Enthusiastic Singing: The Rewarding Labor of Love

Tim Michalek

Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

Ephesians 5:15–21

Colossians 3:9–17

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The other day I was doing some work in the technology booth and went to clean up after myself. I grabbed a Vacuum cleaner from the nursery closet and started my housekeeping shuffle. It was not working well and I was getting frustrated at it. I would go over a piece of lint three or four times before it disappeared, and then it seemed like the vacuum was making more a mess that it was helping. I eventually decided it was good enough, and went to shut the machine off only to notice that the hose that connected the head of the vacuum was hanging loose. I don’t know how it was cleaning anything at all. It may have been simply launching all the dust out of my field of view.

I felt silly. I was getting frustrated with this vacuum cleaner when it was my own fault. I wasn’t using it the way it needed to be used to work properly.

Consider how differently my experience would have been if I had simply engaged the hose.

Or consider

Farmer who buys a corn planter. fills the seed box with corn. and drives around his field without ever engaging planter. He’s going to be pretty disappointed in the fall when he has no crop.

He’s there, in the field, but he’ not engaging his machinery to do the work of planting.

A Christian who simply attends church and doesn’t engage in corporate worship (specifically congregational singing) is not unlike a someone who forgets to plug in the hose to a vacuum or engage the planter

However

Christians who do the hard work of enthusiastic and engaged singing reap a harvest of blessings for Christ’s church and for themselves.

Chapter 3 really connects to a concept he’s giving in chapter 2:20

If you’ve died with Christ to this world, don’t think that your growth comes from your obedience to strict ascetic standards. “don’t handle, taste, touch”

Paul is showing his contempt for these kind of regulations.

Growth is from the Spirit of God.

If you’ve died with Christ to this world, don’t think that your growth comes from your obedience to strict ascetic standards. Growth is from God. Asceticism may seem like it has wisdom to keep you from indulging the flesh (or your old self) but they have no power to do so. Your substance (what really matters in this world) belongs to Christ.

The substance of life 2:17 (what really matters in this world) belongs to Christ.

It is not difficult to find examples in Jewish religion of these strict laws of what you can and can’t do.

Asceticism and ritual adherence to these regulations may seem wise enough to keep you from indulging the flesh (or your old self),

but they have no power to do so 2:23.

Where does this power come from to keep us from indulging the flesh? The power to WALK IN HIM? (2:6) - This is what Christians desire.

When we believe the Gospel - that anyone who turns from their sin and believes in Jesus to save them, they are forgiven and will live with God forever.

…it is important for us to remember what eternity is all about.

It is NOT simply about pearly gates and streets of gold, the tree of life, and no more tears. It is about dwelling with God, and God dwelling with us. There we will be his people, and God himself with be with us as our God.

Christians want to know God and be close to him.

So let’s take that as the backdrop for what Paul will say in 3:1-17 - As you read along in your Bible, glance at the graphic handout that shows the flow of chapter 3 to help you put it all in context.

READ

Colossians 3 ESV

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 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 whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

Rather.

If you’ve been raised with Christ.

2:6 - as you recieved Christ, walk in him…rooted, built up in him, established in the faith.

Paul is not saying ‘maybe you’ve not been raised with Christ’

but

‘of course you are…so consider your new life in Christ’

I’m about to say something that hinges on your perspective of eternal life

If your identity is wrapped up in eternity with God...

Seek - things above - Pursue a heart that is FIXATED on eternity

v2 Set your mind - THERE…on dwelling with Christ

Set the course of your life in this direction.

v2 Set your mind - THERE…on dwelling with Christ

So you gauge whether your decisions are good or bad based on whether they are taking you toward that goal of living with God forever.

You’re a ship travelling to a specific point. Are your choices to turn a bit this way or that taking you toward your goal? When the waves toss your ship, are you correcting your course to keep at your target or are you taking the easy path?

v3 you’ve died to sin…and alive to Christ.

What really matters: Your eternal life: is preserved from God’s wrath with Jesus in heaven. So keep focusing there.

Your eternal life: is preserved from God’s wrath with Jesus in heaven. So keep focusing there.

How do I do that? What does that look like?

v5 Put to death the worldly things in you... sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry,

anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Lying to one another.

sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

v6 God’s wrath is coming because of these things.

Why do our lives include some of these things when these are the very things God saved us from? And they are the very things that would condemn us forever apart from the grace of God. Now we Christians have no need to fear eternal wrath from God because Jesus has paid for all of these sins. Our life is hidden with Jesus.

so we need to continually eradicate these things from our lives …or

v9 You have put off the old self

That way of living, indulging our selves on worldly pleasures, is over.

instead

v10 Put on the new self - BEING renewed into the image of Jesus (no matter what your race, age or gender)

Sanctification - the working of the Spirit in our lives to make us more into what we were created to be - perfect worshippers of God.

Sanctification doesn’t happen because we are doing good things,

but we do good things more and more often because we keep listening to the Spirit and following his direction.

This looks like us choosing to...

v12 Put on (as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,) compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, long suffering, forgiveness.

v14 and above all LOVE

as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another

-binds everything together in perfect harmony

Our world loves the idea of perfect harmony…and if we just got rid of all the guns and love each other, the world would be as one and we’d all be happy. The problem is that the world is full of sinners like you and me who are incapable of selfless love without the grace of God.

We need a perfect king to come not to regulate our lives and weaponry, but fix our hearts.

We want the world to just lay down their weapons and agree with us.

Paul alludes to the love we’ve experienced before he mentions it in v14? Did you notice where?

v12 What is the title Paul calls Christians in v12?

CHOSEN ONES ; holy and beloved.

He’s in the middle of explaining that we need to stop doing these wicked things.

So he can’t possibly mean that we are chosen and beloved because of our good things.

We are chosen by God…before the foundations of the world. We were loved by God before we loved him. While we were still sinners, enemies of God, he loved us.

That is the kind of love God demonstrates to us.

That is the love kind of love that binds things together.

Selfless, forgiving, compassionate, humble LOVE.

We don’t need ‘knock-off-love’

Maybe you visit a dollar store and see a superman action figure from a distance . but as you get closer you see he has red hair, and an orange face, and instead of an S on his chest it’s a T…and the packaging says ‘Tupperman’

Or maybe you were shopping online and you saw a gucci purse for $15. But when it arrives the logo is backwards and the seams are coming apart.

We’ve probably all expereinced something that presented itself as the genuine article, but when put to use, it fails under pressure and doesn’t last like the real thing.

LOVE that mimics God’s compassion and wisdom will endure and be effective at unifying the Church.

Love is patient, kind, doesn’t envy or boast, is not proud or rude or self seeking, slow to anger, holds no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil, rejoices in the truth,

hopes, trusts, believes, endures, never fails.

The old self does not exhibit this kind of love. It comes from the grace of the Spirit.

Then in v 15, Paul shifts his language from ‘put on’ to ‘let’ (it’s not in the greek, so don’t get too hung up on the word.)

Now don’t be fooled into thinking these tasks are somehow easy or passive.

These are not like ‘let’ the dog out or ‘let’ the water boil.

The ‘Let’ is much closer to “let your homework be done well and turned in on time” or “let your cupboards be stocked with healthy food”

Let here is not passive, but active and challenging.

Let

v15 peace rule

BE Thankful

v16 Word of Christ dwell in you

TO KIDS? Is that what it says? no…to each other

SINGING - teaching and admonishing one another

with all wisdom

there is teaching and admonishing that is NOT wise

not teaching and admonishing is also NOT wise

This doesn’t mean each one of you will get a week behind this pulpit to preach (you’re welcome)

But it does mean that every one of us has a responsibility to speak truth to the people in church.

that may mean times of confrontation if you see someone making bad choices

it may mean encouragement when you see someone having a rough day

at the VERY LEAST it means becoming vulnerable enough to build real relationships with others in this church that you can speak truth into their lives.

It also means that you sing to each other....YES

I’m not going to have us do it today, but it would be legitimate to have you be looking at each other during the singing. You’re singing for God, but your music is not just for God. Your singing is for the encouragement and rebuke to the other Christians in the room.

v16b singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (with thankful hearts)

Corporate worship music - or congregational singing

is part of the hard work of putting on the new self.

Part of the hard work of letting the Word occupy our hearts so forcefully that it pours out in song

As talks about the Spirit filling us up so richly that we act with compassion, and kindness, and humility, and meekness, patience, and forgiveness.

Remember, Christians who work hard at enthusiastic and engaged singing reap blessings for the church.

Why do I say enthusiastic?

We’re in a war. We have a battle constantly inside us of the old self and new self. We’re fighting the rulers of the darkness in this world, demons and satan, and the deluge of the world away from God and toward selfish sin.

Imagine we’re on a valley ball team (big court!) and a ball comes flying over the net and lands right next to someone.

‘Oh, sorry, I just wasn’t feeling up to swinging my arms for that one’

Every time we have an opportunity to sing corporately is like an chance for each of us to hit the ball. To contribute to the team. But if we just stand passively as our teammates participate, we’re letting the volleyball fly over the net and land at our feet.

Enthusiastic, but also engaged.

Here’s a definition of worship for you: “engaging with God.”

Engaging comes from within you

If you engage, you participate rather than spectate.

You’re not here as spectators hoping for an emotional experience, or hoping to check off your religious duty for the week because you feel guilty if you don’t go to church.

You’re here as teammates. Members of a body. Bricks in the wall. that don’t just need your presence, or just your money, we need your soul to pour truth into this service by actively engaging with the truth that is read, sung, and preached.

The church doesn’t exist so you can feel like you’re doing a Christianly duty,

the Red Brick church exists to glorify God. He’s why we‘re here.

‘re here

He created the world with a word and sustains it with a thought.

and we know him as a Father.

WOW

So in thanksgiving for him saving us from our sins, we MUST engage in worship.

It is a matter of our own soul and the souls of those around us.

We have to pull on the rope together. Get involved in each others lives and in the ministry of the church.

SING

you may not have noticed, but each song we sang today, we are not addressing God.

Of course our songs are to God as praise, but they are not prayers…they are testimonyies to those around us that our God is great.

They are messages to the couple sitting near you, or the child in front of you, or the senior saint in the back.

These are messages of encouragement and admonition to each other.

We must understand this.

Our singing is directed in one direction to God, but at the very same time and extremely important is the other direction: to others.

Come People of the Risen King

Hey, everyone is invited to experience the riches of Christ by rejoicing in the Gospel

And Can it Be

I can’t believe God would love me so much to die in my place, a sinner.

Jesus Paid it All

I know that I have been forgiven of my sins, and am right with God.

Glorious Day

I am persuaded that Christ is able to preserve my soul through death to live with him forever.

These are to each other.

So we must ENGAGE with the truth of the song and sing from our heart.

Even though our lives still have so much sin. Even though we still do the very these things that deserve the wrath of God

Paul wants us to see how even these things that deserve the wrath of God are still a part of our lives, yet we are hidden with Christ. We’ve been forgiven much.

DO ALL THIS IN JESUS’ NAME giving thanks to the Father

we are hidden with Christ. We’ve been forgiven much.

Although being full of the Spirit of Christ is far more difficult than simply adhering to a set of ritualistic guidlelines, Because of God’s love for us, we are equipped through the power of the spirit to live a life of Love for others.

Paul wants us to see how even these things that deserve the wrath of God are still a part of our lives, yet we are hidden with Christ. We’ve been forgiven much.

You probably remember the story in where Jesus is eating a meal with some Pharisees, and a woman who is a sinner comes to Jesus with a vial of purfume, breaks it over his feet, and with tears and hair washes Jesus’ feet. The pharisees, indignant, lose faith in Christ thinking that Jesus should know she was a sinner if he was a real prophet.

So Jesus asks Peter. if a moneylender forgave two debts, one of 500 denarii and one 50, which debtor will love him more? The answer of course is the one owing 500. Jesus responds saying “The woman loves much because she’s been forgiven much.”

Now in the story, we like to identify with the disciples. Close to Jesus, but not really that bad of sinners.

Jesus’ point to the Disciples is not that they had less to be forgiven of, but that they did not realize how much they needed to be forgiven.

We don’t want to be the Pharisees, or the disciples in this story, we want to identify with the woman who was a sinner,

Who when she saw Jesus in his holy grandure, fell at his feet in humble repentance and love.

If we realize who Jesus is and what he has done for us, and we respond in thanksgiving, we will sing!

Why don’t we sing?

It is very difficult for me to engage in singing when I’m not leading. Singing comes easily for me, but its very easy to not engage in the message of the song. To let the words fly by without affirming them as truth.

Embarrassed

Proud

Tired

Don’t know the song

Don’t like the song

Distracted

Bored

Upset with someone who is singing

Don’t realize how important it is

Message isn’t relevant to you

Music is bad

Engaged singing is NOT easy. And you come to church and say, well, I’m just not feeling it, sometimes we have to do the right thing and let our emotions follow.

Character is not doing the right thing when you feel like it, it’s doing the right thing even when its hard.

We need to get over ourselves, and humble ourselves, and as goes on to say, submit to one another.

We need to realize the value and importance of singing.

Be patient. Learn the song. If it’s not applicable for your day today. Store it away like a squirrel storing nuts. It may not feel like you need it today, but winter is coming. And you’re going through a trial and the words of a song that you’ve learned help you meditate on the truth of God’s greatness and goodness and help you bear that trial.

Your soul needs a stockpile good songs.

Be patient. Learn the song. Store it away like a squirrel storing nuts. It may not feel like it applies today, but winter is coming. And you’re going through a trial and the words of a song that you’ve learned help you meditate on the truth of God’s greatness and goodness and help you bear that trial.

If you’re like me, there are parts of a song you learned young that you’re just beginning to understand.

(Like the words in And Can it Be that it was me who as an enemy pursued Christ to his death, and that death was for me.)

When I look out and watch faces and lips, of the people that choose not to move their mouths, the majority are men. Husbands and fathers.

Shame on us. Being given the mantle of spiritual responsibility in our home, and

we abandon our post in one of the clearest demonstrations of our faith to our wives and children and to the UNBELIEVERS that are sitting here trying to figure out what makes us Christians tick.

Sing

Sing in your car

sing in your family worship (buy a hymnal)(pull up youtube)(download the New City Catechism app on your phone)

Sing in church

engaging in Singing in church doesn’t start when the music starts, it happens every day when your alarm goes off and you go through your day making choices to be full of stuff and the busyness of life, or to please God in your choices and be full of Christ.

if you engage with these songs, you will uncover blessings like God’s Spirit filling, and the unity of the saints, of the joy of walking with God.

God has given this church an immense task. We have hundreds of people here needing to grow close to God, needing encouragement, needing financial aid, needing counseling, needing a friend. We have classrooms that are maxed to capacity and we believe God may want us to expand our facilities. But if we are to take on such a monumental project, we must be unified, in love. And one of the way God has given us to build up the unity of our church, is to sing to each other in Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs.

Get out your corn planter, fill up seed box with corn, drive out to the field, and engage that machine

Spend time in the word during the week, bring your Bible, come to the worship service and a small group,

and engage in the worship service, in the scripture reading, the prayer, the Lord’s table, the preaching, and the SINGING

to reap the blessings

of the filling of God,

and of unity

and of peace in Christ’s church and in your own soul.

_________________________________

Didn’t cover

what are the blessings much

full of the Spirit

unbelievers are present

Gift unwrap with oven mitts on

What does a Christian do?

Pray

what are the blessings much

Read the Bible

full of the Spirit

Do good things for other people

love others

Gift unwrap with oven mitts on

Compare with

“Assuming you have … and If you have been raised with Christ”

What are some of the reasons we dont sing

Why should we sing?

How should we sing?

should we sing?

do christians ever not sing?

Psalm 96 ESV

Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Psalm 92 ESV

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath. 1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, 3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. 4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. 5 How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep! 6 The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this: 7 that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever; 8 but you, O Lord, are on high forever. 9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered. 10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil. 11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. 12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, 15 to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

PSalm 92

There is a Fountain Filled with Blood

Rejoice the Lord is King

it is well

What does a Christian do?

Martin Luther “The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God….Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices.”

Pray

I, Doctor Martin Luther, wish all lovers of the unshackled art of music grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! I truly desire that all Christians would love and regard as worthy the lovely gift of music, which is a precious, worthy, and costly treasure given to mankind by God. The riches of music are so excellent and so precious that words fail me whenever I attempt to discuss and describe them.... In summa, next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits.... Our dear fathers and prophets did not desire without reason that music be always used in the churches. Hence, we have so many songs and psalms. This precious gift has been given to man alone that he might thereby remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God.... A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.

Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/martin-luther-quotes-21-powerful-sayings/#ixzz5WOHljddD

Read the Bible

Forward to Georg Rhau's Symphoniae, a collection of chorale motets published in 1538. Rhau also published "The New German Sacred Songs" (1544), a collection specifically for use in the schools.

Do good things for other people

love others

Music is a beatuiful gift that must be used.

Compare with

“Assuming you have … and If you have been raised with Christ”

What are some of the reasons we dont sing

Why should we sing?

How should we sing?

should we sing?

do christians ever not sing?

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

There is a Fountain Filled with Blood

Rejoice the Lord is King

it is well

Forward to Georg Rhau's Symphoniae, a collection of chorale motets published in 1538. Rhau also published "The New German Sacred Songs" (1544), a collection specifically for use in the schools.