Weekend with Joel Weldon

This weekend Edgewood was blessed to have the opportunity to host worship leader, Joel Weldon.  He led worship at our morning services and did a full concert in the evening.  In addition to hearing him sing and share at our services, I was blessed with the chance to spend a lot of time with him in casual conversation as well.  It was nice to have someone who has "been there and done that" to really pour thoughts and encouragement into my life.  I was greatly refreshed and encouraged by his words, spirit, and heart for the Lord.

In the services, he really challenged our church to fully surrender to God's calling and direction.  He introduced a few new worship songs (that we will likely be using soon!) that really spoke to this message.  Arms Open Wide is one of them that I really connected with.  It says,

Take my life I lay it down at the cross where I am found
Take my moments and my days let each breath that I take be ever only for You
Here I stand, arms open wide, I am Yours and You are mine
My whole life is Yours, I give it all surrendered to Your name
And forever I will pray, have Your way, have Your way.

What a great message!  Hearing the congregation declare that together was so powerful.  I pray that we can be a congregation that stands fully surrendered to our God and His desires for our church!

It was also fun for me to get to see some of our regular praise team members singing and playing in the band with Joel.  I'm normally picking out details and fixing problems in the songs.  It was a joy to just sit back and listen and be blessed.  I was so impressed with our guys; their talent, their flexibility, their boldness, and their joy.  Edgewood is blessed every week by these guys and it was a great reminder for me to see and experience that for myself.

For the Edgewood folks reading this, I hope you were encouraged and challenged as well.  I'd love to hear any comments about how God spoke to you this weekend through Joel. 

For those wanting to see more about Joel and his ministry, his website is www.joelweldon.com.

Reason #9 - To Join in the Everlasting Symphony of Praise

Tonight we wrap up our study answering the question, "Why Do We Sing?"  This last reason quickly became one of my favorites.  It's such a great picture of the amazing opportunity we have when we sing.  It's about so much more than just ourselves.  We are able to join with the Everlasting Symphony of Praise!

Psalm 148 explains what God expects from His symphony of praise.  It says,

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light!
Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created.
He has also established them forever and ever;
He has made a decree which will not pass away.
Praise the Lord from the earth, Sea monsters and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
Mountains and all hills; Fruit trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle; Creeping things and winged fowl. 

Since the beginning of time, God’s creation has been praising Him.  This passage declares that God should regularly hear His praises from the heavens, the angels, the sun, the moon, the stars, the water, the sea monsters, fire, hail, snow, clouds, wind, mountains, trees, animals, birds, and even the bugs!  But, listen to the next part of this chapter… 

Praise the Lord!
Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and young women; Old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven.
Praise the Lord!

We have an opportunity to join with all creation and sing His praise.  The worship service doesn’t start when I say, “Good morning, let’s stand and sing together.”  The worship service started with the beginning of time.  He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end and He demands and deserves praise.

Louie Giglio just released a new DVD called Symphony.  His message is based off of Psalm 148 and shares what an amazing opportunity we have to join with all creation to sing His praises.  During part of his message, Louie Giglio plays sounds to give us a little glimpse of what God hears.  He starts with sounds from space that are emitted by the stars.  Then, he mixes in sounds of whales and other animals.  Lastly, he mixes in the voices of God’s people singing “How Great is Our God!”  That symphony of praise is music to God’s ears and Psalm 148 commands us to use our voices to join that symphony.

Another amazing thing about this symphony of praise is that it’s everlasting.  Just as this symphony has been praising God since the beginning of time, it will also continue for all of eternity.  When our time of singing in the earthly symphony is complete, we will get promoted to join with the angels in the heavenly choir.

Revelation gives us a breathtaking picture of all the heavenly beings singing around God’s throne.  We should sing today with this picture in mind so we can look forward to the glory yet to come!  To help give us a better feel for what the singing in heaven might be like, I want to share a passage from a book called Edge of Eternity.  In this book, Randy Alcorn gives some very appropriate thoughts to what we might expect….

We rejoined our comrades in the great camp of [heaven], embracing and shedding tears and slapping each other on the back. Then warriors around me turned toward the masses of untold millions gathered in [heaven]. The army began to sing, perhaps hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million. I added my voice to theirs and sang the unchained praises of the King. As we sang to the gathered throngs of [heaven], the sheer power of our voices, nearly bowled me over.

Then suddenly the multitudes before us sang back to us, and our voices were drowned by theirs. We who a moment earlier seemed the largest choir ever assembled now proved to be only the small worship ensemble that led the full choir of untold millions, now lost to themselves. We sang together in full voice. The galaxies and nebulae sang with us the royal song. It echoed off a trillion planets and reverberated in a quadrillion places in every nook and cranny of the universe. Our voices broke into thirty-two distinct parts, and instinctively I knew which of them I was made to sing. “We sing for joy at the work of your hands…we stand in awe of you.” It felt indescribably wonderful to be lost in something so much greater than myself.

[Then I looked at] the audience.  I looked at the great throne, and upon it sat the King…the Audience of One.  When we completed our song, the One on the throne stood and raised his great arms and clapped his hands together in thunderous applause, shaking ground and sky, jarring every corner of the cosmos. His applause went on and on, unstopping and unstoppable.

 And in that moment I knew, with unwavering clarity, that the King’s approval was all that mattered—and ever would.

 We sing, not for our own glory, preferences, or pleasure, but for the pleasure of the One who gave us a song in the first place. The great Redeemer has given us the song of the redeemed, so that we might remember His words and respond fully to Him.

God gave us singing to develop and deepen our relationship with Him until that day when we will wake to find ourselves singing directly to Him.  God wants us to join His everlasting symphony.  We must continue to sing!

Reason #8 - To Express our Unity in Christ

Romans 12:4-6 says,

         For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly.

 After Paul wrote that passage about how we all have different giftings, he quickly followed it with verse 10 that says,

         Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.

We are supposed to have different roles and different gifts, BUT we are also supposed to work together and be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  We need each other.  None of us are too young or too old to make a difference.  None of us have more important gifts or less important gifts.  And none of us can do alone what all of us can all do together.

When we think about being unified as a Body of believers, singing is a powerful way to express that unity.

As a choir, we strive be unified in as many areas as possible.  We want to be together in pitch, tempo, groove, blend, tone quality, vowel sounds, cutoffs, where we’re looking when we sing and several other areas.   We push to be together in all those areas because the more unified we are in our singing, the more unified we will be in declaring our message.   I also believe that the unity of our choir, with our variety of ages and variety of backgrounds, is a great example to our congregation.  We are using the gifts God has given us and joining together as one to bring glory to Him.  As we sing together as a choir, I believe we are a great picture of unity in Christ.

As a church, our time of congregational singing is the only opportunity we have all week long to unite as one body to declare the same words, in the same place, at the same time.  I love to think about how powerful that is!  You’ve heard me say this before, but I really don’t think offering multiple styles of worship services is a wise idea.  I think a much better approach is to have a united congregation singing the same songs together.  Just as the unity of the choir is an example to the church, the unity of our congregation is an example to our community.  Our God and our church have to be a priority over our personal preferences.  When we sing together, it gives us an opportunity to express that unity.

We have referenced Colossians 3:16 several times throughout this study and we look back at it again this week.  It tells us to, 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

We don’t know specifically what Paul meant by each of those three different sets of music (psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs).  However, this passage is clearly teaching us to use a variety of musical expressions in our worship. But listen to what the four verses talk about before the he even gets to the part about singing.  Back up to verse 12 and it says,

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

THEN he says to teach one another as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  Our unity doesn’t come through our music.  We are unified by Christ, our love for Him, and our love for each other.  Then, we can express that unity through our singing.

Our unity through singing helps put the focus on God instead of ourselves.  Our unity through singing helps us remember we’re part of a family.  And our unity through singing is a powerful example to those who visit with us.

God has given us unique giftings, talents, and skills.  But, they were given to us for His glory.  He wants us to use them to bring glory to Him and to benefit the Body of believers.  Singing allows us to join together with the same words, in the same place, at the same time, to powerfully express our unity in Christ.

Reason #7 - To Help Share and Teach God’s Word to Others

We’ve talked about how our singing helps us remember and meditate on God’s Word.  Singing is good for our benefit by helping us better internalize God’s Word.  But it’s also a great tool for teaching and sharing God’s Word to those around us.

That is exactly what we’re doing through the Easter program this weekend.  It is a way for us to remember the cross and praise Him for His amazing love for us.  AND, it’s a way for us to share that story with our church and our community.

I love what Psalm 78:3-4 says about continuing to share God’s Word.

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.  We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.

And music is a powerful way to continue to tell God’s story.  People might be attracted to go see a concert more than a church service.  It’s a great tool for outreach.  But, when God’s word is proclaimed through the music, they are receiving a LOT more than just a concert.

While in college, I went on a music mission trip to Japan.  I sang with a choir who traveled around Japan and did about 10 concerts.  We setup a projector to display every word of our songs in English and in Japanese.  The music drew them in, but the message is what we wanted them to hear.  We were even able to share the entire program at a Buddhist High School.  They allowed us to do this because it was a “cultural experience” for their students. Amazing seeds were planted that day because we were able to use singing to share and teach God’s Word.

I have a strong heart for combining music and missions and would love to find ways to do even more of that.  But besides outreach-minded settings, what about the songs we sing during our regular Sunday morning services?

For people who visit with us, we want them to hear music and preaching that leads them to the one true God.

For our regular attenders, we want them to hear music and preaching that leads them into a closer relationship with the one true God.

In order to do that, we must be singing Scripturally accurate songs.  We need songs that are sung to God, there is nothing wrong with that.  But, in addition to singing songs to God, we need to be singing songs with objective truths about God.

If we don’t sing objective truths about the one true God, then many of our songs could also be sung by Muslims, Buddhists, or Hindus.  This doesn’t mean that every song has to have a full theological exposition of Scripture.  But, it does mean the collection of songs we sing should be Scripturally accurate and teach our congregation more about the one true God. 

One great example of this is the combination we just used on Sunday of Mighty to Save with I Will Rise.  Listen to this message:

            Everyone needs compassion, love that’s never failing

            Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Savior
            There’s a peace I’ve come to know
            There’s an anchor for my soul
            Jesus has overcome and the grave is overwhelmed
            The victory is won, He is risen from the dead
            And because of that, My God is mighty to save
            So, I’ll hear the voice of many angels sing “Worthy is the Lamb.”
 
No one can offer a love that’s never failing except the one true God.
There is no anchor for my soul outside of the one true God.
No other god can say they have overcome the grave and risen from the dead except the one true God.
No one is mighty to save except the one true God.
No one can promise that one day we will stand with the angels singing “Worthy is the Lamb.”  No one offers that promise of eternal life except the one true God.

Our songs must be filled with Scripturally accurate messages that give people a better understanding of who God is.  And we must keep singing to help share and teach God’s Word to others.

Reason #6 - Because Singing Helps us Express Emotions

The "Why Do We Sing" series continues with reason #6.  We should sing because it is one way to help express emotions...expressing externally what is happening internally.

In Bible times, they had a very set structure on how to worship.  There were guidelines regarding the location, the rituals, the timing and just about every detail that they were supposed to follow.  During the time Jesus was on Earth, however, He proclaimed a new message about worship.  In John 4:21, while talking to the woman at the well, He says,

Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

There are a lot of profound truths in this passage and some revolutionary thoughts for worship.  “Neither In this mountain nor in Jerusalem” was a reference to how they believed their location was imperative to worship.  But, Jesus is saying that you don’t have to be at the temple to worship.  Instead, there was “an hour coming” (the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection) where we all will have access to God through Jesus.  We can worship anywhere.  And to be a true worshiper, we must worship in spirit and truth.  This is showing that true worship happens through Jesus from our hearts.  We can’t worship simply through external actions or rituals, but instead we must worship with the proper heart attitude.

We have been singing a song by Hillsong called “From the Inside Out.”  It shares this exact same message.  The chorus says,

            And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise

            From the inside out, Lord, my heart cries out

Our worship starts in our hearts.  When our hearts are focused on Him, then our outward actions are an expression of what’s happening on the inside.

Singing is one way to have that outward expression of emotion.  Music has a way of touching our emotions and it is a great way of expressing our emotions.

This is one of the reasons I love it when the music matches the message of a song.  “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” would not seem fitting as a violin duet.  It needs a full orchestra with a 30’ pipe organ, timpani, and the works!  But, a song like “I Love You Lord” matches the emotions best when it’s sung with light accompaniment or even completely acappella…“may it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.”  The message needs to drive the music, not the other way around.

When music is mentioned in the Bible it is most often associated with expressing joy. 

Psalm 100:2 says, “Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.”
James 5:13 says “Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.”

Singing is a great way to express the joy God has placed inside of us.

Singing allows us to combine intellect with emotion.
Singing connects objective truth with our response to it.

If singing is used to express emotion and if our hearts are filled with gratitude toward God, then how in the world could our singing ever be monotone or half-hearted?

We talked earlier about how singing helps us remember and meditate on God’s Word.  When focusing on His Word and all He’s done for us, we cannot suppress our joy and emotions while singing.

 
What about when you just don’t feel like singing?

Bob Kauflin, the worship leader who I got a lot of this study material from, suggests these three main reasons for a lack of emotion in worship.

First, we may have forgotten that we’ve been forgiven of our past sins.  Worship should always contain the emotion of gratitude.  Even in the middle of the hardest struggles in life, God is still right there with us and we will never lose our salvation. Regardless of what the rest of life brings, we have a reason to sing.  We cannot forget that.

Second, we may have yielded to the sin the Bible calls “fear of man.”  We may ask questions like, “What if people don’t like my voice?”, “How can I raise my hands or cry in public?” or “What would my friends think if I did that?”  Such fears can easily quench our affections.  If our worship is controlled by what other people might think of us, who are we really worshiping?

Finally, we may believe that expressing emotion in worship is wrong.  In a reading of Psalms, you will see many various forms of emotional expression. As the psalmists focus on who God is and what He has done, their hearts and affections are increasingly drawn to Him. The same will happen to us.  If emotions were given to us for anything, they were given to us for God.

While we’re looking at emotional expression in worship, let’s touch on a few other avenues of expression besides singing…

Sometimes we’re full of joy and want to move our body a little or put our hands together and clap.  Sometimes our life is so crazy and we just want to tune out all the distractions, close our eyes, and focus fully on Him.  Sometimes we think about His holiness and we want to fall to our knees or raise our hands to express our humbleness before Him.

Clapping, in itself, does not make you a better worshiper and closing your eyes does not make you more holy.  But, if your heart is overflowing with joy and gratitude and you feel led to clap in praise, then you better clap!  If your heart is overflowing with love to God and you want to tune everything else out, then close your eyes and focus on Him alone.  If your heart is overwhelmed with the fact that even though we’re so unworthy and God loves us anyway, then fall to your knees or raise your hands and worship Him.

Don’t hold back your emotional expressions of what God is doing inside your heart.

Since Madelyn was born, I have been overwhelmed with emotion many times to the point of tears.  To me, it’s still kinda’ weird and I can’t explain it.  Am I crying to get attention?  Absolutely not.  Can I cry on demand?  No.  Does it mean I love Madelyn more than a dad who doesn’t cry for his kids?  No.  It means that my heart is full of love and, for whatever reason, my emotional expression comes through joyful tears.  It is an overflow of my heart.

When our hearts are full of love for our God, there is likely to be outward emotional expression.  Through singing, through clapping, through raising your hands in humbleness, through closing your eyes, or even through tears, we should not be afraid of emotional expression.  But, it must come as an overflow of our hearts.

The Father seeks true worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth.

May we be a people who strive to be true worshipers, worshiping Him from the inside out.

Happy Birthday Madelyn!

Today is Madelyn's first birthday!  Wow!  As part of her birthday celebration, I decided I should write her a letter.  She is an amazing little girl and I hope this letter can be a special keepsake for us.  I hope you find encouragement through it as well.


Dear Madelyn, Daddy’s little girl,

I can’t believe you are turning 1 today. We are so blessed to have you in our family.

Your Mommy picked the name Madelyn and it fits you perfectly. It’s so cute and so are you! I really wanted your middle name to be Joy because I had a feeling you were going to bring so much joy to our lives. But, I had no idea it would as much as this! Your beautiful smile, your adorable giggles, and your sweet personality have brought us amazing joy every day this year.

You have also taught me to experience a new kind of love. I never knew how much a daddy could love his little girl until I met you. I love you just because you’re you and nothing is ever going to change that.

Your Mommy and I pray for you every day. We pray that you’ll keep growing strong. We pray that one day you will understand the love that God has for you and that you will ask Him to come into your life. We even pray for your future husband, that God would be preparing him to take care of you one day...one day…in like 40 years!

I love seeing you when you wake up in the morning all full of smiles. I love seeing you throughout the day as you observe and explore everything around you. I love holding and dancing with you as you wind down and get ready for bed. Sometimes I wish the rest of the world would just stop so I could just hold you all day long.

Your Mommy and I have also learned to love each other more because of you. Besides our love for God and each other, there is nothing that compares to the love we have for you. And we want to be the best examples that we can for you. As you grow up, we want you to know that we are always here for you and you can talk to us about anything. We’ll mess up, so you better be ready for that. But, we will always try to do our best to take care of you and teach you in a way that honors God.

Happy Birthday Madelyn! Your Mommy and I love you more than you can imagine!

Daddy

Reason #5 - To Help Express Worship and Adoration

The word worship has been defined in many ways.  My favorite definition says, “Worship is honoring God by focusing our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection on Him.” 

Franklin Segler (in Christian Worship) says that “Worship defies definition; it can only be experienced.”  But he goes onto say how the more we understand worship, the better we will experience worship. 

When looking at a Biblical definition of worship, I found some interesting surprises.  I never realized there are actually several different Greek and Hebrew words that got translated into the English word worship.  I have honestly been intrigued by this study and have been digging deep into this lesson specifically.  I want a better understanding of what it means to worship God. 

As we discussed in the last lesson, there are many examples in the Bible of singing praise to God.  But, there are very few regarding singing worship to God.  Obviously these are very closely related, but a deeper look at worship shows us that singing is only a small part of what worship is all about.

In all the original words that got translated to worship, the ones used most often really give the picture of “bowing down in reference.”

Let’s look at a few of those examples.  In 2 Chronicles 29, there is a great passage about how Hezekiah restores worship in the Temple.  This passage goes through the whole process of burnt offerings and how they incorporated music into the time of worship.  Then in verse 30, it says, 

King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.

Another great passage on worship is Psalm 95:1-6.
            Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord,
            Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
            Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
            Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
            For the Lord is a great God
            And a great King above all gods,
            In whose hand are the depths of the earth,
            The peaks of the mountains are His also.
            The sea is His, for it was He who made it,
            And His hands formed the dry land.
            Come, let us worship and bow down,
            Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

In that Psalm we are told of God’s greatness and that our response should be to worship and bow down.  In a very similar format, I love the way the song “Cannons” (by Phil Wickham) presents this.  The chorus of that song says,

            You are holy, great and mighty
            The moon and the stars declare who You are
            I’m so unworthy, but still you love me
            Forever my heart will sing of how great you are

In that chorus, the first two lines declare God’s holiness.  Then, in light of His holiness, we immediately recognize that we are so unworthy to be in His presence.  But since He continues to love us, we must worship Him and declare that “forever my heart will sing of how great you are.”  I love that message. 

We see the word worship in the New Testament referring to “bowing down” as well.  In Matthew 2:11 we read about the wise men coming to see baby Jesus.   It says,

After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him.

Revelation is another good example.  It is filled with pictures of heavenly worship. Revelation 4:10-11 says,

The twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power.”

 So far we’ve seen a very strong theme of recognizing God’s holiness and bowing down in worship to Him.  While that is the definitely the biggest use of the word worship in the Bible, let’s look at another example of how the word worship is used.  This comes in Romans 12:1.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

This verse has led us to the quote, “Worship is a lifestyle.”  That is completely true.  We should worship God through every area of our lives.  However, I want to point out that the Greek word translated to worship in this passage is a completely different word than the ones translated to worship in all of our other examples in this lesson.  The first word means more of “bowing down in reverence.”  This word translates more to mean “habitual service” or “duty”.

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with this; I just want to clarify the differences between these two definitions of worship.  Our lives should be filled with habits of service to God.  The way we go through our daily lives, the way we treat our families, the way we act at work, or the way we respond when people upset us, are all ways to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God.  We must be thinking about Him all the time.

The reason I wanted to point out this difference is because a lot of people say that “worship is a lifestyle” and, without meaning to, they belittle the other definition of worship.  Yes, I hope we are serving and worshiping God all throughout the week.  But, we must take time to stop, rest in His presence, focus our heart’s affection, focus our mind’s attention, bow down, and worship Him.

Let me point out too that you can’t have one of these types of worship without the other.  If you come on Sundays to “worship” but ignore Him the rest of the week, you’re not truly worshiping Him.  It’s just a show.  And, if you think you can “worship” Him throughout the week, but never come to church, you’re missing a big part of His plan for you.

This study honestly surprised and challenged me.  I expected to find more examples in the Bible of singing worship to God.  But, the main thing that I was reminded through this study is that singing is just one way to express our worship.   It has to go much deeper than that. 

Worship is a lifestyle and should be reflected in every area of our lives.

Worship is also an action of reverently bowing down in His presence.  It must include times where we stop our hectic activity, rest In His presence, focus our heart’s affection and our mind’s attention completely on Him.  Singing, while it’s definitely not the only way, is a powerful tool to help us do just that.

Reason #4 - To Express Praise and Gratitude

So far we’ve focused on how singing strengthens us by remembering and meditating on God’s Word.  For the next couple weeks, we’re going to turn to how we use singing as a response to God.  We can’t just learn about God and His Word and stop there.  He desires a response.

Our first response to God is that our singing should be used to express our praise and gratitude.

Colossians 3:16 says, “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.”

We want to use singing to express our praise and our thankfulness for what God has done for us.  He sent His Son to die on a cross so that you and I could have eternal life with Him.  We must not grow numb to that AMAZING reality.  We must continue every day singing with thankfulness in our hearts for our underserved salvation.

There are great examples of this all throughout the Bible.  I’ve picked two to share with you.

The first praise and worship song mentioned in the Bible is in Exodus.  After Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea, the waters closed behind them defeating the Egyptian army.  God had saved them from their slavery and had safely led them out of Egypt.  Listen to their response….

Exodus 14:31 “When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.  Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord.”

The next 18 verses explain the message of this song…here are a few of the lines…

            “I will sing to the Lord for He is highly exalted”
            “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation”
            “Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power”
            “Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy”
            “The Lord shall reign forever and ever”

They were pumped up about God’s victory and they praised Him through singing!  When we experience victories in our lives, we need to praise Him as well.

But, what about during the hard times of life?  When we go through a serious health issue or lose our job or whatever it may be, it is difficult to want to sing to praise God.

Paul and Silas give us an amazing example of praising Him even during the hard times.

In Acts 16 Paul and Silas were serving the Lord together.  They were going from town to town sharing about God and strengthening the churches.  They had an amazing ministry, but they also faced great persecution.  Listen to what happened in Acts 16:22…

“The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.  When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”

They were stripped, beaten and thrown into jail in chains.  They had every earthly reason to give up and quit.  If any of us went through even part of that persecution, we would be devastated.

BUT…listen to how they responded…

(v. 25) “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God.”

It didn’t matter how difficult things got for them.  Because of their salvation, they had a reason to praise God and nothing was going to stop that.

There are many other great examples in the Bible as well, but I think these are two great ones of praising Him in times of celebration and praising Him in times of struggle.  The Israelites and Paul and Silas all remembered the amazing work God had done in their lives.  When they realized how blessed they were, they had no better response, then to sing their praises to God.

Just in the same way, we must sing with thankfulness in our hearts and lift our praises to Him!

Reason #3 - To Help Meditate and Focus on God's Word

Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” 

Along with helping us remember truths about God, singing also helps us meditate on them.

Life is crazy.  As long as there is sin in the world, life is going to be crazy.  Singing has a way of calming us down and helping us focus on what’s important.  “I love you Lord” is a great example of that.  There is something about singing that song that just helps us tune everything else out and focus on that vertical relationship between us and our Lord.

Unlike normal speech, singing allows us to draw out words or phrases, repeat them, or pause in between them. All these techniques help us think more deeply about what we’re singing. 

Say the words of Amazing Grace: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

Now, try singing it.

Notice how you’re able to think more about the words when you sing them?  That’s because music provides time to think about what we’re saying.

People typically nag on repetition in music.  People say they “tune out” after awhile if a song or section is repeated too much.  I understand it can be overdone, sure.  But, when the repetition of words is combined with music it allows that message to set deeper in our minds.  Honestly, in most aspects, I don’t think we at Edgewood repeat songs enough.  I typically plow through them and get onto the next.  It’s a balance, obviously, but there are some strong benefits to repetition. 

As we sing with faith and understanding, the words we sing are worked deep into our hearts where we can draw from them weeks, months, even years later. Think about these two songs:

It Is Well

It is well, It is well
With my soul, with my soul
It is well,
It is well with my soul

or

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever 

I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever

Simply reading the words to either one of those songs almost seems silly.  It doesn’t have nearly the same effect as singing it.

Singing “it is well” enables us to grasp that, regardless of storms and trials, it truly is well with my soul. And if we could ever really understand the immense love that God has for us, we truly would sing of His love forever.  

We talked last week about the value of memorizing songs.  Those lyrics will stay with us longer if they’re memorized and we’ll be able to get our eyes off the screens and fully focus on God.  These repetitive songs make that even easier.  This provides an opportunity for us to close our eyes, shut out everything and everyone around us and focus on the only One worthy of our praise. 

So before you criticize repetition in a song, remember why it’s there, and use that opportunity to meditate on those words and focus on your God.

Knowing that singing has been given to us for the purpose of remembering and meditating on God’s Word should greatly influence the songs we choose to sing at church and in our personal lives.  We want to use our singing to deepen and develop our relationship with Him.

Reason #2 - To Help Remember God's Word and Promises

One big reason God has given us singing is to help deepen and develop our relationship with Him.  One specific way that singing allows that to happen is by helping us remember God’s Word and God’s promises.

Words that are sung have a way of sticking in our memories better than just the words by themselves.  Why do you think so many commercials SING their phone numbers?  It is way easier to remember a song, than to remember a bunch of random numbers.

Or what about that board game, Encore?  You split up into teams and then the game gives you a word.  The teams then trade off singing a song that has that word it in.  My family would play this a lot when we were growing up.  Sometimes a word that at first glance seemed like there was no way we could think of 1 song would actually result in 9 or 10 songs.  It was crazy to see how many weird and random songs were stuck in our minds that came out when we were trying to remember certain words.

And much more important than the words from Encore or telephone numbers from commercials are the songs that help us remember God’s Word.

We read Colossians 3:16 last week as one of God’s commands for us to sing.  But, let’s look at that closer….it doesn’t just say to sing whatever you want.  It says to…

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you” as you sing “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.”

It seems God has purposely placed a connection between His Word and our songs.   He wants us to use our singing to remember His Word.

In Deuteronomy 31, God Himself used this principle.  God tells Moses to write down a song and to teach it to the Israelites.  God said that the song would be remembered for generations to come.

Through song, they were able to remember God’s message.

John Wesley was a very popular and effective preacher in the 1700’s.  And since his sermons were so strong, we should still know them today.  So, can anyone quote some of his sermons for me?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.

However, John Wesley’s brother, Charles Wesley decided to put some of the messages of John’s sermons into song.  He published words to over 6,000 songs including:  Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus, Jesus Lover of My Soul, O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing and many, many more.

Through those songs, we are able to remember God’s Word.

In our personal lives and in our church services, we must be singing songs that are based on God’s Word.  Are we filling our minds with songs of the world...and the messages of the world?  Or are we filling our minds with songs that will deepen our relationship with the Lord?  

It’s great if a song is word for word from the Bible, but those are very difficult to find.  Many times we see songs share a summary of stories or a combination of Scriptures.  This is a great way to sing the messages of God.  Let me share some examples… 

            Jesus Messiah is a combination of stories from the gospels teaching us about Jesus’ sacrifice and amazing love. “He became sin, who knew no sin.  That we might become His righteousness.  He humbled Himself and carried the cross.  Love so amazing.  His body the bread, His blood the wine, broken and poured out, all for love.  The whole earth trembled and the veil was torn.  Love so amazing.  Jesus Messiah, Name about all Names.  All our hope is in You.”  

            Because He Lives is probably my favorite hymn.  I love how it tells God’s story in a powerful and personal way.  “God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus, He came to love, heal, and forgive; He lived and died to buy my pardon, An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.  How sweet to hold a newborn baby, and feel the pride, and joy he gives; But greater still the calm assurance, This child can face uncertain days because He lives.  And then one day I’ll cross the river, I’ll fight life’s final war with pain; And then as death gives way to victory, I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He lives.  Because He lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone.  Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living just because He lives.”

You Never Let Go is a powerful combination of Psalm 23 and John 10:28 saying “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, your perfect love is casting out fear.  Even when I’m caught in the middle of the storms of this life, I won’t turn back I know you are near.  I will fear no evil, for my God is with me.  Oh no, you never let go, through the calm and through the storm, oh no, you never let go of me.”

These three songs alone are ways to remember God’s Word, His love for us, and how He is always with us.  We want to store these promises in our minds and singing helps us to do just that.

To push this one more step…and this is a hard step for me personally…. 

If we really believe that our singing helps us remember God’s Word and God’s promises…then we should strive to memorize more.  How much MORE valuable would these songs be if they were on the tips of our tongues all day long?

It’s great that I can sing “Oh no, You never let go” when we’re at church on Sunday morning and enjoying our time together.  But, how much more powerful would that song be to me during the week when I’m right in the middle of some huge struggle?  That’s where memorizing these songs makes them even MORE powerful and makes God’s Word even more prominent in our lives.

The more words about God we can store in up in our hearts, the more we can be helped by them throughout the day.  So, I challenge you, if a song really speaks to you and it is full of promises from God’s Word…memorize it.  And let it speak to you over and over again.

Singing helps the Word of Christ dwell in us richly by helping us remember it.