Sermon Tone Analysis

The songs we sing

Sing praises to magnify God

!!! 18-09-2005pm

!!! Announcements

!!! ; Doxology Hymn 64:                           /“Praise to the holiest”/

!!! / (only verses 1, 6 with “Amen”)/

!!! ; Call to worship

Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done.

Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts.

Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

(1 Chronicles 16:8-10)

!!! Blessing

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, \\ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

(Revelation 1:4-6)

!!! ; Hymn No 51:        /“Holy, holy, holy”/

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings.

Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

(Revelation 4:8)

!!! ; Prayer of Adoration, Invocation and The Lord’s Prayer

Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things.

In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

!!! ; Scripture Reading               /Ephesians 5:1-20/ 

!!! ; Prayer for Confession of sins

!!! ; Affirmation of forgiveness

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to You and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever.

(Psalm 30:11-12)

!!! ; Hymn No 384:      /“How hopeless was our former state”/

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.

We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

\\ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

(Titus 3:3-9)

!!! ; Prayer for others

!!! ; Offering and Dedication

While the offering is taken up, all remaining seated sing

!!! ; Hymn no 392:       /“Today Your mercy calls us”/

Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

(Hebrews 4:7)

!!! ; Scripture Reading               /1Chronicles 25:1-7/

!!! ; Sermon

!!!!!! Introduction

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Last Lord’s Day evening Kwangho preached a sermon with the same title.

The purpose of me preaching this sermon tonight is in no way to contradict or to disagree with the exposition of the Scriptures of that sermon.

As a matter of fact I agree with everything said.

The purpose of this sermon is to compliment what was said about the songs we sing.

You might remember that the main question asked was “Should we sing Psalms only?”

Much was said about the regulative principle for worship, with which all who call themselves serious and faithful students of the Word of God must agree.

As someone puts it, “/We must worship the correct God the correctly/!”

That is in essence the Second Commandment.

Kwangho also touched on another principle called the “floodgate” principle.

In the strictest sense of the word this argument goes like this:  If we do not sing Psalms only, we open the floodgate to all forms of music that might not answer the principles of regulative principle, which is to worship the correct God the correctly.

In this sermon tonight I want us to earnestly look at the Word of God and answer some serious questions about what we sing in the worship.

To answer these questions we need to understand that the bridge between the Old and New Testament worship is Jesus Christ.

He was the reason for worship in the Old Testament and He is the reason for worship in the New Testament.

The Old is fulfilled in the New.

When we understand that the Old was the shadow of what was promised for the New, and that the New is the fulfillment of what was promised in the Old, we must see the connection between the Old and the New.

And with this connection is becomes very important for us to understand that the very same principles for worship which figured in the Old are also figuring in the New.

We cannot look at the Old and say there is nothing said about worship for us in the Old Testament that applies to us who live after the sacrificial death and atonement of Jesus Christ.

The Bible is a unity, but indeed there is development from the shadow to the real.

So what is said about worship in the Old applies for worship in the New with the difference that we apply the same principles but now in the light of its fulfillment in the Jesus Christ.

!!!!!! ; We can worship God only as He instituted

This is the first and important principle.

Now, we don’t have priests and Levites and singers and gate keepers, and of course, a temple anymore.

All of these were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

But having said that, does it mean that a Chapter like 1 Chronicles 25 has nothing to say for the church of Jesus Christ in our day?

No, that’s where so many make a mistake.

; And where this mistake is made, we must agree that the “floodgate” principle is indeed something we must keep in mind.

If we do not understand the principles correctly, we can apply it incorrectly – and that’s when we open the floodgates.

And I am afraid, in most churches referring to themselves as “contemporary”, the floodgates have been opened.

Henry Grunwald in /Time/ magazine of 30 March 1992 writes:

“The mainstream churches have tried in various ways to adapt themselves to a secular age… The major Protestant denominations also increasingly emphasized social activism and tried to dilute dogma to accommodate 20th century rationality and diversity.

But none of these reforms is arresting the sharp decline of the mainstream churches.

Why not?

The answer seems to be that while orthodox religion can be stifling, liberal religion can be empty.

Many people seem to want a faith that is rigorous and demanding.”

!!!!!! ; David, the inspired musician of God

I disagree with the translation of many translations which translates the first verse of 1Chron 25 as if David worked together with the commanders of the army.

Indeed, the word used for leaders here may in some cases even refer to princes, but interestingly four uses have to do with the work of the Levites in the tent of meeting (Num 4:23; 8:24).

Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

(Numbers 4:23, 8:24)

From amongst these men David appointed the rulers, or leaders or princes.

; Careful regimentation

David, as a man of enormous talent in music and poetry worked together with these men ordained by God to regulate the worship.

No doubt service for the Lord is seen as involving total dedication and careful regimentation, and since God is Lord of hosts and also a God of order and not disorder, enthroned between the cherubim housed inside the tent of meeting, work associated with the tent may be considered spiritual war.

Hence, these leaders were also seen as commanders of war.

But these people were not just any people and the ministry of their task was not just left to them to decide how and what they should do.

; Singing is a form of Word proclamation

When verse 1 refers to the singers who had to /prophecy/, the meaning is clear from the rest of the Scriptures:  singing is proclamation of God’s will.

And the emphasis does not lie on the individual, or even the congregation:  ; it is focused on God and his mighty deeds of creation, mercy, love, righteousness, judgment and greatness.

This is the principle we have to put before the floodgate:  singing is proclamation, it is Gospel in song.

It therefore must meet the principle of Biblical theology.

; Singing is dogma sung.

It is not a sentimental reference to my need, saturated in individualism as we hear today.

If what is sung cannot stand up against the doctrine and dogma of the Bible, it is nothing less that idolatry.

It is therefore safe to say that the church have to sing Psalms.