Sing the Word
One of the greatest gifts that God has given to humanity, and to the church in particular, is singing. Music puts emotion to truth; music gives expression to what God has said in a way that mere words cannot. When Christians are suffering, there is comfort in singing the cherished lines of “It is well.”
When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Yes, music is a great gift from God. When Paul is giving instructions to the Ephesian believers about how to conduct themselves as a church, he addresses singing:
“…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, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:18-20).
Singing is the Christian’s God-designed response to the truth of who God is and what God has done. When we realize God’s work of salvation in Christ Jesus, we should want to sing! That is why, when we gather for worship, we always sing the Word.
Music has two primary functions in the church.
First, music should serve the truth. In Colossians 3, Paul told the church to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…” One of the ways we teach each other the word of Christ is by singing in church. Jesus told the woman at the well that a day would come when God’s people would worship him “in spirit and in truth.” These things always go together. The Holy Spirit is called the “Spirit of truth.” Because singing is a response to the truth about God found in His Word, then we strive to make sure all of our music is first biblical. Music helps us to put emotion to the truth, not truth to emotions.
In our service right now, our first two songs focus more on who God is, His character, His works. We begin our service by orienting our focus and attention on God and responding in praise. Then our third song just before the sermon is usually a song that summarizes the gospel message. The greatest truth that all of Scripture points to is the good news of Jesus Christ and the salvation he accomplished through his death and resurrection. We surely want to sing about that!
Our last song after the sermon is a response to what we have heard from God’s Word. In this way, our music helps us to know, remember, and respond to the truth of God’s Word.
Second, music should serve the church. Paul’s instructions to sing were not just addressed to individuals or even music ministers, but to the whole church. Since the beginning of the church, God’s people have always sung together. We all respond to God’s truth together by singing as one chorus, making a beautiful noise to the Lord.
For this to take place, our music should serve the church by being music we can sing. For this reason, we try to pick songs that are either familiar to most people or easy to learn. I am thankful for so many strong, biblical hymns to choose from along with strong, biblical modern songs to choose from.
What a great gift music is to the church. God cares about how we worship and God has told us to sing!
Pastor Mark