God’s character.
How this truth has benefitted you and how you are changed because of it.
If we are really contemplating what God has done that can only lead us our singing to be...
2. Glad & Thankful
2. Glad & Thankful
And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Does that mean all our singing will always be glad. Will we always feel happiness when we sing. That certainly wouldn’t be right because majority of the Psalms are solemn songs of lament. A heart crying out in deep agony. But will our songs lead us in gladness. Yes, they will. It’s through the slow process of surrendering our thoughts and affections all to God and working through the trials that God turns those heavy tears into songs of gladness as we see Him there in the lowest valleys. Where no one else is and could ever be. But there He is, God of matchless love and affection for you. Willing to dwell with you there in your lowest state and raise you up from that miry clay and set you back on the rock. We gaze on the greatness of our God and wonder why He the theme of heavens praises could ever love us so. How marvelous how wonderful. And it lifts up our countenance with joy and thankfulness.
That is what David showed us time and time again. Through all his turmoil, He proved God faithful through all his suffering and discovered for us. How much joy there is in God.
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
So it’s only fitting that all our songs should be filled with thankgiving as we see in Paul’s instruction on how the church is to sing. And it’s not a passing thought in this text, but a prominent one.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 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.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
When you finish singing any Biblical song, if your affections are right, and if you have worshipped properly, you should always some level of gladness and thankfulness to God. But if you don’t feel those things, you need to reexamine your heart and mind and evaluate who God is, who you are, where your attention has been focused on, and sing purposely with thankfulness in your heart. Part of our ability of being able to sing with gladness and with thankfulness is in how much time we have spent letting the peace of God and the word of God rule and dwell in our hearts. That really is a sure proof way of singing with gladness and thankfulness and it’s really the only way we can obey that command. And those things will pour out of you as we will see in these next items. Our singing should be if it’s Biblical and worshipful....
3. Passionate & Loud
3. Passionate & Loud
Throughout the passages of scripture, what we can see modeled and exemplified in those that love and worship Christ is passionate and exuberate singing.
And that makes sense, when we truly understand what worship is. A treasuring of Christ above all other things!!!
And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with all their might to the Lord.
And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.
After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Does this not remind you of great lyrics that we have so miserably sang.
“Come, thou Fount of every blessing;
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.”
Why did the writer of this song include this phrase “calling for songs of loudest praise. Because “praise the mount”, what mount, “the mount of God’s unchanging love where the author has begun to grasp the splendor of mercy that never ceases and he is fixed upon it. He is captivated, he is overwhelmed by it, He is controlled by it, He is compelled by it.
Why don’t we sing loud praises. Why are our songs in our congregations seem rather mute and dull? We are not fixated on the surpassing gift of knowing Christ our Lord. Our hearts are fixated somewhere else. We can blame other things and other people.... we didn’t sing loud because he or she was distracting, we didn’t sing loud because we don’t sing any songs I know. (And that at least cannot be true here, some other places maybe). I work really hard to include at least 2 but usually 3 songs that most everyone in the congregation knows well. In almost every Sunday, and I have records, I include a well-known hymn that everyone can and should be able to sing. And what I find is that even including those songs that people know. The volume doesn’t increase by that much. Furthermore, I have experienced with a congregation the size of a concert hall, with some 5-8000 people being introduced to a brand new song and by the end of that song, people are belting it out.
The matter of disobedience to singing loudly our praise to God is more often than not a matter of our hearts than a matter of circumstances. But its always human nature to want to blame something else for our lack of obedience.
So why don’t you sing loud? We understand this assignment and want to work really hard so that you can lift up your voices. But it starts not first with the music team or the sound team or anyone else, it starts with our hearts. But our goal is to lead you in exuberant song. Not just for the sake of loud noice but loud praise because we have loud thankfulness in our hearts.
I’m challenged each week by the output of our dear little ones. They sing with everything they have. And it’s awesome. But I’m challenged more because we who understand Christ more and we who have much more to give God praise for are often outmatched in our song by these who for many of them have not yet known Christ as Savior. That shouldn’t be. Our songs should be loud, but they should be because we know whom we have believed and am persuaded that he will keep that which has been committed unto him against that day.
“If we are going to be emotional about anything, shouldn’t it be our spiritual lives? Is anything more inspiring, more exciting, more loveable and desirable in heaven or earth than the gospel of Jesus Christ?… The gospel story is designed to affect us emotionally- and our emotions are designed to be affected by its beauty and glory. It touches our hearts at their tenderest parts, shaking us deeply to the core. We should be utterly humbled that we are not more emotionally affected than we are.” -Jonathan Edwards
So since we are each to be individually accountable for the volume at which we sing, does that mean it doesn’t matter how it sounds or what people around me are doing. No, for scripture also has much to say on that. Our singing should be...
4. Musical & Instrumental
4. Musical & Instrumental
I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
to you, O Lord, I will make music.
I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
They sing to the tambourine and the lyre
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
When you examine the worship of the people of Israel in the Old Testament, what will you find in almost all of their corporate singing. You will find continually songs of praise accompanied by a variety of musical instruments. In fact, if you studied carefully on this subject, you will take note that some of the Levities were assigned solely to the task of music and instrumentation. That was their primary role in their corporate gatherings.
And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.
The question then should be asked why the need for musical instruments.
We already talked about the sticking power of music whereas it is used to cement words into our minds through melody. It’s a great avenue and tool for the truth to be taught through because of it’s ability to glue things in our minds.
But we also need to once again be reminded of music’s ability to guide our affections.
“The duty of singing praises to God seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned, why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music, but only that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections.” - Jonathan Edwards
Music has a unique way of drawing out our affections and help us dwell on what we are singing about.
Being moved by music doesn’t mean you’re being manipulated. It means you’re being human and that the music which God created to affect you is doing its job.
When we sing, In Christ Alone, we instruct our musicians to quiet down when we sing there in the ground his body lay light of the world by darkness slain....
Why do we do this? To help people think soberly and gravely on what just happened. We play quietly, sometimes his only certain instruments to reinforce those truths. But if we continued to play that way through the rest of the verse, would that help us think properly of the song. NO. We raise the instrumentation everyone joining in. Powerfully exclaiming Then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grace he rose again, and as he stands in victory, sins curse has lost its grip on me. If we as instrumentalists do this well, we can greatly serve the truth in this song and help guide affections in loving and appreciating God.
We can see that clearly in Psalm 150
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
How do they do that. How do they praise Him according to His excellent greatness? Or in a manner worthy His excellent greatness? How do they help people praise Him in that way so that everything that has breath will praise the Lord with everything they have.
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
With instruments!!! Loud instruments that direct people’s affections to praise.
Ok but why the need for various instruments. Different instruments accomplish various sounds that draw out different emotions. A bagpipe has a seemingly great ability to be used in sorrowful songs. That’s why they are used in so many funerals. A snare drum has a great ability with its beat to excite and to motivate. That’s why it is used in many pep bands and even in the military. It’s prominent beat also helps people stay in sync. A horn or a trumpet has a great ability to excite and to draw out feelings of victory and celebration. So when put together, like in an orchastra, it can faithfully guide our affections to consider more fully the truth we sing of… just like Jonathan Edwards said… These things have a tendency (because God created it that way) to move our affections.
A word should be said about this. Are there any instruments we should avoid. My answer from scripture is no for a couple different reasons.
Scripture never forbids certain instruments. Neither does it ever condemn certain instruments as evil. Instruments are merely tools to be used for good or evil.
I really appreciate whoever it was that said this but it rings true.
Do guns kill people. Do forks make people fat. The answer is obviously know. They are tools that can do those things but the responsibility all falls on the one using them. Same can be said for any musical instrument. It can make evil music but it’s only evil music because of the one using the tool. There is nothing it itself wrong with the instrument. It’s an inanimate object not capable of doing right or wrong.
With that line of thinking, some have claimed that we shouldn’t use certain instruments because of their association with evil bands and such. We mostly use that line of thinking to condemn the electric guitar, drums, bass, etc.... Well if that were true, that instruments shouldn’t be used because of their association with certain music, then that would pretty much mean that we shouldn’t ever use any instrument because all instruments have been used to write songs that are filled with filthiness and sin even my favorite instruments like the piano and cello. Furthermore, the Bible has much to say about inanimate objects and their association with evil. We could go to Romans and 1 Corinthians and study how meat that was being used in pagan temple worship was being sold in the markets and many christians thought it was evil and wouldn’t touch it. But Paul, the apostle, the writer of Scriptures indicated that they were incorrect in their thinking. Meat isn’t anything. He understood his freedom to take it. Though he didn’t not to offend, but understood that even meat associated with idol worship was not sinful in itself. He may not have taken it in front of others who may have been the weaker or less mature brothers so not to offend them but that didn’t stop him from sharing with them the truth so that they would be informed and could mature and then would feel free to partake in it as well. Alot of these same thoughts can be applied to these instruments we are taking about.
Another point, if our view of scripture is that we should only do exactly what it only explicitly commanded, i.e… scripture must have exactly what it is I must do approach, then we are completely missing it on Sunday. Nowhere does scripture command us to sing and worship on Sunday with a piano and an organ. Yet, for many churches this was the only acceptable instrument. What scripture does reveal is that songs were sung to strings, harps, lyres, tambourines, and cymbals. That’s stuff especially since no one is 100% sure what those exactly might be. No the point is that we can’t play only those instruments (whatever they may be). But that we should use the principles of scripture here and see that God made a variety of sounds and a variety of instruments and He wished that these would be used in worship of Him, including the ones we have often shunned, as long as it is able to properly direct and guide our affections to Christ. Any instrument can be too loud (not just the drums- although it is interesting how percussion instruments are used in Scripture Psalm 150:5- loud clashing cymbals-) or instruments can be too much idolatized, or improperly balanced amongst many other things. The priority is on what they should do.
5. Professional & Skillful
5. Professional & Skillful
Healthy tension
Can a church of 20 people with a guitar player of less than 3 months experience still bring worship acceptable to God… absolutely. Is God still concerned though that music be done with professionalism and skill. Yes indeed.
The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was 288.
And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,
“Give thanks to the Lord,
for his steadfast love endures forever.”
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
If music is the language that God has designed for the church to use in its praise and proclamation of truth, shouldn’t the church above all other organized groups be the most adamant in pursing and growing in their musical knowledge and ability. If the church is also to use song as a ministry to others, should we not even individually be concerned with what musical knowledge we possess.
But no we only save musical knowledge for those who are going to lead music. Many don’t know how to or even desire to read music for that very reason yet we are all called to sing and all called to lift up our voices loudly, and all called to sing fittingly to the Lord. A spiritual discipline. How then can we really do this discipline well if we can even read the language of music.
It’s like saying we need the Bible but never learning how to read it or read in general. If we need the Bible to live and grow and minster, then we need to know how be able to read it. Same can be said of music. A church should aspire to grow in there ability here so that they may honor God in His command.
6. Physical & Expressive
6. Physical & Expressive
My heart is steadfast, O God!
I will sing and make melody with all my being!
Let’s look at Acts 20:36 for a second and see how worship here was conducted in prayer.
And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
John Calvin commented about this verse saying something I believe to be most helpful.
"The inward attitude certainly holds first place in prayer, but outward signs… kneeling, uncovering the head, lifting up the hands, have a two-fold use. The first is that we may employ all our members for the glory and worship of God. Secondly, we are so to speak jolted out of our laziness. There is also a third use in public prayer because in this way the sons of God profess their piety and enflame each other with reverence of God. Just as lifting up of the hands is a symbol of confidence and longing, so in order to show our humility, we fall down on our knees.” -John Calvin
Bob Kauflin says this often “we are not disembodied beings”. To worship without the use of our bodies would be awfully close to what the gnostics taught, that only the spiritual matters. The physical means nothing and doesn’t matter at all. God doesn’t care what my external looks like or my body looks like only what my heart looks like. Of course we would say that’s not true. Obviously God cares what our bodies look like and what our bodies do.
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
We know this verse applies to what you allow your body to do and even in the context it is talking about purity in our sexual life. But does the application go beyond physical purity? Yes, absolutely. Does God want our bodies to glorify Him in everything we do. Absolutely! Including in the way we worship? Yes. So does God want our bodies to merely just be stoic during worship because only our heart matters. No. Our bodies are also meant to worship as well and at some points stoic being still reverence is right and fitting but other times it is not.
Bob also points out that biblical praise is normally expressed, spoken, and observable.
What does it mean to sing with all my being. It’s true worship. Worship that isn’t half-hearted or only devoted to one part of our being, namely our mouths or hearts. It’s interesting connection that Bob Kauflin makes. Worship when described in the Bible is almost always in connection with observable expressions. In fact, as noted before, the greek and hebrew words we most often translate “worship” contain the very idea of a physical bending over or bowing down.
I would challenge you to find places where worship wasn’t attached to some form of physical action or expression. There are perhaps a few but the vast majority are connected in some way to our bodies.
And that makes sense that worship would involved our bodies as well. It’s how we are made.
“Our bodies naturally respond to what affects our souls. I open my arms wide as my daughter runs to greet me. I jump up from the couch with my hands in the air when my team scores the winning touchdown. I lunge when a glass of milk is about to be knocked over. I gratefully applaud heroic acts of unselfishness. I cry when a friend’s child dies. No one has to teach us those responses. In a similiar way, God-honoring expressiveness in corporate worship begins with clearly seeing the One we worship.”
-Bob Kauflin
“The Psalms- the songbook of the redeemed for three millennia- invite and exemplify passionate, expressive worship… there can be no mistake that the Psalms call the church to wholehearted and expressive praise in celebration of our great God.
- Bowing Down/Kneeling
- Bowing Down/Kneeling
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,
- Clapping
- Clapping
Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
- Raising Hands
- Raising Hands
Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the Lord!
So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;
- Dancing
- Dancing
Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.
Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
The joy of our hearts has ceased;
our dancing has been turned to mourning.
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Some say these are merely cultural expressions, and not meant to be mimiced. Ok fine, even if that is true, then these verses give principle that we should express physical praise in ways that our cultural would. So...
“Just what are our cultural expressions of exuberant, celebratory joy or deep, heartbreaking sorrow?”
Where do we see exuberant praise in. Standing ovation at a play with shouts of praise, jumping up and down with hugs of celebration and raised fits at a sport ing event, head hunched over and flowing tears at a funeral.... all of these physical expressions take place regularly around us, so why do we hold back in church when everywhere else our bodies react in ways that fit the occasion.
Furthermore,
“Why would the church today worship with measured restraint when the worship of God’s people in the past and in the future is so effusive?”
Fear of others more than fear of God. Worried about what others may think of you. Worried you may be labeled a charismatic or a nut case. You have been ignorant of what scriptures says. Maybe you didn’t want to offend. Maybe you feel awkward. Maybe that’s just not “your personality”.
Bob Kauflin rightly says that we are all created different some people are naturally more physically expressive in our regular outings. Some people more extrovert etc, so we aren’t saying you should try to be like the most outgoing one. Whatever your reason or excuse is for not being expressive, what we are saying and what the Bible is saying is that whatever you highest natural physical expressiveness is God is worthy of that and more.
A warning or two.
“A genuine response to God can’t be measured by raised hands, dancing feet, and loud shouts. We might just be caught up in the enthusiasm of a large crowd. Scripture gives numerous examples of times when physical expressions in worship actually offended God. Although raised hands can express dependance, gratefulness, or celebration, God once told Israel in Isaiah 1:15
When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
Outward expression in worship may say a great deal - but not everything.
If I had no other choice, I’d rather be sitting in the midst of a quiet congregation singing rich, doctrinal truths than jumping around with a lively congregation belting out shallow, man-centered songs. Because without truth, we are lost.
But that is never what God intended for us. We’re to pursue theological depth and passionate expression. If the truth doesn’t affect us or move us in any way, than we also have a very serious problem.
God detests it when we honor Him with our lips but our hearts are far from Him. God is “wearied” by our letter-of-the-law offerings when they come from legalistic, idolatrous, or bored hearts. As Bob Kauflin observes, “Worship isn’t primarily about music, technique, song, or methodology. It’s about our hearts. It’s about what and who we love more than anything.”
Second warning, just because scripture says we should worship in physically expressive ways doesn’t mean we can or should do whatever we feel like. We are talking about where the line is on physical expressiveness. The line is loving others. The worship you do on Sundays in singing is not just between you and God. It’s you and God and others. We sing to others and for others. So a present mind on thinking about how my conduct affects others is right. If we are dancing around, making a big show of everything, bumping into other people, no concern is given about how it affects others whatsoever and that’s not real worship. You can’t say you are worshipping God and give no concern for the very people God has called you to love. So be mindful of others. I don’t know where that line is, it’s a healthy tension. But a tension that we should go after.
And if we love something, it affects all of us.
Application Questions:
When I sing, where are my thoughts? Do I think intently upon the Words I am singing? Do I work hard to understand and meditate on the Words?
Do the words affect me? Do they produce passionate, loud, thankful, glad responses? Why don’t they? Scripture thoroughly proves that our worship should be passionate. Will I start today?
Is my worship in song with all my being? Do I worship with my body as well as my heart? If I haven’t been, why not? Am I willing to give God my all as well as carefully consider how I may minister to others in song with my body? Will I determine to spend more time knowing scripture on this point? Will I obey it even though it’s uncomfortable and hard?
Have I been judgmental and condemning of people rather than worshipful? Do I spend more time thinking wrong thoughts of others than I do in thinking about God in song? Confess that today!
