Singing As Worship

1. Read: Col.3:15-17 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

2. About the Text:

1) Paul, in writing the book of Colossians, is writing regarding the supremacy of Christ over the philosophies of men.

2) In chapter 3, he emphasizes the relationship of Christians with Christ in the resurrection.

3) Based upon this relationship, Christians are to behave in a certain manner.

4) They are not to behave in such a way as is indicated in verses 5-11.

5) They are rather to practice the attitudes and actions of the Christian faith.

6) Singing is among those great actions of faith that indicate the superiority of Christ.

3. Worship series

1) Worship is reverence God in a way that is wholly dedicated to him.

2) It is the bending of the knee and prostrating oneself toward God in devotion.

3) Singing is universally recognized as a form of worship.

4) How should it be done?

4. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Beauty in singing are those things that are pleasing to the human ear–the beauty of the singing.

i. The beauty of the song plays a part in our Christian happiness according to James.

ii. James 5:13b “Is any merry, let him sing songs.”

iii. There is a certain relationship between our emotional state and singing and we should not neglect this.

iv. Militaries the world over recognize the power of song.

v. Countries have national anthems.

vi. Singing arouses great feelings of loyalty and patriotism in these contexts.

vii. Singing should have the same effect upon the church as well.

2. But there are those who exalt Beauty above Christ.

i. The one who sings well and emphasizes the importance of singing “correctly.”

1) Merely focusing upon singing the song correctly can lead to vain worship.

2) One can be distracted by whether one is on pitch and in time and thus not concentrate on the meaning of the song at all.

3) The person may desire that the song service be beautiful (aesthetically) above anything else failing to recognize that true beauty in the song is when we do things according to God’s will.

ii. The one who fails to sing at all for fear of not singing “correctly.”

1) This is the other extreme.

2) They don’t want to make the song sound bad. So they don’t sing.

3) But they fail to realize that singing is from the heart.

4) God demands that everyone worship in song.

3. Those who don’t believe that Beauty are involved at all.

i. There are some who don’t believe that Beauty are involved at all.

ii. How can you have a song without pitch and time?

iii. In order to have singing, there must be some minimal Beauty.

4. The proper place of Beauty.

i. Used to compose music to sing by. Without it, there would be no songs.

ii. Used to promote unity of thought and worship.

iii. Used to encourage and bolster faith in the individual.

iv. Used to engender emotions of loyalty and bravery.

v. Beauty in song focuses our emotions correctly, but they are the last thing that we should be worried about in worshipping God.

1. In that singing is worship to God, singing doctrinally incorrect songs would be blaspheming God.

i. Would it be acceptable to sing about the glories of sin?

ii. What about singing praises to Satan?

iii. We understand that we must not sing in these ways, as it would be an affront to God.

iv. Why would we think that some other doctrinal error would not be an equal affront to Him?

v. Acts 2:42 says that the early Christians “Continued steadfast in the apostles doctrine.” This applies to singing as anything.

vi. Song books are not inspired, so we must be careful as to what we sing.

2. The scriptures say that singing is to be used to teach and admonish.

i. What are we to teach?

ii. How are we to admonish?

iii. Must come from sound doctrine.

3. We must also allow for poetic license.

4. A good balance between the two is asking ourselves the question, “Is there a way that I can understand this song that harmonizes with the scriptures and think of it that way when I sing the song.” If there is no way to do this, then we must remove the song from the repertoire of our song service.

5. Finally, we must respect the decisions of the eldership in this regard as well.

1. In worship, we must sing songs that we understand. “I will sing with the Spirit; I will sing with the understanding also.” 1 Cor.14:15

i. If there are songs that have difficult phrases then the song leader needs to explain what those songs mean if not explained in the song book.

ii. “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” (500) “O Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

iii. “The Spacious Firmament on High” (666)

2. This also involves thinking about the meaning of the words we are singing.

i. No daydreaming.

ii. No vain repetition (Matthew 6:7).

iii. We must strive to sing the song in a way that will encourage our brethren. (“Teaching and admonishing one another”; Col.3:16)

3. How do we focus better on the meaning of songs?

i. We can think about the meaning of the stanza.

ii. We can think about how the Chorus relates to the stanza.

iii. Example.658, “There is Much to Do” or “Here am I, send me.”

1) When singing this song, we can think about all of the great men of the Bible who answered God’s call.

2) We can think specifically about Isaiah 6:8 “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”

3) We can think about being called by Jesus and answering the call (1st stanza).

4) We can think about being sent to those who have never heard the gospel (2nd stanza).

5) We can think about those who are in need of benevolence (3rd stanza).

6) We can think about those who need to repent (4th stanza).

7) In all of these things our attitude should be, “Here am I, send me.”

1. Our attitude in worship must be to do only that which is authorized by God. (Col.3:17)

i. The Bible is clear on God’s attitude toward those who go beyond His authority.

ii. Nadab and Abihu (Lev.10:1,2)

iii. Uzzah (2 Sam.6:1ff)

iv. 2 John 9 “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”

v. We must remain within God’s authorized pattern.

2. This means that our singing must be just that–singing.

i. God has specifically authorized singing.

ii. This excludes playing.

iii. This excludes humming.

iv. This excludes whistling.

3. What does the Bible say?

i. There are eleven passages within the New Testament that authorize us to sing today.

ii. These are: Matt.26:30; Mark 14:26; Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Eph.5:19; Col.3:16; Heb.2:12; James 5:13; Rev. 5:9; Rev.14:3; Rev.15:3.

iii. There are ZERO passages that authorize us to play, hum, or whistle.

iv. It is a matter of doing what God wants done in worship to Him, not what WE want.

4. Notice Ephesians 5:19 “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”

5. Notice Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

6. Singing is to be done from the heart. The heart is the instrument upon which we are to play today before the Lord.

1. We have looked at singing in worship to God. Let us think about these four things in regard to our singing. Singing correctly involves . . . .

i. Beauty

ii. Doctrine

iii. Understanding

iv. Attitude

2. Invitation

i. We are now about to sing the song of invitation.

ii. This is a song that we sing to invite those who need to change their lives to come forward and make that known to the church.

iii. If you are a Christian but have fallen away

1) The song invites you to come to Jesus and receive rest from the burden of sin.

2) Do you need that great rest today?

iv. If you are not a Christian this morning . . .

1) Then you need to receive the rest of Jesus as well.

2) This song invites you to do what you need to do to respond to His call.

3) Heed the plan that it has for man’s salvation today!

i) Hear the word; Romans 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing . . .”

ii) Believe with all your heart; Hebrews 11:6 “For without faith it is impossible . . . .”

iii) Repent of your sins (Acts 17:30).

iv) Confess Jesus as the Son of God (Matt.16:16).

v) Be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 22:16).