Musical Worship

It is a joy to be here with you all this morning.

We're taking a small break from our regular exposition of the gospel according to John.

! Over the past couple weeks, Nathan has preached on elders and deacons.

And this morning, as Nathan mentioned, we're going to be in the book of Colossians to consider

the command, the purpose, and the design of singing within the church.

So if you would, go ahead and turn with me to Colossians 3.

We'll be reading and looking at verse 16.

Our text reads,

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,

singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Let's pray.

Father, we praise you for your word this morning, for the gathering of your saints.

And yes, Lord, for the singing.

We pray that you would enlighten the eyes and the ears of our hearts,

that we may come to know you more deeply this morning.

We pray these things in Christ's name.

Amen.

All right.

Throughout the book of Colossians, Paul and Timothy are focusing a lot on the person and work of Christ.

He spends a bulk of his time leading into chapter 3,

reemphasizing that Christ is preeminent and rightly to be worshiped.

They are correcting the worship of man and imparting the worship of Jesus,

which, to be clear, is not just through singing.

Worship is much more expansive than singing.

But as we come into chapter 3, Paul describes Christian living in light of God,

creating a new man from death to life in Christ.

And not only is he producing new individuals, but he is building his church.

Those in Christ are to be putting off the old man with its practices

and putting on the new man with Christ's likeness.

All right.

And then Paul goes to give us some commands to achieve that and what that might look like.

And we find ourselves this morning focusing on one of these commands in verse 16.

So the first part of our text, it starts with an objective and a precondition,

dwelling on the word that guides us to the rest of our text, teaching through singing.

So we exhorted to dwell on the word and one way to do that.

And as a result of doing that, we sing.

To begin with, the command to let the word of Christ.

In our English language, the word let is often used to like allow or permit.

The Greek, however, is a little trickier than that to give the English a clear translation.

The word in Greek, the word let actually isn't even there.

It just starts with the word of Christ.

It's more of an exhortation than asking permission.

Paul's not asking us to give permission for the word of Christ to dwell richly.

Piper brought to memory how we might start off the Olympic Games.

Let the games begin.

That announcement is not asking the crowd to convene on when or how to start the games.

But it's more commanding, start the games.

So the English doesn't have a true one-to-one for how this text reads, but he is being exhortative here.

There's some debate on what the word of Christ actually is, whether it is the canon of Scripture,

the words Jesus actually said, or the general message of Christ the gospel.

Later in chapter 4, verse 3, Paul is talking about sharing the gospel, and he uses the word there to communicate that.

And in Romans 10, he says, faith comes from hearing through the word of Christ.

So I believe he's specifically referring to the gospel here, and that's what I want our hearts to be thinking about.

But since Scripture is ultimately one metanarrative of the gospel message of Christ,

it's breathed out by God, I think we can take this either way and not lose too much of the intent.

But I do want to specifically be meditating on Christ and the gospel,

since that's the main focus throughout the book.

So the word of Christ is foundational.

I mean, it is its utmost importance to anything we do,

and that particularly includes our singing.

And I'll explain more why it's a particularly important singing later,

but as God himself birthed human history with his words,

the Christian is born again through the word of Christ, the gospel.

And at all times, we should be immersed in this truth.

It is our identity once the gospel has taken its regenerating effect in our hearts.

And this message, to be clear, is that God created all things.

The first humans, Adam and Eve, fell to temptation.

They disobeyed God and introduced sin into the world.

And the sin of our first parents is now inerrant to all of us.

Therefore, we all now disobey God, and this separates us from fellowship with him.

We stand condemned for breaking his good and moral law.

And the sentence being eternal destruction,

away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his might.

But praise the Lord, Christ came to uphold the law perfectly,

and then dying the death that we deserved,

so that we would not have to.

Through faith and repentance of sin, this can be true for anyone.

For you and your household, for the Jew, the Greek, the male, the female, the slave, the master,

anyone confessing and believing leaves you justified instead of being condemned.

And being justified, we are reconciled to God and adopted into his family as his children.

And I love that this is the beginning of our text.

I mean, it truly sets the foundation for what proceeds.

And this word of Christ, this gospel message, is to dwell in us richly.

Our goal in singing is to draw nearer to Christ and into deeper fellowship with him.

And we're going to focus a lot on music today, but our musical worship is not worship,

unless it is aimed and set upon Christ in his glory,

not the glory of the music itself.

Paul does not say, let the music dwell in us richly,

but rather the word of Christ.

So the word dwell here alludes to God's dwelling place amidst the Israelites

and now in his covenant people.

And 1 Corinthians 4, or 3, excuse me, 1 Corinthians 3,

Paul interprets Ezekiel by saying,

you are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you.

So the heart of the believer is now the dwelling place of God.

Christ has torn the veil.

And so now his word, the word of Christ,

is harbored in the hearts of Christians by the spirit.

And as God dwelled in the Holy of Holies, his word now dwells in us.

And the glories of the word of Christ, they're rich.

They are rich in and of themselves.

And it is like a deep mine with the most precious of jewels to lay hold of.

And the deeper you go, the more you realize how vast that mine is.

And those jewels become more and more precious to you.

It ought to and it does.

It captivates our whole being, our hearts, our minds, our souls.

And it produces outward fruit.

We become more refined and more Christ-like the more the word dwells within us.

And that means we have to consume it.

We have to meditate on it.

We have to marvel at its beauty.

Study it.

Practice it.

Love it.

And yeah, sing it.

And for this to be true of us,

for us to have the word of Christ dwelling in us richly,

we have to have eyes to see and ears to hear that only the spirit of God can give us.

So therefore we must pray for the word to dwell in us richly.

And we must believe it like our life depends on it because it does.

So this word is rich.

And if the eyes and the ears of our heart have been opened to it,

it will produce wisdom with its knowledge.

It's not just enough to know it.

As James tells us, you believe God is one, you do well.

Even the demons believe and they shudder.

You can know all about the gospel, the word of Christ, but not truly grasp it.

And therefore it be worthless to you.

And perhaps worse than worthless, leaving you without excuse to worship the right God rightly.

But if the gospel is dwelling richly within you, it will produce wisdom.

And this wisdom should characterize how we teach and admonish one another.

In our text, it specifically moves us to teach and admonish each other through singing

and teaching wisely through our singing at that.

So the ESV, it is a very faithful translation.

But one point of clarity I do want to address is regarding the commas in our text.

I think it is best understood to add a through or by after those phrases about the dwelling and the teaching.

The ESV puts these verbs in the present tense to communicate the flow of this verse.

It's all connected.

It's happening together.

But the commas kind of can tempt me to read them as three separate commands.

So I think it's helpful to read it like this.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly by teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom

with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

We are actually teaching and admonishing one another through our psalms and our hymns and our spiritual songs.

And the outcome is that the word of Christ dwells in us more richly.

It's not just that we have three separate commands.

Let the word of Christ dwell, teach and admonish, and also sing.

Instead, we have these three commands that are connected together and influence one another.

And the big one I want to really harp on to connect is the teaching and the singing,

teaching one another with psalms.

So we have a parallel text in Ephesians 5.

You're probably familiar with it.

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,

addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.

Same author, probably written from the same prison, at the same time,

sent via the same person, Tychicus.

And notice it starts with being filled,

and then it goes on to command us to address or to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

So those lyrics are sung to one another as well as to God.

And another compelling reason is more systematic to consider it this way.

2 Timothy,

All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

All scripture for teaching, reproof and correction, or admonishment.

Right?

Well, the scriptures are filled with songs.

Have you been taught and admonished by the book of Psalms?

Yeah.

Psalms is actually one of the most quoted books.

It is the most quoted book in the New Testament.

Also, the Song of Solomon.

We have Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Moses.

There's 185 songs in God's word.

And God's word is profitable for teaching and admonition,

that the man of God may be complete.

So singing is a means for the words to dwell in us richly,

as it teaches us and as we teach one another through them.

And so since we're teaching and admonishing one another through these songs,

they better be true, soul-sustaining, God-honoring songs.

It is critical that these songs are informed by the word

and that those truths run through the lyrics and ring through the musical elements.

The congregation, the songwriters, the music leaders,

all need to be dwelling on the word richly to properly teach and admonish one another.

We want to be sure that we are clinging to the word of Christ,

not man-made innovation.

And there is room for heresy to invade the church through the songs we sing,

as not all of the songs are verbatim scripture.

False teachers will secretly bring in destructive heresies.

And it's very easy to do that in singing.

Destructive songs might say some true things about the gospel,

but not the full gospel, which leads people astray.

I've noticed in most of these songs you rarely hear about sin,

but you do hear all about how much Jesus loves you.

And sadly, they miss the true grace and love and mercy of Christ

by singing as if they deserve Christ's love.

Here's one example from Hillsong.

It says,

Don't let your heart be troubled.

Hold your head up high.

Don't fear no evil.

Fix your eyes on this one truth.

God is madly in love with you.

Take courage.

Hold on.

Be strong.

Remember where your help comes from.

There's some scripture thrown in here,

but where's the magnificent grace that Christ came to cancel the record of debt you owe?

Where is the assurance being placed?

Is it on Christ or is it on your loveliness?

Places that claim the name of Christ are singing songs like that all over this morning.

And this is why it's particularly critical for the word of Christ to dwell in us richly,

with all wisdom, as we consider singing.

It's either teaching us to glorify Christ or to glorify man.

So this also means the lyrics should be clear and not ambiguous.

Otherwise, we might not be clinging to anything substantial for our souls.

It can be a mere emotional experience,

while no instruction or admonishment is actually occurring.

The Riseners have been on a Lion King kick recently.

And I was reminded of the song, Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

And Timon starts that song really vaguely, and he says, I can see what's happening.

And Pumbaa says, what?

Timon says, they don't have a clue.

Pumbaa chimes in, who?

Pumbaa can't discern what Simone is talking about.

We don't want anyone to be a Pumbaa when we sing.

We want the word of Christ to be clear and rich in its presentation as we sing,

so that we can cling to the Christocentric truths.

And more than the lyrics, it's also helpful to consider our environment

and our presentation to effectively teach one another.

For example, we keep the lights on.

We are not being mystical or individualistic.

We are speaking to one another.

I don't suppose any of you have conversations with the lights off,

chanting counsel out loud to yourself.

We do go alone to the Lord in prayer, privately, behind closed doors.

But that's not the use of singing congregationally.

It's not always wrong to close your eyes or lift your hands,

and perhaps that actually can be good sometimes.

David speaks in this way sometimes, lifting his hands in praise to God.

But just remember that you are addressing others with these truths.

You are singing to one another.

And just because we are singing to others,

that doesn't mean that the sun rises to hear you crow

and the church didn't gather to marvel at your singing.

That's not what verse 16 is teaching.

We sing, as verse 14 describes, in perfect harmony,

serving others and not ourselves.

And the other side of the spotlight coin is maybe distractive singing.

We should probably practice our singing

if we find ourselves being a disruption on Sunday.

I put myself in this camp, but you know who you are.

We do the same thing for public speaking,

to better teach and admonish one another.

I've probably already said um like 20 times this sermon.

But it is something that we do,

and we take to heart so that we can more faithfully practice,

you know, verse 16,

seeking to deliver these truths in song effectively

while not being the center of attention.

But in contrast to this center of attention,

we also didn't come here this morning

for the band to be the center of attention,

to just sit back and entertain us

while we passively mouth the words

or just pragmatically sing them

without actually seeking the edification of one another

and the worship of God.

The band is here to facilitate the congregation's role.

They play in styles and in keys.

We can all sing.

They don't have a blaring electric guitar

and overwhelming volume

so that we can't hear one another.

It's a happy medium where we can hear one another

as the band leads us in the key and melody,

and therefore the truths of the lyrics are communicated well.

So we incorporate these practices

as we sing various kinds of songs,

psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

I'm not convinced of the exact definition

and distinction between these three different kinds of songs.

Some who, to be sure, are smarter than me

do break them down into specific categories,

but I think the main point is that we're using a variety of songs.

Songs from Scripture

and songs composed as a response to Scripture,

songs of lament,

songs of rejoicing,

songs of triumph,

and so on.

The psalms, however,

they do point to using instruments.

I wouldn't let someone tell you

that instruments on stage are sin.

It would be okay if we didn't,

but it certainly isn't sin to include them faithfully.

The very word psalm actually means

to strum or pluck on an instrument.

So we are to use all kinds of songs,

some accompanied by musical instruments,

others perhaps not,

but to teach and to admonish one another.

And so that's the gist of what our text is saying

in this first half,

but it leads me to the question,

why singing?

If the word of Christ is what we want to dwell in us richly,

why are we not just commanded

to speak it to one another?

Why do we go the extra step

into singing it to one another?

And this is no new command in Scripture.

It's actually one of the most frequent commands

in our Bibles.

For reference sake,

Exodus 15 and 18,

Numbers 21,

Deuteronomy 31 and 32,

2 Samuel 1, 22 and 33,

1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles,

Isaiah, Ezekiel, Psalms,

Ephesians 5, 1 Corinthians,

it goes on and on.

It's very frequent in our Bibles.

And I think there are many reasons

we seem to glorify God,

but three significant reasons

we're going to dwell on today

are one,

it's a design feature.

It's part of creation.

Number two,

it's a means of displaying

displaying our oneness in Christ.

And three,

we actually edify one another

through our response to God

in song.

So number one,

singing is founded upon

a design feature in creation.

The first song recorded in Scripture

isn't until Exodus 15,

but we have reference to music and song

all the way back to Genesis 4.

A few generations after Adam and Eve,

we have Lamex children

and their trade recorded for us.

One is Jubal,

and he was the father of all those

who play the lyre and the pipe.

There was also Tubal Cain,

and he was the forger

of all instruments of bronze and iron,

which may indicate tools,

but I like to think it includes

musical metal instruments as well.

So in the first few chapters

of human history,

there's enough business

for these brothers

to actually be professional music teachers

and perhaps instrument makers,

and we have music being played here

from the start,

and I have to assume

there were songs being sung.

We start in Genesis,

and it continues throughout human history

until Revelation and beyond.

Singing is baked into creation.

The Lord was creatively

and gloriously pleased

to make it an active part

of human history,

and it's not just found

within the church,

as we all know.

It's found everywhere.

I think most,

we go to concerts with people

who appreciate the same music.

We see Marion Pippen at the pub

singing their Green Dragon Inn.

In high school football,

if we won a game,

we would gather in the locker room

and sing a traditional song of triumph.

It's in the DNA of humans.

We are singers, music makers.

Furthermore, creation itself

is described to be singing a song

as it displays God's glory

and his sovereign rule over nature.

Psalm 98,

let the sea roar

and all that fills it,

the world and those who dwell in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands.

Let the hills sing for joy together.

In Psalm 65,

the pastures of the wilderness overflow,

the hills gird themselves with joy,

the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

the valleys deck themselves with grain.

They shout and sing together for joy.

So this is all downstream

from the attributes of our creator.

God didn't just create a world

that had mere mechanical function,

but he created functional systems

that are beautiful.

For instance, in Genesis 2,

God created out of the ground

every tree that is pleasant to sight

and good for food.

So the function of some trees

were for consuming their beauty

and other trees,

their beauty and their fruit.

The oak tree is beautiful,

but I had a rough night one time

after I ate one of its acorns.

It was not for beauty and food.

Psalm 19, which is a song,

the heavens declare the glory of God

and the sky above proclaim his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech

and night to night reveals knowledge.

So not only is God's creation functional,

but it is beautiful

as it displays the glory of the creator.

His unique creation, mankind,

was created in his image.

The creator created more,

little c, creators

to reflect and display,

to image the glory of their creator.

It's like Norman Rockwell's

painting of himself,

painting himself.

The great creator or artist or composer

has created us with a pleasure

in musical expressions.

It's one way that we bear God's image

of creating by creating music.

God's gift of music and song

is a means of communication,

but it's in an artistic and creative way.

It is both functional

in presenting information,

but it's also beautiful

in the way it is presented.

It takes words on a page

and enhances the effect

of their truths

by employing our emotions

and appreciation

of the musical features.

God himself seems to be pleased

with musically communicating deep truths,

again, as he has given us

so many songs in his word.

Harmony, rhythm, pitch,

poetic lyrics,

everything about music,

everything about music,

when we put them together correctly,

is pleasing.

And we will put thematic music

to our lyrics

to expound our expression

of the words we are singing.

It deepens our experience of it

so that we can feel the lyrics.

And although we see God's thumbprint

in all mankind

as they create songs,

it naturally falls short

of its intended design

in Adam.

Singing can be done

for the glory of man

or for the glory of God.

It has been corrupted in Adam,

but it can be redeemed in Christ.

If we look back

in our chapter 3 at verse 10,

we put on the new self,

which is being renewed in knowledge

after the image of its creator.

So we've already been created

in the image of God,

but now we are again

being made more into the image

of a creator.

So setting our minds

on the things above,

what we now create

will reflect God's attributes

all the more.

Our songs seek to creatively

adorn the truths

that we are speaking

to glorify our great creator

as an act of worship.

So songwriters and music leaders,

they have the important

and spiritual task

of understanding

what key to play in,

what volume, pitch,

so that we can reflect

God's image as creators.

They heard us musically challenged

cats to sound better

than we would have otherwise.

They're attempting to make us

both functional and pleasing

to experience the lyrical truths

all the more,

enhancing the truths

that they may richly dwell in us.

It incorporates our emotions,

our natural attraction to music,

and our propensity to create,

and it channels those things

to present rich truths beautifully.

And, for instance,

when we sing,

great is thy faithfulness,

there's a line that reads,

all I have needed,

and the pitch ascends.

Where do we look for what we need?

Seek first the kingdom of God.

I look to the hills,

from where does my help come from?

It comes from above the hills,

and as our hearts are lifted

to look for the things we need,

so does our pitch.

The conclusion to that line is,

thy hand hath provided.

My help comes down from above,

from the Lord,

who made the heavens and the earth.

So as the Lord descends with aid from above,

so does our voice.

And that's just a beautiful way

to further experience the truths

that we're singing to God.

There's also the famous Easter hymn,

Up from the Grave He Arrows.

That song starts,

Low in the grave he lay.

It's really kind of somber and low,

and you can almost hear the hopelessness

of the disciples

as they felt everything was amiss.

Messiah was gone.

Death had won the day.

But then the response is high and fast

when it sings,

Up from the Grave He Arrows.

It's really high and it's triumphant

because He has triumphed over His foes.

And it's a way to declare

the victory of Christ

over death and sin

thematically in those lyrics.

And I remember a few weeks ago,

Alex led us in Behold Our God one time.

At the end of that song,

we repeat,

You will reign for...

And I found myself thinking,

Man,

He repeated that line

one too many times.

How long is this going to go on?

And it hit me.

Yeah,

the Lord will reign forever.

Forever.

And ever.

All the way down

throughout history and beyond.

So singing that line again

and again

emphasizes the ongoing

and forever nature

of God's rule and reign.

So it's one way

that we thematically

present these rich truths

to one another.

So the second reason I see,

and perhaps the sweetest meditation

of all this,

is the fact that we are doing this

as a people

who have been called

into one body.

We, the redeemed,

are no longer just people.

We are now God's chosen people.

Let's look back into our text

for a little bit of context

of where we're at,

where Paul's mind is

as we come to verse 16.

We're going to start

in verse 9.

It says,

Do not lie to one another,

seeing that you have put off

the old self

with its practices

and have put on

the new self,

which is being renewed

in knowledge

after the image

of its creator.

Here there is no Greek

and Jew,

circumcised and uncircumcised,

barbarian,

Scythian,

slave,

free,

but Christ is all

and in all.

Put on then

as God's chosen ones,

holy and beloved,

compassionate hearts,

kindness against another,

forgiving each other

as the Lord

has forgiven you.

So you also must forgive.

And above all these,

put on love,

which binds everything together

in perfect harmony.

And let the peace of Christ

rule in your hearts

to which indeed

you are called

in one body

and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ

dwell in you richly,

teaching and admonishing

one another

in all wisdom,

singing psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs

with thankfulness

in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do

in word or deed,

do everything

in the name

of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God

the Father

through Him.

Right?

So this text

is emphatic

about our oneness

in Christ

and how to glorify Him.

That's the context

we find ourselves

as we consider

singing together.

Congregational singing

is not only

a means of

praising God

individually,

but it's a way

of displaying

and embodying

our oneness

in Christ.

The word church

is a singular noun,

but it describes

a plurality

of people.

The word body

is also a singular noun,

but we are members

of one body

with,

as Colossians 2

tells us,

with Christ

as the head.

The church

is beautifully

comprised

of diverse people.

We come from

different places,

we have different

upbringings,

we have different

preferences and opinions.

You know,

some of us

wouldn't have even dared

to hang out

with one another

before Christ

had called us together.

But at the end

of the day,

the Lord has brought

us into one

heavenly family,

and we with one

voice glorify

the same God

and Father

of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

There is one body

and one spirit,

one hope,

one Lord,

one faith,

one baptism,

one God

and Father

of all.

And we are

His one chosen

people

that metaphorically

sing the same

song.

The word

of Christ

is our

anthem.

Our sins

have been paid

for by the

blood of King

Jesus,

and that's

our song.

When we sing

together,

we are showing

this usurping

power of Christ

over our

earthly differences.

And more than

calling up people

from all kinds

of places,

we also have

different and

unique giftings

that the Lord

uses to bless

the church.

The church

in this way

is like a

heavenly orchestra

with Christ

as its composer.

And when we're

using our gifts

for the greater

good of the church,

we play the score

that the Lord

wrote for us.

Our singing

and harmony

depicts our

harmony in Christ.

It illustrates

the beauty

of the church

using her

unique roles

in one accord.

We give

our individual

gifts to

bless the

body,

and we give

our individual

voices in

our songs.

And when

everyone plays

their part,

it makes

a joyful

noise.

And so

since we

have a

variety of

people with

subjective

experiences coming

to worship

in harmony,

it is good

to sing a

variety of

songs.

Songs of

lament for the

grieving heart,

as well as

songs of

rejoicing for

those who

aren't,

it would be

somewhat

self-seeking to

think that we

can't sing a

lament because

we're feeling too

cheerful that day,

or that we

can't sing some

lively carol because

we're feeling a

little gloomy.

But we sing those

songs genuinely

for the one who

may be in a

different season

than we are.

We weep with

those who weep,

and we rejoice

with those who

rejoice.

And if you're

feeling down,

maybe you need

to sing a

joyful song so

you can practice

being joyful

always and

giving thanks in

all circumstances.

Maybe you've

been living a

little too

lightheartedly,

and you need

to be brought

back to the

sincerity of

following Christ.

We can do

those things

through our

songs.

And whatever

your circumstances

are, we put

on love, and

we submit to

one another out

of reverence

for Christ.

So this leads

us into our

third reason.

Singing

exemplifies how

the heart

responds to

the truth.

We are

teaching and

admonishing one

another as we

are exemplifying

the worship of

God through

song.

When you see

a brother or

sister truly

singing and

praising the

Lord, doesn't

that edify you?

I remember

one Sunday

morning, several

years ago, as we

were singing, I

was standing next

to a brother, and

he was just

passionately

singing.

He then

threw his

arm around

my shoulder, and

he brought

me into this

praise of our

mutual Savior.

His transparent

clinging to

Christ, you

know, belting

these truths

out amidst the

church, it was

edifying to me.

Even this

morning, as I

hear you guys

sing, it is

edifying, exemplary

to me, to my

heart.

And when we

compose a song

in response to

scripture, it

can teach and

admonish us by

artists who we

should trust

again.

We're dwelling

on the word of

Christ.

God has gifted

many with the

ability to consume

scripture and

experience the Lord

working in their

hearts and then

output, creative,

encouraging, and

convicting songs.

Psalm 51, for

example, David

singing the song

of repentance,

exemplifies how a

man, after God's

own heart, responds

to committing that

grievous sin with

Bathsheba.

And we come

together to both

sing praises to

God and to teach

one another to

worship the Lord.

It is something

that the Lord has

ordained that

supplements the

exegesis of the

scriptures.

Singing teaches and

admonish one another

by showing us the

work of the spirit

through the way that

we sing and through

the lyrics of the

songs we compose in

response to the

indwell word.

So the very end of

our text, it

almost comes a bit

naturally to me.

After considering

the glory of God

in our singing, it

nearly goes without

saying with

thankfulness in your

hearts to God.

But I think it goes

with saying because

it directs our heart

posture as we

sing.

There is a duality

that we are singing

to one another, to

teach one another, and

to God with

thankfulness in your

hearts to God.

You can't just check

this cognitive box.

Sing good lyrics,

mission accomplished,

congregation has

been taught.

It needs to be from

your heart and

sincerity with

thankfulness from

your heart and for

the hearts of

others.

The goal of our

teaching through

song is to affect

the hearts of one

another as our

hearts are affected.

as this heart

change isn't from

the music or the

smoke and mirrors.

It's the truth of

the word of Christ.

Christ has consumed

the wrath.

We deserve to save

a people who

rejected him.

And this should

move you spiritually

and emotionally to

sing praises to God

and proclaim his

goodness to one

another.

I think this is

going to look

different than just

singing.

What we sing and

the way we sing

reveals what's

inside.

Out of the mouth

flows the heart.

We are called to

dwell on the word

richly.

Our hearts are

turned to

thankfulness.

And then that

sentiment is

displayed outwardly

in singing.

It is a spiritual

and emotional

expression.

Women aren't

immune from

failing in this,

but they are

typically more

inclined to

emotionally express

themselves.

Whereas men

have a harder

time.

Our culture

often tells us

that men are

to be tough

and that means

we are to

not show our

hearts outwardly.

We need to be

steady and

stable and

objective.

Colossians,

however,

tells us that

we need to be

displaying the

influence of the

word in our

hearts outwardly

as we worship

God and edify

the church with

thankfulness in

your hearts to

God.

Vulnerability and

outward expression

is not just

for the

subjective

relativists or

the emotional

flutty-duddies.

Art, the

ordinances,

imagery,

allegory,

metaphor,

all these things

when informed

by the word

can be used as

a means of

worshiping

God.

Worship

through song

is for those

strong in

Christ,

willing to,

as Matthew

records,

to acknowledge

Jesus before

men so that

Jesus will

acknowledge us

before the

Father.

And I

confess, I

used to think

I was too

tough to be

transparent,

to outwardly

display the

inward work of

the Spirit in

my heart through

various means.

The Lord

started to

sanctify me

in this when

I got married.

It was such a

beauty in

displaying Christ

in the church

through marriage.

I probably never

cried in front of

y'all until that

day, but I

wept that day.

Yeah, since

then I've grown

exponentially in

being influenced

by the beauty

of God

illustrating his

word in

various ways.

And now I

probably cry

most in church

through our

singing.

That's when my

heart is

affected deeply.

And singing,

it just brings

a felt weight

to the

doctrines we

are confessing

together.

The underlying

power of that

all is certainly

the words,

the lyrics,

the truths in

them.

But there's an

influence of the

heart there,

and that influence

is commanded to be

displayed outwardly.

So we are to be

bold and sincere

and transparent.

We're to let the

word of Christ

have its effect

and be compelled

or moved to

worship him

with thankfulness

in your hearts

to God

through song.

We could go

on, I promise

you, but time

is limited.

I think we hit

the meat of why

the Lord commands

us to sing.

There are many

entrees, but he

himself is a

singer and a

composer.

We, as one,

yet many, are

his workmanship

created in Christ

Jesus for good

works.

He commands us

to sing because

he built us to

sing to experience

his grace and

mercy in deep,

affectionate ways.

Use this gift of

singing to bless

others today.

Sing with gusto

and confidence

in the word of

Christ.

We sing with

thankfulness in our

hearts to God

because God is

due all thanks

as every good

gift is from

above, coming

down from the

Father of lights.

So in closing,

our application is

going to be very

practical.

We're going to

sing.

The first song,

I know Jordan

posted these on

Slack the other

day, but the

first song is

Come Behold the

Wondrous Mystery,

and we're actually

going to do this

a cappella.

We chose to

remove the

instruments so

that you all

can utilize the

instruments.

God gave you

and to use

them to create

a joyful noise

and experience

the oneness we

have in Christ.

This song gives

us that full

word of Christ

in his lyrics.

We were in

darkness and the

light of Christ

has come.

He saved the

hell-bound man

through his

propitiation.

We are bound

for glory together

in Christ.

And for the

second song,

we all love to

sing that one,

O Christ,

our hope,

our heart's

desire.

It's a hearty

and joyful

and thankful

song to really

feel the effect

of how music

supplements our

praises to

God.

But I'm going

to pray for us

really quick

before we sing,

and then as the

band comes up,

just take a minute

to think through

this text and

pray through this

text and put on

Colossians 3.16

as you approach

singing together.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Thank you.