Household Worship - Part 5 Singing

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for your kindness to us and allowing us to praise you, giving us access to the throne of grace and permitting us to express ourself in song even.

Pray that you would help us to understand the importance of singing Jesus' name. Amen. All right.

Could I get it maybe? Thank you. All right, so we've been going through a series on household worship.

Most recently talking about scripture reading and praying, now singing. So a lot of this is just going to be about singing in general, but it will be with particular reference and application to singing together in families.

All right, so from our confession, the reading of scriptures, preaching and hearing the Word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the

Lord are all parts of religious worship of God. All right.

Grace in our hearts being a typical older translation of of Ephesians, but more modern translations tend to say thankfulness, with thankfulness in our hearts.

Okay, so this is one of the ways that we worship God, not just through reading scriptures, not just through hearing the

Word or praying, but also through teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

An important question to answer here is who are we singing to when we sing?

Who are we singing to? First of all, we should sing to the Lord. See, plenty of commands to this.

Psalm 96, 1 through 2 says, Sing to the Lord new songs. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the

Lord. Bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day. Now, you notice there in the last part of that, of verse 2, it says,

Tell of his salvation from day to day. There it's shifting from talking about the way we address the

Lord versus addressing others. So we should sing to others as well.

Psalm 22, 22 says, I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation,

I will praise you. Now, when it says praise, the word for praise is halal.

That is not, no relation to the Arabic word, which means lawful that you see plastered on Mediterranean restaurants.

This is a, this is a word that is translated into Greek as to refer to singing.

So the, so the Septuagint translates this to refer to singing. In Hebrews 2, you see this verse quoted, and it speaks of Jesus singing.

I'll tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. In Hebrews 2, and I think

I have that quoted later, Hebrews 2, it says, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation.

I will sing your praise. Okay, so this is a, this is a word that's used to refer to singing.

We should sing to one another. Singing, something that is a communal duty.

Ephesians 5, 19 says, addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the

Lord with your heart. Colossians 3, 16 says, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

So maybe you've never thought too much about that before, that singing is, I mean, maybe it is right to say that it is primarily to God.

I mean, it is worship to God, but we are to address not only God, we are also to address each other.

In fact, the New Testament commands to sing are particularly commands not to speak to God, but commands to speak to each other, that we are to address one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

You notice, you see this in our, the way that we write songs, the song that we just sang, and I didn't prepare this or anything,

I just noticed it, you know, the first verse starts off, wondrous, king, all -glorious, sovereign, Lord, victorious. Oh, receive our praise with favor.

Okay, so it starts off addressing God, but then by the end, you know, the last verse says,

Hallelujah's render to the Lord most tender, ye who know and love the Savior. So the last verse starts off by addressing each other.

Okay, so a lot of the songs we sing will only address God. Some of the songs we sing will only address each other.

Some of the songs we sing will address both God and each other, and this is, this is reflected in the psalms.

You see this in the psalms, too. In fact, one of the difficulties, if you ever spend some serious time trying to study the psalms, is understanding where all the breaks are, because he doesn't stop and say, and now

I'm addressing God, and now I'm addressing something else. And so it can, it can be difficult to tell, well, now who is he talking to?

So this is, this is reflective of even how the psalms, the psalms are written.

One interesting thing here in Ephesians 5, in Colossians 3, 2, is that he talks about speaking or addressing one another.

All right, this is, this is surprising, that he would speak of just speaking to one another in hymns.

You'd think he would say singing to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, but he says speaking to one another, or in this translation, addressing one another.

And then in Colossians, teaching and admonishing one another. These are not the, these are not the terms you would think would be used.

You would think it would say sing. So what does that imply? I think for one, it implies that this should be a very normal mode of how we encourage one another, that singing should be a very normal thing for us.

The other thing that I believe is happening here is an allusion to Deuteronomy 31.

In Deuteronomy 31, you have the Song of Moses, and let's see, yeah, the

Moses spoke, Deuteronomy 31, 30, the Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, and all the ears of the assembly of Israel.

It talks about him speaking the words of the song, not just, not just singing the words. So this is a, this is a regular way that we are supposed to be encouraging one another, is through song.

It's also worth noting the context of Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3.

This is something I think I've pointed out on, in multiple other sessions together, but let's go ahead and look there again,

Ephesians 5. So first, there's many, a number of general statements about how we are to interact with each other.

And so this paragraph, where we see this, I'll read the whole paragraph beginning in verse 15 of Ephesians 5.

Look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the

Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody to the

Lord in your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

All right, so it's, it starts off the chapter talking about us walking in love. This paragraph ends talking about how we are to address one another, how we are to submit to one another, and then it gives specifics after that.

So it speaks generically, then it gives specifics in the next passages. Famous passages, right?

Husbands and wives, children and parents, masters and servants. So, it gives these general commands for how we're supposed to walk with one another, and then when it gives the specifics, it talks about household dynamics.

So, in other words, we're not to think of singing as when we're all gathered, and then these other passages are when we are together in small units and families.

The former things are to be applied specifically in these contexts where you are together in families.

Wives and, wives and husbands, children and parents, masters and servants, masters and slaves, right?

These are, yeah, this is where this is to be applied. So when he says that we're to address one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, that applies to wives and husbands, it applies to children and parents, it applies to masters and slaves.

Colossians 2, same thing, but worth looking at. Colossians 2, 3.

Paul wrote these letters at roughly the same time. That's why a lot of these contents are very similar. He's sending them out to two different churches, but yeah, he has a lot of the same ideas in mind as he's speaking to them.

Yeah, so starting at the beginning of that paragraph, verse 12, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against one another, forgiving each other, as the

Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.

And be thankful that the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the

Father through Him. So talking generally how we're supposed to interact with one another, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

And then specifics. Wives, submit to your husband. Children, obey your parents.

Bond servants, obey everything. Those who are your, obey in everything, those who are your earthly masters.

So once again, wives and husbands, children and parents, bond servants, and masters.

All right, so if those statements about how to walk together are to be applied specifically even to the small context, then the statements about singing are even to be applied in the small context.

It is, we ought to be singing together in families. And it is a way that we teach each other.

This is a way that we encourage each other. It's a way that we admonish each other. It is a, it is an effective tool in that.

Okay. Why should we sing? First of all, singing expresses joy.

Well, before we go on, any, any thoughts on who we sing to? Any questions about that? That singing is not just to God, it is also to each other.

And, and there's a very, that's a pretty significant part of singing, is it being to each other. Okay. All right.

James 5 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing praise. Okay, so singing is a particular way we express joy.

Now that, that doesn't mean that singing can't also express sorrow, but it is particularly appropriate for expressing joy and praise for the one who is cheerful.

Isaiah 35 10 talks about those who have been saved. It says, And the ransom of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing.

Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, and they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

So they return to Zion with singing. All right. Singing encourages.

We just looked at Ephesians and Colossians, but consider Acts 16 25, how Paul and Silas at midnight, you know, the darkest time of the day, the darkest time of the 24 hours that we have,

Paul and Silas are praying and singing, right? They're, they're encouraging one another with song.

About midnight, Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns to God, and prisoners were listening to them. Yeah, it's interesting also that it's not just them to each other, but also prisoners listening to them.

So it's having an effect on others as well. Singing memorializes the salvation of the

Lord. This is a passage I'd like to read, more than just what's written down here. So I'll turn to Deuteronomy here.

Deuteronomy 31, beginning in verse 19. Now therefore write this song and teach to the people of Israel.

Put it in their mouths that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. For when

I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown and fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them and despise me and break my covenant.

And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness, for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring.

For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.

So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel. So what is the purpose of the song?

In part it is to memorialize what God has done so that they are not so prone to forgetfulness. Because they are prone to forgetfulness, singing memorializes

God's salvation. You know, this is true.

I am sure there are songs that you remember way better than you remember verses that you have read just as many times.

You know, if you have read a verse in your Bible reading and you come across it, you know, 20 times, you may not be able to cite it from heart.

You sing a song 20 times, you probably can, probably remember a good bit of it. Singing really helps you remember things.

It is how you teach kids their ABCs. Sing it to them in a song. I mean, and it is not just kids.

That is how I learned the Greek alphabet. That is how I learned the Hebrew alphabet. I could not recite them to you, probably, if I were not singing the songs

I learned to recite the Greek alphabet and the Hebrew alphabet. And recall that we are particularly tasked with memorializing the

Lord's salvation for our children. Psalm 78, 5 -7, just as an example. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach their children that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children that they should set their hope in God.

If we have a task to raise up godly offspring, to pass on what he has done to make them remember it from generation to generation, to make sure this memory does not just fade away in our heads.

You know, there are a lot of important things that just fade away in our own heads. I don't have,

I mean, I don't have much of my family history beyond my grandfather. I have a

Google alert set to my name. A Google alert is where anything that comes up in the search index, it will email me.

Okay, I have one set for my name. You know, if anybody mentions my name, suddenly it will send me an email. I got a

Google alert this past week because my name was mentioned in an obituary in North Carolina.

My grandfather's from North Carolina. He had mentioned at one point that I was named after some uncle that he had never met, and this this man was not the one who had died, but he was the late husband of the one who had died, and my suspicion, you know,

I haven't tried contacting them or anything, my suspicion is this is the man that I was named after. I really don't know any of this stuff.

Like, it's kind of incredible how much important history is lost, like, just really quickly.

So I don't even know the man. I'm the third, so I was named after my father, and he's named after his father, but he was named after this uncle that he never met.

This is probably this uncle, this Conley Owens. Yeah, or at least that's where his middle name came from, which is my middle name.

But yeah, it goes away quickly, but if you pass it down in a song, it stays. A couple of other reasons to sing.

Singing in families follows the example of Jesus leading his children in song. Psalm 34.

This is another one that I'm going to turn to and read a little bit, a little bit extra. Psalm 34, one through three.

I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the

Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Okay, so here the psalmist David is telling the people to exalt with him.

In verse 11, he says, come, O children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

He addresses the people as his children. You know elsewhere in the Gospels, David is called the father of Israel.

There's a sense in which he is a father to the people. Now at the end of this psalm, now this is true of every psalm of David, but it's not necessarily intuitive for most folks,

I think, but every psalm of David is a messianic psalm. Messianic psalms are not just some of them. They're really all of them, but just to make this more clear to you.

Verse 19, and remember this is, yeah, David having been saved away from Abimelech, you know, when he pretended like he was mad.

By mad, I mean crazy. He pretended like he was insane. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the

Lord delivers him out of them all. So he's talking about himself, right? He keeps all of his bones.

Not one of them is broken. Now we know that that is regarded in the

New Testament as prophecy about the Messiah, right? This is a messianic psalm. These statements that David is speaking about himself, speaking about his children, is reflective of Christ, his relationship to his children, okay?

So here in this psalm, we have a picture of Jesus leading his children in song.

Okay, yes? Why do we think what?

David is the, he is the the anointed of God, right?

And Jesus sits on the Davidic throne, right? He will have a son after him. The prophecy is given that will sit on the throne forever, right?

And if all scripture speaks of Christ as it says in Luke 24, and he is the ultimate prophet, priest, and king, then we are to learn from him from every prophet, priest, and king.

But that especially applies to— David is like a special character, even beyond those where it's really highlighted.

So that's why I like it in Psalm 2. This would be true—now, it is helpful that the apostles teach us how to interpret these things, but to them, you know, in Acts 2, this is just normal.

They're like, in the second psalm, David says, you know, etc. Or sorry, that's not Acts 2. It's elsewhere they quote

Psalm 2, but throughout Acts— right?

And they are, right? And they pass it down as just, this is the way you read scripture. So a lot of people will look at this and say, okay, well, those are the apostles.

They're inspired. They get to do this, and then we believe them. But then that's it.

Like, it's only for those handful of passages where they do this. But given what

Jesus says in Luke 24, where he's teaching the apostles how to read scripture, that all of it's about him, and they're supposed to go out and teach others, it is right for us to look at what they're doing as not just a few examples that we get to take, but as a hermeneutic, you know, a rule of interpretation that these things are about Jesus, and how we are to understand them as being about Jesus.

So, let's see. Yeah, so in Acts 2, 25, it says,

My heart was glad, my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your

Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence and about this patriarch David that both, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with him an oath that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the

Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. All right, so Peter's preaching, and he's telling us how to interpret this psalm.

Like, David died. He was corrupted. This isn't about him. This is him, knowing that one would sit on his throne who would be greater, and he's the one we're talking to.

And Jesus points this out, too. He says, why does David call him Lord if he's his son? Why does he call the

Messiah Lord if he's his son? He's challenging the Pharisees with this kind of rule of interpretation. But for this particular, for this particular psalm,

John 19 36 says, for these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, not one of his bones will be broken.

Right, so John 19 is interpreting this psalm as being about the Messiah.

Okay. But even if we didn't have John 19, I think it would be, there would be good reason to arrive at that conclusion, given the rest of what the

Apostles teaches. Okay. Okay, so this is a picture in the

Old Testament of this coming Messiah leading his children in song, encouraging them with salvation, him having been saved from death, and then through him, his people being saved from death.

Mark 10 24 and then 14 26. And the disciples were amazed at his words, but Jesus said to them again, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God.

Okay, I include that passage there because it's Jesus speaking about his disciples as his children. He does this also in John 21 5.

He speaks of his disciples as his children. So this is not foreign language to him to speak of his disciples as his children.

And then Mark 14 26, which has a parallel in Matthew 26 30, says, and when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the

Mount of Olives. So we have record of Jesus leading his disciples, who he calls his children, in hymns.

And then Hebrews 2 12 through 13. I will tell of your name to my brothers.

And this is a Hebrews 2 is speaking of Jesus. I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation,

I will sing your praise. That was quoting what we had looked at earlier,

Psalm 22. And then, and again,

I will put my trust in him and behold, I and the children God has given me. Okay, some more pictures.

He calls them brothers. He also calls them children. But it's another picture of Christ leading children in song.

And so children here refers to those that he's in spiritual charge over, those he is leading as a father.

All right, and how does he, how does he encourage them? How does he lead them? How does he teach them? In part through song.

Yeah, in the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. That's how he tells the name of God to his brothers, by in the midst of the congregation singing his praise.

So if you are in spiritual charge of some children, yeah, you ought to sing his praise and encourage them with that, memorialize him with song.

Singing also anticipates heavenly worship. And they were singing a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and before the elders.

No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty -four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth. These hundred and forty -four thousand representing the whole people of God.

Talks in Revelation 15 3, and they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and amazing are your deeds,

O Lord God the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. All right.

The reason why I say the hundred and forty -four thousand represent all the people of God, there's a lot of things, there's a lot of clues in Revelation that you're supposed to be reading these things this way, including the fact that these are listed as twelve tribes, right, that are a hundred and forty -four thousand, a hundred and forty -four thousand being a thousand times, twelve squared, twelve frequently showing up in Revelation as a picture of God's people, right, there being twelve tribes or twelve disciples.

And Jesus explicitly chooses twelve disciples because he's creating this new nation. Right, so, and then also consider the tribes that are listed in Revelation.

It says twelve thousand from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben. This is Revelation 7. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin.

A few interesting features there. Dan's not listed. Levi is there, even though Levi isn't always really counted a tribe in the same sense.

Joseph is there, I suppose, rather than as just a another name for Ephraim.

But there's enough, there's enough interesting things going on with this and Dan missing that you're supposed to recognize these are not the, these are not the twelve tribes of Israel in a literal sense.

Otherwise, where did Dan go? Like this is a, this is a picture of God's people being denominated by the twelve tribes.

All right. Okay, how should we sing? Any, any questions about, about reasons to sing?

How should we sing? Joyfully. Now, of course, this is going to be particularly shaped by each song.

If you're singing a psalm of lament or something, it's a different kind of joy. But Psalm 100, 1 through 2, make a joyful noise to the

Lord. All the earth has served the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Those who have been saved have much reason for joy.

We ought to sing joyfully. The phrase used in Colossians 3 .16

was thankful, right? Thankfully, or with grace in your heart. It will be common in homes with children who don't have a whole lot of practice controlling their emotions.

You know, if they, yeah, they get in trouble for something before, if they have something else going on, you know, they saw a toy that they wanted to play with in the middle of family worship, and they wanted that, and you say no, not now.

They will have trouble controlling their emotions. You know, there's different situations, but this is something to correct children over.

This is not something to just bear with it. Oh, that's just how children are. Yes, that is true. That is how children are, but it is something that needs to be corrected.

So do correct that because we are to sing joyfully. We are not to sing pouting.

Just as a like a principle, attitude is something that you can discipline for. Some people think that it's only like very clear, large, outward actions.

No. Attitude is an outward thing, too. It is something that is grounds for discipline, and you ought to.

I mean, if you do that, you will be saving your child from much difficulty in the future where they can't control themselves and yeah, reign themselves in, but if they can reign over their own spirit, they're no longer like a city broken down without walls, to use the proverb.

We should sing loudly. A lot of the focus of statements about singing are often on being heard.

Bless our God, O peoples. Let the sound of his praise be heard. Clap your hands, O people. Shout to the

Lord with loud songs of joy. We ought to sing in a way like being heard is the bare minimum.

Otherwise, it's not encouraging one another, right? We've talked about, let's see, we've talked about 1

Corinthians 14 before and the application of what Paul says about praying in tongues to parts of worship.

If someone can't hear you, if they can't understand you, you are not actually edifying them. You are not following the command to teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

A lot of people make it a very personal thing, just something going on in my heart. You know, I'm making a joyful noise.

It doesn't matter what you hear, right? No, we are supposed to be teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

It is something that's not just personal. It's something communal. It's something that is for others.

A lot of people make all kinds of excuses for why they sing quietly. Oh, my voice is not that good or why they sing or why they don't sing.

I knew one guy—I had a friend at one point—who told me that his wife did not sing at church because she was too self -conscious, and I gave some—

I mean, it was just some very gentle encouragement with a verse that, you know, is important to sing or whatever. He sent me back— we were chatting online at the time, although this is an in -person friend— he sent me back

Romans 14 about judging the servant of another. That I should not judge the servant of another.

I'm not standing in judgment. I'm just sharing a verse, encouraging, singing.

That's all. So, yeah, this is not something to get defensive about.

It's something to go ahead, sing loudly. Sing loudly. And if you are wondering how you can improve your singing,

I mean, this is something to think about as you're singing. Can I sing more loudly? Can I get more oomph in my voice?

And you know how it works in a church too, especially a small church, right? If there are not that many people and it is quiet, everyone wants to sing quiet because they don't want their voice to be heard too much, right?

So if you can make it—if there is more noise or, you know, in the churches where they turn the instruments up real loud so you can't hear anyone, right, it enables people to sing louder because they're not afraid of not being heard.

But you can do that, right? Without the gimmick of turning up the instruments, right? You can sing more loudly and encourage others to sing more loudly and they will be less nervous or self -conscious about it.

Okay, so this is one way that you can contribute further to the singing is by singing loudly. And of course, this is something children especially deal with, right?

Trying to sing loudly. So just, yeah, it's something I'm repeatedly trying to encourage my kids.

And a lot of times what I'll do is like on the third verse of a song or something, I'll be like, louder kids!

And they'll be louder for like half a verse, right? So it's something where I feel like in the middle of the song,

I need to remind them and encourage them. But yeah, go ahead. Yeah, that is the primary thing that's supposed to be going on in worship, right?

Now, I'm not saying that it can't be louder because like that's a relative term, right? I don't know what the exact decibel level is or there's different contexts.

But yeah, the rule, the principle that we're working with here is the primary thing that's going on is us teaching and admonishing one another.

And to the degree that the music supports that, great. To the degree that it's competing with that, not great.

All right, so with that, clearly mumbling is not edifying. 1

Corinthians 14, 7. If even lifeless instruments, such as a flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is being played?

Yeah, you don't know what's going on if there's mumbling. Let me give a few thoughts on how this applies specifically to kids.

Because kids grow up just kind of learning, you know, they're not necessarily reading during the earlier years.

And even if they learn to read early, it's kind of difficult enough that they can't do it fast enough to keep up with the hymnal.

So they will work mostly off of memory. But then they will get lazy with that later where they will keep doing it just off of memory and not off of reading the hymnal.

And I notice that a lot of times my kids will do that where what they're doing is not truly memorizing, but they've remembered the phrase.

And when they're prompted about half a syllable after, you know, the adults have sung it, then they'll join in, right?

And they'll say that they know it. But I'll ask them, okay, go ahead, like sing the song from memory for me right now.

And they won't be able to, right? So encourage your kid to follow along with the actual guide for singing so that it's done well.

A lot of kids will only sing the refrain, which is, I mean, if they're very young, right? That's reasonable, that that's all they can remember.

That's a good reason to repeat the same hymns over and over for young kids so that they can sing more of it.

Have you all seen the first episode of Mr. Bean? You all know the scene where he's in his Anglican church, right?

And he is here. Josh knows what I'm talking about. Yeah, they're singing all creatures of our God and King. And the guy next to him won't share his hymnal.

And so Mr. Bean is mumbling everything, you know, in his Mr. Bean voice.

But then they get to the hallelujahs. And all his hallelujahs are loud and clear. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

And then he gets back to everything. I've noticed, you know, kids have a tendency to do that.

And they, because they're used to not singing by themselves or anything and just singing with others,

I'll have to ask my kid afterward, like, why didn't you sing while we were singing? I'll say, oh, no,

I was singing. I saw you grab a corn dog from the table and start eating it for half that verse.

You cannot sing while you're eating a corn dog. This is impossible. So just because they will have in their, like, the self -deception in their minds that because I sang half a verse, you know,

I was singing a song. And, like, I think they really think that, you know, too. So lots of areas for encouraging and correcting.

Okay. In unison, harmoniously. Yeah, we're supposed to build each other up and not tear down even in singing.

What I mean by that is if your voices are at the same time, they reinforce each other.

Yeah, I do think it's not a great practice, the pattern in some churches, to have one person who's singing, like, off rhythm, like, in a kind of stylized way, leading while everybody else is singing, like, in rhythm.

Uh, so, so you know what?

Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure, like, what the musical terms for it, but, you know, at a very large church, a lot of times they will have a large choir that is singing, like, perfectly to the music, but the leader is, you know, singing stuff out of rhythm in a very stylized way on top, right?

I don't know what you call that, but I'm not talking about harmonies. No, yeah. No, that's why

I said harmoniously as an option here, other than just in unison, but, no, they're, yeah, they're, they're taking a lot of liberties with when they start the syllable and when they end the syllable to, yeah, to kind of stand out on top of everybody else.

All right, 2 Chronicles 5, 13. It was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise, and thanksgiving to the

Lord. Yeah, in unison. Special music, not a great idea either.

You know, special music being when one person sings to all the others. It really should be singing to each other as a group.

I think I skipped one here. Standing assists singing loudly. Standing should be preferred in singing.

This is something I've recently changed in my home where I have the kids stand when we sing. 2

Chronicles 20, 19. And the Levites, the Kohathites, and the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

They stood up to praise with a very loud voice. You can, you can speak, everyone who has spent any time trying to do formal training in singing or formal singing, like, they know you can sing better when you're standing.

Your, everything's loose, and your diaphragm is able to move more. You can sing better when you're, when you're standing.

So, I think standing ought to be preferred when we, when we sing.

So, that's, that's one thing I've changed in my own home recently that, yeah, that I'll throw out as a tip for you.

Skillfully. Yeah, considering it with the diligence of any other spiritual discipline. Sing to him a new song, play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts.

There are always ways of growing in skill. You know, for children, it's learning to read.

I would encourage you to teach your children to learn to read early. A lot of them, a lot of people just think based on the public education standards, and they're like, oh, once they get to first grade, that's when they need to learn how to read or whatever.

You can, you can teach your kid early. I was taught to read very early. I've taught all my kids to read very early.

It's not, it's not something where it's only, like, special children are able to learn very early or anything like that. You can, you can teach them long before kindergarten.

Okay. Let's see. Yeah, there are, there are, it's interesting to watch people who are new to hymnals learn to use them, because they'll, what do they usually do, right?

They read the first, first line of the first verse, and then they go to the first line of the second verse, right?

Rather than, rather than jumping down to the second line of the first verse, because they don't realize that they're, yeah, they're all written in parallel like that.

Um, yeah, there are various ways of growing in skill. That is something you should be thinking about, just like with any other spiritual discipline.

If you're thinking, how can I make my prayers more effective? How can I make my Bible reading more effective? You should be asking yourself the same thing about singing.

Musical instruments are not required. Notice it says, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. The Old Testament passages describing worship, the, the instruments are part of Old Testament worship.

They are typological. We should see them as referring to the melody of the heart, just like circumcision, since typological, right?

Like true circumcision is of the heart. Yeah, it is, uh,

I recently learned a few weeks ago that the, that many people have referred to the voice as the sacred harp, because it is, it is the instrument that God has chosen for worship.

Sacred harp, yeah. It is interesting, based on this verse, a lot of people have struggled with what, uh, the early

Baptists, the early Baptists did not know whether or not singing was permitted in church at all.

So many of, many of the original particular Baptist churches did not sing. Benjamin Keech, who wrote the, uh, who was one of the primary authors of Our Confession, he wrote a book called

The Breach Repaired, and argued that singing is supposed to be in churches. He wrote a lot of very good arguments that ended up persuading all the other

Baptists, but they were, um, uh, but it's interesting,

I believe this was after The Confession was written, so when The Confession talks about singing psalms, et cetera, it's, it's trying to just use the scriptural language.

The Westminster Confession here, particularly, talks in more particular language. Baptist Confession just uses a scriptural phrase, because you can't say no to the scriptural phrase, uh, and, yeah, and left it up to each church.

But after, soon after that, Benjamin Keech had, uh, persuaded most of the other particular Baptist churches to sing, and that's why this, this is, like, not a thing anymore, all

Baptist churches sing. Okay, let's keep going.

All right, any questions about how we should sing? All right, what song should we sing?

Psalm, Symphonies, and Spiritual Songs, as it says. There are different takes on what this means.

Some people think that these are referring to three segments of the psalms, and that we're only supposed to refer, sing psalms.

The Westminster Confession speaks particularly of psalms. A lot of the older Presbyterians only sang, uh, psalms.

Some, some Presbyterians now only sing psalms. Let's see, uh, yeah, they took

Spiritual Songs as meaning songs written by the Spirit, right? But there are a lot of phrases that talk about spiritual things, like, 1

Peter 2 .25, or 2 .5, excuse me, talks about, uh, us being a holy priesthood making spiritual sacrifices, right?

It doesn't mean our sacrifices are made by the Spirit, it's made through us by the power of the Spirit, yes. I think

I have come across them, but they're about as, like, wild as the people who are trying to, you know, say which tribe of, of Israel they are, and stuff like that, where it's, you know, like, a lot of that dissipated back in 500

BC, and there's not really anything anymore. Yeah, it's, no, I don't think there's anything, uh, credible.

Yeah, which, which is one of the arguments against exclusive psalmody. Yeah, so my, my take on this passage is what is, what it is doing when it speaks of these strings, three things, is using near synonyms to talk to different aspects of our singing.

Psalm, uh, like the etymology, it literally means something plucked, so it is referring to, it is emphasizing the music aspect of it, like the instrumental music aspect of it.

Hymns emphasizes the lyrics, uh, spiritual songs emphasizes the, the melody, right?

So I believe that it's just the, like, the three aspects of how a song would be sung that are being, uh, that are being emphasized here.

Okay, so, uh, yeah, some considerations, uh, for a song.

Does it have good theology? Does it use biblical language? Does it follow the example of the psalms and the subject matter and approach?

This is something that's really shaped me a lot. Uh, I have found myself more and more choosing psalms for worship, not on purpose, not because I'm like, oh yeah, let's look at a, let's look for a psalm.

It's just I have found myself gravitating to those more as I have felt that lyrics should follow the kind of pattern of the psalms in the subject matter that they address and the way that they address things.

Um, so I do find myself just more and more enjoying those because I'm being led by them to, uh, appreciate music.

Okay. Yeah. Does it promote true understanding? Uh, is it melody?

Is it distinct enough for group singing? Is it simple enough for the unskilled? Is it complex enough to permit skill?

Does it match the subject matter? In other words, you know, is this a happy tune for a sad song or a sad, sad tune for a happy song?

Instruments. Uh, can one who plays it sing? Uh, most wind instruments,

I don't believe, belong in worship because you cannot play them and sing at the same time, right? You can't play the flute and sing at the same time.

Uh, I've seen a number of churches, even Reformed Baptist churches will have a, will have someone playing some instrument that they cannot sing to at the same time, and so they are not singing while, while they're, everybody else is singing.

I, I don't think that that ought to be. I think that, um, yeah. There are other instruments too where you could sing, but it really inhibits it.

And, and this is in different degrees, obviously, you know, some inhibit it just because you're typically sitting down like piano, right?

You're sitting down, like, diaphragm's not as open, but that's not like a large inhibition. There are others like violin.

I don't know, I don't know if it's really easy to sing like, like that. So, um, these are things to consider when deciding which instruments are appropriate for worship, not just what does it sound like.

That's what most people are focused on, right? Like, oh, does this sound too worldly or, or is it too loud and boisterous and immodest, like a saxophone or something, right?

But you should also be thinking about how does it support the singing and are you able to sing while you're using it? Yes. I didn't,

I didn't hear the exact verse, but, but right. Yeah, so in Old Testament worship, part of the, part of the ceremonies around the temple and everything involved all those instruments.

We are not commanded to play, in the New Testament, we're not commanded to play any instruments. They're permitted, but, but what we are commanded to do is sing, right?

And they're not in the Old Testament, there's not like the same kind of, yeah, they have a different set of regulations for, for their worship.

Okay, some resources I want to point you to. I'm moving a little bit faster now since we're trying to, we're nearing the end of our time here.

But some resources, if you would like some resources. I'm sure I could point you to more things too.

If you're looking for Psalters, there is the Scottish Psalter. That's a 1650 that was written as part of the

Westminster Assembly. It's very good. Some of the, some of it is better than others.

Some of it is too hard to, like too many old words, kind of hard to pronounce. But a lot of those are very good.

Some of those we still sing, right? Like Psalm 23, the Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want, etc. Everything in the

Scottish Psalter is written in common meter, which means that you can sing it to any common meter tune.

So like a common meter double tune would be Auld Lang Syne, Amazing Grace is common meter.

There's a lot that I'm blanking on. There's other, there's other tunes that are common meter that you wouldn't necessarily want to use.

Like the Pokemon theme, the Pokemon theme. I don't recommend using that, but that is common meter.

No, no reclaiming Pokemon. All right.

The Book of Psalms for singing is one that I personally enjoy. That's a more recent one. There are different sites with midis.

Psalter .org is very good, opc .org slash hymn .html. That has midis for our hymnal, the one that we use, or at least a lot of the, a lot of the hymns that we use.

And then hymnary .org has a lot of sheet music and things. A lot of people have,

I've asked how do I get better at reading music, and they've told me to practice, and I've never really known what practice means.

Because I'm like, okay, well, if I end up singing this, I'm going to go mostly from memory. And then if I do one that I don't know at all,

I'm not going to be able to sing it all. What I found is helpful is, so when I go through something that I'm not familiar with, like, for example, a psalter that is new to me, that I'm not familiar with.

A psalter means a book of psalms. And I go to psalter .org and I play the midis and try to follow and sing at the same time, so I have the music correcting me at the same time that I am trying to follow the notes.

I have found that to be helpful. Like, I'm still not very good at reading music, but I do believe

I've improved over the past two years by doing that in particular. A few quotes

I want to share with you here. That the whole congregation may join herein. Everyone that can read is to have a psalm book, and all others not disabled by age or otherwise are to be exhorted to learn to read.

But for the present, where many in the congregation cannot read, it is convenient that the minister or some fit person appointed by him and others ruling officers do read the psalm line by line before the singing thereof.

That's from the Directory of Public Worship. So before, we've been looking at the Directory of Family Worship. This is one about the

Directory of Public Worship. Yeah, it's good to, and this is probably something I don't do nearly often enough, is explain the lyrics to the kids.

All right, this next section is from a book called The Christian's Daily Walk by Henry Scudder.

That your singing may please God and edify yourself and others. Observe these rules. Sing as in God's sight, and in matters of prayer and praise, speak to God in singing.

The matter of your song must be spiritual, either indicted by the Spirit or composed of matter agreeing thereunto.

This guy is part of the Westminster Assembly, and so he is, yeah, it's interesting that he says this because a lot of them were exclusive psalmideists, and this almost sounds like he's allowing for things outside of that too.

He says, indicted by the Spirit, meaning the psalms, or composed of a matter agreeing thereunto. Right, it's supposed to.

We're supposed to be following the, yeah, the pattern set for us by the psalms in the sorts of things that we address and how we go about composing songs.

You must sing with understanding. You must sing with judgment, being able in private to make a choice of psalms suitable to the present time and occasion, and both in private and public, and to apply the psalms sung to your own particular case and taking heed that you do not apply the imprecations made against the enemies of Christ and his church in general, to your enemies in particular.

Also endeavor to confirm your faith and incline your will and affections according to the subject of your psalmody, whether you sing the prophecies of Christ, his promises, threats, commands, mercies, or judgments, et cetera.

You must make melody to the Lord in your heart, which is done by preparing and setting the heart in tune.

It must be an honest heart. The heart must be lifted up, the mind content, the affections lively, the heart believing, and a matter of praise and thanks, joyous.

Okay. No, I actually, the version I printed out doesn't have the back page. So the last thing

I've got for you here is, this is the final section of the book,

The Breach Repaired by Benjamin Keech. This is the book that basically, that kind of changed the course of Baptist churches, of particular

Baptist churches, so that they all began singing, right? This book, The Breach Repaired.

So he's arguing against someone. I forget the name of the guy he's mentioned in here, but he's arguing against someone who had written against singing in churches, and he's explaining why it is right to sing in churches.

And now one word to you, my dear brothers and sisters, whose souls are established in the sweet heavenly ordinance.

First, consider how universally this ordinance has been practiced of singing the praises of God by variety of persons, as kings and godly princes, as Moses, who was king in Jesseron, David, Jehoshaphat, Solomon, by worthy governors, as Nehemiah, by prophets, the whole congregation of God's people, by Christ and his apostles, by the holy martyrs of Jesus in the primitive times, in all places, by Moses in the wilderness, by David in the tabernacle, by Solomon in the temple, by Jehoshaphat in the camp, by Christ and his disciples at the

Holy Supper, by Paul and Silas in prison, in almost all conditions, in times of imprisonment and persecution and martyrdom, by all sexes, both men, women and maidens, old men and children.

Nay, and how all creatures in heaven and in earth are called upon by the

Holy Ghost to sing forth the praises of God. Consider how God hath honored it with his presence and gracious acceptance, with victory over enemies.

I confirmed my miracles, Acts 16 being Paul and Silas being delivered from prison.

Secondly, considered singing is the music of nature as Mr. Wells, this is his opponent that he's writing against.

As Mr. Wells observes, the trees and woods by a metonymy are said to sing. And what sweet music do the pretty birds make in the air and woods?

Tis the music of ordinances, as appears by our Savior singing with his disciples at the celebration of one of the highest and most sublime ordinances of the gospel.

Singing is the music and melody of the saints, tis the music and melody of angels. Tis and shall be the music and melody of heaven, the glorious and glorified saints and angels send up their praises this way.

But my brothers, be entreated to cry to God that you may pray and sing with the Spirit and with understanding also, and with grace in your hearts, labor after holy and heavenly frames.

We must sing with the affections, let your joyful noise be from the sense of God's love and a dear redeemer to your own souls.

Let it be by exciting your graces, let faith be an exercise in this duty as well as in prayer and understanding the word.

Let it be with inward joy, remember it is your duty to rejoice evermore. And what then can hinder your singing

God's praises at any time? Let it be for spiritual mercies and blessings chiefly, more for deliverance from your sin than for your suffering.

You have found that singing is not only sweet and raising to the Spirit, but also full of instruction.

Nay, I have heard how God has blessed it to the conversion of some souls as well as to the consolation of others. Austin is very excellent to this purpose.

Who knows who Austin is? Anybody? Okay, if you take the Gus out of Augustine, you get

Austin. It's Augustine. Austin is very excellent to this purpose.

Qantas, Flaviva, et cetera. I'm not gonna try to read that. How sweetly saith he, have

I wept in hymns and songs at the sounding of the church. Thy voices flew into mine ears and thy truth melted into my heart and from thence flew forth the effects of godliness.

The tears ran down my eyes and it was well with me when I was with them. And that's the end of his book.

All right, so encouragements to sing. All right, any questions?

Going once, going twice. All right, let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you for the gift to sing.

Thank you for making us creatures that are capable of singing. Thank you for giving us the privilege of bringing songs to you.

I pray that you would help us even today as we sing both together here and in families.