Why We Do What We Do The Way We Do What We Do: Music

Please take your copy of God's Word and turn with me to two places this morning.

! First Colossians chapter 3 and then Ephesians chapter 5.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

! So go ahead and find both places.

! Mark one with your finger, the other with a ribbon.

Bookmark them in your phone.

It is our normal habit and I think the most healthy way of preaching here at Christ of the Church of Dahlonega

for us to do verse by verse exposition.

And I want you to not confuse that with expository preaching generally speaking.

You'll hear many defenses for expository preaching and I would stand with those defenses to be sure.

But what we can tend to do is to think that if we're not doing a verse by verse exposition

that we've abandoned expository preaching altogether.

And preaching that's not expository is not preaching at all.

Expository preaching is simply this.

It works to bring forth for your benefit, glory of God, for your good, what the Bible says.

So it may be concerning a specific text.

Expository preaching can be done with a chapter of the Bible.

It can be done with a book of the Bible.

Expository preaching can also explore a theme of the Bible as well.

So, again, we think verse by verse exposition is the best general habit for us as a church.

But from time to time, we think there's a great deal of value in stopping, considering something together,

a particular topic together and trying to take a look at, not in an exhaustive form,

but what the Bible may have to say about that given topic.

Throughout history, many faithful preachers have held different views on such things.

I'll give you just two quick ones.

Jonathan Edwards was a verse-by-verse expositor, even to a fault.

There was a period of time, this church in New England, he was dismissed from for a couple of years.

And when he came back, he picked up in the verse he left off.

And I think Calvin did the same thing in Geneva when he was kicked out of Geneva for a while.

Came back, and he was in, like, Deuteronomy.

Came back to the very verse that he had left off there.

Charles Spurgeon, who's one of my favorite preachers,

thought that it quenched the Spirit of God to not consider each week

what text the church may have needed exposited for that week.

And so, we try to step in the middle of that.

We try to come into the midst of that, trying to preach verse by verse.

It's good for you to have big, full understandings of books of the Bible,

but also to be sensitive in the midst of the coming and going of our church

and what's happening in the life of our church to, at times, step away from that study.

So, we've been in the book of Acts.

I'm not even sure where we are.

I think we may have finished chapter 17.

We're in chapter 17, or we finished it.

I should remember that from just last week.

But we're going to take some time to talk this morning a bit about music.

Musical worship.

And I want you to know that my intention for doing this

is not to make this church seem better than other churches.

It's not my goal in what we're doing.

It's not to defend the way that we do music together,

but rather to equip you to understand that we don't just have a preference for music,

but that there are theological, there are biblical underpinnings

to the why of the way we do music.

We may carry it out in particular ways that could change,

but there's reason behind what we do.

And I became aware of this.

I mentioned to you a few weeks ago at a community group

that there were some questions asked, and they were good, honest questions.

And I know some of those people are here.

I'm not diminishing you in any way in that conversation,

but I realized that we hadn't taught on this in quite some time.

It had been a long time since we had ever mentioned the why of what we do

when we do music together.

And I began to think about since this church started January 1 of 2009,

so a little over eight years ago.

You're going to get, I think you're going to get a kick out of this.

Since then, right now, there are only six people

that were part of that original beginning.

There are six people.

Myself and my wife, Wes and Liz, you saw on stage, Liz with the mandolin,

and Sid and Ruth, who I don't think are here this morning with us,

but most of you know Sid and Ruth.

Six.

So we have this big turnaround.

And I will say that largely 95% of that is not unhealthy turnaround.

I haven't across the years run people off all the time,

but we live in kind of a transitionary town.

A lot of our congregation across the years has been college students.

One of the wonderful things about that is we've been able to equip

and send out countless people across the years.

And it's a wonderful privilege that we have as a church,

and I think we should pick it up and seize it as such,

to build into people good biblical founding

for the way they should live their lives in the world

and the way they should be involved with

and the way a church should meet together.

So we have the ability to have influence in really broad ways because of that.

So it's important for you to understand then the why.

So you can go find healthy churches,

and you can bring health to churches and communities.

So that's the aim.

That's what we're trying to accomplish this morning as we start,

and we're going to kind of do this across.

I'm going to call it a series, but we're not going to do it in series.

Series in that it'll jump months, but in order.

And we're going to call it this.

You ready?

Why we do what we do,

and why we do what we do the way we do what we do.

So why we do what we do,

and why we do what we do the way we do what we do.

Okay?

And this morning, music.

Right?

This morning, music.

Now, before I get into this,

I want to commend just two resources to you really quickly.

If you want to know more about this,

a wonderful book by a man named Bob Coughlin called Worship Matters.

Really, really great read.

My only complaint about this book,

as he uses a term for music leaders that I don't particularly like,

which I'm going to talk about in just a moment.

He actually makes a case against using such a term,

and then he continues to use the term.

Drove me crazy, Wes.

Drove Wes crazy as well.

Drove me absolutely nuts this week.

Secondly, put out by Grace to You,

which is the ministry John MacArthur is most related to.

Master's Seminary.

Hymns of Grace.

It's a hymnal.

You guys haven't touched one of these in a long time, have you?

We typically are using screens now

because we can introduce new songs more quickly.

If we were to do a hymnal in our church,

this would be the one.

We buy a bunch of copies of this.

It's a wonderful, wonderful hymnal.

It has a bunch of wonderful, rich, true,

well-vetted songs and resources in it.

So if you have an interest in having something like that in your home,

Hymns of Grace would be a really great one for you to pick up.

Okay, so music, specifically music together.

So when we gather together as a church,

why do we engage in musical worship?

And why do we engage in musical worship the way we engage in musical worship?

Why do we do what we do?

And why do we do what we do the way we do what we do?

I practiced that this week.

I want to begin with an aside

concerning our language concerning music in the church.

For far too long,

the music sung in church has been referred to as

quote-unquote worship.

And the individual leading the music as

quote-unquote the worship leader.

Music,

rightly sung in our church gatherings,

or even possibly outside of our church gatherings,

but music rightly sung certainly is worship.

It is.

Music sung together is worship,

but it is not the totality of worship.

And the individual leading music

is certainly leading us in worship,

but not in the totality of worship.

To call our singing together worship,

and the individual leading the music as the worship leader suggests.

This is why this matters.

It suggests

that our worship of God is reduced

to a bit of time

during a service.

So not even the whole service,

but a bit of time during a service on Sunday morning.

And it excludes our prayers together,

and our scripture reading together,

and our preaching together.

This is participatory as well.

I'm speaking,

and I hope you're engaged in listening.

And this,

all that we do together in a worship service

is all worship.

But it even goes beyond that.

It goes outside the doors of here.

We're meant to have lives

that are given to worship.

Paul stated in Romans 12, verse 1.

Romans 12:1

He says,

I appeal to you, therefore,

based on the first 11 chapters,

his great treatise on the Christian faith.

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers,

by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.

And the English word,

translated from the Greek here, body,

it's a good word to be translated.

I wouldn't pick on any of our Bible translators

in this case,

but it has a grander meaning

in the original language.

I like the word being.

God means for all of our lives

to be committed to his praise.

Everything that we do,

it's all worship.

So I have a real problem

with this over-reduction of the idea.

So it's musical worship.

It is worship.

But it's a part.

It's part of our worship,

both together and as individuals

in the world.

So we will never call the music here,

quote-unquote, worship,

or the individual leading the music,

the, quote-unquote, worship leader,

because it is confusing.

Now some will say,

and I've done this,

brought a little correction.

What are you talking about?

Some will say,

well, you know what I mean

when being corrected.

But the problem, beloved,

is that words have meaning.

And you don't just get to

willy-nilly change the meaning of words.

You can't be so cavalier

with your use of words,

because my response will be,

no, I do not know what you mean.

And as the children learned this morning,

the heart is where the words of the mouth grow.

So we need to be careful about

the words that we use

and what we're communicating

when we use those words.

This is why we will speak in terms

of musical worship

and why we call Wes our

Pastor for Worship Arts.

It's not a bad title.

I think he came up with it.

It's good.

I like it.

Now the subject of musical worship

in churches has been

a highly contested one

in my lifetime.

For many of you,

this may be true.

Some have called it

the worship wars,

where churches began

to try to pick up new ideas

of the way that we worship God

in music.

And some wanted to stay

very entrenched in the ways

they like to engage

in worshiping God in music.

And these worship wars

have had much heat

with little to no light.

Meaning they were very much

fueled by preference

and fueled very little

by the Bible.

The current solution

seems to be

for small churches

to work to serve

a particular demographic.

So church planters

will actually look

at demographic studies

and they'll figure out

the general population

of an area

and they'll figure out

the favorite style of music

for that population

in an area

and they'll try to find

somebody who can

meet that need,

who can present that style.

And they'll say to anybody else

who doesn't like the style,

sorry,

we only do one style here.

For the large church,

the solution seems to be

to cater to every demographic

with multiple services.

You see,

most large churches

will have multiple services

and they will contain within them

multiple styles of music.

So you've got your

contemporary service

and you've got your

traditional service

and you've got your

blended service.

And sometimes these

even happen at the same time

on the same campus,

just in different locations.

Beloved,

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

in the way that we gather.

It is not healthy

for the church

to meet felt needs

over real needs

at the expense

of real needs.

To promulgate

consumerism

in the worship

of our God.

So,

Wes and I,

in the very early days

of Christ Family Church,

we were a musician

becoming a pastor

and a teacher

becoming a pastor

and by God's grace,

hear me say that,

Wes and I

are not better

than anyone else.

By God's grace,

we picked up,

and I wish I could

trace the contours

of how we

so came to love

the doctrine of Scripture

called the sufficiency

of Scripture.

But we came to love it

and we came to see

that if we were to

lead a church well,

we must do it

by the Word of God.

We must do it

by His instruction.

And then if it's sufficient,

then it contains

within it

all the instruction

that we need.

And then by grace,

we picked it up

and we began asking

questions

and finding answers

from God's

own Word.

We picked up a principle

that was employed

by the Reformers

and the Puritans

called the regulative

principle of worship.

And that was

if we couldn't find

prescribed in the Scripture

worship of God

in a particular way,

then we wouldn't do it.

And we would just

simply do

the thing

that God

prescribed for us

to do.

And we have,

over the past

eight years,

put that in place.

It has been

our prayer

that we would be

faithful to the Bible.

Not just Wes and I.

We have had other elders

in the life of our church

as well.

We have pressed at this.

Let's do

the worship of God

in God's way

and let's trust

that He'll build a church

and He'll reach

our community

as a result.

So that's where we're at.

That's why I want to

loop you back in, right?

Some of you are new here,

so I want you to understand

what we've learned

and why we practice

music the way

that we do.

So let's begin our study

with Colossians 3.16.

Colossians 3.16.

Beloved,

this is God's Word

to us.

It was written

for His glory

and for our good

and we would all do well

to listen to it

this morning

in order to believe

its promises

and obey

its commands.

Paul writes,

verse 16,

Colossians 3,

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 · chapter mention

verses 18 and 19,

Paul writes,

and 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.

So why

do we do

what we do?

Why do we sing

together

when we gather?

Well,

it's because the Bible

commands it

for God's glory

and for our good.

You can see two places

that I've read to you

just already this morning.

Colossians 3,

16,

Ephesians 5,

18 and 19.

There's instruction

here for the singing

together.

Psalm 33,

3 says,

Sing to Him

a new song.

Place skillfully

on the strings.

I like this,

with loud shouts.

Psalm 47,

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.

In fact,

the longest book

of the Bible

by verse count,

at least,

I know that you want

to contend with me

on that maybe,

by verse count,

the longest book

of the Bible

is the Psalms,

which is a book

of songs,

every single

one of them.

Further,

we have

the example

of Jesus

in Matthew 26,

Matthew 26:30

verse 30,

with the apostles,

and when they had

sung a hymn,

they went out

to the Mount of Olives.

We have the example

of heaven

in the book

of Revelation

many,

many times.

You know what book

has more songs

in it than any other book

except the book

of Psalms?

The book of Revelation,

right?

This vision that John

has of heaven.

Lots of singing

in heaven.

One example,

Revelation 15,

Revelation 15:2

verses 2 and 3.

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.

And we have the example

of Paul and Silas

in the Philippian jail.

Not long ago,

we studied this together

on the Lord's Day.

Acts 16,

Acts 16:25

verse 25.

About midnight,

Paul and Silas

were praying,

remember they're

in the Philippian jail,

and singing hymns

to God.

James says in James 5.13,

Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing praise.

The Bible is full

of this type of instruction.

John Calvin once wrote,

I think many people

are sold a very staunch view

of Calvin,

but he said wonderful things

like this.

wherever faith is lively,

holy rejoicing

will follow.

So,

we should sing

when we are gathered.

We should.

We're instructed to do so.

We should sing

when we are gathered.

And we're told,

both in Ephesians 5

and Colossians 3,

to sing psalms

and hymns

and spiritual songs.

Now,

there is no need

in overcomplicating

what these three things are.

We don't need to set these

on a scale

and make sure we're doing

33 and a third percent

of each

of the following things.

But there were types

of music,

and Paul's referencing

those specific types,

and I think it's valuable

for us to pull those up

and use those types

as well here.

So,

Psalms are pretty obvious

what the Psalms were.

Those are the songs

of the Bible,

and we should sing

from God's song book.

We find some challenge

with that, though,

in the 21st century

English-speaking culture

in which we live

because those songs

were written in Hebrew

and they rhymed most often,

but they rhymed in Hebrew

and they don't tend

to rhyme in English,

so it becomes difficult,

right,

to sing a song as such.

But lots of our songs

reference the Psalms

and pull text

from the Psalms.

And Wes does a good job,

and I think he works hard

at trying to sing

Psalms to you,

particularly during

the offering

or the Lord's Supper

when you're not expected

to sing with necessarily

because they're often

difficult to sing.

They can be hard songs

to sing as they don't rhyme

and you're trying

to make the near rhymes

work out,

etc.

But we should want

to sing such songs

and be Scripture-rich

in our singing.

Just before I came up

to preach during

the offering time,

Wes mentioned

understanding what

we are about to do

from the rising of the sun

is based on Psalm 113.

We're also instructed

to sing hymns,

and there's all kinds

of talk of hymology,

like what makes a hymn,

but most simply,

a hymn is a song

to or about God

and what He has done.

To or about God

and what He has done.

Two examples

that would be,

I think, well known.

How Great Thou Art

and Holy, Holy, Holy,

which we sang

just a few moments ago

would be considered hymns.

Just because it's in a hymnal

doesn't necessarily

make it a hymn.

We're also instructed

to sing spiritual songs,

and these are most

often understood

to be kind of

reflexive of hymns.

So, spiritual songs

are songs

to or about us,

but I'd add

that there are songs

to or about us

in relation to

who God is

and what He has done.

So, what is the effect

of God's work

in the world?

And we sing a lot of songs

that would be categorized

as spiritual songs.

Songs like

Amazing Grace

and it is well.

Let's speak of the

human experience

of God's goodness

and grace

and mercy

to mankind.

So, we should sing together.

Why should we sing together?

The Bible instructs it,

but why does the Bible

instruct it?

For God's glory,

for our good,

humans are wired

to give

and receive

through song.

And this is still

a bit of a mystery to me.

I want to spend more time

considering

why that is.

And it may not be

a thing that I can answer,

but we are wired

to love music.

Musicians have been

wildly popular

for good and for bad

throughout history.

Every movement,

every uprising,

every cultural expression

has its music.

Consider that.

It's true.

There's always a rally cry

that's driven by music.

We seem to be

musical beings.

Some people will say

that they don't like music,

but they do.

They do.

You could find the thing

that would cause them

to tap their foot

or to bob their head.

There's something

that will do that.

For a person.

So,

when we sing,

when we are gathered,

it is our hope

that our feelings

catch up

to the truth

we believe.

Right?

And we should

feel the truth.

Right?

Feelings don't define truth,

but we want to feel

the truth,

and music helps us

to do that.

I have to tell you

that I know

that as a group of people

we're typically drawn

to similar things,

and I know that

that's often

an adherence to the Bible,

maybe even a staunchness

in our teaching

of the Bible,

but I wish you guys

would be more expressive

sometimes.

It's okay to move

the music.

Guys,

don't stand in the back

of the room

with your arms folded.

Consider the words.

Right?

Consider the words

and have it move you

to praise.

Jonathan Edwards wrote

in Religious Affections,

the duty of singing praises

to God

seems to be appointed

wholly

to excite

and express

religious affections.

No other reason

can be assigned

why we should

express ourselves

to God

in verse

and to do it

with music

but only

that such

is our nature

and frame.

He's saying

we were made for that.

Right?

Such is our nature

and frame

that these things

have a tendency

to move

our affections.

And so that's

why we sing

together.

That's why

it's important

that we sing together

when we're gathered.

I was challenged

this week by Wes

that maybe

my community group,

we don't sing

at my community group,

maybe we should.

I don't know

if we have any musical talent

in our community group.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter.

As long as I don't

have to lead it.

So that's why

we do what we do.

But why do we do

what we do

the way we do

what we do?

You may have noticed

that our church

does music

a little different

than many churches.

Not all,

but many churches

of our day.

Colossians 3.16

and Ephesians 5.18

and 19

show us

that our singing

together

is the result

of the outflow

of being filled

with the Spirit

and letting

the Word of Christ

dwell in you richly.

If you diagram

the Greek language out,

right,

this instruction

by Paul

to not be

drunk with wine,

that's debauchery,

but rather be

filled with the Spirit

and his instruction

to let the Word of Christ

dwell in you richly

has things

that define

what that looks like

beyond it.

And there's lists

and there's a lot

of parallel

between those texts.

That parallel

is incredibly

striking

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.

If you've been here

with us

in our study

of Acts,

I've made this

connection for you

as we've been

looking at

what it means

to be filled

with the Spirit.

You see

this connection

between the two

being filled

with the Spirit

and letting

the Word of Christ

dwell in you richly.

He's using

these phrases

interchangeably.

Study the text.

You've got all

of these things

that are the same

but these two phrases

he swaps out

in these cases.

So,

we're being filled

with the Spirit.

We're letting

the Word of Christ

dwell in us richly.

And I'm going to

wrap back to

what it means

to be filled

with the Spirit

but let's talk

for a moment

about letting

the Word of Christ

dwell in you richly.

The word

dwell in the

original language

means to

take up residence,

to inhabit.

So,

the Word of Christ,

the Scripture

is meant to

inhabit us

richly

in abundance.

Let the Word

of Christ

fill you.

Change your

very being

from the inside

out.

And to do that,

we're to

read

and we're to

meditate

on the Scripture

and we're to

memorize

the Scripture

and we're to

speak the Scripture

to one another

and we're to

preach and

listen to

preaching

and we're to

sing songs

to one another.

So, you can see

that letting

the Word of Christ

dwell in you richly

looks like

picking it up,

taking it up

within us,

having it fill us

to overflowing.

It creates

activity,

obedience in us

is the same

as being

filled

with the Spirit.

In case this

connection between

Colossians and

Ephesians is too

vague for you,

we bring you to

another text,

Romans chapter 8

Romans 8:5

verse 5.

Paul writes

there,

those who live

according to

the flesh

set their

minds

on the

things

of the

flesh.

But those

who live

according to

the Spirit,

who are

filled with

the Spirit,

set their

minds

on the

things

of the

Spirit.

What are

the things

of the

Spirit

but the

book He

inspired?

The book,

the way in

which He

works out

and the

tool that He

uses to

work in

to us.

Paul wrote

in Galatians

Galatians 5:16

chapter 5

verse 16,

walk by

the Spirit

and you

will not

gratify

the desires

of the

flesh.

So having

the Word

of God

dwell in

us richly

is to be

filled with

the Spirit

and produces

in us

good and

proper

praise.

Proper

worship of

God is

Spirit-filled

worship of

God,

which is

mindful

worship

of God.

Our

singing

together

must be

head

and heart.

Too much

singing in

church these

days

divorces

thinking from

it

all together.

And we're

to do this,

right?

We're to be

teaching and

admonishing

one another

in all

wisdom,

addressing

one another.

And I don't

think the

teaching and

admonishing one

another in

Colossians 3.16

doesn't also

include

speaking to

one another.

But it

certainly

includes

singing

psalms and

hymns and

spiritual songs.

I think that's

more clear for

us in

Ephesians 5.19.

We're meant to be

addressing one

another.

That's the way

in which he's

suggesting that

we teach

and admonish.

And teaching

and admonishing,

teaching is the

positive way in

which we should

walk and

admonishing is

the correction,

is the warning

away from

walking in

the wrong

way.

John Owen

once said,

a Puritan

pastor,

it's on your

bulletin,

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.

I find

that songs

are improving,

like pop

Christian songs

are getting a

little better,

not much,

but a little

better.

But in my

teen years

into early

college years,

so many

of the new

songs,

you could have

replaced

Jesus with

your girlfriend's

name and it

would have

still made

sense.

vague ideas

of the love

of Christ

which present

nothing of

his glory

to our

minds.

Christ,

prophet,

priest,

king.

Paul writes

in 1 Corinthians

14-15,

I will sing

praise with

my spirit,

but I will

sing with

my mind

also.

John 4-23,

Jesus said,

but the hour

is coming

and is now

here when

true worshipers

will worship

the Father

in spirit

and truth.

For the

Father is

seeking such

people to

worship him.

Jesus does

not say in

spirit and

emotional

expression.

Truth must

be central

to our

worship of

our God.

So,

we,

and really,

maybe we

a bunch of

years ago,

but we

now,

I really

mean Wes,

as he

handles music

for our

church so

well,

use three

parameters in

considering new

music.

So,

Wes uses

three parameters

in considering

new music,

which I

appreciate.

And they

are truth,

depth,

and singability.

The truth,

is the song

true?

And when I

say new

songs,

I don't

just mean

newly produced

songs,

I mean new

songs for

our congregation.

So,

maybe a

very,

very old

song,

but that

may be

new to

us.

These are

all getting

run through

these filters.

Is the

song true?

Is it

biblically

true,

objectively

true?

Does it

contain within

it any

error?

Or,

and or,

is it as

precise as

it should be?

Does it

properly present

doctrine to

us so that

as we sing

we can pick

those things

up and we

can have

them for

ourselves and

have it

shape us?

I'll give you

an example of

some lyrical

changes that

Wes made.

Some of you,

especially new

to us,

may have

experienced the

awkwardness of

singing the

song as it

was written

and being

totally thrown

off because we

sang it

differently,

How Deep

the Father's

Love for

Us,

which is a

wonderful song,

a spiritual

song we would

suggest here.

We sing,

it was his

love that

held him

there,

speaking of

Christ on

the cross,

but it was

written,

it was my

sin that

held him

there.

And I

wouldn't,

you know,

contend,

and I don't

think Wes

would either,

with the

author of

the song,

I think the

general idea

of what he

was trying to

communicate there

is proper,

right?

He was

suffering for

our sin,

that's the

suggestion of

that line.

But it also

seems to go a

little further

to maybe make

someone believe

that we had

in our

sinfulness the

power to put

Christ on the

cross,

that our sin

actually placed

him there and

held him there

and that he

wasn't powerful

over it.

And so I

think changing

it to it was

his love that

held him here

is a more

precise way to

think about what

Jesus was doing

for us on the

cross.

In John 10,

18,

Jesus says,

no one takes

my life for

me,

but I lay it

down of my

own accord.

And so those

types of things

are being

considered the

truthfulness of

a song.

And I will

suggest to you

even to the

degree that

sometimes I'll

misunderstand what

a song is

saying.

And I'll ask

Wes,

like,

hey,

I'm not sure

about because,

and he'll

explain to me

exactly what it

means.

No,

that's not

what he's

saying.

If you pay

attention to,

I'll go,

oh,

yeah,

yeah.

Sometimes I

check out

there.

You're right.

It's a very

good and true

song.

So truth is

one of the

filters that we

run through.

Secondly,

depth.

Right?

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,

or is a

song content

rich?

We only have

so much time

together,

but you only

have so much

capacity in your

brain to hang

on to

information.

So what do

we do with

the time that

we're together?

Our song

should be

deep,

which means

most often

that our

songs are

wordy.

So you

have a

friend who

asks you,

why so

many words

in your

song?

I feel

like I

worship God

better with

less words.

Because you

need truth.

Right?

Because we

want to meet

real need,

not felt

need.

We don't

want you

zoning out.

We want you

paying attention.

We put it on

the screen.

You'll note

that we don't

put a line

at a time

on the screen.

And that's

in part for

the sanity

of the person

sitting in the

back to try

to keep up.

It's in part

because we

don't have

close-up of

Wes's hands

playing the

guitar with

the person

in all black

clothes running

around him

with the

camera.

But it's

primarily

because we

want you to

look at the

words,

to see them,

to see the

verse.

And we put as

much as we

can up there,

the verse

so you can

actually go,

oh,

what does that

word mean?

That's an

old word,

I think.

What does it

mean?

Write it down.

Look it up.

Be informed

by this music.

Our songs

should have

depth.

We get,

Wes,

five songs.

Seven if you

include those

that people

don't participate

in.

Wes's ministry

here at our

church is the

same as my

ministry.

He just uses

a different

vehicle to

deliver it.

It's ministry

of the word.

We're united

in what we

do.

Wes's job

isn't to

make you

feel,

my job

to make

you think.

I'm going

to minister

the word

of God

to you.

And then

thirdly,

singability.

Is a

song

congregational?

Is a

song

congregational?

I love

concerts.

I really

appreciate

going to

concerts,

especially

skilled

musicians,

watching them

perform the

music that

you can hear

on the

album is

an

incredible

thing to

do.

I love

a good

rock show.

Like,

make me

not be

able to

hear things

afterwards.

I love

that kind

of big

production,

big experience,

blinding with

lights,

throw smoke,

where'd that

guy come

from?

I don't

know.

He's on

top of

the

speaker stack.

that's

not what

we're

called to

do.

We

sing

congregationally

so we

have light.

You can

see each

other.

We don't

bring the

lights down.

You need

to see the

people who

are around

you.

Hello,

beloved.

Hello,

church.

We gather

to be

together,

not separate

from one

another.

Put you in

isolation

chambers and

put your

earbuds in so

that you

can't

distract it

by anybody

else.

You need

the people

around you

to sing

off key

and to

sing loud

off key

because they

love Jesus.

That your

affections would

be inflamed

for him as

well.

We need

that.

I missed

this morning.

Almost every

morning I

get you guys,

the sound

bounces out of

this corner

and I stand

in the back.

That's why I

stand back

there.

It's not

because I'm

trying to

avoid you

guys.

It's because

the sound

goes back

to that

corner and

I can hear

everybody

singing.

There's a

big choir.

It so

warms my

heart before I

come up to

preach.

But I

missed this

morning Clay

who usually

stands back

there with

me and

sings alongside

me in his

gruff CF

caused voice

because I

know he

believes the

truth and

it helps me

believe the

truth and

it builds

me up.

It spurs me

on to

sing songs

like that.

Let me

posit to you

that if

you're not

a singer,

you should

be because

the people

around you

need to

hear you

sing.

It takes

a little

practice.

I'm not a

good singer

but I

sing.

Sing.

We need to

be singing

to one

another.

The volume

level in

here needs

to be low

enough that

you can hear

people around

you.

We need to

be able to

hear each

other singing.

There's a

different way

to lead a

congregation

in singing

than to

put on

a concert.

Why?

Because Paul's

instruction is

that we're to

be teaching

and admonishing

one another.

that includes

the band

teaching and

admonishing

you but we

need to be

teaching and

admonishing

one another

and addressing

one another

as we sing

together.

Not only that

but we actually

need to be able

to sing it

and there's so

many songs

now that are

wonderful songs.

There are great

great great

songs written

by Christian

people that

will minister

to your soul

that you should

definitely listen

to by yourself

in a car

singing at the

top of your

lungs.

Do that.

They're so

hard to sing.

There's many

songs like this

like almost

every Christmas

song is that

way.

Difficult to

sing but good.

Oh so good.

Be ministered

to by those

songs but when

we come together

to sing there's

some songs we're

just not going to

do because they're

not singable.

Wonderful songs

but not singable.

Sometimes the

band will do a

song like during

the offering time

and also just say

you don't have to

sing this with us.

Like it's cool

because it's hard

to sing.

Does it have a

recognizable rhythm?

We all like those

songs.

Come on.

We know exactly.

We know what to

expect.

We know when it's

coming.

Does it have a

recognizable rhythm?

Is it in a range

designed for the

average human being?

A lot of songs

are the chance for

a music leader to