Make Melody to the Lord

Introduction

I’m so glad I’m apart of the family of God- I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod; For I’m part of the family, the family of God. (The Family of God, Hymn #393)

That little hymn says a lot in only a couple of lines about why we should be glad to be apart of the family of God.

The family of God is washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

We were nothing but filthy sinners before a holy God, but then God graciously sent Jesus to wash us of our filth by shedding His blood for us on the cross!

As members of the family of God, we are joint heirs with Jesus looking forward to our heavenly inheritance as we travel this sod, as we live as strangers and aliens here on earth.

One day our faith will be made sight. Our hope will be realized. And will we spend the rest of eternity basking in the love of God all thanks to what Jesus did for us on the cross!

We are part of the family, the family of God!

And as you may have guessed from this hymn or one of the others we’ve sang this morning or one of the hundreds we’ve sang over the years, this family—the family of God—is a singing family.

Moses sang a song of praise after passing through the Red Sea (Ex. 15:1-19).

Deborah and Barak sang after defeating the forces of Jabin, king of Hazor (Judg. 5).

Hannah sang when she dedicated her long-prayed-for son to the Lord (1 Sam. 2:1-10).

David sang when he was delivered from Saul (2 Sam. 22), when he brought the ark to Zion (1 Chr. 16:8-36), and at the close of his reign as king (1 Chr. 29:10-19).

The whole book of Psalms is a book to be sung.

John the Baptist’s father, Zacharias, prophesied in song when God ‘unmuted’ him after John was born (Luke 1).

Mary sang her Magnificat while carrying the Savior in her womb (Luke 1).

Jesus a hymn with His disciples before just hours before He died on the cross (Matt. 26:30).

Revelation shows us that in Heaven we will be singing! We’ll sing the classics like The Song of Moses and we’ll sing new songs too as we increasingly marvel at the glory of God and the Lamb.

The family of God is a singing family because we have so much to sing about!

We are a singing family because we are filled by the Spirit!

We are a singing family because He commands us to sing and it is our joy to do so!

Listen to how this command to sing comes to us in Ephesians 5:15-21…

[READING - Ephesians 5:15-21]

Ephesians 5:15–21 NASB95

15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

[PRAYER]

[CONTEXT] In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, Paul moves from believing in Jesus (Eph. 1-3) to living for Jesus (Eph. 4-6).

Paul encourages the Ephesian believers live or walk worthy of the salvation they’ve been graced with in Jesus Christ.

He encourages them to walk in the light as Children of light because they are no longer children of darkness.

He encourages to walk wisely, redeeming the time, understanding the Lord’s will, and being filled with the Spirit.

Being filled with the Spirit means giving the Holy Spirit more and more control of all that you think, speak, and do.

And if one is filled with the Spirit, it leads to speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs and singing and making melody to the Lord from the heart (Ephesians 5:19).

[TS] There are two COMMANDS in this verse—in Ephesians 5:19.

Major Ideas

Command #1: Sing to One Another (Eph. 5:19a)

Ephesians 5:19 NASB95

19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

[EXP] Some see ‘psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs’ in this verse as referring to different parts of the book of psalms in our Old Testament.

Others say that the psalms in this verse referred to Old Testament psalms set to music but also included those psalms to be sung with just the voices.

They say hymns referred to songs of praise as distinguished from the psalms. While the psalms focused more on the exaltation of God, hymns focused more on the specific exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They say spiritual songs were songs of testimony expressing the truths of God’s grace in Christ.

But the terms ‘psalms,’ ‘hymns,’ and ‘spiritual songs’ are meant to cover all the singing in the worship life of the church.

It’s not that believers are to be legalistic about just singing the psalms or just singing the hymns or just singing spiritual songs.

No, this verse is saying that, as we are filled with the Spirit, all our singing to one another—whether it be psalms, hymns, or spiritual songs—must be an encouragement to glorify God, an encouragement to specifically exalt Christ Jesus, and to celebrate the truths of His amazing grace.

[ILLUS] Speaking of amazing grace, when I was a youth minister, I took some of my guys to see a movie about William Wilberforce. The movie was called Amazing Grace because Wilberforce was friends with John Newton who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace.

At the end of the movie, as the credits were about to roll, the tune to Amazing Grace was being played on bagpipe by a Scottish marching band.

That’s when the lady one or two rows in front of us stood up, turned to us, and began to sing along with the bagpipes, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see...”

It was the most awkward thing, especially for the lady’s husband next to her.

As she sang, he tugged on her arm and said, “Please sit down,” to which she responded, “Shhhh. I told you I was going to do this! … ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear...”

And on and on she went.

[APP] Singing to one another as Ephesians 5:19 commands doesn’t have to be awkward, but it does have to be done. We must sing to one another in the congregation.

Psalm 26:2 NASB95

2 Examine me, O Lord, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.

Psalm 35:18 NASB95

18 I will give You thanks in the great congregation; I will praise You among a mighty throng.

Psalm 40:9 NASB95

9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, You know.

Psalm 68:26 NASB95

26 Bless God in the congregations, Even the Lord, you who are of the fountain of Israel.

Psalm 82:1 NASB95

1 God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers.

Psalm 107:32 NASB95

32 Let them extol Him also in the congregation of the people, And praise Him at the seat of the elders.

Psalm 149:1 NASB95

1 Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.

By singing to one another in the congregation, we teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16a).

Colossians 3:16 NASB95

16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

By singing to one another in the congregation, we edify one another—we build one another up (1 Cor. 14:26).

By singing to one another in the congregation, we bolster our faith in hard times.

Paul and Silas were prison. Acts 16:25 says…

Acts 16:25 NASB95

25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;

[ILLUS] Someone once said to me, “I get more out of the music than I do the sermon.” That was a very encouraging comment, but someone else once said, “I just wait for the music to get over with, so I can hear the sermon.”

Both of these perspectives are wrong.

We need both; we need to hear from the Word of God and we need to sing the truths of God’s Word.

Singing the truths of God’s Word should prepare the heart to hear from the Word of God.

Hearing from the Word of God should lead us to sing the truths of His Word.

We need the mind enlightened, the heart stirred, and the soul ignited by the magnificence of Jesus Christ.

This only happens as we “let the word of Christ richly dwell within (us)” and “speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.”

[TS] That’s COMMAND #1: Sing to one another. And now…

Command #2: Sing to the Lord (Eph. 5:19b)

Ephesians 5:19 NASB95

19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

[EXP] Some of us are glad that this verse says, “singing and making melody with your heart,” because we sure can’t sing and make melody with our vocal chords.

To sing with the heart is to sing from the heart and in the heart.

To make melody literally means to pluck a stringed instrument, so all of this means that the Christian heart is to be like one of those music boxes.

If you lift the lid on the Christian heart, we ought to hear the music of worship being lifted up to the Lord.

[ILLUS] A long time ago, I was at the Wal-Mart in Petal, Mississippi. I guess I was waiting on Cheryl to run and get something and come out because I was sitting in the parking lot when this truck—all jacked-up with mud tires—pulled up to the front of the store, about 10 feet from the sliding doors and parked. And you could hear the music thumping even before anyone opened a door on the truck. But when he opened the door, a song by the high-pitched “country” group Rascal Flats blared out, “Me and my gang, we live to ride, we ride to live…”

I was honestly embarrassed for whoever was in this truck because they thought this song was tough and its just not.

[APP] But let me ask you, if we were to pull open the door of your heart right now and listen to the music inside, would you be embarrassed?

What would we hear?

What types of song normally shuffle through your heart?

Songs that honor the Lord or songs that reflect the world?

[TS] …

Conclusion

There's within my heart a melody; Jesus whispers sweet and low, "Fear not, I am with you, peace, be still," in all of life's ebb and flow.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go (Hymn #148).

Is that true for you?

I need to ask, is it true for me?

How can we allow Jesus to keep us singing as we go?

One, fill up on the Word of God.

The Word of God commands us to sing. It moves us to sing.

So, read the Word and sing!

Two, starve yourself of the world.

The world isn’t singing about God! The world isn’t singing about Jesus! The world is singing about worldly stuff!

So, if you keep feeding upon the world, you’ll be singing a worldly tune in your heart.

Three, get into the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Sing one of the psalms as part of your devotions. Take the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs we sing in the service and sing them throughout the week. Find and sing a spiritual song that marvels at the grace of God.

Grace alone Which God supplies Strength unknown He will provide Christ in us Our cornerstone We will go forth in grace alone (Hymn #112).

Fourth, dwell on the the love of Jesus.

See Him who was guiltless upon the cross!

See Him paying the price for your sins!

See Him being mocked and pierced and buried in a tomb!

See Him raised, triumphant over sin and death!

See the love of Jesus and sing!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus! Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free, rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me, is the current of thy love; leading onward, leading homeward, to thy glorious rest above (Hymn #171).

[PRAYER]