Good morning. I have two texts for you to turn with me today. The first is Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16.
! 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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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,
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.
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,
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.
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,
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,
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.
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
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.
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
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 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.
Again,
Alex and
I did not
coordinate
this together.
He did
what he
would have
done on
any other
Sunday.
Alex and
Jordan and
Ben do
a good
job and
all the
people that
have come
alongside
them and
help and
serve in
this way.
We are
so blessed
to be led
to sing
well.
So for the
sake of time,
you don't have
to look at it,
but just the
five songs that
we've sung here
together.
First,
turn your eyes
upon Jesus.
We administered
comfort for the
troubled,
trialed soul
by reminding
one another
to trust
in God's
promises,
and then we
turn one
another toward
evangelism,
to not be
self-absorbed,
but then to
take this
good news
to the
world.
All creatures
of our God
and King,
we exhort
one another
to the
befitting
praise of
created
beings for
their
creator.
Complete
in thee,
we were
reminded that
we are
justified,
set free
from the
power of
sin,
and helped
by the
finished
work
of
Christ.
Yet not
I,
but through
Christ in
me,
I had a
really hard
time writing
a single
sentence for
this song.
It's got
a lot
in it.
We spoke
to one
another
of the
hope
and power
and pardon
and security
that is
ours
in Jesus
Christ.
Whatever
my God
ordains
is right.
We
encourage
one another
to be
faithful
as
God's
providence
reigns
in our
lives.
I don't
know about
you,
but I
needed to
hear every
bit of
that
this
morning.
Not
every song
that we
sing
contains
within it
the entirety
of the
gospel or
unpacks
all the
implications
of the
gospel,
but a
lot of
it
does.
A
year ago
I went
on a
sabbatical
and I
took my
family as
a learning
experience
to a
local
popular
large
attractional
church.
And in
our time
there
lots of
songs were
sung,
prayers were
offered,
they even
took the
Lord's
Supper,
put my
quotation
fingers,
they took
the Lord's
Supper,
there was a
sermon of
sorts,
and afterwards
I asked my
boys,
I said,
boys,
how many
times did
you hear
the gospel
this morning?
And my
oldest,
Cade,
who's now
15,
14 at
the time,
he said,
once,
sort of,
and we
got to
unpack
what that
meant,
once,
sort of,
gospel
people
ought to
gather
and
proliferate
the gospel.
You've
heard the
gospel,
there's more
of guests
at it,
but in
reading and
praying and
in singing,
five,
six times,
it's been
laid out
before you.
This ought
to change
us.
We come,
we engage,
we expect
God to
work through
his truth
in our
lives as
we come
together.
It ought
to cause
us to
grow in
Christ and
leave here
one degree
of glory
to another
degree of
glory for
the praise
of his
name.
Truth,
depth,
and
singability
all for
the glory
of God
and for
the good
of his
people.
Let us
be a
people who
sing to
one another
and who
know why
we sing to
one another
and who
know why
or what
and how
we should
sing to
one another.
Let's pray.
five