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I want to start with a quote by Daniel Block, professor of Old Testament at Wheaten College, and author of the book For the Glory of God. He says: “If we would understand a culture other than our own, we should start not by reading essays about it by so-called objective observers, but by listening to the music, feeling its rhythm, and hearing the story of its poetry. This is as true of the church as it is of the cultures of the people who make up the church.”
I think Daniel is on to something. Culture, just like the people that make it up, tends to try and put on a good face. As Americans we still cling to the idea of being the land of the free, the land of opportunity, the land of the people. Yet if you have had the distinct misfortune to listen to the top 40 or hot 100 right now, you will hear song after song filled with anger, pain and loss. Song after song celebrating, sex, drugs, and abusive relationships. Som of the biggest hit songs of the secular world in the last two years have celebrated the rise of Satanism as well as the normalization of prostitution and pedophilia. The sound of unending profanity and God’s name being taken in vain flood the airwaves like never before. If the popular music of America is to be believed, we are not a happy people nor are we satisfied with the world around us, and most of all, our relationships are especially messed up.
That isn’t the only disturbing trend in modern pop music: The bands have been broken up. A recent study showed that in the last few years virtually no new bands have produced hit music, and the existing bands are rapidly aging out of the industry or breaking up. Pop music is now dominated by solo acts with the occasional one-time collaboration more for clout then friendship. Music celebrating sin has always been popular of course and can be found in every corner of history. But this new trend of musicians who no long can stand to work with each other is disturbing. I think it’s fair to say from the music of America, what we produce and what we listen to as a country, that the American individual has become the American narcissist. The value of singing together is being lost in our culture. Just as Satan is attacking the value of human life and the honor of marriage, so too is he attacking the art of humans joining together in song.
Music dividing people instead of uniting people is a trend that doesn’t just plague the secular world, but the Church as well. Many churches have resorted to dividing up their congregations based on musical tastes which fosters individualism over unity and hinders friendships across generational lines. How are older men to council younger men, and older women to council younger women when they won’t be in the same room for more than fifteen minutes? The question of what should a church sing cannot come down to personal tastes then. We must think Biblically about worship music to protect the church from such division.
So far this year we have considered how the church is to pray and how we are to pursue wisdom. Before we dive into our study of Luke, I want to take one week and consider this important subject of music with you all. We will consider what and how we sing, when we sing, and most importantly why we sing. Music is not an afterthought to God; as Christians, we need to be aware of not only what we are bobbing our heads to on the way to work but also what we sing on a given Sunday.
Our text this morning is Ephesians 5:15-21 with special focus given to the command in verse 19. This will give us the foundation for how we are to consider what are music should be. Follow along as I read:
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
You will notice in our text this morning that all Christians are commanded to sing. Thankfully this text doesn’t end with a “because I said so;” instead we see that we are given the reason we sing as well as the methodology of singing, and finally when we are to sing.
Our Main Point this morning then is this: Christians sing to worship God by encouraging one another, because the days are evil.
We will be taking these verses out of order as we follow Paul’s argument. We will look first at:
Point 1: Verse 20 Christians sing to worship God
Point 2: Verse 19 Christians sing to encourage each other
Point 3: Verse 16 Christians sing when the days are evil
Let’s start with the primary why we sing:
Point 1: Verse 20 Christians sing to worship God
Look at verses 19 and 20; we sing to one another, but ultimately, we sing to God in verse 19, and then verse 20 continues the thought with “giving thanks always and for everything to God.” We’ll consider the emphasis on the “one another” command in a little bit, but I want to start with the emphasis on the ultimate direction. The content of the music is praising and worshiping God first and foremost. We are not called to sing to each other about how great we are, but about what God has done for us. Praise God by singing is a command.
Martin Luther is attributed as saying “If any would not sing and talk of what Christ has wrought for us, he shows thereby that he does not really believe.” (Block 221). This is a strong command and a strong critique! For those who struggle to carry a tune, this can be extra intimidating. But notice what this is not saying: It is not commanding that everyone sing a solo, or belt out a tune; instead, it is simply a command to add your voice with others when the singing begins. A coldness towards the singing of God’s people based on pride or personal preference likely points to underlying sin. If we tie in verse 18 the connection should be clear: If we have the Holy Spirit, then we will sing of the Lord’s goodness. Therefore, if we do not sing of the Lord’s goodness, we know that the Spirit is either quenched or not with us at all. Music then, cannot be an afterthought to the church. Worship music matters.
But while our singing should be worship, that doesn’t mean that worship is just singing. Let us take a moment and define our terms:
Psalm 95 is helpful in seeing the difference between music and worship, keep your figure in Ephesians 5 while you look quickly at Psalm 95: Verse 1 and 2 call God’s people to make music. To make a joyful noise. This is because music, at its most basic, is organized sound in time. Music is a gift of God. It is the underpinning vibrations of the universe. It is the intention and artistic expression of emotion and feeling all around us. God’s creation makes music and all music reflects God’s glory and the feeling of existence. So not all music is worship. But all music is expressing something.
But Psalm 95:6 also calls God’s people to worship as well as to make music. Because Worship is also more than music: worship is first and foremost the orientation of the heart of all creation. Worship is what we bow down towards. Every single human being is always worshiping in a sense: because your heart is always pointing towards something. But worship is not always informal; Formal, or intentional worship is the intentional acknowledgment of this direction. We normally think of worship in the context of a worship service, literally organized worship, which it is but in reality: The events in your life that your life revolves around are all acts of worship. The things in your life that you wouldn’t miss for the world, show the direction of your heart. This is why events like marriage, births, deaths, graduations, and other significant events are often marked by prayer and statements of dedication before God, and in many cases singing. We are showing where are hearts are. But we are always worshiping, always honoring something with our lives. Just as an instrument regularly needs to be tuned, so too do our hearts need to be regularly tuned; as we sung earlier “tune my heart to sing thy praise.” So formal worship is the tuning, the reorienting of our hearts so that our informal daily worship would be more honoring to God.
Worship music, the singing part of our service, is not all of worship, formal or informal, but it is vital for us as Christians to calibrate our emotions and feelings. We are called to know truth, to know scripture, to sit under solid preaching and to train ourselves in doctrine and theology. As Baptists we love to emphasis this. But friends, we are also called to stir our hearts to sing his praise. We must have emotional investment in our salvation and relationship with our Savior.
Ephesians 5 also says that we are to be filled with the Spirit when we sing. True worship requires the Sprint. It is not man-made or engineered. The Spirit produces worship. When Jesus spoke to the women at the well in John 4, they discussed the nature of worship. The requirement for true worship was not a physical location at all instead it requires two things. Listen to Jesus’ words:
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Spirit and truth. The Spirit must be present and we must know the truth of who God is. This is vital for our worship and for our singing in worship. Therefore, as we sing in worship it must be Spirit led and filled with truth. We can’t have one without the other. We need the truth and we need to be moved by the Holy Spirit.
For our first application, let me ask you this question: if you were to tell me about how you just won a great sum of money and now all your debts are paid off, if you were to tell me of how your life was in danger and now you are saved, or if you were to tell me about your favorite hero, would there be joy on your face? Would you talk with your hands? Would you look excited? Then compare that to how you sing about your sins being paid, your life being rescued, and the greatest hero of them all Jesus himself! If you know me well, you know I talk with my hands, especially when I’m excited. So, I raise my hands up when I sing. If I am physically excited for secular stories and songs, how can I be passive for the greatest story ever told, for my own rescue and salvation? Yes, we do not want our actions or emotions to get in the way of others worshiping or be a distraction or hindrance. Yes, we must have decorum, reverence, and awe as we go before the presence of our great King. But we must have an appropriate level of emotion and excitement too.
Parents this is so especially important for you: your kids know what you love most because they are always watching you. If you kids see you jump for joy at a touchdown, or weep at a romantic movie, but you barely crack a smile for “Holy, Holy, Holy” or if you seem bored and distracted while you mumble through “Jesus paid it all” they will know that your faith isn’t real; in some cases, before you do. We are not robots; we are emotional beings that connect emotionally to our surroundings. If you can get excited about the things of the world but not the things of God, then something is horribly wrong. We need to let ourselves love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and body. So, raise your hands when you feel lead to; let yourself cry when you remember the kindness of God, sing loudly even if you miss the entrance sometimes (we all do it), but whatever you do, don’t just mumble along and mark time while you wait for the sermon or for lunch to roll around. Because if you let your heart and soul starve emotionally, your faith will die.
Now that we have considered why we sing, let us consider how we sing:
Point 2: Verse 19 Christians sing to encourage each other
Verse 19 tells us how we are to worship God through singing: By singing to each other. These are not separate commands, they are connected: God is worshiped by our encouraging each other. Notice first that this doesn’t mean we can’t sing in the shower, the car, or alone in our room. But it does mean that our singing falls short of fully honoring God if it is not heard by our brothers and sisters eventually. Corporate singing is required in order to obey this passage of scripture. And should we be surprised by this? The Old Testament is full of corporate singing and the book of revelation describes multiple songs sung by uncountable voices.
Worship music must be encouragement though. Our corporate singing must build up each other. The majority of our music in order to be Biblical, must be congregational participation, not observation of a performance. But what are we to sing? There are 3 answers given: Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs. These are all different words with different means and I want to take some time and really unpack what is being said here because there is a lot more here than you might suspect.
Let’s start with Psalms: This word directly references the Jewish collected music, mostly from the book of Psalms. The Psalms are Jewish, they were historical, and they were sung congregational with musical instruments being played. We don’t have time to dig into it this morning, but David makes it very clear in multiple passages that he is arranging songs for a lead stringed instrument, percussion, and rhythm instruments backing it up, all lead by worship leaders who are singing. The idea of the a cappella psalm sing is a much later idea that was born out of necessity and tradition. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with singing a cappella, and I enjoy it, but instruments are present in heaven and God enjoys and is honored by them. If you want to dig into this topic more, let me know and I will be happy to share my research with you. So, if Psalms are Jewish music, then what about Hymns?
Hymns are a Greek invention! Remember the Ephesians church was made up of Jews and Greeks. The Jewish Christians grew up on Psalms and were most comfortable with that style but the Greek Christians quickly began writing worship music in the style of their own culture which was the hymn. A Greek Hymn was a piece of music that celebrated a heroic deed or person. So, they would write hymns to famous battles or to characters like Hercules or Zeus. Naturally they wanted to celebrate Jesus as the greatest champion of all and His victory over sin and death was greater than any Greek legend. So, they wrote new hymns! I’m sure you can imagine the culture clash of wanting to sing your music and not the other culture’s music! The Jews and the Greeks engaged in the very first worship war as they both preferred their own style of music. This is the same problem the modern church faces, but the solution was not to split the church into a “Jewish” service at 9 and a “Greek” service at 10:30. No! They were to learn to sing together and share their music. Paul’s answer to the worship war was for the different believers to sing both forms of music to encourage one another! Jews sing Hymns and Greeks sing Psalms! Bless and encourage each other. New and Old, Jewish and Greek. There is nothing Godly or Biblical about splitting a church over musical tastes.
But that only covers the first two words; there is a third answer: Sing spiritual songs! These two words in the Greek are just as broad sounding as the English: Literally songs that are spiritual. The point is this: Christian music did not end at the Psalter; it didn’t end with the first-generation Greek Hymn. Every generation and every culture are to add their voice and their music. To keep writing and keep celebrating the goodness of God. To keep encouraging each other. So, we should sing the Psalter! We should sing the old hymns of the faith, but we should also keep singing new music. As long as the lyrics are filled with truth and the music lends itself well to corporate singing we should continue to add to the musical tradition of the church. The Bible may be complete; but the hymnal can always use a few more pages.
So, the command to sing Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs is the command to sing in and out of your own comfort and tradition, it is a command to sing songs of the past, present, and future. It is an invitation to put your own preferences aside for the opportunity to bless your brother and sister. Many churches throughout the world and throughout history have sung in multiple languages at once, have worked hard to incorporate new instruments or styles, have learned songs outside their regular repertoire in order to bless each other. This is the unity that God calls us to.
There are limits of course: music with poor theology, overly vague language, or outright heretical messaging should never be sung. We shouldn’t sing Psalms in the original Hebrew for example, because we don’t speak that language. But we also should consider the instrumentation: Music that is hard to sing congregationally doesn’t work for a worship gathering. You can probably think of a few genres that don’t work for a worship service: Techno, British light opera, rap music, or musical theater would all be incredibly distracting and challenging no matter what words you put to them. DC Talks Jesus Freak is a great song but trying to sing that on a Sunday morning would be a disaster. The music must support the goal: to encourage one another by singing with one another. We need to be able to understand the lyrics and keep together musically. But other than that, there is a massive amount of cultural freedom to sing new music to the Lord.
And new music is not just an afterthought, it is encouraged! We read Psalm 96 at the beginning of our service that calls out: Sing to the Lord a new song! That doesn’t stop in the Old Testament. Revelation 5:9 says that John witnessed the heavenly choir singing a new song. Music doesn’t stop. We will never reach the end of the musical expression of who God is and what all He has done for us.
But there is more to singing than just the genre: we sing to each other in order that we might teach each other. Look at Col 3:15-17:
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
We see here the same three types of music, but with different verbs: We are to sing in order to teach and admonish. A major part of our encouragement to each other is that our corporate music teaches. If I asked you to tell me what you learned from a sermon you heard ten years ago, it’s very likely you would struggle to remember many details if any at all. I can remember what books of the Bible were being preached in my early twenties, and could probably recollect a few very impactful sermons, but if you ask me what I was singing 10 or15 plus years ago I could likely sing entire verses and point to the events surrounding learning that song or hymn. Music sticks theology and doctrine into our brains with unmatched strength. Music is a valuable teaching tool. This is why the lyrics matter.
Scott Aniol’s book Worship in Song is particularly helpful on this topic. According to Scott, the goal of every church is the spiritual maturity of Christians, and that maturity is not just the head knowledge, the “word” in Colossians 5, but also the emotional maturity of the heart as well. If we devote ourselves to theology but do not have emotional expression then we are not mature. Imagine a man, a neuroscientist, who has read dozens of books on raising children and how the human brain develops; he knows every single chemical and milestone of childhood development, yet cannot look his son in the eye and say a simple “I love you.” That would be a tragedy and a failure as a parent. Knowledge without emotion is insufficient. This is the state of the Christian without emotion. We must have truth, we must love doctrine, but it must naturally lead to relationship and expression. It is the goal of the church then to teach not just doctrine but how to have a healthy emotional response to doctrine.
Listen to the words of Scott Aniol:
Scarcely is there a mention of music in the Bible without some connection to emotion. If anything is clear from the Bible’s discussion of music, it is that God thinks music is important. So should we. Music provides a language for a right expression of emotion, and a good music actually educates our emotions so that they develop to maturity. That is why those who say the purpose of music in the church is simply to teach or affirm truth are completely missing the function of music. Certainly, church music can teach the mind, but if our only purpose is to teach truth, there are many far better ways to do so…. he continues …. We should view music in the church as that which helps us express our affections and teach us what our affections should be. (page 165-166)
The application of this point should be clear then: We are to learn and sing a variety of music with the goal of singing together. Music should be part of your everyday life. But music needs to be shared so that we may be emotionally mature Christians not just intellectually grounded.
So, we are to sing for the purpose of worship and to encourage one another; but how long are we to sing? Let’s look now at our final reason as well as our “how long” statement in verse 16:
Point 3: Verse 16 Christians sing when the days are evil
Why do we need music? Because the days are evil. How long should be sing? As long as the days are evil. Now I don’t think I need to convince you the days are evil. If we went around the room and asked everyone to name an evil in the world currently, we would run out of people before we ran out of evils. But I want you to see the connection here: The best use of your time in the face of evil is to sing! Not cry, not shout, not protest, not fuss or pout. We are called to sing in the face of evil. I want to point your attention to Psalm 149 and look at how this theme is expanded on there: This was a scripture reading earlier, did you catch the progression from music to the defeat of wickedness?
The psalm beings as we might expect: Praise and singing are connected. There is a call for new music to be written. There is dancing and instruments. God’s goodness is worshiped specifically. Then we come to verse 6: Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands. The following verses parallel the destruction of evil. There is salvation for the people of God and judgment on His enemies. Our music is to remind us of both truths: Our salvation is assured, and the destruction of sin is also assured. All the evil in the world around us will be destroyed, all people great and small will be called to give an account. All the wrongs will be righted. God will be just in his judgment. But until that day we should keep singing. And when the day of judgment comes all evil will end forever and the song will change one final time. Revelation describes how the song shifts from waiting for the savior to celebrating our salvation forever in heaven by singing into eternity!
There is another important parallel back in Ephesians 5: Verse 18 contrasts drunkenness with The Holy Spirit filling our hearts with song. Drinking alcohol to forget is fundamentally one of the most hopeless actions a person can take. A drunkard sees the pain the world and their own life, cannot find hope, and instead numbs their emotions with chemical stimulation, a numbness that won’t less and will need even more alcohol. The Christian filled with the Spirit sees the pain in the world and their own life and finds hope in God, assurance in Christ, and looks forward to an eternity in heaven; and so they sing! They sing loudly the music of the faith! They sing together with their church! They sing in hope! And they keep singing all the way to the arms of Christ.
This is our finally application: In times of trial, in times of loss, in times of heartache and suffering, I encourage you to sing in the Spirit. Come together as brothers and sisters and sing together. Sing to remind your heart of the goodness of God, sing to remember that wickedness will end. And when we gather together to sing, remember that you are singing not just to God and to stir up your own heart but you are singing to encourage all those around you as well. Often times it is easy to struggle to know what to say to comfort someone who is hurting, but showing up faithfully every Sunday to sing and worship is a powerful encouragement to your brothers and sisters who are in the midst of trials.
If there are any here who do not yet have hope to sing about and desire to know more of this Jesus to whom we sing, then I encourage you to talk to me, or pastor John or the friend you came with. Christ rescues all those who come to him from their sin. He restores us to God when we are unworthy and unable. If anyone is worth singing about it is Jesus.
As we conclude this morning, I hope you see that while music is not the only element of worship, it is also not an afterthought. Worship must always move from truth to response which can be emotionally expressed as song. Spiritually healthy Christians worship God through singing together as they gather together. So, I want to encourage you to sing! Learn the lyrics and meditate on them. Learn to value psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, especially those that are not of your culture, generation, or musical taste. Learn to find encouragement in music and encourage others. If God has gifted you musically, then I want to encourage you to use your gifts to bless the church in leading the weekly singing. There is incredible honor for those who lead God’s people to lift their voices. And if you are not musically gifted, that’s OK! Sing anyways! Join your voice with the congregation and don’t be afraid to express yourself. God calls all of us to sing, regardless of ability. We are to sing in a way that blends our voices together into a sweet sound that delights God and reminds us that one day we will be called home to Him.