Or, The Joyful Noise of a Worshipping Assembly
Scripture: Selected Scriptures
Date: February 19, 2012
Speaker: Sean Higgins
The Particulars of Worship (Part 2)
I didn’t want to do it, but I changed my mind and am going to take an entire message to address our corporate worship in song.
We started moving through the particulars of our Sunday morning liturgy last week, covering some of the details in and around the five C pillars: Call to worship, Confession/Cleansing, Consecration, Communion, and Commissioning. We began by considering our approach to the gathering time. We’re in this together. It’s right for us to gladly greet one another because we’re an assembly about to meet with our gracious God. We include some announcements about the body’s upcoming calendar as we wind up to receive God’s call to worship.
Then the gavel bangs, so to speak, and God invites His people to begin drawing near in His presence. In our liturgy thus far, we hear His call from various Scripture passages, often Psalms that urge the recognition and declaration of His greatness, like today:
Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
(Psalm 95:1-3)
Then we respond in a corporate prayer of praise. In this prayer we acknowledge His prominence, we commit our service to the thankful worship of Him, and we ask for His help as we approach the Father through the Son by the power of the Spirit.
Then we sing. We sing during three of the five liturgical sections. I thought I’d deal with the subject now, early on, for a couple reasons. I understand that the musical parts of worship could take up multiple sermons, but we’ll aim for just this one.
Some Christians, some churches, in some traditions, define worship as the singing or musical parts of a service alone. Most of us don’t limit it, I believe, and rightly so, since we understand that God is worshipped as we pray, read and hear His Word, are transformed by the preaching of His Word, as we give offering, and as we follow His ordinances, especially the regular eating at the Lord’s table.
In fact, perhaps from the opposite perspective, we ought to notice that the church in the New Testament is never commanded to sing corporately. There is one command to sing.
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. (James 5:13)
That command isn’t to the church, it’s to “anyone cheerful.” Otherwise, “sing,” “singing,” “sung,” or “song” are found only 18 additional times (in the ESV) from Matthew through Revelation, with seven of the 19 total occurring during heavenly worship described in Revelation. [translating three Greek verbs: ᾄδω, ψάλλω, ὑμνέω]
The most mentioned passages regarding singing in the NT are Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, both of which apply to our assembly-mode context, but neither of which are explicitly addressed to church in worship context. Spirit-filled people can’t help but be “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with [their] heart[s]” (Ephesians 5:18-19). Likewise, Word-indwelt people can’t help but be “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in [their] hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).
Three brief observations about these two verses.
This last point hurts. Paul assumed that the church, filled with the Spirit and the Word, will learn and love the Psalms so much that Scripture songs just fall out of our mouths in conversation. But, have you read the Psalms…closely? The Psalms have an uncomfortable amount of history, sin, enemies, war, shouting, and victory. They are all written by men, some of whom are sad about their sin, some who are crying out for God to crush their enemies. Are we supposed to sing about that?
But we’re not Israel! Neither were most of the Ephesians or Colossians. We could learn a lot about the sort of songs God enjoys by examining some of the songs God inspired for His people to sing.
Now is also a perfect time to remember the get to, not have to, liberty we have. We have more singing opportunities than obligations. Though God hasn’t assigned us a song list, lyrics and melodies and harmonies and volume have always found a powerful voice in the worship of God’s people.
So, in light of our being an assembly working on our liturgy, what are some priorities that we have in mind for our corporate worship in song?
Unlike discipleship proper, singing is best an assembly activity. That’s not to say that choirs or soloists are never appropriate. Rather, what we want to say liturgically is that, when it comes to corporate worship, we’d rather have the joyful noise of the assembly than the spectacular singing of a soprano.
We are wrestling to communicate through liturgy that worship is more than instruction to the assembly but includes the participation of the assembly. While there are many sedans that take the congregation into God’s presence, singing is certainly a double-decker bus that requires less trips.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
(Psalm 34:3)
Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
(Psalm 95:1–2)
Oh sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth!
(Psalm 96:1)
I should mention that many Psalms were not only written by individuals, they were also written from that individual’s perspective, written in 1st person singular, and they were still meant for the people, plural, to sing. Think: Psalm 23 (“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.”).
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
(Psalm 18:2–3, 46)
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25–26)
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
(Psalm 103:1)
You don’t really want to give up those inspired songs, right? While it’s possible to get me-centered with too much “I” and “my” in song, we have inspired patterns before me/us. Don’t tag something as selfish if the “I” carries the corporate voice.
Just as the body of Christ is one with many members, each with a giftedness to serve the body, so we want our worship in music to enjoy different instruments and voices in parts, even a variety of styles.
In Scripture, especially in the Psalms, we hear about harps, lyres, organs, horns, trumpets, strings, timbrels, and cymbals.
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
(Psalms 150:3–5)
The Trinity is the theological foundation for many parts working together in unison (not uniformity), and His creation is a pattern for variety.
That said, there are still limits of appropriateness for given situations for sake of truth, goodness, and beauty, as well as formality and majesty. We’re not bringing Lady Gaga before the Lord’s throne. But even in our own Christian heritage, we’ve made missteps. For example, Psalm 42, forsakes a style that fits the content.
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
(Psalm 42:1-4)
If idols and ideological strongholds are being toppled when the church worships (think 2 Corinthians 10:3-5), then we are not looking for the most navel-gazing, quiet, contemplative, kleenex-reaching music. We are charging at the gates with a battering ram (Matthew 16:18). Boom!
The church today is awash in girly, gushy, “Jesus is my boyfriend,” junk. Not that there’s never a time for more contemplative, but in general, we’re aiming for vigorous, participatory, fight songs. So much of contemporary singing is like a threadbare sweater, see-through and anything but flattering. In much of the Contemporary Christian Music industry, the only ones more girly than the women are the men.
We don’t utilize lots of repeats, breathy, slow, etc., on purpose.
We are gospel warriors, therefore we are not cultivating timidity and muted sounds. Our leaders are leading the charge with aggressive, vigorous sounds. I have no doubt that some Israelite complained that the Levites used too many cymbals or banged them too loudly on particular psalms. Grab a bar of music and run!
I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.
(Psalm 71:22–23)
Shout! Advance! Onward Christian soldiers!
Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
(Psalm 81:1-3)
If all the other things are in order, watch out, Sunday is going to sizzle. There is something strong and resounding about an orchestra, even though an oboe could play the same song solo. One match can spark a fire fire; it can’t burn with the heat and intensity like a whole heap of sticks.
Our singing should be with gospel bearings, which is far more than saying that we should sing songs about the sacrificial death of Jesus that brings life to others. Yes, songs full of accurate gospel content should abound.
So should we sing songs practicing gospel sacrifice. We are a diverse body. Not everyone’s preferences and tastes can lead. We may sing a song that you hate, or sing it in a style that offends you. If it’s keeping others from Jesus, you should be fired up and do something about it. If it’s not keeping others from Jesus, you may need to die to serve others.
Music is one of the easiest things to judge according to preference. It is one of the easiest emotional fixes or disturbances. It is one of the easiest things to miss (or break) fellowship over.
Fussiness is a way to demand change, to make your convictions known, just like a little two year old terrorist. Shrill anathemas are another approach sure to get an audience. But not only is it inconsistent with the gospel, fussy or shrill reformers undercut the good news they claim to fight for. Don’t sing about the glories of dying to bring life as long as you don’t have to do it. If you do, don’t be surprised if others ignore your calls for reform.
Our worship is for fellowship. If there are hindrances, let’s work at maturing rather than fixing the distance between us by how we criticize and complain.
That’s not to say that we don’t have work to do. Man, do we have work. We’re going to have some Sunday night training sessions, hopefully learning some Psalms, learning some parts, increasing our adoration arsenal and passing on some musical culture to our kids.
But work is hard. Reformation is hard. Growing is hard. We need humility and joy as we sharpen our worship. Some of the things we try may not work. That’s okay, we have the gospel.
No matter what, I want to sing my guts out. Guys should sing their guts out.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
(Psalm 67:4-5)
Are we really going to win our enemies with weaksauce singing? Are we going to make Israel jealous with insipid songs? We knock down idols like we punch those play boxing blow-up toys that pop back into place. Instead, we need Trinitarian, idol-topping, joyful, loud, melody-making singing.
Our assembly should be robust, relieving, refreshing, full of rejoicing. The gods of this world cannot stand against this sort of worship.