70. The Masculinity Of Corporate Singing

Welcome back to the podcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 70 the masculinity of corporate singing

It was once common knowledge that the burliest and manliest chaps among us were the ones who were the most interested in song

For instance when soldiers marched into battle or were training for it. They would often march in rhythm to a rousing tune

When rowers on old ships would drop their oars into the frigid waters below They kept time with sea shanties and other manly melodies when those same men gathered together for a pint at the local pub

They often sang folk songs and bar tunes when tradesmen went to work They were whistling while they worked when music was being composed at the height of the classical era

It was predominantly done by men for a masculine audience essentially

Wherever you find the strongest hardest -working men the most aggressive soldiers and the saltiest sea dogs

You could guarantee that they loved singing Now one of the things

I find so peculiar Especially in the modern era is how effective Satan has been at convincing men to remain quiet during public worship

For too many men believe that singing is a feminine action that grades against their masculinity

Even fewer men have found the joy and the utter manliness of participating in public worship at a rip -roaring level

While this does not apply to all men many no longer feel like loud thunderous song singing is a masculine endeavor

In fact who can actually blame them? When the church for the last decade or 12 has adopted an overly emotive self -focused song singing by Attractive hip swaying women on stage with eyes closed lights turned down Maybe a few lit candles to accompany the emergent pop vibe.

Is it any wonder that? Testosterone rich men are not clamoring and lining up to participate in these shenanigans

Instead of a Biblically qualified elder who's leading the Saints in public worship of their triune

God from the book of Psalms or a biblically faithful Hymnal far too many churches have adopted the shallow style of the entertainment complex

Catering to consumer driven churchgoers who are looking to be entertained rather than to worship

God The few men who do end up on these stages are usually dressed like overly at estrogenated metrosexuals droning through their seventh emo

Christian chorus nasally singing all of the latest Jesus is my Boyfriend ballads while touching their chest and pointing to the ceiling a few dozen times for no apparent reason

We wonder why godly masculine men have checked out of Christianity and no longer

Participate in that sort of thing Perhaps it is because corporate worship no longer looks like it did in Scripture Instead of the hyper emotive light show where a hundred -pound valley boy is leading churchgoers into a tear -filled experience of self -absorbed

Self -soothing religious feelings rubber -stamped with a veneer of Christian ease. Well, the scriptures actually described men

Muscular and masculine military warriors generals kings and courageous Chieftains who are leading

God's people with loud and boisterous worship. The dichotomy could not be more severe

The scripture unlike modern culture details men with blood still wet on their swords penning songs to the glory of God and Directing the people to celebrate the power and the might of Yahweh who triumphs over his enemies

And what follows I'd like to sketch out briefly a masculine theology of Corporate singing and we'll begin with Moses in Egypt The first example of corporate singing found anywhere in the

Bible is when Moses leads the people of Israel to praise God over the defeat of the mighty

Egyptians Furthermore by defeat God had just rained ten paralyzing plagues down onto the nation

Killing countless Egyptians in the process and flaming the prideful heart of Pharaoh Who lost his firstborn son in the battle with God?

even further than that God provoked the Egyptians to to lick their wounds long enough to chase the

Israelites to the very banks of the Red Sea and Then to come in after them to try to kill them only for God to completely and utterly

Decimate them by drowning them under a torrent of crashing watery fury the dead bodies of those soldiers were presumably washing up on shore as Moses grabbed his

Conductor stick and began leading the people in a ballad of victory Exodus 15 imagine they sang songs of triumph and songs of worship as The dead bodies lie there on the shore what could be more masculine than that?

number two Joshua and Jericho Under the leadership of Joshua twelve men were sent into the land of Canaan in order to spy it out

And then the nation was to follow the Lord's prescription and how to make war with the very first city on the list

Which was called Jericho? That war would not be waged with siege ramps chariots or even newly gilded short swords instead

God assembled the soldiers into a male only choir commissioning them to march around the city how and blast their trumpets to the glory of God which on the seventh day caused the pagan city

To be reduced to absolute dust and rubble There was no hip swing. There was no emotionally latent even jellyfish anthems

There was no Bethel music there. There were hordes of men Singing at the top of their lungs and an entire city fell down at their feet because of it number three

Barak and Deborah After the Israelites got themselves into a whole heap of trouble worshipping the demonic gods of Cain and Canaan The Lord sold them into subjection to Jabbin who was the king of one of the greatest

Canaanite cities Between him and his military commander Cicero this gaggle of Canaanite armies possessed a military force that consisted of so many chariots and horses that it was unrivaled in Bronze Age Levant Nevertheless when the people of Israel cried out to the

Lord God raised up a woman named Deborah to judge the nation of impotent men Which should let men know that God will even raise up a woman if they are impotent

Cowardly and fearful and that sometimes when God raises up women It's because men have failed and that's a sign of curse upon men, but we'll move on from that God raised up Deborah, but also raised up a military commander named

Barak Who would lead the people to throw off their bonds and who would kill every single one of the soldiers by the sword in?

Cicero's army while the blood was still wet on their swords 10 ,000 Israelite men broke out into a song of victory

To the Lord in their mind the most manly action that they could possibly do after slaughtering

Thousands of God's enemies was to sing as loudly and as boisterously in worship to Yahweh that they could amen number four

Samson if You were to imagine the biblical picture of a testosterone junkie

Samson might be your guy. He was a risk taker He was strong. He loved attractive exotic and somewhat dangerous women and you know

He did things like killing a lion with his bare hands and then ate the honey from the carcass by all accounts

This man was a dude However, he was not too masculine to sing.

In fact, he prioritized it for instance after killing a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass

Which if you're thinking about masculine action, that's it After he does that Samson broke out in a song praising

God for how many enemy bodies that he had just piled up in a pile judges 15

Before Samson even took a sip of water and he was dehydrated by the way

The text tells us he determined that singing to God was the most important action that he could do the manliest strongest

Most aggressive man in the scriptures Prioritize singing.

It's very interesting number five Gideon, which on the opposite end of the courage spectrum

There was the weak -kneed Gideon Who needed a few signs and a bit of encouragement to take on the behemoth

Midianite army? That was a costing the northern tribes of Israel Nevertheless when Gideon was finally strengthened in mind and heart for battle

He did not find himself the commander of a million -man army or of Abrams tanks or a platoon of special forces soldiers not at all instead

God tasked him with commanding 300 water lapping pot touting

Worship singers whose ear splitting harmony set the Midianite army to such chaos

That they hacked each other apart through the night while Gideon and his friends watched

When the Sun's light arose the valley was filled with the dead bodies the circling vultures and pools of iron -rich blood while God Could have used various different means to accomplish his victory.

He used confident jubilant victorious male voices which should teach us something indeed

David one of the earliest scenes in the life of David while all of Israel's men were

Cowering in the presence of a mighty giant David who was a small boy at the time was filled with the

Spirit of God and bested the giant after David's victory he chopped off Goliath's head and then grabbed the decapitated mass and held it up and unloft in the air by the hair and Then participated in a national worship service where all the men sang out praises to God you can imagine promise -keepers breaking out with David raising the severed head

Instead of light shows skinny jeans and a get in touch with your feelings song

David sat down the severed head and sang a manly hymn to the glory of God David to David Singing was the epitome of masculinity now later on in his life, and that's after He killed 200

Philistines and brought 200 foreskins of their dead bodies to pay for his first bride for Samuel 1825 and after killing more than ten thousand enemy soldiers in battle

David not only became one of the most prolific warriors in Israelite history But he also became the most prolific songwriter in biblical canon this man who was perhaps the most significant and incredible military general warrior king and all of Scripture is a man who would rip you apart with his bare hands and Also sing to you about the glory of God He apparently had no problem maintaining his masculinity while belting out boisterous praise

Solomon in the temple Now when Solomon came to power war making was virtually over he didn't have to deal with the sort of things that David dealt with David had delivered the entire kingdom into his son

Solomon's hands which were not stained with blood in the same way that his father's were but Because of this

God called Solomon to construct the temple to dedicate it to set it apart for the worship of Yahweh Among the

Israelite people at the temple dedication It says that all the sons of Israel came second

Chronicles 7 1 through 3 that means that all the men in Israel came to the temple and they beheld the all -powerful

God who rained down a massive wall of fire from heaven Consuming the offerings that Solomon had assembled and dedicating the house of the

Lord with holy panache they saw God do this incredible and amazing thing and when the men of Israel saw this they

Intuitively broke out in song they demonstrated that men who have seen God do great and mighty things

Respond by singing great and mighty songs Again, the theme should be very obvious at this point

Now let's look at some other Old Testament examples and we'll go through these rather quickly before Concluding our little tour de force of the biblical

Old Testament examples a few more instances deserve our attention first When the men of Israel returned from a paralyzing exile

They led their families in song as they marched back home to rebuild their city and temple. That's Psalm 126

Next when Ezra and the men of Israel had finished rebuilding the second temple The men in proper masculine form broke out in the heartiest harmonic hymn singing that had been heard this side of Babylon of Nehemiah 8

Third once the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt and the whole city was coming into completion the men joined together in a song again

Nehemiah 12 and who could forget the fact that our God known as Holy Father Cast almost universally with the masculine pronouns is the one who is joyfully singing over us

Zephaniah 317 and Receives our joyful singing back to him

Psalm 95 1 through 2 Apparently God and his Old Covenant men found singing both holy natural and holy

Necessary now, let's look at a couple New Testament examples in case you're wondering Singing by masculine men is not limited to the

Old Testament It's not a it's not an Old Covenant phenomenon when Jesus was born The sky exploded to the glory of God and legions and legions of angels

Sang out before a group of terrified herdsmen Luke 2 13 through 14 on The night

Jesus was going to be arrested falsely convicted and murdered the next day Instead of giving in to fear instead of playing cards or drinking

Jesus led his disciples Which was all men in joyful singing to Yahweh mark 1426

After being beaten with an inch of their lives and arrested on trumped -up charges Paul and Silas sang in prison which by the way

Almost like Jericho caused the entire prison to collapse and their bonds to be released act 16 male singing has power

Paul also explicitly addresses the church filled with men and women and commanded them to joyfully exuberantly sing the

Psalms the hymns and the spiritual songs Ephesians 519 and Colossians 3 316 now as we end

I want to just call all my brothers Who are in Christian churches, whether it's the

Shepherd's Church where I am currently a pastor or whether it's Churches all over the country from listeners who are listening in various different places even international listeners that we have

I want to encourage you men to sing the most masculine powerful and godly thing that you can do is

Bellow out your praises to God if You fancy yourself a warrior then sing boldly to God in the bassiest most baritone and tenor voice

You've got if you're like Gideon and you tend a little bit more towards cowardice

Cowardice then muster the strength that you have and bellow out God's praises with vigor

Fill the room that the gathered Saints are gathering and with the thunderings of your lower register

Demonstrate to the women and to the children who are who are there how happy you are to be in the house of God that Yahweh reigns over the earth and that our songs hail his mighty victory

Do not allow woke churches and effeminate modern worship to sideline you from one of the most godly and manly

Activities that you can ever do join a church Where the Psalms are sung where the hymns are proclaimed where we're monumental victories of the great king are sang -out cried out loudly like David and Solomon and belts it out like Barack and Moses and let the rafters my brothers fear your rumblings men

The church needs your voice now more than ever The city gates once collapsed when men took the singing

Seriously prisons have fallen down when men took the singing to God Seriously, and I believe that the gates of hell will also fall down in our day

When men recover the biblical discipline of Godly masculine singing to God be the glory.

My brothers do not whisper in worship services But sing to the glory of God.

Amen Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the broadcast this week

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