SINGING

INTRO:

Sometimes we need more explanation!

We know to sing — but do we know why?

Singing is a huge part of our worship, but do we know why? It’s not only that we’re commanded to that we sing, there’s more reason for why!

All too often the sermons on singing focus on one thing - “why we don’t use instruments”. And that’s good, I’ve preached it. It’s a relatively easy subject to dive into but acceptance of it can be hard.

But you know what we’re known as right? The people who don’t like music. And that’s a terrible reputation. If that’s what we’re known for we’ve failed. Because the truth is we 100% approve of and love music. And singing is music - that’s not word play it’s Bible. And in today’s world, as in all of history by the way, music is a HUGE deal to people.

I’d rather be known what we’re for, rather than what we’re not for. So this lesson is why we sing, why we’re for singing.

When we talk about singing acapella, do you know what acapella means? It’s Latin, but it’s not Latin for “no instruments”. It’s Latin for “In the style of the Church”. History and historical vocabulary recognizes the Church only sang, when Paul wrote about singing in the NT it wasn’t to settle a heated debate of instruments or no instruments because the Church was known for hundreds of years to not use any — Why? Because of the apostles instructions. They understood that it wasn’t what God wanted.

When Paul writes, it’s not to settle a debate — it’s further clarification to regular Christian practice and reminder.

So, between Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19-20, what are the reasons for why we sing? What’s the bigger purpose?

Let’s read both verses together, then examine Eph.5 more heavily for our time.

Colossians 3:16 “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.”

Ephesians 5:18–20 “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,”

(PPT) BEING FILLED - of Word and Spirit

Don’t just read this and pluck out v.19 to say “this is why we don’t use instruments” — that’s not good exegesis (Exegesis is the process of analyzing and explaining a text, determining its precise meaning). In order to understand this and any verse fully, you need to know what else is said within it’s context — you need to read more scripture at once and analyze more than one verse to do that. The Chapter? Yes, and even more will lend to the deeper understanding.

But at least the whole sentence! This is one long sentence in English and Greek - so to pluck out a small piece of one sentence doesn’t do justice — it isn’t right.

EXAMPLE: Imagine you text your spouse: “Hey, I’m running late. Flat tire. Grab the kids, start dinner without me, and I’ll call when I’m headed home. Love you.” Now imagine they only read one part of that message: “Start dinner without me.” If that’s all they focus on, without reading the rest, they might think: “Why doesn’t he want to eat with us?” “Is he mad?” “Did something happen?” But the whole message taken together makes everything clear: You’re running late, it’s not personal, you love them, and you’re coming home soon. Taking one sentence fragment by itself totally changes the meaning.

In context you find 2 imperatives in v.18 - don’t get drunk, be filled with the spirit....how do I accomplish that second one?

V.15-17 — there is a “do not do this, but do this” structure that Paul is using to open the eyes of the hearts of the Christians to help us understand how to live at the center of God’s will!

Paul talks in other places like Gal.5:22-23 about what it looks like when you do live filled with the spirit (fruit of the spirit). There is a purpose, there is an affect on your life when you do.

You also see something similar by Paul in Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…”

The context in both places is being filled with the Spirit, being filled with the Word of Christ, and being filled with wisdom!

Paul isn’t making a defense in either place of singing without instruments as his purpose in writing. Can we deduce reasons why God doesn’t want us to, and only to sing? Sure we can! And you can teach that point from here —- but there is certainly way way way more to these words than that. If that’s all you go to these verses for and all you get out of them, then you’ve fallen short in your study and understanding of them.

So when Paul says, “Be filled with the Spirit,” he’s not giving us a vague religious feeling to chase—he’s giving us a very concrete way to live. In both Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3, the command to be filled with the Spirit and the Word is immediately followed by this: God’s people opening their mouths, singing His truth, teaching and admonishing one another, and giving thanks. In other words, singing isn’t a side issue; it’s one of the primary ways God designed for us to stay Spirit-filled, Word-filled, and wisdom-filled. That’s why we can’t afford to treat these verses as nothing more than a “no instruments” proof text—because God is actually showing us how to live in the very center of His will.

(PPT) EDUCATION -

Colossians 3:16 “…teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs...”

He says we teach and “speak” to one another while praising God through:

Psalms — “psalmos”

Praises rooted in Scripture and deep truths about God. This reminds us we don’t just sing anything. It’s deep truths about God, that’s important because it tells us who we worship.

Our worship is to Him, it teaches about Him, and it tunes our hearts to Him.

Our preferences don’t shape worship; God’s will does. And then by His will, that worship shapes us!

Singing is for our EDUCATION. Our song and worship is meant to be an educational experience. Singing wasn’t about the melody or the notes, it’s about the words and those words are meant to build up the body of Christ! Yes it’s praise to God, but it’s also teaching and admonishing each of us.

We can’t lose sight of the purpose. In the world, all other songs and singing are entertainment. Not so here. Is there a part of that here? In a way, yes. There is a sense in which we ENJOY it. That's not the primary purpose.

(PPT) BUILDING - one another

We’re all involved. This is a collective effort! All us Christians are meant to speak to one another and teach one another.

I sing to be filled, I sing to make sure your filled, you sing to make sure I’m filled too! Being filled with the word of Christ, with the Spirit - that’s something so significant that it matters heavily now and it matters all the way to our end of this life.

STORY: Disciple Trips, singing to Stentson Carpenter outside his window.

Just because you go to a church that doesn’t use instruments doesn't mean you’re doing it right. There’s more “WHY” to it that that. If you’re not doing it with the right heart and purposes in mind, you can’t say you’re doing it right.

Holding a hammer doesn’t make you a carpenter — and holding a songbook doesn’t make you a worshiper either.

All our worship is meant to engage our hearts as we seek to accomplish God’s will. The will to be accomplished, the GOAL, is to be filled with the Spirit and have the word of Christ RICHLY living and staying within me.

Doesn’t matter if you do or don’t like the songs selected or way it’s sung that day by those present, it’s not about preference. It’s about what God wants.

(PPT) THEOLOGY & GRATITUDE

Hymns — “hymnos” - sing a hymn that is festive or sorrowful, another definition says to exclaim hallelujah with our voice to God for who he is and what He has done.

Ode, songs. Not just any songs, but “spiritual songs” – there’s a qualifier there. Willy Nelson ain’t gonna fly!

Singing is a theological experience. Our songs become our theology set to melody, and our gratitude becomes our hallelujah. We don’t sing to feel something—we sing because we know something. And because we know it, we can’t stay silent.

From the song leaders to the rest of us, we need to be on the same page of what we’re doing and trying to accomplish! It’s not a performance, it’s not a talent show, we are all God’s choir and praise team and we all use the same instrument — the heart.

In God’s Kingdom, Singing isn’t for singers — it’s for believers! In the world, music is about performance. In the kingdom, music is about participation & declaration!

We sing because it involves your heart. Songs resonate with each of us. We each have different songs we gravitate to. You got a song you hear and turn up on the radio? That you hear and it takes you back? Music is like that. And God has us sing to remember! The Psalms, their song book, were often remembering the past- Where they came from, what God has done. James 5:13 “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” — our lives need spiritual responses! And singing is one that comes from overflowing joy and gratitude, that’s the cause of our singing. Haven’t you ever had a great day or got great news and start humming or singing some kind of medley?

Our relationship with God, when we have that and know what it means to live at the center of God’s will and to be saved then we can’t help but sing! We don’t make music to make our hearts happy, we sing because they already are and I’m not losing sight of what He’s done for me!

That’s why we make our melody TO HIM Eph.5:19 says.

(PPT) PARTICIPATION - heart

So Paul’s point is simple: Say it with your mouth. Mean it in your heart. Address each other with truth. Offer the melody of your heart to God.

I hope we all enjoy our singing together, I hope that our emotions are stirred, I hope that your heart is filled with joy and uplifted and picked up if you're feeling down. But I hope most of all you are moved closer to God reminded of things you forgot, growing deeper in your understanding of things that you knew, learning something brand new, Uplifted out of despair to keep going. That's the purpose of our songs. I hope above all else you're striving to please God with you're singing. Because our worship isn't me centered it's “HE” centered. We get singing wrong when the lips are the only thing involved.

Notice how Paul said in Ephesians 5:19 that the mouth and tongue can't be the only thing involved because the primary instrument is the heart. The heart must be involved. When it's not involved our worship is meaningless.

We’ve got to worship is intentionally. It's can be hard, it's a struggle, especially those of us that don't like to sing out more than a mumble. But you need to. And it can be a struggle because we have a hard time tuning out other distractions, especially if we've worked hard all week and Sundays one of the only days if not the only day we have off. And there's so much else to accomplish around the house or other things that need to get done. It can be hard to tune those things out. But engaging the heart as well as the mind in order to properly carry out the purpose of our worship is the goal. Our singing is wrong when it becomes a checklist, when we show up and do what we got to do to fulfill our “obligation”.

ILLUSTRATION: Imagine that your wife made you a four course dinner after having a long day. And you sit down and you eat it all and when you're done you say “there, I fulfilled my obligation”…. How well do you think that's going to go over?

Yet we treat God the same way sometimes when our heart isn't involved as it should be. How do you think God feels when we treat worship as a obligation and checklist? Our time of singing should be part of the highlight of our week. A lot of how well our singing goes depends on how much effort you put into it.

If we treat singing as a task, it will feel like one. But if we treat it as a gift to God, a moment to engage our hearts, it becomes one of the greatest blessings of our week.

The types of songs do help involvement. And we need a good healthy mix of the older songs and new songs. I've heard some people say that they don't like the new songs because they call them 7/11 songs -- the same 7 words repeated 11 times. But that's how most of the psalms are! And many of those songs that are that way come directly out of the Psalms so they're 100% biblical. I'm sure Once Upon a time when “Amazing Grace” came out or “I'll fly Away”, somebody said I don't like them newer songs. But we all need to have a mature enough perspective to not be held hostage by a songbook, too many times people equate the songbook with the Bible. We need to hold on to the older hymns and songs, but we also need the newer ones for the young generations to make their own too. And to perhaps teach us who are older some new things as well.

But more than anything regardless of the song sung, so long as it's scriptural, we all need to be participatory in the same level that we would any other song.

Personally I want from here forward our participation in singing to be greater than it’s been!

It's an educational experience, it's a theological experience, it's a God focused and heartfelt experience! It's not just about sounding good. It's a vertical worship and relationship. If we focus on that, the horizontal won't be a problem. If our hearts and our voices are loudly proudly praising God, the horizontal experience will be fantastic. Our singing can't just be technical.

Though, we do each need to put effort and time into learning how the song is sung. There is a sense that the technical does affect the spiritual. If you want the optimum result then we all need to be on the same page! I want us to be known for what we are for and what we do so well, and the best argument for acapella singing is good acapella singing! So put time and effort into it to making it on your part the best that you can make it.

That means singing out without worrying how you sound to the people around you. And it means that when we come together for singing nights—like tonight—we don’t treat it as a “filler” so the preacher can rest. Don’t be those that say “well i don’t need to come for that one tonight it’s just singing”, don’t treat it like its a throwaway service! It’s about building better worship! It's something to help us grow, it's something so heartfelt and powerful that each of us get to participate in! In our singing, you get to preach the word!

You're right if you say that nowhere in the Bible it says that you have to be good at singing…BUT, you won't find it in scripture anywhere that God says give me your second best. God wants our best. And if our best still won't get us past the first round of American Idol, that's fine! Because it's not a performance! Yet God deserves our best and each other deserves our best. But remember the purpose, not just the technical.

The purpose is to teach. Express gratitude. You lose sight of that then you missed the point. We don't sing just because we like the sound of it or the feeling of it. We're seeing to express praise and thankfulness to God, to encourage and teach one another.

CONCLUSION:

As we close, remember this: God didn’t give us singing to fill time. He gave it to fill us.

Singing teaches us. It strengthens us. It unites us. It anchors us. It reminds us who God is, what He’s done, and who we are because of Him.

We don’t sing because we’re good at it. We sing because we’re saved. We sing because we’re grateful. We sing because we’re believers, and believers have something to declare.

So when we lift our voices, remember we’re stepping into something ancient, sacred, and powerful.

God has given us a song. Let’s be a church that sings it with all our hearts.