WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:05.600 All right, so if we haven't met, my name is Zach. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:08.500 I'm the associate pastor of worship here at Christ the King Church. 00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:12.060 I would normally be doing what Ethan was just doing this morning. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:14.980 And Ethan, thank you so much for leading. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:16.460 So appreciate you. 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:20.420 Worship team, love getting to serve with you guys. 00:00:20.580 --> 00:00:25.580 They are a wonderful group, and it's a joy to serve Sunday in, Sunday out with them, 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:27.300 lifting up the name of Christ. 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:33.039 So that's what I normally do on a Sunday, but Mike experienced a bit of a brief lapse 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:37.899 in judgment and asked if I would be willing to preach this Sunday. 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:43.100 And it's going to be, we're going to be looking at Colossians 3.16. 00:00:43.260 --> 00:00:48.679 So we've been in this sermon series called Christ Central on the book of Colossians, and 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:55.840 there is this gem packed in there that's one of the more well-known verses on worship, 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:00.540 on corporate worship, and we are going to be digging into that as a church this morning. 00:01:00.660 --> 00:01:04.420 I'm very excited to be doing that with you all this morning. 00:01:04.620 --> 00:01:08.500 So if you'd open up your Bibles, we're going to go to Colossians chapter 3. 00:01:09.340 --> 00:01:16.640 If you are using your Pew Bible, that's going to be page 1170, 1170 in your Pew Bible. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:25.079 And we're actually going to be starting in verse 12 because the context that surrounds this verse is important. 00:01:25.260 --> 00:01:30.439 So we want to get at that and keep that in view as we're going through looking at this text, okay? 00:01:30.939 --> 00:01:34.920 So Colossians chapter 3, verse 12. 00:01:36.379 --> 00:01:37.540 God's word says this. 00:01:37.540 --> 00:02:07.520 God's word says this. 00:02:07.540 --> 00:02:12.219 Put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:13.340 We just sang about that. 00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:20.900 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. 00:02:22.340 --> 00:02:23.040 Here's our verse. 00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:32.000 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:38.520 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 00:02:38.740 --> 00:02:48.719 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. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:57.599 So Colossians 3, that's the context in which this Colossians 3, verse is dropped on us. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:02:59.979 And the context of this is important. 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:05.800 What Paul has been saying throughout this is essentially put off your old self, right? 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:15.880 It's that put off your grave clothes and put on instead the new self, that you have been clothed in Christ. 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:22.900 This is the reality that Paul wants us to keep in the forefront of our minds and at the forefront of our lives. 00:03:22.980 --> 00:03:24.439 This is what we saw last week, right? 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:33.620 With baptism, it is a picture of this, that the old you is dead, buried, and you have been raised to new life with Christ. 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:38.539 So be who you already are, right? 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:40.840 That you are living out of that identity. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:47.079 You've been made new, so live like you have been made new. 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:56.920 And that living happens primarily in the context of the local church, which for us is right here, Christ the King Church. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:04.100 And with these people that we have locked arms with, that we have committed to in love. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:12.460 And this does not always look easy because you get a bunch of sinners together and you have them do life together and there's going to be sin. 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:14.300 That happens, right? 00:04:14.580 --> 00:04:16.180 That's just part of it. 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:18.699 And yet we are called to bear with one another. 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:27.160 We're called to have patience with one another, to love each other, to forgive, to go to others seeking forgiveness. 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:29.300 That's where this gets lived out. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:36.840 And as that happens, that's where that Christocentric resonance that Mike has been pointing us to for the past few weeks, that's where that happens. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:45.040 So this little gem on corporate worship is given to us in the context of our local church. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:57.600 When we raise our voices in singing praises to our God, we are doing that with other blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:07.660 And seeing that, what that should do is elevate for us the value of gathering together to sing praises to God. 00:05:08.660 --> 00:05:08.860 Okay? 00:05:08.860 --> 00:05:23.480 So just to give a comparative picture of this, when I was in my late teens, early 20s, I wanted to be something of a music critic of the classic rock and roll genre. 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:27.300 So your Bob Dylan, your Bruce Springsteen, your Beatles. 00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:35.259 I wanted to know their discography really well so that I could basically look down on people that listen to Nickelback and stuff like that. 00:05:35.340 --> 00:05:37.540 It was not a super sanctified period in my life. 00:05:37.540 --> 00:05:47.600 So I was aspiring to this, and my dad in that time frame asked me if I wanted to go down to Chicago to see the U2 360 tour. 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:50.920 And U2 was one of those groups that I was like, they are awesome. 00:05:51.700 --> 00:05:55.700 And I would love to go with my dad and have this awesome concert experience, right? 00:05:55.699 --> 00:06:02.219 So we went, and it was, to this date, the most cinematic concert experience that I've ever been in. 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:08.439 They built, like, this weird, crazy spaceship-looking stage that the size of it was just ridiculous. 00:06:08.939 --> 00:06:17.699 And in the center, there were these concentric circles so that the band could go out and play to, like, each different part of the stadium at Soldier Field. 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.360 You had Bono over here and the Edge over here. 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:27.740 I still remember when the Edge started his guitar lick for where the streets had no name, and everyone just goes crazy, and we're all singing. 00:06:28.139 --> 00:06:41.740 And it was really cool, but the reality is that that moment, what I experienced in that concert, does not hold a candle to what you and I just experienced within this half an hour. 00:06:42.660 --> 00:06:47.379 Lifting up our voices with the redeemed people of God, which is a foretaste of heaven, right? 00:06:47.379 --> 00:06:50.560 Because who are we going to be singing with for all of eternity? 00:06:50.899 --> 00:06:53.819 It's the blood-bought people of God, right? 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:57.019 So concert experience, super cool. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:59.899 You can go, maybe for you, it's Taylor Swift. 00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:03.439 Maybe it's Carnegie Hall, and that's great. 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:16.219 But the most sacred expression of music that you can experience on this side of heaven happens right here, gathered with your brothers and sisters, lifting up praise to God. 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:20.660 So with that in mind, we're going to go to Colossians 3.16. 00:07:21.460 --> 00:07:37.600 And what we're going to be doing is basically looking at how this verse gives us a guide for how corporate worship operates, functions within the body of the church, in our case, Christ the King Church here in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 00:07:37.780 --> 00:07:41.000 So I'm going to try to answer four questions as best I can. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:46.379 One, how does the word of Christ dwell richly in our singing? 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:47.139 How does that happen? 00:07:48.500 --> 00:07:53.160 Two, how do we teach and admonish one another through our singing? 00:07:54.839 --> 00:08:01.480 Three, how should we let the Psalms guide us and guide our singing? 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:08.040 And then number four, how do we sing to God in gratitude? 00:08:08.180 --> 00:08:10.680 How do we get that to take root in our hearts? 00:08:10.740 --> 00:08:15.340 So those are going to be the four questions that I'm trying to unpack this morning in our sermon. 00:08:16.640 --> 00:08:21.480 So Colossians 3.16 starts with that, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:22.480 Right? 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:28.840 And it begs the question when he says that phrase, the word of Christ, what does Paul mean by that? 00:08:28.900 --> 00:08:33.220 Does he mean like the actual words of Jesus, scripture? 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:39.180 Is that like John 6.63 where Jesus says, it is the spirit who gives life. 00:08:39.800 --> 00:08:41.420 The flesh is no help at all. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:46.019 The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 00:08:46.019 --> 00:08:53.740 Or John 2.22, when therefore he, Jesus, was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered that he had said this. 00:08:54.779 --> 00:08:59.360 And they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. 00:08:59.460 --> 00:09:04.799 So is he talking about the words of scripture or is he using it more in a gospel message context? 00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:09.159 The New Testament uses that phrase, the word, as a phrase for the gospel. 00:09:09.419 --> 00:09:12.460 Like in 1 Corinthians 1.18, Paul says, 00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:20.680 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 00:09:21.420 --> 00:09:25.080 Or earlier in Colossians chapter 1.5, he writes, 00:09:25.259 --> 00:09:36.220 Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing. 00:09:36.220 --> 00:09:42.040 So word of Christ is that primarily referring to scripture or primarily referring to the gospel. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.540 And I would say, yes, that it is both. 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:53.480 That what Paul has in mind is that we would be both a people of the book and that we would be a gospel people. 00:09:53.940 --> 00:09:54.080 Right? 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:56.500 That it's both of those things. 00:09:56.500 --> 00:10:08.019 So if the word of Christ is dwelling in us richly as scripture, there's already, before we even start singing, there's already a lot of ways in which that happens. 00:10:08.419 --> 00:10:08.679 Right? 00:10:09.259 --> 00:10:13.720 Just reading it, that we should be in our Bibles, get our noses in our Bibles. 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:14.539 Right? 00:10:14.659 --> 00:10:17.779 We're reading, we're meditating on it, we're seeking to memorize it. 00:10:18.019 --> 00:10:21.899 We are sharing what we are learning with our brothers and sisters. 00:10:21.899 --> 00:10:28.059 We're listening to them, we're asking them questions about what they're learning, the word dwelling in us richly. 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:34.699 We're coming here on a Sunday morning and we're listening to the faithful preaching of God's word week in and week out. 00:10:35.379 --> 00:10:37.340 Read good books, listen to good podcasts. 00:10:37.439 --> 00:10:42.120 There's so many ways that we can have the word of Christ dwelling in us richly. 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:47.919 But it also dwells richly in our singing, or at least it's supposed to. 00:10:48.779 --> 00:10:48.960 Right? 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:49.000 Right? 00:10:49.500 --> 00:10:57.360 So when we sing songs with lyrics like, Jesus the name above every other name. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:04.100 What that should remind us of is Philippians 2, 8 through 9. 00:11:05.300 --> 00:11:12.680 Therefore God has highly exalted him, Jesus, and bestowed on him the name that is above every other name. 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:22.000 And when we sing, Jesus the only one who could ever save, we should have Acts 4, 12 pinging in our brains. 00:11:22.139 --> 00:11:30.299 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. 00:11:30.459 --> 00:11:37.159 This is why I love songs like In Christ Alone, where you take any phrase of that song, it is just a hyperlink back to the word of God. 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:37.759 Right? 00:11:38.019 --> 00:11:41.860 That's the kind of stuff that we want to be singing. 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:52.199 Because these words right here, this book, this Bible, this is what we know, this is what we know has been breathed out by God. 00:11:53.199 --> 00:11:53.679 Right? 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:59.500 This is where we know beyond a shadow of a doubt where God is speaking. 00:12:00.459 --> 00:12:06.839 So we want to sing lyrics that are saturated in his metaphors. 00:12:07.719 --> 00:12:13.099 And in his commands and his poetry and his promise and his truth. 00:12:13.100 --> 00:12:19.220 If our songs are anchored in this book, then the word of God is going to dwell richly. 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:20.279 Right? 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:28.560 But it's also the gospel dwelling richly among us, which is why we sing songs with lyrics like this. 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:33.460 The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:36.220 The agonies of Calvary. 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:45.460 You, the perfect holy one, crushed your son and drank the bitter cup reserved for me. 00:12:46.560 --> 00:12:48.960 Your blood has washed away my sin. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:51.100 Jesus, thank you. 00:12:53.700 --> 00:13:00.840 We never, and I mean never, outgrow the need to be reminded of the gospel. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.600 We need to be reminded of our sin. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:11.040 We need to be reminded of our desperate need for rescue. 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:19.200 We live in a culture that is very materialistic and consumeristic and naturalistic. 00:13:19.420 --> 00:13:21.639 And it's very performance based. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.040 Those are the waters that we are swimming in. 00:13:24.220 --> 00:13:30.420 And it makes it so easy to be blinded to the all sufficiency of Jesus Christ. 00:13:30.419 --> 00:13:39.860 And so we need songs that are pressing us into the, that are just washing over us with the reality of the gospel. 00:13:40.059 --> 00:13:41.360 That is something that we need. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:44.139 And then just a side note here. 00:13:44.259 --> 00:13:48.860 The word dwelling richly, that is not something that happens. 00:13:48.860 --> 00:13:54.379 It's something that happens over time as well. 00:13:54.379 --> 00:13:54.860 Right? 00:13:54.860 --> 00:14:00.159 That it's something that we're letting these songs grow over us in a sense. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:04.779 So if you're a kid, let's just say that you're a kid at Christ the King Church. 00:14:04.839 --> 00:14:06.860 We've got the kids with us this morning. 00:14:06.860 --> 00:14:08.919 And you grow up in this church. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:11.440 And you get saved here. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:13.320 You become a member here. 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:18.760 And God in his goodness has you commit to the city of Kenosha for the rest of your life. 00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:24.220 And you just live out your time here through life, highs and lows. 00:14:24.220 --> 00:14:32.160 When you get into your 80s, we should still be singing at least some of the songs that you were singing back in high school. 00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:39.260 And some of the songs that you were singing when you got married and had kids and went through trials over time. 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:43.720 We have a culture that wants to just replace things really quickly. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:44.500 We want it new. 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:45.439 We want it now. 00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:48.960 And that's not what we want to do with our songs. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:59.259 We want to kind of marinate in these over time so that we can sing these songs robustly without having to take out our phones every time to look at the lyrics. 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:07.840 So as we do that, as we sing scripture-saturated, gospel-centered songs, there's something special. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:14.460 That's going to end up happening, which is that we're going to end up teaching one another. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:18.680 So the NIV, this is my second question. 00:15:19.040 --> 00:15:21.340 How do we teach and admonish one another through our singing? 00:15:22.420 --> 00:15:27.500 The NIV makes explicit what I think that the Apostle Paul is doing here. 00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:38.639 The NIV translates it as teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:43.860 That we teach and admonish one another through our singing. 00:15:45.019 --> 00:15:48.980 And this is a category that I don't think that we think of all that often. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:53.580 The idea of singing to teach and learn from one another. 00:15:53.580 --> 00:16:00.500 Matt Merker, he's got this great book on corporate worship, appropriately titled Corporate Worship. 00:16:01.940 --> 00:16:03.120 I strongly recommend it. 00:16:03.280 --> 00:16:03.900 It's very good. 00:16:04.680 --> 00:16:06.000 He has this line. 00:16:06.100 --> 00:16:06.660 He says this, 00:16:06.659 --> 00:16:12.199 When you become a church member, you also become a Sunday school teacher. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:18.079 By opening your mouth in congregational singing. 00:16:18.439 --> 00:16:27.980 Which is a beautiful reminder that when we gather to sing praises to God, there is, of course, this awesome vertical dimension, of course, to our praise. 00:16:28.059 --> 00:16:30.240 We are fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ. 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:32.539 This is ultimately about him. 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:33.079 Right? 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:38.379 But there's also this horizontal dimension to it. 00:16:38.759 --> 00:16:47.460 That if we are singing songs that are true to God's word, we're singing songs that are filled with good theology, that are filled with the gospel. 00:16:47.460 --> 00:16:58.639 Then every time that we sing together on a Sunday morning, that we are going to be proclaiming God's truth to one another. 00:16:58.780 --> 00:16:58.960 Right? 00:16:59.040 --> 00:17:03.740 And we're listening to those around us also affirming that truth. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:08.840 There is a teaching element that's going on in the songs that we're singing. 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:10.539 And we can hear each other. 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:12.059 And we can sing each other. 00:17:12.159 --> 00:17:16.619 Which, by the way, is one of the reasons that I really like this space. 00:17:16.879 --> 00:17:19.000 Is that we can actually see each other. 00:17:19.679 --> 00:17:23.539 If we wanted to, we could go to some great lengths and put shades on these windows. 00:17:23.779 --> 00:17:25.599 And it could be really dark in here. 00:17:26.059 --> 00:17:28.139 And have probably more of a concert vibe. 00:17:28.199 --> 00:17:29.139 We could do that. 00:17:29.140 --> 00:17:33.100 But I'm not sure that that would be the wisest thing. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:36.220 So here's what I have in mind when I say that. 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:47.220 When you're singing on a Sunday, you look over and you see a sister in Christ who is going through some financial hardship. 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:50.600 Some significant financial hardship. 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:52.740 You know that times are tough. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:54.039 Money is tight. 00:17:54.420 --> 00:17:56.220 There is probably stress there. 00:17:56.900 --> 00:18:00.120 You know what's going on in this sister's life because you do life with this person. 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:12.699 But then you look over and you see her singing with all of her heart, riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise. 00:18:13.219 --> 00:18:17.699 Thou mine inheritance, now and always. 00:18:17.939 --> 00:18:19.839 And you see her singing that. 00:18:20.019 --> 00:18:23.199 That's going to impress something on your heart. 00:18:24.179 --> 00:18:24.719 Right? 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:33.160 Or you look over at a brother in Christ who has unexpectedly lost a loved one. 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:36.339 And you know that he is walking through pain. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:41.039 That there are some deep waters that he is going through. 00:18:41.380 --> 00:18:45.420 And yet you look over and you see him singing with tears in his eyes. 00:18:45.420 --> 00:18:49.220 When peace like a river attendeth my way. 00:18:49.660 --> 00:18:53.299 When sorrows like sea billows roll. 00:18:53.299 --> 00:18:58.639 Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:00.279 It is well. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:02.799 It is well with my soul. 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:11.079 And in singing with him, you are learning something from him. 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:20.379 And the church is also encouraging and calling him to remember that reality that even in his circumstances, yes and amen, that this is true. 00:19:20.380 --> 00:19:24.240 It can be well with your soul through the darkest waters. 00:19:26.800 --> 00:19:36.820 And what I hope that does is it convicts us a little bit that there's really no place for half-hearted singing when we gather. 00:19:36.819 --> 00:19:44.099 Because your family needs you singing in strength. 00:19:44.099 --> 00:19:48.000 Because there's an encouraging work that happens when we do that. 00:19:48.619 --> 00:19:48.759 Right? 00:19:52.019 --> 00:19:53.419 So he doesn't just say teaching. 00:19:53.539 --> 00:19:55.019 He also says admonishing one another. 00:19:55.579 --> 00:19:57.039 So that's a little bit of a strong word. 00:19:57.219 --> 00:20:00.639 That means rebuke or warn. 00:20:01.379 --> 00:20:03.980 You go, I don't know if I like the idea of being warned while I'm worshiping. 00:20:03.980 --> 00:20:05.940 But he says it right there. 00:20:06.259 --> 00:20:11.900 So what this is reminding us of is that we should expect encouragement. 00:20:12.180 --> 00:20:15.200 But we don't only expect encouragement when we sing. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:20.660 That we also expect the Holy Spirit to be doing a sanctifying work in us. 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:20.980 Right? 00:20:21.259 --> 00:20:25.900 We expect him to wake us up to our sin. 00:20:26.620 --> 00:20:28.099 So we'll flip this around. 00:20:28.099 --> 00:20:31.619 Let's say that maybe you're the one that's experiencing some financial difficulty. 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:32.199 Okay? 00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:33.980 So times are tough. 00:20:34.679 --> 00:20:41.339 And you are struggling to sing with the church words like this. 00:20:41.779 --> 00:20:44.339 I rejoice in my Redeemer. 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:46.419 Greatest treasure. 00:20:46.939 --> 00:20:48.259 Wellspring of my soul. 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:50.619 I will trust in him. 00:20:50.939 --> 00:20:51.779 No other. 00:20:52.379 --> 00:20:55.939 My soul is satisfied in him alone. 00:20:55.940 --> 00:21:02.860 And maybe just singing those words exposes something in you. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:09.600 That right now you're setting your heart more on financial security than you're setting your heart on Christ. 00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:18.799 And the voices around you are calling you to the truth that Jesus is better than financial security. 00:21:19.580 --> 00:21:21.279 And you hear them singing. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:25.899 And by God's grace hopefully there's a repenting work that happens. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.079 So that you can sing joyfully. 00:21:28.660 --> 00:21:30.899 And sing like Jesus is better. 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:31.680 Puts those words. 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:32.980 Make my heart believe. 00:21:33.139 --> 00:21:33.299 Right? 00:21:33.399 --> 00:21:34.579 And you can get to that place. 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:36.079 That's the hope. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:39.839 So we admonish one another in our singing as well. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:40.240 Okay. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.740 So the word dwells in us richly. 00:21:44.839 --> 00:21:49.839 We teach and admonish one another through singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. 00:21:50.939 --> 00:21:54.019 So how do the psalms guide our singing? 00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:57.079 We have that phrase, psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. 00:21:57.159 --> 00:21:59.519 This is a unique phrase in the New Testament. 00:21:59.619 --> 00:22:04.919 There's only one other place that it shows up, which is Ephesians 5.19, which says the same thing. 00:22:05.019 --> 00:22:06.339 Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. 00:22:06.339 --> 00:22:14.220 There is some disagreement on exactly what these three words are getting at. 00:22:14.459 --> 00:22:17.839 Are each of these like a separate category of a type of song? 00:22:18.059 --> 00:22:25.119 What everyone agrees with, and if you look really closely at the text, I think that you'll see it there. 00:22:25.379 --> 00:22:31.480 When Paul says to sing psalms, he means to sing psalms. 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:34.980 Like from the Old Testament, right, from the book of Psalms. 00:22:35.180 --> 00:22:36.799 So that's what he has in mind there. 00:22:37.059 --> 00:22:40.339 And then we get into hymns and spiritual songs. 00:22:41.160 --> 00:22:50.900 And I would say that those two phrases, what they allow us to do is to sing songs that are still Scripture-saturated, 00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:59.580 that are still gospel-focused, and that we can faithfully, by God's grace, write. 00:22:59.800 --> 00:23:04.440 And Christians have been writing over the past 2,000 years songs that help us get at that, right? 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:06.440 And we should sing those too. 00:23:07.040 --> 00:23:08.680 I think that's what he has in mind. 00:23:09.120 --> 00:23:13.580 But the fact that Paul says psalms in particular means that we should be, 00:23:13.579 --> 00:23:19.480 it would be wise for us to look back at the book of Psalms and use that as a guide. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:23.139 So we not only sing some of the psalms, which we do with some songs, 00:23:23.199 --> 00:23:27.759 like we have a song that's based very closely on Psalm 96 or the song Glorious and Mighty. 00:23:27.879 --> 00:23:29.619 Those are attached very closely. 00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:33.199 You can compare them, bring out your Bible, look at how close those are. 00:23:34.699 --> 00:23:41.240 But we also use the psalms to help us know what we're supposed to sing when we gather as a church. 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:45.099 So if you open up the book of Psalms later this afternoon, 00:23:45.660 --> 00:23:47.579 here's some of the things that you're going to see. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:53.160 You're going to see short psalms, like Psalm 100, which is five verses. 00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:59.500 You're going to see longer psalms, like Psalm 68, which is like 35 verses, something like that. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:07.620 You're going to see psalms of repentance, like Psalm 51 with words like this. 00:24:07.619 --> 00:24:25.699 You're going to see songs of joyful adoration, like Psalm 67. 00:24:25.700 --> 00:24:35.620 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. 00:24:36.120 --> 00:24:39.200 Celebration, excitement over who God is and what he's doing. 00:24:39.660 --> 00:24:39.840 Right? 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:41.140 That needs to be there. 00:24:42.539 --> 00:24:49.460 You're going to see psalms of lament, like Psalm 13, which says, 00:24:49.460 --> 00:24:52.160 How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? 00:24:53.360 --> 00:24:57.279 How long will you hide your face from me? 00:24:57.380 --> 00:24:58.660 That's in your Bible. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:09.220 So what the psalms do is they give the people of God a breadth and a depth of emotion and language 00:25:09.220 --> 00:25:14.500 and circumstances with God at the center of it all. 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:20.299 And they encourage us to seek the joyful gift of God's presence in worship. 00:25:21.339 --> 00:25:30.059 And they also invite us to press into sorrow and to lament and repentance. 00:25:30.380 --> 00:25:33.559 That there's an emotional breadth across this. 00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:39.400 That we have a language for worshiping God on the mountaintop and through the valley. 00:25:39.980 --> 00:25:41.119 Both of those things. 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:49.019 And the point of it all is that we would delight in our Savior. 00:25:50.379 --> 00:25:54.219 And that we would glorify God in our singing. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:56.959 At the end of the day, that is what we are after. 00:25:57.079 --> 00:26:02.799 Because if we don't have that, then all of our singing is like filthy rags. 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:11.319 Paul says that our singing must be done with thankfulness in our hearts to God. 00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:21.240 So that begs the question, how does that kind of thankfulness make its way into our hearts? 00:26:22.059 --> 00:26:22.220 Right? 00:26:22.220 --> 00:26:29.980 So Paul has already helped us a little bit with answering this question. 00:26:30.059 --> 00:26:33.620 If you go back just a little bit in Colossians to chapter 1. 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:35.900 You're going to see Colossians 1.12. 00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:43.360 Where Paul is talking about how Christians walk in a manner that is pleasing to God. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:52.779 And he says a manner that we are pleasing to God is by giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you. 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:55.359 So this is the God that we're giving thanks to. 00:26:56.859 --> 00:27:04.919 The Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:10.759 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness. 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:16.600 And has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. 00:27:17.220 --> 00:27:19.519 In whom we have redemption. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:21.300 The forgiveness of sins. 00:27:22.680 --> 00:27:30.340 So gratitude happens when we see that we once belonged to the domain of darkness. 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:31.840 That we acknowledge that. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:39.220 That we recognize that our sin had separated us to the point that if we stood before God. 00:27:39.220 --> 00:27:45.339 The only thing that we would qualify for would be eternal separation from him. 00:27:45.779 --> 00:27:46.500 In hell. 00:27:46.879 --> 00:27:47.240 Forever. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:48.980 That's where we were. 00:27:49.619 --> 00:27:53.039 Ephesians 2 says that we were children of wrath. 00:27:53.619 --> 00:27:55.500 That's where we were before Jesus Christ. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:57.959 It comes when we see that. 00:27:57.960 --> 00:28:04.240 But then when we also see the depth of the Father's love for us in Christ. 00:28:04.340 --> 00:28:07.340 Who has not left us to our sin. 00:28:08.120 --> 00:28:09.539 But has ransomed us. 00:28:09.840 --> 00:28:11.440 He has rescued us. 00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:12.240 Forgiven us. 00:28:12.600 --> 00:28:13.700 Redeemed us. 00:28:14.059 --> 00:28:18.380 He has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:19.319 Not because we're good. 00:28:19.380 --> 00:28:20.380 But because he's good. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:21.100 Right? 00:28:21.099 --> 00:28:22.459 Not that we loved God. 00:28:22.740 --> 00:28:24.339 But that he loved us. 00:28:24.899 --> 00:28:28.419 And sent his Son to die for us. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:34.899 It's when we see that the record of debt that once stood against us has been set aside forever. 00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:36.259 Nailing it to the cross. 00:28:36.339 --> 00:28:42.399 And there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:56.140 Gratitude happens when we see Christ's work so clearly that we cannot help but lift up our praises to our God. 00:28:56.140 --> 00:28:57.840 With everything that we've got. 00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:02.360 And we just lose ourselves in his glory and his goodness. 00:29:02.780 --> 00:29:07.019 And his mercy and his value and his worth. 00:29:07.019 --> 00:29:15.139 And we do that together as the redeemed, ransomed people of God. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.740 And that's what I want to get into our hearts. 00:29:21.799 --> 00:29:29.259 That's the reality that I want us to be centered on when we gather to worship on a Sunday morning. 00:29:29.339 --> 00:29:32.839 That we would treasure Jesus above all else. 00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:37.019 And that doesn't mean that every Sunday is a mountaintop experience. 00:29:37.179 --> 00:29:40.220 Because there's valleys that we're walking through as well. 00:29:41.139 --> 00:29:47.759 But that we would, through our singing, be so convinced that Jesus is worth it. 00:29:49.740 --> 00:29:53.500 And that's when you hear the sound of Christ-o-centric resonance. 00:29:53.679 --> 00:29:53.779 Right? 00:29:57.720 --> 00:29:58.199 Amen. 00:29:58.939 --> 00:29:59.579 Let's pray. 00:29:59.579 --> 00:30:08.099 Heavenly Father, we thank you for redeeming a people. 00:30:08.359 --> 00:30:12.759 We thank you for rescuing us. 00:30:14.460 --> 00:30:20.619 For the glorious work that you have done, Lord Jesus, on the cross. 00:30:22.819 --> 00:30:26.480 And for the joy set before you, you went to the cross. 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:36.140 We ask, Holy Spirit, that you would help us to build one another up in our singing. 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:44.620 That you would help us to encourage each other to fix our eyes on Christ. 00:30:47.120 --> 00:30:48.519 Father, you are so good. 00:30:49.940 --> 00:30:51.339 You are so kind. 00:30:51.339 --> 00:30:52.339 Amen. 00:30:52.339 --> 00:30:53.339 We love you. 00:30:55.919 --> 00:30:57.579 It's in Christ's name that we pray. 00:30:58.699 --> 00:30:59.139 Amen.