Musical Worship

Good morning. I have two texts for you to turn with me today. The first is Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

! So you turn there and mark it with your finger or your handy ribbon marker. And if you're doing this digitally, tough. Still some advantages to the paper version. Colossians 3.16 and Ephesians chapter 5 verses 18 and 19.

Ephesians 5:18

Normatively, we preach verse by verse through the Bible and we are presently in John chapter 4. The last time we were there, just this last week, I made some corrective comments from the phrase spirit and truth.

John 4 · chapter mention

God is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and truth. And so today we thought it wise to pause for a week to speak positively about the matter.

John, am I not on? Okay. That was a inquisitive look, I thought, so I'm sorry.

The last time that we considered musical worship was almost exactly a year ago. Almost to the week exactly a year ago.

I want to comfort you if you've been here for quite some time that I do not intend to address the matter yearly, but we thought it wise today.

So, occasionally we do these sermons that kind of fall under a category that we call why we do what we do.

And then we like to add to that why we do what we do and why we do what we do the way we do what we do.

When we gather together as a church, why do we engage in musical worship and why do we engage in musical worship the particular way that we engage in musical worship?

I want to begin with an aside concerning our language concerning music.

You may already be hearing me use a different phrase, musical worship.

In recent decades, for most of our lives, the music sung in church has been often referred to simply as worship and the individual leading the music as the worship leader.

Music, rightly sung in our church gatherings or otherwise, certainly is worship.

It ought to be that.

But it is not the totality of worship.

And the individual leading music is certainly leading us in worship, if it's being done properly, but not in the totality of our worship.

So to call our singing together worship and the individual leading the music as the worship leader suggests that our worship of God is reduced to a bit of time during a service on Sunday morning.

And implies the exclusion of our worship.

And our prayer is a prayer of God.

And our scripture reading, of our ordinance administering, of our preaching and hearing of preaching, and certainly the rest of our living when we part ways.

Paul stated in Romans chapter 12 in verse 1.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers.

Everything he has said, all the doctrinal richness in the first 11 chapters.

He says, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

Holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

God means for all of ourselves, all of our lives to be committed to his praise.

Every ounce of it.

Not just the songs that we sing, although they're included in that greater reality.

So, we will never call the music here worship or the individual leading the music the worship leader because it's just confusing.

I encourage you to join us in this, to toe this line, to be careful with your words.

Some will say, well, you know what I mean when being confronted on this matter.

But the problem is, words have meaning.

They carry along ideas, and we ought to be careful.

We shouldn't be cavalier with our use of words.

If you say something, and I'm corrective, and you say, you know what I mean, I'll say, no, I don't know what you mean.

That's why I brought the issue up.

So, today, and I hope on into the future, we will speak in terms of musical worship and whoever is leading us in that, our music leader.

The subject of musical worship in churches has been a highly contested subject, especially over these past decades.

These conflicts are often called the worship wars.

As you know, there's actually been a label given to all of this conflict.

And they revolve particularly around a debate between contemporary and traditional music.

Lots of heat, very little light.

The current solution has seemed to be for small churches to work to serve a particular demographic.

We're going to find the people who like a certain style of music.

And for larger churches to cater to every demographic with multiple services.

Different offerings for different preferences.

None of this is good for your faith or for the community of faith.

It is not proper for a church to serve preference over purpose.

Preference itself isn't a bad thing.

We can like particular styles or particular songs.

We sing some songs here that I don't really care for all that much.

But when preference begins to rule over purpose in the way that we gather, we are on a road to trouble.

It is not healthy to meet felt needs at the expense of real needs.

To promulgate consumerism in the worship of our God.

We should not say to people, it's totally okay to be a consumer.

Rather, how can we come together and serve one another as we sing?

In the barely early days of our church, Wes, one of our founding elders and our music leader for the first nine years of our existence,

and myself were frustrated with the conflict we saw on this matter.

We just thought the church can be better at this.

And we wanted to lead our small gathering well.

So we're so very grateful for a massive story I could tell you,

but how God brought us to believe in the sufficiency of Scripture.

That the Bible has something to say about how we gather together as a church,

and it has something to say about how we should sing when we are together.

So, Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16, and Ephesians chapter 5, verse 18 and 19.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention Ephesians 5:18

We'll take a look at today and draw some implications out of it.

Before I read it though, let me pray on our behalf.

Our Father and our God, what a good thing it is for us to be together this morning,

to be reminded of your grace to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And I am glad that we have already been so clearly reminded of this in our reading,

and in our prayers, and in our songs.

My Father, as we open your word together this morning,

we want to rightly understand it.

We know that we need your help to do this.

We humbly recognize that it was written ultimately for your glory,

and also for our good.

Would you help us to believe its promises, and obey its commands,

and to have affection for you, its author.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

So, Colossians 3.16 says, Paul here writes,

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.

Now turn to Ephesians chapter 5,

Ephesians 5:18

verse 18 and 19.

There Paul says,

We'll make a connection between those two texts here momentarily.

So why do we do what we do?

Why do we sing together when we gather?

Singing is a significant part of our Lord's Day liturgy.

A big part of the plan for when we come together.

Why?

The Bible commands it.

For God's glory,

and for our good.

Some examples.

We read already from Colossians 3 and Ephesians chapter 5,

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

but also Psalm 33 and verse 3.

Sing to Him a new song.

Play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts.

Psalm 47 and verse 6.

Sing praises to God.

Sing praises.

Sing praises to our King.

Sing praises.

The Bible contains over 400 references to singing

and 50 direct commands to sing.

The longest book of the Bible,

by verse count,

the Psalms is a book of songs.

And we have the example of Jesus in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 30.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

There Matthew records,

And when they had sung a hymn,

they went out to the Mount of Olives.

At the Last Supper,

they sang together.

And we have the example of heaven

in the book of Revelation.

Did you know that the book of Revelation has more songs in it

than any other book except the Psalms?

There is singing in heaven.

And if we are a people who belong there,

we should sing.

Revelation chapter 15,

Revelation 15:2

verse 2 and 3.

There John says,

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass

mingled with fire,

and also those who had conquered the beast

and its image and the number of its name,

standing beside the sea of glass

with harps of God in their hands.

And they sing the song of Moses,

the servant of God,

and the song of the Lamb,

saying,

Great and amazing are your deeds,

O Lord God the Almighty,

just and true are your ways,

O King of the nations.

Singing in heaven.

And the example of Paul and Silas

in the Philippian jail,

Acts chapter 16 and verse 25.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

About midnight,

Paul and Silas were praying

and singing hymns to God.

And there's an earthquake

and the jail cell is opened.

James says in James chapter 5 and verse 13,

James 5 · chapter mention

Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing praise.

It's all over the place.

And perhaps we read past those commands

too often.

God's people sing.

John Calvin once said,

Wherever faith is lively,

wherever faith is lively,

holy rejoicing will follow.

So, it's fitting.

We should sing when we are gathered.

I don't think this should be a thing

that's forced upon us.

I think we should want to come together

and sing.

But what are we to sing

when we come together?

Psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs.

Now, I will tell you,

you can read a lot of things

about these three things.

There's a lot of conjecture

out there about them.

I think simply we could think

in these terms about psalms

and hymns

and spiritual songs.

First, we should sing

from God's songbook.

It makes sense

that we would pick up

the book of psalms.

We sing quite a few songs,

none this morning.

Alex and I did not coordinate

this morning.

But that are directly

from the psalms.

For example,

we sing a song

that we call Psalm 43.

You may or may not be

familiar with that.

We also sing a lot of songs

that are directly adapted

from the psalms.

So we lose the rhythm

and the rhyming

when we go from Hebrew

to English.

So it can be a little clunky

to directly sing a psalm

in English.

But there's a lot

that are really,

really, really close.

A mighty fortress

is our God,

for example,

is an expression

of a psalm.

I think it's Psalm 46,

if I'm remembering correctly.

So we have a songbook

and we should sing psalms.

That's probably happening

more often

than you may even realize.

We should also sing hymns.

Hymns are songs

to or about God

and what He has done.

It's kind of the locus,

the focus of it.

That's often why

we want to have

a big view of God,

the things we sing from,

like our hymnal.

This one's called

Hymns of Grace.

So a broad category,

songs to or about God

and what He has done.

Some examples,

How Great Thou Art

or Holy, Holy, Holy.

Colossians 1,

Colossians 1:15–20

verse 15-20,

by many scholars,

is understood to be

an early hymn.

They think there,

Paul is actually citing

a hymn

that the church at Colossae

would have been

familiar with.

It says,

Jesus is the image

of the invisible

in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible,

whether thrones

or dominions

or rulers

or authorities,

all things were created

through Him

and for Him.

That feels like a verse,

doesn't it?

And He is before all things

and in Him

all things hold together

and He is the head

of the body,

the church.

He is the beginning,

the firstborn from the dead,

that in everything

He might be preeminent.

For in Him

all the fullness of God

was pleased to dwell

and through Him

to reconcile to Himself

all things,

whether on earth

or in heaven,

making peace

by the blood of His cross.

We sing a hymn together

called All Things,

which is an adaptation

of those six verses.

We're also to sing

spiritual songs.

This is the one

that gets the most debate

about exactly what

is meant by this.

But we think

kind of the category left

are songs

to or about us.

We sing to one another

about us

in relation to God

and what spiritual songs

if defined in this way.

Songs like Amazing Grace

or It Is Well.

The focus is more

on our experience

in relation to God.

So we're to sing.

We're to sing psalms

and hymns

and spiritual songs.

We're commanded to do so

and I would hope

that that would be enough

for each and every one of us.

But maybe a little more

thinking serves us as well.

humans are wired

to give and receive

through song.

People will inevitably sing.

Go to a sporting event

and you will find men

who in church

would fold their arms

and not open their mouth

singing heartily.

heartily.

I just answered a phone call

on my iPad.

I hope that sales call

got a little bite there.

I should have left it on.

Just preach to them.

We are wired.

Our culture loves musicians

for good and bad

throughout history.

This has always been true.

Musicians have been popular.

Every movement,

every uprising,

every cultural expression

has its music.

We're musical beings.

Everyone will tap their foot

or bob their head

to something.

You may not like

the music I tap my foot

and bob my head to

but you will find music.

You will do that too.

I've been sharing

some of the classics

from my high school years

with my boys

and it's really amazing to me

how every song

I listened to

in high school

now seems really fast.

Like,

is this the right tempo?

I think they sped this song

up in this recording.

Nope.

Nope.

My brain is slowing down

and I'm having a

hard time processing music

at the pace

that I once did.

We're musical people though,

right?

It's part of who we are designed

to be in the church

should engage our minds.

So hear me,

it should engage

our minds

and I'll make a

stronger point to this

in a moment

but it also

connects

to our affections.

I think this is why

we're so wired up

in this

way.

We are moved

along

by

music.

So,

when we sing

and we are gathered

it is our hope

that our feelings

catch up

to the truth

that we believe.

We want to sing

the truth.

We want to accompany

the singing

of that truth

in the hope

that our affections

and the truth

line up

with one another.

The two set

right on top

of one another.

We should

feel

the truth.

It's good

for us

to do this.

Jonathan Edwards

in his book

Religious

Affections

said this,

quote,

the duty of

singing praises

to God

seems to be

appointed

wholly to

excite

and express

religious

affections.

That our

feelings,

that we would

have these

great truths

before us

and that we

would sing

them and give

us opportunity

to emote

the wonderful

truths

of God.

And so we

sing.

We take up

the commands

together.

Why do we

do it the way

that we

do it?

Colossians 3.16

and Ephesians

5.18-19

show us

that our

singing together

is the result

of the

Spirit of

Christ

dwelling

within us.

There's a

striking

parallel

between

much of

Colossians 3

and Ephesians

5.

They both

have Paul

as their

author,

which allows

for an

incredible

connection

to be drawn

from them.

So once again,

you can flip

back and forth,

look at these

two texts.

Colossians 3.16,

there he says,

let the

word of

Christ dwell

in you

richly.

And then

it follows,

teaching and

admonishing one

another in all

wisdom,

singing psalms

and hymns

and spiritual

songs with

thankfulness in

your hearts

to God.

So the

outflow of

letting the

word of

Christ dwell

in your

richly is

that we

will be

teaching and

admonishing

through our

singing.

And then in

Ephesians 5,

he says,

do not get

drunk with

wine,

for that is

debauchery,

but be filled

with the

Spirit.

And then

what did

you say?

Addressing

one another

in psalms

and hymns

and spiritual

songs,

singing and

making melody

to the

Lord with

your heart.

And the

argument that

I want you

to see from

this parallel

text is that

to be filled

with the

Spirit is

to let the

word of

Christ dwell

in you

richly.

The way

that the

Spirit works

in us,

that the

word of

Christ would

dwell,

take up

residence,

that it

would inhabit

us in

abundance

richly,

which means

it's going

to come

out of

us as

well.

Let the

word of

Christ fill

you,

read,

meditate,

memorize.

If you're

in Christ,

you will want

to be a

person of

his word.

And it's

going to

come out

of us.

It's going

to come

out of

us in

psalms

and hymns

and

spiritual

songs.

Now,

just in

case this

connection

between

Colossians

and

Ephesians

is too

vague,

I don't

think it

is,

but just

in case

it is,

we can

look a

couple

other

places

very

quickly.

Romans

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8

and

verse 5.

There Paul

says,

those who

live according

to the

flesh set

their minds

on the

things of

the

flesh,

but those

who live

according

to the

Spirit

set

their

minds

on the

things

of the

Spirit.

What are

the things

of the

Spirit?

Oh,

well,

most certainly

the word

that he

inspired.

Galatians

5.16,

walk by

the Spirit

and you

will not

gratify

the desires

of the

flesh.

Proper

worship

of God

is

Spirit-filled

worship

of God,

which is

mindful

worship

of God.

If

you're

seeking

experiences

to get

your

religious

affections

going

all the

time,

I would

suggest

to you

that that's

going to

be a

dry

well

to drink

from.

It needs

to be

truth-driven,

mindful

all the

time.

Our

singing

together

should be

mindful

and it

should be

affectionate.

Our

feelings

should

accompany

it,

whether or

not,

that's

very

expressive.

Our

emotions

should

catch up

to the

very

things

that

we're

singing.

We

sing

things

together

that are

wholeheartedly

amen,

yes and

amen to

every one

of them,

but I

don't know

that my

heart is

always

caught up

to the

things

that I'm

singing

and it's

good

for me

to see

it

and to

hear it

coming

from

you.

I need

my

heart

tuned

to come

together

and worship

in music.

Colossians

3.16

again,

teaching

and admonishing

one another

in all

wisdom,

addressing

one

another.

We

come

together

to remind

one another

and teach

one another

of deeply

important

things.

John Owen

once said,

quote,

we must

not allow

ourselves

to be

satisfied

with vague

ideas

of the

love of

Christ,

which present

nothing of

his glory

to our

minds.

Vague

ideas,

right?

We need

deep

truth,

mindful

truth,

stuff that

makes us

wrestle,

stuff that

makes us

go,

oh,

this is

vast

and difficult

to understand.

We want

to mine

the depths

of God's

goodness

to us

in Christ

and we

can do

that

in song.

Paul writes

in 1 Corinthians

14 and

verse 15,

I will

sing praise

with my

spirit,

but I

will sing

with my

mind

also.

And then

back to our

text from

last week,

John 4 and

verse 23,

Jesus says,

but the hour

is coming,

it 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.

So why do we

do what we

do the way

we do what

we do?

We're not

trying to

create for

you a

high religious

moment.

We don't

want you to

be moved

by a

particular

crescendo.

We want you

to be moved

by the

truth.

Music

helps us

do that.

We don't

want to

mitigate

that

reality.

But we

want to

present to

you true

things when

we come

together and

we sing.

So we

use parameters

in considering

the songs

that we

sing together.

We think

about this

kind of

thing.

I don't

know that we

always nail

it.

I'm saying

we because

I'm part of

that process.

I suggest

things and

it doesn't

always go the

way we hope

that it will

go.

But we've

got some

guiding principles

for how

it is we

take up the

music that

we take

up.

But before

I get into

those principles

I want you

to know even

the way that

we're doing

this with

a hymnal

and a

bulletin is

a thoughtful

thing.

Why?

Why do

this?

It's clunky.

I get it.

It's a lot

to hold.

And some

of you are

also holding

babies.

And there's

a lot of

stuff going

on in our

hands.

Wouldn't it

be nice if

each verse was

fed to you on

a screen?

We used

to do

that.

There's a

screen over

my left

shoulder.

Why?

Why do we

do this?

Because we

think you

should take

it home.

I need

this.

I muse

over this

throughout the

week.

This lives

here and

here.

This is my

personal copy

that I bought.

It's got all

my post-it

notes in it.

I go through

this thing

devotionally.

I read

songs.

Complete in me,

I've had marked

for months.

And I

thought I

had passed

it along

as a song

that we

should sing.

And apparently

I hadn't,

but I'm so

thankful we

sang it this

morning.

I've had it

marked here.

And I need

to go through

this again

and again

to be reminded

of these

wonderful truths

put to poetry.

Right?

I sing

sometimes by

myself.

You don't

want to hear

it.

It's good

for my heart

to do

this very

thing.

So,

we have a

hymnal,

a hymnal

that we have

said,

true,

right?

There's good,

good songs

for us to

explore and

understand in

this book.

I'm not saying

it's an

inspired work.

Don't hear

me,

right?

But it

speaks to

us,

the truth

of the

Bible.

And we

don't want

to limit

ourselves to

a single

book,

so we

add a

bulletin

in there.

We pick

up other

wonderful

and beautiful

songs.

So,

we use

three parameters

in considering

the songs

that we sing

together.

Number one,

this should

come as no

surprise,

I've been

leading you

to this

place the

entire time,

truth.

I know

that that's

probably a

given,

but,

beloved,

you could

go to

many,

many churches,

many churches

this morning,

and they are

not singing

songs that

are true.

is the

song

true?

Does it

clearly express

what the

Bible teaches?

Does it

contain within

it any

error?

It's a very

important question

to ask.

It's a kind of

wildly popular

song.

I don't know

how often it's

being sung these

days,

but there was a

half a decade

ago,

it was

everywhere.

You couldn't

avoid the

song,

Reckless

Love by

Corey

Asbury.

It's a

beautiful song.

This is how

it goes,

the verse of

it.

Oh,

the overwhelming,

never-ending,

reckless love

of God.

Oh,

it chases me

down,

fights till I'm

found,

leaves the

99.

I couldn't

earn it,

and I don't

deserve it.

But still,

you give

yourself away.

Oh,

the overwhelming,

never-ending,

reckless love

of God.

Unless I

be called

out for

copyright

infringement,

yeah,

is at the

end of

that.

Well,

here's the

problem.

So much of

that is good.

Oh,

so much of

that is

beautiful.

But the

word reckless

means something.

It means

something.

I think

what he's

aiming at,

I guess I

want to hope

he's aiming

at is a

bounding,

overwhelming,

oh,

he says

overwhelming,

some other

synonym for

big,

huge,

you can

fill a lot

of words

into that.

But

recklessness

is without

purpose.

And

Christ's

love is

not

reckless.

It had

a very

specific

purpose

to come

and accomplish

on behalf

of his

people.

people.

This is

misleading.

We need

to be

very clear

about the

love of

God and

how it

works in

the world.

The very

gospel is

getting on

an unfirm

foundation if

we're not

careful with

our words.

So we

wouldn't sing

this song.

This would

not be a

song that

we would

want to

sing.

It's a

song as

precise as

it should

be.

There's

a song

called

How Deep

the Father's

Love for

Us.

It is in

our hymnal

and we

have sung

it from

the hymnal.

There's a

line in

it that

we're not

crazy about

though.

And I

think that

the author

doesn't

mean to

be confusing

but he

says,

I think

it's in

the second

verse,

it was

my sin

that held

him there.

So on

the cross,

it was

my sin.

And the

idea is

that he's

atoning for

our sin.

So he's

paying the

price for

our sin.

But we

just didn't

love the

idea of

our sin

seeming to

have a

power to

hold Jesus

on the

cross.

He says

in John

John 10:18

10

verse 18,

no one

takes my

life from

me,

but I lay

it down

of my

own

accord.

And so,

most regularly,

we put it

in the

bulletin and

we replace

that line

with,

it was

his love

that held

him there.

Right?

Purposeful.

not

reckless,

purposeful

love,

while he

paid for

the sins

of all

who had

placed their

faith in

him.

Thirdly,

is the

song tied

to any

false

teaching

movements?

There are

some

beautiful

songs

that express

the truth.

They don't

contain within

them any

error,

but they're

so tied

to a

particular

church

or

teaching.

They're

part and

parcel

with,

connected

to a

particular

movement,

particular

teaching,

particular

church,

that we

don't sing

them because

we don't

want to

give tacit

approval to

false teachers.

We don't

want somebody

to come

here,

hear a

song,

and go,

oh,

that's so

great,

who sings

that?

Oh,

that's so

great,

what church

do they

sing that

in?

Oh,

I must

listen to

this

pastor

when he's

a false

teacher.

So,

examples.

This is

controversial,

and I

don't think

it should

be.

We don't

sing songs

from

Elevation

Worship,

or Hillsong

United,

or Bethel

Music.

Can you

enjoy some

songs from

them?

Sure,

but oh,

don't think

that we

approve of

the teaching

that's part

of those

movements.

The songs

we sing

together

should be

true,

and they

should

support

truth.

Second

parameter

is the

parameter

of

depth.

Does a

song merely

skip a

stone off

the surface

of the

truth,

or does

it sink

deep

into it?

Does a

song teach

us something

about God

and His

work?

Is it

content

rich?

I had

at a

conference

one time

at a

mixed bag

of traditions.

I had

an older

pastor

asking me

about our

church,

and I

was telling

him a

little bit

about us

and the

demographic

and that

we have

a lot

of young

people.

And he

said,

what is

the style

of your

music?

And as

you can

probably tell,

I didn't

like the

question at

the outset.

And so I

just shot

back,

content

rich.

And he

went,

oh,

that's a

great

answer.

I said,

thank you.

Yeah,

and then he

was just

astounded

that young

people wanted

to come

together and

sing songs

that were

content

rich.

And I

encouraged him

that God

has people

in the

city.

Wordy

songs.

Wordy

songs.

I want to

contemplate

songs.

Sometimes at

the risk of

singing right

over things

that are so

good, but

take it

home.

You can

buy copies

of this

hymnal.

You can

take the

bulletin.

Look it

over.

Think it

through.

We have

a limited

time

together.

We're

going to

sing this

morning

six songs.

I think Alex

is going to

tack on the

doxology,

so we can

call it

seven songs.

It's a

very limited

amount of

time together,

so let's

just not

waste a

moment of

it.

It's not

against some

repetition from

time to

time.

That's okay.

It drives

a point.

But let's

not sing

songs that

just repeat

one thing

over and

over and

over again

until we're

all lulled

into a

trance.

Let's keep

our minds

engaged because

we have such

precious moments

together.

Thirdly,

last parameter

is singability.

Is a song

congregational?

There are

some songs

that are

great songs

meant to be

performed,

listened to.

The songs we

sing together,

we should be

able to

sing together.

The primary

instrument when

we come

together is

your heart

tuned by the

grace of

God overflowing

in song.

You're the

primary,

right?

Not what's

happening on

stage.

That's

accompaniment.

That's the

leadership,

right?

We all need

some help

with our

tempo.

We need to

know when

to start

singing the

next verse,

right?

That's what

these people

are here

for,

and they

understand

that to

be true.

What they're

mostly trying

to do is

not be

distracting to

what we

do together.

That's why

we have the

lights on

in here,

and the

volume.

It depends

on where

you're sitting

in this room

sometimes,

but we want

you to be

able to

hear the

people in

these rooms.

We want

you to be

able to

sing to

each other.

remember,

this is

not a

concert

time.

This is

congregational

gathering,

and we're

working at

trying to

obey this

command to

teach and

admonish one

another in

all wisdom,

addressing

one another.

Psalms and

hymns and

spiritual songs.

So we should

ask the

question,

this is

probably the

point at

which we

may fail

most often.

Does the

song have a

recognizable

rhythm?

Sometimes we

try a song

and it just

doesn't work

great.

We thought

it would

and it

doesn't

always pan

out.

Does the

song have

a range

designed for

the average

human?

There's some

beautiful songs

that the

average person

just shouldn't

sing.

Oh,

holy night.

Every year

at Christmas

we sure

give it a

try and

a couple

of people

pull it

off.

There's

like a

handful

of people

that can

actually go

from the

bottom end

of that

to the

top end

of that.

So does

it have a

range?

Is it in

a key

that's

singable?

Right?

Are we

actually in

this spot?

I'm so

thankful for

the sacrifice.

I mean,

you should

know this,

the sacrifice

of the

women in

our church

because we

are often

singing in

a key

that's

difficult

for them.

They have

to pick

an octave

low that's

hard for

them,

a register

that's

difficult for

them,

or be

really,

really high.

And you

know why?

Because we're

trying to

sing so that

the men

can sing.

Early in

the life of

our church,

as we're

picking out

keys,

the question

was,

do we want

men to

sing?

And the

answer was

yes.

We want

men to

give leadership

in singing.

We're going

to have to

pick keys

that work.

If you're

not feeling

this,

ladies,

I'm thankful.

Maybe we

found the

magic in

between

place.

But we

really labor

to do

this.

We want

the men

to lead

out in

song.

I think

a lot of

women are

being very

kind to

us so that

we can

sing.

Can a

song be

played well

by our

musicians?

Style not

the question

here,

but can

they

actually

accompany

us well

and not

be distracting?

So we

want to

come together

and we

want to

sing.

And we

have

instructed

one another

already

this morning.

We've

done this

work already.