No
matter where you go today, whether it's to the movies, a sporting event,
your favorite restaurant, or even while you are put on hold, you will
hear music being played in the background. Music is found wherever people
are found. Music has become so much a part of our lives that it is now
a billion dollar per year industry.
Over this summer, we have looked at the various reasons of why we are
to worship. And for the next couple of weeks, we are going to look specifically
at the singing aspect of worship. As I have taught on this subject,
I have been very much aware that music is one of the most volatile subjects
in Christianity today. That is because singing connects with our emotions.
And we have very strong feelings about the kind of music we like to
listen to. For instance, although I now only like to listen to most
Christian music, growing up I liked to listen to rock & roll, the blues,
and bluegrass. But, I hated pop & disco, and I strongly disliked country.
Most of you have your favorite type of music as well. I bet that if
we walked outside and turned on the radio in everybody's car, that not
everybody would be listening to the same station. Unfortunately, we
bring these feelings into a worship service, which has caused us to
believe that what we like is what is right. So if you like hymns, you
believe that they are only right kind of music for the church. Or if
you like hard pounding rock & roll, you believe that is the right kind
of music for the church.
I like to hear great guitar licks, so I love it when Daniel gets down
on his guitar. But some of you like softly played music, so you believe
that worship can only occur when the music is played softly, or as you
would call it, spiritually. This kind of thinking as stopped us from
not only enjoying the different styles of music that is being played
in the church, but it has also caused us to want to sing songs that
merely produce good feelings inside of us. Which is not the purpose
of singing in a worship service.
The reason we come together and sing songs is not just so we can have
nice feelings. Or to get worked into some kind of emotional frenzy by
singing songs that have fast, rhythmic beats. For if this is all that
happens, than you will live your life, after the worship service, in
the same way you did before the worship service. As I have stated repeatedly
during this series, worship is for God, not for us.
The only benefit we should be seeking during our time of worship to
God is that his Spirit will transform our lives. Which is what we see
in this passage of Scripture. This morning, we are going to look at
what Paul wrote here, and in a similar passage in Colossians, to try
to discern the reasons why God had his people to sing songs to him.
Let's look first at v. 18. Before Paul exhorts us to sing, he first
contrasts being filled with alcohol and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Why does he do that? The reason is because of the place of importance
that drunkenness has had throughout the history of the world. Throughout
history, people have equated getting drunk with having a good time.
The saying of Paul's day was, "Eat, drink, and be merry!" This statement
has taken on many different forms, but the message it conveys hasn't
changed. Even today, the liquor business is preaching to us that if
you want to enjoy life then you have to be filled with alcohol. The
lie they are trying to get us to believe is that drinking is a sign
of being cool. They want you to believe that by getting together with
a bunch of friends, and drinking an ice cold Bud, that your life will
be full. And to make matters worse, Satan is attacking the youth of
the church, with a strong lie that if they do the Jesus thing, if they
get close to God, then they have to leave all of the fun of life behind.
Satan wants our youth to believe that the Christian life is the dullest
life of all. And if they want to party, then they have to do it according
to the ways of the world. In which alcohol is still #1!
Did any of you watch the programs last Friday that showed the people
in NY during the blackout? The #1 activity they showed the people doing
was drinking. Not once did they show people praying, which is what the
people should have been doing. In this verse, Paul challenges the philosophy
of the day. Notice that he doesn't tell us that we don't need to have
a full life. He knows that within us there is a desire to enjoy life
to the max. He knows that the Lord Jesus wants us all to experience
what he called the super-abundant life. A life that is full of celebration,
full of joy, full of laughter, and full of peace. Paul is telling us
that if we want to live an enjoyable life, a full life, then we don't
need to be filled with alcohol. I personally can attest to that fact.
For 12 years alcohol was a major part of my life. In fact, for 7 years
there wasn't a day that I wasn't under the influence of alcohol. Most
of that time I was drunk as a skunk. And instead of leading me into
more and more fun, alcohol almost destroyed me. It almost destroyed
my brain, and it almost destroyed my marriage.
Despite what we see in the movies & on TV, we don't have to drink ourselves
into a stupor to enjoy life. All that kind of life will give us is hangovers,
dui tickets, wrecked cars, and wrecked relationships. So to avoid all
those unpleasant aspects of life, gather together with a bunch of people
that don't need an artificial stimuli to enjoy life. Instead, gather
together with a bunch of people whose only drink is the living water
of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us that all we need to enjoy life is
to be constantly filled with the Spirit of the living God. And when
we are full of the Spirit, we will have just has much fun as those who
are drunk because of alcohol.
A Spirit-filled Christian ought to the happiest person in the world.
And since Paul connects v. 18 with v. 19, we see that singing is one
of the ways God uses to refill us with the Holy Spirit-v. 19. The Bible
teaches us that the indwelling of the Spirit is a one time event. When
we give our lives over to the lordship of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit
comes inside of us.
The Bible also teaches us that the baptism of the Spirit is a one time
event. As we desire to live more under the lordship of Jesus, the Holy
Spirit comes upon us and gives us the power to do so. But from what
Paul tells us here, according to the Greek syntax, we need to continually
be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is just like getting drunk. To stay
drunk, you have to keep drinking. To stay full of the Spirit, you have
to keep coming back and drinking the living waters of the Spirit. And
one of the ways God has designed for us to get refilled is through singing.
Let's look at each of the types of songs that Paul mentions in this
verse. First of all, to get a fresh refilling of the Spirit, we need
to be singing psalms. Psalms are songs that come right out of the Bible.
They are what we call today Scripture Songs. Probably what Paul had
in mind are songs that are similar to the ones found in the book of
Psalms.
If you want to know what kind of songs God enjoys, read the book of
Psalms. In the book of Psalms, we find songs that cover the whole gamut
of human emotions. There are songs that deal with joy, with discouragement,
with defeat, and with victory. And especially study the ones found in
the last part of the book. The last 7 psalms are called the Hallel songs,
for the main emphasis of each of them is on praising the Lord.
The second kind of songs that will refill us with the Spirit are hymns.
These are songs that express one's feeling of adoration & love to God.
A hymn isn't a hymn just because it is old. Hymns aren't just what they
sang in your parent's church. In fact, most of what we call hymns are
not what Paul would call a hymn. They would fit into the category that
Paul calls spiritual songs. What most of you don't realize is that we
sing hymns here every Sunday. We sang several this morning. A hymn is
a song that flows out of one's intimate relationship with God. And when
we gather as a church and sing hymns, we are communicating to God that
we love him. Not only that, but they are songs that help us to remember
that we are part of God's family.
Never forget that God's love for his children to tell him that they
love him. Now I don't know about you, but I have a hard time sitting
down and telling God that I love him for more that just a few minutes.
I mean how many different ways can you say, "I love you!"? I guess you
could put more emphasis on each word & say them real slow. Now even
that could get pretty boring after a little while. Yet through singing
hymns, songs that declare my love for God, I can sing for hours without
ever getting bored.
The beauty of hymns is that as we are declaring our love for God, he
responds to our singing by letting us know that he loves us too. I have
noticed that something supernatural occurs whenever we start to sing
what Paul calls hymns. As we start to sing these kinds of songs, ya'll's
countenance changes. You start to smile, and there is this look of peace
that comes upon you. This is a result of being filled with the Spirit,
as God responds to us telling him how we feel about him.
Probably the greatest change that has taken place in the church's singing
is the reality that it is important to not only sing songs that talk
about God, and not only sing songs that communicate correct theological
information, but that it is important to sing songs to God. The church
is finally realizing that God responds to us as we sing songs of adoration
to him. We finally believe the truth that God inhabits the praises of
his people. The modern praise & worship movement has helped God's people
connect with him in a very intimate way. No longer do we come to church
to be entertained by the choir, or by a soloist. Instead, we gather
together and connect with God by singing songs that tell him we love
him, that we adore him, and that we are thankful for all the ways he
is working in our lives.
So instead of complaining about the type of songs that are being sung,
or even the amount of songs that are being sung, view the time of singing
as an opportunity to talk to God directly and tell him that you love
him.
The third kind of songs that we are to sing in order to be refilled
with the Spirit are what Paul calls spiritual songs. These are songs
of testimony.
Spiritual songs are a way of telling an audience the song writer's spiritual
journey through life. And they become ways for us to teach one another
about how God works in the lives of his people.
Have you ever wondered why today's rap & grunge type of music is so
appealing to our kids? It is because they are songs that come from the
soul. They are songs that are talking about growing up in broken homes,
about having absent parents, and about the anguish of growing up poor
in a rich man's world. The reason these types of songs are so popular
is not because of the catchy beat, but because they connect people to
what is going on in their lives. The same is true with singers like
Garth Brooks. If I'm not mistaken, he has sold more singles & albums
than any other singer or group, even the Beatles. And it is not because
he has the greatest voice in the world. It is because he sings songs
that deal with the issues of life.
Do you realize that the music of the church is the original soul music?
Through the singing of Spiritual songs we can tell people of how God
responded as we experience the various issues of life.
Just because God saves you, doesn't mean he shields you from the same
problems everyone else experiences. The only difference is that we don't
go through them alone. God tells us to "Fear not, for I have redeemed
you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through
the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire,
you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you." And the reason
why all this is possible is because God gave us this powerful promise:
"I will be with you!" We need to hear songs that tell about those times
that God was with us as we went through the various trials of life.
Songs like "Through it all." In that song, the writer is telling us
that through all the various trials of life, he has learned to trust
in Jesus.
Spiritual songs are great teaching tools. And the teaching aspect of
singing is what we see in the sister passage that is found in Col.
3:16. Now if I were to tell you that today we are going to learn
how to get more of God's Word in you, how do you suppose that I would
tell you to do that? Probably you would be thinking that I was going
to tell you to spend more time reading & studying the Word, and to spend
more time memorizing it. And since Calvary Chapels are known for teaching
the Bible verse by verse, you might think that I would tell you that
you need to listen more carefully to my sermons. But would you ever
guess that I would say that in order to get more of God's Word in your
heart then you need to sing a few more songs?
This morning, I asked Brent to add a couple of more songs then we normally
sing. Did I do it merely to lengthen the service? No, I did it because
the Spirit showed me the truth that as we sing vertically towards God,
and horizontally towards each other about God, that we gain biblical
wisdom. That is a foreign concept to most churches. The modern, evangelical,
spirit-filled church has failed to recognize this ability of singing
songs. I believe that music is probably the greatest vehicle of communicating
the truths found in God's Word. Now that doesn't mean that singing should
ever replace the sermon. But it does mean that we have got to see that
the singing of the songs is not just the prelude to the sermon. Instead
we've got to see that through the singing of songs, along with the preaching
of God's Word, that the Spirit will write the truth of God's word on
our heart.
I doubt if many of you could tell me what the topic I preached about
3 weeks ago was, much less any of the points I made. Studies have shown
that you will forget most of what I say this morning by the time you
get to your car. But as you drove home, you could find an oldies station
on the radio and sing along, probably word for word, the songs you sang
as a teenager. That's the power of music that the church has got to
get hold of.
I could spend an hour teaching you about grace, and you might remember
a couple of points. But you will never forget the words to the song
that teaches us about God's "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that
saved a wretch like me." Or I could show you from God's Word about how
awesome he is, and you might remember something I said. But you will
never forget the words of the song that teaches us that "Our God is
an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and
love. Our God is an awesome God!" Or I could do a whole series on God's
love, and perhaps something I said will help during times of trouble.
But more than likely your mind will not pull up one of my points about
God's love, instead it will find the song that contains the first theological
lesson you ever learned: "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible
tells me so. Yes, Jesus loves, me, yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves
me, for the Bible tells me so!" Now does that bother me? Not at all!
Because I know that if the songs reinforce what I teach, then the Spirit
will us my sermon to have an impact on your lives.
I am always amazed at how many times the songs God lays on Brent's heart,
goes right along with the theme of the message. So I don't view the
singing part of the service as a competition to the sermon. Instead,
I view the singing as a companion to what I am going to say. People
today are just as concerned about the kind of music that a church uses,
as the are about the preaching style of the pastor. And biblically that's
not wrong. It is important that both the music and the preaching bring
us into an encounter with the living God.
In closing let me state that I hope that before we go home today, that
each one of you would have connected with God through both the singing
and through the sermon. I hope that each one of you were able to tell
him from the very depth of your heart, that you really love him. I hope
that as you did that, that God refilled you with his Spirit. For his
Spirit is the only one who can bring you the peace & joy you need in
order to survive life. You need to be spiritually refreshed, and refilled
in order to go back out into a dark & evil world and be light & salt
to that world. You need to be spiritually refreshed, and refilled in
order to go out and tell others about the joy that is found in a saving
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you have no peace or
joy, it may be because you have never been filled with the Holy Spirit
in the first place. That may be because you have never given your life
over to the lordship of Jesus Christ. If that is you, then I hope that
before you leave today, you will open your heart, and invite Jesus in
to be your lord!
Let's pray!!
RETURN
TO WORSHIP SERIES INDEX
