Why do we sing?
By Esther Hetrick
Meridian Christian Church
For early Christians, the book of Psalms was their songbook. And what a variety we find—joyful praise and adoration, confession and remorse, the pouring out of struggles and conflict, some quiet and reflective, others exuberant; some of a more personal nature, others reflecting the community of worshipers. Listen to a few of the Psalms that specifically mention singing…
· Psalm 5:11, “But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy…”
· Psalm 13:6, (David is questioning how long will he feel alone against his enemies… then he ends this psalm with these words) “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me.”
· Psalm 33:1, “Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him.”
· Psalm 47:6, “Sing praises to God; sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to Him a psalm of praise.”
· Psalm 59:16 (Again David is asking God for deliverance from his enemies; after pouring out all his troubles, he says…) “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. O my Strength, I sing praise to You; You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.”
· Psalm 95:1, “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”
· Psalm 96:1, “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day.”
About a year and half ago, I was doing some research and sort of rediscovered Psalm 113. It is in a group of psalms called the “Hallel” psalms, and scholars believe these psalms were sung as worshipers came into Jerusalem to celebrate the annual feasts. I decided to take this Psalm and write a Jewish sounding tune to it… I named it the “Hallel Chorus”; the worship team is going to sing it for you now, and we invite you to join in with us…
HALLEL CHORUS
Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord,
Praise the name of the Lord.
Let the name of the Lord be praised,
Both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
The name of the Lord is to be praised.
Throughout history people have sung. But they haven’t always agreed on what to sing. Today, churches sometimes have conflict over styles of music in worship, but this is not the first time the church has had difficulties.
As the church grew in the early centuries, they struggled to express their unity in Christ with one voice. In the 3rd and 4th centuries, there were struggles over the use of musical instruments. In the 4th century, the use of choirs caused problems—some groups organized choirs of men separate from the congregation to sing, while others responded with choirs of unmarried women and boys. In sorting through these dilemmas, some moved to reject music completely, preferring silence, and most excluded women from the congregation’s singing altogether.
Over the next few centuries, worshipers would become more and more removed from the acts of worship, eventually just observers watching the “professionals”, the trained clergy, sing and respond in worship.
Martin Luther, a leader in the Reformation in the 16th century, protested, “Let God speak directly to His people through the Scriptures, and let His people respond with grateful songs of praise.” And so new songs were raised in worship. Because the church had virtually lost its song, Luther borrowed tunes from secular German folk music, and helped create a controversial new type of song, the “hymn.” Other reformers, like John Calvin, also brought back congregational singing, but said that only scripture could be sung, without instruments, and in unison.
This came to be the style for most English speaking churches for the next 2 centuries. And perhaps still today we would be only singing Scripture texts, a cappella with no harmonies, except for a young man named Isaac Watts. Watts was the son of a preacher, and one day in his late teens he came home after church and complained to his father about the dull worship music used. His father, like any good parent, responded, “Don’t complain, unless you can do better.” And so young Isaac took up the challenge and began writing hymns of “human composure.” And we can be glad he did, for we got worship songs like “When I survey…” and “Joy to the World…”
The 19th century introduced a new concern—church music actually borrowed from popular secular songs and dance tunes.
No song could be more loved than “Amazing Grace.” However, the first listeners to that melody would not have agreed. It was a plantation love song. Not until the moving lyrics of a converted slave trader, John Newton, were put with this tune, did it become spiritual.
In early America, the tune to the song, “Revive Us Again” or “Hallelujah, Thine the Glory” which we sing here at Meridian sometimes, was a drinking song. Its original title was “Hallelujah I’m a Bum.” Needless to say the line, “revive us again” takes on a whole new meaning!
Many of these 19th century church songs were originally designed for recreational use. “Standing on the Promises” was a march written in the time of John Philip Sousa, when marches were the most common ballroom dances. “Jesus Is All the World to Me” was an Irish Jig, of the same style and speed as “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.”
When the old favorite, “Since Jesus Came into My Heart” was first introduced, much of the Christian community rose up in arms because of the syncopated beat to the song, which was a hallmark of the popular ragtime music. Many were shocked at singing the name of Jesus to a beat. However with the passage of time, these new forms and sounds became so much a part of worship language that they no longer seemed new.
History reminds us that musical styles have been changing all along. At one time every song was a new song, and we can find positive contributions for worship music new and old. And while we have sometimes gotten distracted by what we sing, the bigger question is why do we sing?
There is a helpful passage of scripture found in Hebrew 13:15-16.
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
FIRST, we are reminded to LOOK UP.
As we come to worship we are to offer to God a sacrifice of praise. In the O.T., worshipers brought animal sacrifices to the temple, to worship God. In the N.T., worshipers continued to go to the temple, but they also met weekly in local synagogues; animal sacrifices were reserved for the temple, so in synagogue worship they substituted sacrifices of prayer, Scripture reading and praise. The early Christians, many of whom were Jewish, probably continued to worship in this way. And we are also called to offer to God a sacrifice of praise. As we sing, we LOOK UP, directing our attention to God with our praise.
Sometimes when we come to worship, we can fall into the trap of thinking of ourselves as the audience, watching what is happening upfront, on the “stage,” and we evaluate how “good” it is by how much we enjoy it or get something out of it. But a Danish theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, writing back in the mid-18th century, reminds us that worship is like a drama, and all the worshipers are the actors for God, who is the audience.
Because God is the audience, we LOOK UP and offer to Him our sacrifice of praise. Songs help us express this sacrifice to God… like we did earlier, with “Blessing and honor, glory and power, be unto the Ancient of Days…”
SECOND, we LOOK IN.
The passage in Hebrews 13 says, “and do not forget to do good…” John MacArthur, in his book, Worship: The Ultimate Priority, suggests that as we come to worship together as a body of believers, we have the opportunity to look within ourselves and evaluate our life in Christ. Its easier to look around and try to make ourselves look good compared to others, but as followers of Christ, we measure our life to His. As we sing and worship, we can look in and re-commit ourselves to do good, following Christ as our example. Songs can help us as we look inward, like “I’m forgiven because You were forsaken, I’m accepted, You were condemned…” or
Because we follow Christ as our Lord, we LOOK IN and seek to do good.
THIRD, we LOOK OUT.
Back to Hebrews 13, “and do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” As we come together to worship, and as we sing and lift our voices together, there is an outward direction; we are sharing with others—encouraging, teaching, serving. And hopefully our song doesn’t end with the corporate worship service, but throughout the week we seek to reach out and share with others. For with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Why do we sing? Because, through Jesus, we are called to offer to God a sacrifice of praise; we look up to God who is our audience, and sing songs of praise to Him. We also look in, and evaluate our life in Christ, and finally we look out, sharing with others.
I’d like to share one final illustration. Its found in Acts 16, although I’m going to ask you to imagine how it might have unfolded…
You are Paul, and you are sitting in a cold, damp, dark dungeon. Its been a long day. In the midst of preaching the good news of Jesus, a riot developed and the result was that you and your ministry partner, Silas, were beaten and thrown into prison. As you sit in the dark, physically uncomfortable, not able to rest because your feet are locked in stocks, you simply hope that the night will go quickly. Suddenly out of the dark, you hear a song sung softly—“There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus…”
“Silas?”
You hear a quiet chuckle come out of the dark.
“Sorry, Paul… I was sitting here, feeling bruised and stiff; but then I started thinking about the Lord, and well, I guess I got carried away.”
“Okay… well, let’s just try to get through the night…”
“Sure, Paul. No problem.”
And silence reigns again…for a few moments. Then you hear, “O God, You are my God, and I will ever praise you…”
“Silas… you’re singing again.”
“Sorry, Paul… its just, well, I got to thinking about how good God is, and well… sorry.”
Again, there is silence. But all too soon it is broken with song—“Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus…”
“Silas…”
”Paul, I’m sorry…”
”No, Silas… I just wondered if I could join you in singing…”
And there, in that dark, cold dungeon, at midnight, the scripture says, Paul and Silas were singing and praying to God.
And God gets responds by shaking things up (with an earthquake) and scripture records that because of Paul and Silas’ actions that night, the jailer and his family believe and are baptized.
And we are reminded that offering a sacrifice of praise
· is not about comfortable surroundings.
· is not about circumstances in our lives being positive and joyful.
· is not about feeling like worshiping.
It is recognizing that God is present, and He is worthy of our praise-- any time, every time, all the time.
