Thank You, God, for Music

Worship

In 1 Chronicles 13:8, music facilitates the worship of Israel. The Word of God says, “David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.” Those who could play instruments were playing, those who could sing were singing. Everyone was worshiping with all their might through music.

My dad is not a very good singer, and he knows it. But he lets her rip in worship! And, you know what, I’m glad. I grew up seeing a real man worship. When it comes to worship, Dad puts his whole heart into it. Now, I’ve never seen Dad raise his hands or even close his eyes while singing (that’s just not him). However, during the two and a half years I led worship at my parent’s church, I saw Dad worship every Sunday. Whether it was a gospel song like “Victory in Jesus,” a hymn like “Holy, Holy Holy,” or even one of those new fangled choruses, I saw Dad with his eyes bright singing with the gusto of the hound dogs – and sometimes it wasn’t just the gusto Dad was mimicking! But as a worship leader, I was proud. Now, I didn’t want dad in the choir, but I needed Dad in that congregation worshiping with all His might!

Music is meant to help us worship with all our might. When was the last time you worshiped with all your might? Football season is fast approaching and some of you will go nuts cheering with all your might. Why do we put so much into worshiping our teams and so little into worshiping our God? The Cowboys might be God’s team, but I guarantee you God has won more games – and is much more worthy of worship.

Music facilitates worship.

Third, Music Guides Worship

In Ephesians 5:19-20 the Apostle Paul says, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We can see two directions for our worship speech in these verses. First, we speak to on another. Second, we speak to God. And we do both through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Our worship speech to God is primarily through psalms and hymns. A hymn, by definition, is a song that is addressed to God. If the song you sing does not directly address God, it’s not a hymn. Much of what we call hymns are actually gospel songs or some other form of sacred music. In fact, every song in our service this morning came from the “hymnal” but only one, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord” directly addresses God – and I’m not sure it really fits the total definition of hymn. What we actually sang this morning were gospel songs or other spiritual songs. We sang a lot to each other and not so much to God.

But that’s o.k. because our worship speech to one another is done through spiritual songs, and God’s Word encourages the variety.

Whether we are singing to God or about God to each other, the point is – we sing the songs we sing in a given service for a reason. Every worship service in our church is headed somewhere. That’s why the songs are usually around similar or progressive themes. Usually it’s subtle, but if you pay attention to what we are saying and doing, you will catch on. Often, Gerre builds the music around the theme of the sermon. Today, he chose to build it around the baptism and the theme of the sermon. And you can see the progression