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Singing Hymns

 
The Joy Of Singing
 
INTRODUCTION
 
1. Another important element of our walk with God is the act of singing
 praises...
 a. We spend nearly a third of our assemblies engaged in this
 activity
 b. It also has a place in our private devotions to God
 -- And rightly so
for it has the potential of reaping great
 spiritual benefits to those who engage in it properly
 
2. It is clear that those who walked with God in Old Testament times
 delighted in singing - cf. Ps 146:1-2
 
3. Christians were taught to respond to the goodness of God in a
 similar way - Ja 5:13
 
4. But there are indications in many churches which cause me to wonder
 if some have lost the joy of singing
 a. Many Christians sing with virtually no emotion
 b. Some go one step further
and do not sing at all!
 c. I have personally known Christians
who...
 1) Complained because time available for classes was taken up by
 the singing of a few hymns
 2) Will not attend a worship service if they know it will be
 devoted primarily to singing
 d. In contrast
it was common in the past for people to travel some
 distance to attend a service devoted to praising God in song
 
5. WHY DO SUCH CONDITIONS EXIST? I suspect it may be a failure to
 appreciate:
 a. The true purpose of singing
 b. How we can get more out of singing
 
[In an effort to assure that we will experience the JOY of singing

let's first examine...]
 
I. THE PURPOSE OF SINGING
 
 A. TO PRAISE THE LORD - Ac 16:25
  1. This is the most popular concept of the purpose of singing
 a. Indeed
this is certainly the idea inherent in the word
 "HYMN"
 b. Which comes from the Greek word HUMNOS
meaning "a song in
 praise of"
 2. Praising God should be "a natural" for Christians!
 a. For if David in the Old Testament reacted this way to the
 blessings God gave him ... - Ps 28:6-7
 b. How much more should we!
 3. In fact
singing is one of the "spiritual sacrifices" that we
 are to offer to God - He 13:15
 a. As "spiritual priests" we are to offer up "spiritual
 sacrifices acceptable to God" - 1 Pe 2:5
 b. If we are not careful
we might be guilty of offering
  "defiled" service to God as was the case in Malachi's day!
 - cf. Mal 1:7-8
12-13
 
 B. TO TEACH AND ADMONISH ONE ANOTHER - Co 3:16; Ep 5:19
 1. Our singing is not just directed toward God...
 a. Certainly
many songs are
  b. But many of the songs are directed to each other
 2. That's because many songs are designed to teach one another
 a. Teaching and admonishing us to live properly
enjoying the
 blessings of the Christian life
 b. It might even be said that "congregational singing" is
 often "congregational teaching"!
 c. Thus singing is a way that we can encourage our brethren
 and ourselves as well!
 
[When done properly
singing can be a wonderful blessing; but how can 
we get the most out of singing?]
 
II. GETTING MORE OF OUR SINGING
 
 A. WE MUST ENGAGE THE "MIND" AS WE SING...
 1. Remember
singing is "teaching and admonishing one another"
 a. This assumes that we UNDERSTAND what we sing
 b. We must be careful that our enjoyment of singing is not
 like the way many people enjoy their popular music (liking
 the music without necessarily understanding the words)
 2. Therefore
give careful attention to the WORDS of the song
 
 B. WE MUST ALSO ENGAGE THE "HEART" AS WE SING...
 1. When we sing
we must do so...
 a. "with grace in our hearts" - Co 3:16
 b. "making melody in your heart" - Ep 5:19
 2. This assumes that we involve our EMOTIONS as we sing!
 3. To sing without emotion (without grace in our hearts)...
 a. Will be evident in our countenances! - Pr 15:13
 b. Is hypocritical
and condemned by Jesus! - Mt 15:7-8
 
[So as we sing
do so with BOTH the emotions of the heart and the
understanding of the mind. In a further effort to assure that we 
experience the "joy of singing"
consider some...]
 
III. QUESTIONS TO EVALUATE YOUR SINGING
 
 A. DO YOU LIMIT THE SPHERE OF YOUR SINGING?
 1. Is your singing limited just to the public assemblies?
 2. Or do you utilize opportunities to sing at other times with
 others
or even alone?
 3. Singing
like prayer
ought to be spontaneous
arising 
 whenever the circumstances call for it - cf. Ac 16:25; 
 Ps 34:1-3
 
 B. IS THERE LACK OF EMOTION IN YOUR SINGING?
 1. Remember
singing is to involve the HEART
 2. And not with just "some" heart
but as in all that we do for
 the Lord
with "all" our hearts! - Mt 22:37
  3. When it comes time to praise the Lord
it should not be done
 "half-heartedly"
 a. Remember Mt 15:7-9
 b. "It is a great sign of mediocrity to praise always
 moderately." - Vauvenargues
 4. Not all may be talented in voice
but all can and should bless
 the Lord with their "whole being"! - Ps 103:1
 
 C. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SINGING?
 1. Again
singing must also involve the MIND
 2. Some songs
though sounding beautiful
can be so complicated
 as to hinder understanding
 a. E.g.
the musical arrangement can be such that one spends
 more time concentrating on the notes rather than the words
 b. E.g.
the pace of the song can be so fast that we don't
  absorb the meaning of the words
 c. E.g.
the words used may be unusual and not understood by
 the average singer
 3. Song leaders can perform a valuable service by being careful
 in the songs they select to lead
 a. Carefully introducing songs that may be new to the congre-
 gation
 b. Taking a moment to explain the meaning of the song or
 unusual words in it
 4. But the ultimate responsibility falls on us who sing
so we
 should make every effort to understand what we are singing
 
 D. DO YOU STRESS MUSICAL HARMONY TO THE DETRIMENT OF NEW TESTAMENT
 SINGING?
 1. Fortunately
God stresses making melody in our hearts over
 making harmony with our voices
 2. In a natural desire to offer beautiful praise
do you
 discourage those who might not have trained voices but still
 love to praise God with their whole being?
 3. I have occasionally seen some Christians give a criticizing
 look at others who sang "off key"
 4. But the emphasis should be on praising God in heart and mind

 and not how it may sound to the human ear!
 
 E. DO YOU HINDER YOUR OWN SINGING BY WHERE YOU SIT?
 1. Sitting alone or spread out naturally discourages many from
 singing as they otherwise might
 2. People become more involved
are more uplifted
edify others
 better
when they sit together and close to the song leader
 3. One of the first steps to better singing is to sit with others
 who love to sing!
 
CONCLUSION
 
1. Have we lost the joy of singing?
 
2. I believe that if we could see ourselves as song leaders do
we
 might be constrained to say "yes"!
 
3. I hope that by reminding ourselves of the purpose of singing and how
 to get more out of it
we might rekindle this act of worship which
 can do so much for our walk with God!
 
4. May David's attitude
a man after God's own heart
describe our own:
 
 "I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
 I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." 
 - Ps 104:33
 
 "Praise the Lord!
 For it is good to sing praises to our God;
 For it is pleasant
and praise is beautiful." 
 - Ps 147:1
 
SOME QUESTIONS TO STIMULATE YOUR THINKING...
 
1. Which is more important when we sing
how we sound or how we feel?
 
2. Are we really teaching and admonishing one another in song if we
 just whisper or mouth the words?
 
3. Do we sing because we are happy
or are we happy because we sing?
 
4. Do you sing praises to God by yourself throughout the week?
 
5. Does your family ever sing spiritual songs together (e.g.
while
 traveling in the car)?
 
6. Which is more unscriptural
singing with mechanical instruments
or
 singing without engaging the instrument of the heart?

－－《Executable Outlines》

 
Music In The New Testament Church
 
INTRODUCTION
 
1. In our last lesson
we noted various types of worship...
 a. VAIN worship - Mt 15:8-9
 b. IGNORANT worship - Ac 17:22-23
 c. WILL worship - Co 2:20-23
 d. TRUE worship - Jn 4:23-24
 -- The last one being the only one acceptable to God!
 
2. We then considered what was involved in "TRUE" worship
what Jesus 
 meant when He said "worship in spirit and truth"...
 a. It is more than just worshipping with the right attitude and in 
 the right way (for such was true with regards to OT worship)
 b. It is a SPIRITUAL worship which is in harmony with the TRUTH
 concerning God's nature (God is Spirit) and the location of the
 TRUE tabernacle (in heaven)
 c. Contrast this with OT worship with its FLESHLY ordinances which
 served only as a SHADOW until the TRUE came along
 
3. In this lesson
we shall consider the MUSIC God wants in the worship
 of the church; in doing so...
 a. We shall notice that it is indeed a TRUE
SPIRITUAL music unlike
 that found in the OT
 b. Also
that our understanding of the kind of music to be used in
 the worship of the church is supported by what many historians

 reformers
and scholars have said on the subject
 
[Let's begin with a look at...]
 
I. THE MUSIC IN "TRUE" WORSHIP
 
 A. THE ONLY MUSIC COMMANDED IN THE NT WAS "VOCAL"...
 1. The example of Jesus and His disciples - Mt 26:30; Mk 14:26
 (they "sung a hymn")
 2. The example of Paul and Silas - Ac 16:25 ("singing hymns")
 3. Other references
 a. Ro 15:9 - "sing to Your name"
 b. 1 Co 14:15 - "I will sing with the spirit
and I will also
 sing with the understanding"
 c. Ep 5:19 - "singing and making melody in your heart"
 d. Co 3:16 - "singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord"
 e. He 2:12 - "I will sing praise to You"
 f. Ja 5:13 - "Let him sing psalms"
 
 B. THE MUSIC IN THE NT EMPHASIZED THE "SPIRITUAL"...
 1. Ep 5:19 - "singing and making melody in your heart to the
 Lord"
 a. "making melody" (PSALLONTES) - In the OT this had reference
 to the playing of musical instruments
 b. But notice that now (in the NT) the "making melody" is to
 be done "in the heart"
not with mechanical instruments!
 c. Notice the contrast: the heart (SPIRITUAL) vs. mechanical
 instruments (PHYSICAL)
 d. Since this music is to be offered "to the Lord"
we had
  better regard Him as Holy and offer exactly what He 
 specified (cf. Nadab & Abihu)!
 2. Co 3:16 - "singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord"
 a. This passage is parallel to Ep 5:19
 b. Notice again that the emphasis is SPIRITUAL: "in your
 hearts to the Lord"
 
 C. REVIEW THE CONTRAST BETWEEN OT MUSIC AND NT MUSIC...
 1. OT music
 a. Performed by a professional choir
 b. Accompanied with various mechanical instruments
 c. EMPHASIS: How it sounds to the human ear (appealing to the
 PHYSICAL side of man)
 2. NT music
 a. Sung by all in the congregation ("speaking to one another
 in psalms...")
 b. The melody to be made in the HEART
not on the HARP
 c. EMPHASIS: How it affects the soul (the SPIRITUAL side of
 man)
 
[Music in NT worship
therefore
is to be SPIRITUAL in emphasis:
 
 1. Sung by all
 
 2. With emphasis not on how we sound
but that we are making true
 melody in our hearts to the Lord!
 
Lest people think that we are unusual in this view of using only vocal
music in NT worship
and choosing not to add mechanical instruments in
worship
consider some interesting references... ]
 
II. REFERENCES ON MUSIC IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH
 
 A. THE VOICE OF HISTORY...
 1. "All our sources deal amply with vocal music of the church

 but they are chary with mention of any other manifestations of
 musical art... The development of Western music was decisively
 influenced by the exclusion of musical instruments from the 
 early Christian Church." - Paul Henry Lang
MUSIC IN WESTERN
 CIVILIZATION
pp. 53
54
 2. "Only singing
however
and no playing of instruments
was
 permitted in the early Christian Church." - Hugo
 Leichtentritt
MUSIC
HISTORY AND IDEAS
p. 34
 3. "There can be no doubt that originally the music of the divine
 service was everywhere entirely of a vocal nature." - Emil
 Nauman
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC
Vol. 1
p. 177
 4. "We have no real knowledge of the exact character of the music
 which formed a part of the religious devotion of the first
 Christian congregations. It was
however
purely vocal." - Dr.
 Frederick Louis Ritter
HISTORY OF MUSIC FROM THE CHRISTIAN
 ERA TO THE PRESENT TIME
p. 28
 5. "Both the Jews in their temple service
and the Greeks in 
 their idol worship
were accustomed to sing with the 
 accompaniment of instrumental music. The converts to 
 Christianity accordingly must have been familiar with this 
 mode of singing...But it is generally admitted
that the 
 primitive Christians employed no instrumental music in their 
 worship." -- Lyman Coleman (Presbyterian)
THE APOSTOLIC AND 
 PRIMITIVE CHURCH
pp. 368-369
 
 [It may seem odd that music was entirely vocal in the early church

 when instrumental music was quite common in the worship of the Jews
 and Gentiles. But not when you recall that the worship in the NT
 was to be spiritual in it semphasis.]
 
 B. THE VOICE OF VARIOUS RELIGIOUS SOURCES...
 1. CATHOLIC - "... the first Christians were of too spiritual a
  fibre to substitute lifeless instruments for or to use them to
 accompany the human voice." -- CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
 2. GREEK ORTHODOX - "The execution of Byzantine church music by
 instruments
or even the accompaniment of sacred chanting by 
 instruments was ruled out by the Eastern Fathers as being 
 incompatible with the pure
solemn
spiritual character of the
 religion of Christ." -- Constantine Cavarnos
BYSANTINE SACRED
 MUSIC
 3. PRESBYTERIAN - "Musical instruments in celebrating the praises
 of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense

 the lighting up of lamps
the restoration of the other shadows
 of the law. The Papists
therefore
have foolishly borrowed
 this
as well as many other things
from the Jews. Men who 
 are fond of outward pomp may delight in that noise; but the
 simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostle is far 
 more pleasing to Him." - JOHN CALVIN
Commentary on the Book 
 of Psalms
Vol. I
p. 539
 4. METHODIST - "I have no objection to instruments of music
in
 our chapels
provided they are neither heard nor seen." - JOHN
 WESLEY (founder)
 5. METHODIST - "Music as a science
I esteem and admire: but 
 instruments of music in the house of God I abominate and 
 abhor. This is the abuse of music; and here I register my
 protest against all such corruptions in the worship of the 
  Author of Christianity." - ADAM CLARKE (commentator)
 6. LUTHERAN - "Martin Luther called the organ an 'ensign of 
 Baal'." - MCCLINTOCK & STRONG'S ENCYCLOPEDIA
 7. BAPTIST - "I would as soon attempt to pray to God with 
 machinery as to sing to Him with machinery." - CHARLES H. 
 SPURGEON
 
[Why did these men object so strongly to instrumental music in the 
worship of the church? Because they properly realized:
 
 1. That such was a carry-over from the Jewish worship
 
 2. That as such it was out of harmony with the SPIRITUAL nature of 
 NT worship
 
 3. That it rightfully belonged to the Old Law with its "shadows" and
 not the TRUE worship of the NT
 
Finally
let's consider...]
 
III. JUSTIFICATION OFFERED FOR THE USE OF INSTRUMENTS
 
 A. "IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TRADITION IN OUR CHURCH"
 1. Not really
as history reveals the use of instruments to be an
 innovation introduced hundreds of years after the NT Church
 began
 2. In most cases
it has been used only during the last two
 centuries
 3. Even so
as "traditions of men" it qualifies as VAIN worship
 - Mt 15:9
 
 B. "I DON'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT"
 1. Then your worship is IGNORANT worship - Ac 17:22-23
 2. For you are not aware of the kind of worship God commands of
 you
 
 C. "I LIKE IT IN MY WORSHIP TO GOD"
 1. Then it becomes WILL worship - Co 2:20-23
 2. And you begin worshipping like Nadab & Abihu
 a. Offering that which YOU like
 b. But offering that which is profane
for God did not command
 it
 
 D. "IT IS FOUND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT"
 1. So are a lot of other acts of worship which were "imposed 
 until a time of reformation" - He 9:10
 2. That time is come and God expects His people to worship 
 differently - Jn 4:23-24
 3. The fact that God may have commanded it in the past does not
 mean that He approves its use now (especially when He has
  revealed what He DOES want)
 4. Consider the sin of Moses
 a. God first told him to STRIKE the rock for water - Exo 17:
 5-6
 b. Later
God at another time told him to SPEAK to the rock 
 - Num 20:7-8
  c. But Moses struck the rock as before
and in so doing sinned
 and lost his right to enter the promised land - Num 20:9-12
 5. His sin? He did not treat God holy by doing ONLY what God had
 commanded at the PRESENT time!
  a. God may have commanded INSTRUMENTAL music in the past (OT)
 b. But He now commands VOCAL music (NT)
 
CONCLUSION
 
1. Let's not make the same mistakes as did Nadab and Abihu
Moses and
 Aaron
forfeiting our inheritance in the Promised Land offered 
 to Christians (i.e.
Heaven)
 
2. As we approach God in worship
let us treat Him as Holy by 
 worshipping as He has commanded: "in spirit and in truth"
 
3. In regards to our music ...
 a. Let it be singing with melody in our hearts to the Lord
 b. And not with melody made with mechanical instruments
 
In doing so
we KNOW we are on safe ground
and that our worship is
well pleasing to Him!

－－《Executable Outlines》