John Samson on Modern Worship Songs

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We would sing a hymn, we would sing a song, and it I believe should be theologically rich, not

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Jesus is my girlfriend. You know what those kind of songs are? You can insert either

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Jesus or Mildred or Savannah or some other name and the song would be equally as good, you know?

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I feel good when I'm next to you God. You do me good. I like you.

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I feel good when I'm around you. No, the theological history of the church is men and women who were greatly gifted have written songs that endure.

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There were songs that you could live for and songs that you could die to. A Mighty Fortress is

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Our God is a hymn that Martin Luther wrote, which really is great when you're on the way to be martyred.

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Try singing, I feel good around you at that time. No, it's not going to work. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill,

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God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. Oh, that'll put some meat on the bone.

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And men and women who went to death in the center of the cities, I've been to some of these places, in the crowds there would be

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Protestant sympathizers. And while they thought the backs of the governmental authorities were not observing them, they'd shout out to encourage those on the way to death, sing the 46th.

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What they meant was Martin Luther's hymn. That's a song you can die to, praise

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God. If it's not true, we shouldn't be singing it. It should be dripping either with Scripture or Scripture -based truth.

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Church history didn't begin in 1994. God has been with His people throughout the centuries.

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I love getting out a hymn that was first sung in the 10th century. You do what? Yep. I'm a strange fellow.

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And I believe our song should be congregational rather than performance -based.

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Do you know what I mean by that? It's the whole people of God singing, not merely someone singing, and we observe worship.

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That actually is a retreat back to Rome. We watch worship. We observe worship.

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No, no, no. We participate. Let all the people of God sing. Come, you people of the

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

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Ephesians 5, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. It speaks of proclamation in song, and it is an encouragement when brothers and sisters alongside us are singing these songs.

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Psalm 149 verse 1, His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.

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Let Israel be glad in His maker. Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their king.

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There's a place for individual singing. Paul and Silas did that in the prison, if you remember.

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They sang hymns of praise to God, Acts chapter 16 verse 25, and the prisoners were listening to them.

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So there's a time when we ought to sing privately, but the emphasis in the New Testament is congregational rather than individual performance type of singing.

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You read Revelation 5, it's not someone singing a song by themselves. It's creatures of all kinds singing to God.

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Sinclair Ferguson said this, worship is deformed when it becomes vicarious performance rather than congregational and participational.

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The Reformers knew this. So what is worship? What is our singing? The king of kings has issued a summons for us to appear before him on the

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Lord's day to enter his courts with praise, and unless I'm providentially hindered, I'm there. All believers are to attend.

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And worship doesn't end after the singing. It's a worship service where the whole service is worship.

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I was in a church not too long ago, and they said, well we've finished our worship time. Now we're going to open up the

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Scriptures. No, you better be worshipping God as you're preaching, and worshipping God as you're listening to the preaching.

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Then there was the reciting of creeds.

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Evidence of this is not only in the writings of the church, but in Scripture itself. I've already made the comment, but everyone's got a creed.

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It's either written down or it's not. Who's Jesus? Well, when you start answering that question, that's a form of a creed.

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In Deuteronomy 6 -4, we have the most famous verse in the Old Testament to the Jew. You know it as the

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Shema, hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

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And did you know that Jesus quotes the Shema in Mark chapter 12, verse 29.

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He was aware of that creed, and he quoted it. In Romans 10 -9, we have the earliest creed of the

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Christian church, Jesus is Lord. And to say that, there was a background where you were required by the empire to say,

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Caesar is Lord. But on penalty of death, not only did they keep their mouth shut when demanded to say those little words in English, in the original it's

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Kaiser Kurios. They wouldn't say it. They said, no, Jesus, Jesus Harkorios.

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They said, Jesus is Lord, and they often paid for their lives by that testimony, by that creed, the earliest creed.

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That's why in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 3, it says no one can say Jesus is

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Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Understanding the background, I think you know why. Because you could die for it.

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1 Corinthians 8 -6, it's something of a creed where the Apostle Paul speaks of God the

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Father through whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ. He brought Christ to the level of the

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Father in that early statement. Ephesians 4, 4 and 5 says there's one body and one spirit.

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And it's a confession to say that there's just one hope to which you are called. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one

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God and Father of all who's over all and through all and in all. 1

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Corinthians 3 -16, by common confession, hear that, this is what we agree as Christians.

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We hold this in common together, by common confession. Great is the mystery of Godliness, and so it goes on.

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For the sake of time, we're going to move on, but creeds are wonderful. And the Reformers recited in public assembly four different things.

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The Apostles' Creed, I just spent two Sundays, this morning being the second of the two, on the

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Apostles' Creed. Again, something I thought I'd never do. But just seeing the richness of the creed and how it is a

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Biblical, Biblical creed. It was actually designed as a form of initiation for the new convert before they're baptized.

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They would either be required to recite the creed or else the creed was said in front of them, and you'll see the creed on the back of the handout you've received.

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The Apostles' Creed, there was a legend that said that it was each of the apostles that contributed a line of the creed, but that was just a legend.

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The reason we call it the Apostles' Creed was not because it was written by the apostles, but that the creed conforms to apostolic doctrine.

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The apostles would agree with it, in other words. It was written in the late second century, about 190

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AD, but it didn't become a creed until about 700. The earliest creed was the

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Nicene Creed, but at first it was simply a way of instructing new converts in the truths of the

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Christian faith. And if you look at the Apostles' Creed, you'll see it's in three sections.

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One concerns God the Father, the second Jesus the Son, and the third the

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Holy Spirit. And it starts with credo, I believe. This is what I affirm.

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I affirm this about God. He's the maker of heaven and earth. I affirm this about the

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Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son. And it focuses on the death of Christ at the cross, which is where it should be.

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Much could be said about that, I've just spent two hours, as I say, going through it with our church.

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You can find those online if you're interested, those sermons. The Nicene Creed, which goes into greater detail on the person of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, that He's God from God, light from light, speaks of His deity in clearer terms.

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The Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, those four were recited continually in the life flow of the service.

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Then catechism, and it's great that you guys do this. And I've learned just in the last few weeks that catechism wasn't simply for the kids, but pastors in the

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Reformation visited homes to make sure everybody was learning the catechism, adults and children alike.

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How you doing with that? You'd get the pastoral visit and think, oh no, I'm somewhere behind.

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And He'd come and He'd encourage you because He wanted everybody to be instructed in the Gospel. See this, preaching, liturgy, and the catechism rooted the people in the