As we begin this morning talking about the early church and Bible class, we're going to continue that thought of the church and what we do.
And this morning we are going to be considering the topic, the question, why do we sing?
When we think about what we view as priorities in worship, when we think about those things that are our must-have, we think about the Lord's Supper, we think about prayer, we
think about hearing God's Word, but how many times do we forget about singing?
How many times does that kind of get glossed over?
Forgotten.
Yes, we do it, but do we really appreciate what we're doing when we're singing?
you know, average member of the church, especially here at Collierville, they'll sing some 780 songs in one year.
780.
But of those 780, how many times are thoughts elsewhere?
I know I for one am guilty of that.
Of forgetting what the song is really saying.
why we're singing this song in the first place.
Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in thinking about the music of the song and forget the message altogether.
But as we think today about this idea of why we sing, the aim is to remind us of why we sing and bring joy in our singing and a focus on what we're doing when we sing.
Singing is an important part of our worship and it should not be taken lightly, just as any other part of our worship should not be taken lightly.
Jesus says,
In John chapter 4 and verse 24 that the Father is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.
And so just like with any other part of our worship we aim to sing in spirit and in truth.
So as we answer the question of why we sing we first notice that we sing to praise God.
Open with me to 2nd Samuel chapter 22.
2 Samuel chapter 22.
Here David gives a song of praise to God for deliverance.
Praise because God is reliable and strong in delivering him.
He opens by noticing the many enemies that he had to face.
And when we think about David, we think about a warrior.
We think about one who was in many conflicts, who was constantly in battle.
But think about his war with Saul as he was on the run from the king who wanted to kill him and as he tried his best to respect the Lord's anointed even when others told him to
kill Saul he said I will not raise a hand against the Lord's anointed.
We think about David and Goliath, the wars that he fought with the Philistines, the wars he fought with his sons who
well, his son Absalom who betrayed and tried to take over the kingdom.
When we think about David, we think about a man who is at war, a man who is fighting.
but through it all David points his victories, he points his deliverance to God.
And in 2 Samuel 22, let's read together verses 50 and 51.
And notice the summary of the chapter.
The summary of why David offers this song a praise to God.
Verses 50 and 51.
Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.
He is the tower of salvation for his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed unto David and to his seed.
forevermore.
When we think about David, we think about a warrior, yes, but we cannot help but think about a man who is saved by God, a man who is blessed by God, who is delivered by the God
who is so strong and so reliable.
And you might say, okay, that makes sense for David to sing praises to God.
It makes sense for David to do this, but I'm not in battle.
ah God hasn't delivered me from the hands of the Philistines.
but he has delivered you from your foes and he can.
You see we face a foe of a different kind today in many cases.
There are Christians out there, yes, who are facing persecution by the sword, the gun.
But we here in America are blessed that we do not have to face such persecution.
The troubles that we face, the enemies we face, come in the form of distractions, of having too much time for everything but God.
Our enemies come in the form of betrayal.
How many times do people attack each other for no reason?
Stab each other in the back.
Our enemies come in the form of discouragement.
When looking at the state of the world, when looking at different things in our lives, it can be easy to become discouraged.
But as we look at each of these different enemies that we face, and of course, ultimately, the enemy of temptation and sin, we realize that there is a God who is strong enough to
deliver us.
There is a God who is reliable in His deliverance.
There is a God that we can trust that He will, and He can, help us and deliver us.
And so that's why we sing.
That's why we sing praises to God because like David, we serve a God who is strong and reliable.
But we also notice in Judges Chapter 5, Verses 1 through 13, that we serve a God who is immense in power.
Look with me at Judges chapter 5 verses 1 through 13.
We read of the song of Deborah and Barak.
The victory song that they sing as they have just defeated Jabin, the king of Canaan.
Their foe has been defeated.
And rather than forgetting God who gave them the victory, they take the time to sing a song of praise to him.
Let's notice this passage together.
Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Benoim on that day saying, Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel.
When the people willingly offered themselves, Hear, ye kings, give ear, O ye princes, I even I will sing unto the Lord, I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
Lord, when thou winnest out of seer, when thou marchest out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled.
And the heavens dropped and the clouds also dropped water.
The mountains melted from before the Lord.
Even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.
And in the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, and in the days of Jeel, the highways were unoccupied and the travelers walked through byways.
The inhabitants of the villages ceased.
They ceased in Israel until that I, Deborah, rose, that I rose a mother in Israel.
They chose new gods.
Then was there war in the gates?
Was there a shield or spear seen among 40,000 in Israel?
My heart is toward the governors of Israel that offer themselves willingly among the people.
Bless ye the Lord.
Verse 12, awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, utter a song, arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinuim.
Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people.
The Lord made me have dominion over the mighty.
It was a rather lengthy passage, but the point cannot be missed.
Did Deborah save Israel?
Did the Bayrach save Israel?
When Israel was surrounded by enemies, when there was no safety in Israel, when they did not have an army to defend themselves, who was it that saved them?
Who was it that delivered them?
It was God.
when we face our difficulties, when we face the enemies of life, the enemies of our service of God, who is it that delivers us?
God every time and it's because of His immense power that we praise Him.
Matthew chapter 6 verses 31 through 33, we are reminded not to be worried about what we will eat, what we will drink, what we will put on.
because the body is more than that.
and because if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness all these things will be added unto you God provides for us God delivers us
It is amazing to see who God is and the care that He shows for us even though we as humans are so weak compared to God.
We as humans are so small when you look at the vastness of God and yet He cares for each of us individually.
Truly God is someone to be praised.
Truly God deserves our praise and He deserves our praise because He has given us the ultimate victory.
Welcome to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians chapter 15, as Paul is getting the Corinthian brethren to remember the glory that is to come and the eternity waiting for them, he reminds them that there is no fear
of death.
He reminds them that there is hope rather.
Looking at verse 55, death where is thy sting, grave where is thy victory.
The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but notice this, thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not in our own strength that we have the victory.
We are not facing death without fear because we are so great, but because our God is so great.
because Christ shows us that we do not have to fear death, but he shows us that we too can, will be resurrected and we can be resurrected to a glory with him.
Verse 58, therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
God delivers us from the greatest threat, from the greatest enemy that we will ever face.
And so we stand fast.
We stand unmovable.
And that, and sisters, is why we praise God.
We praise Him for who He is, for what He has done to us, done for us.
But we also praise God because Jesus sang songs of praise to God.
In Matthew 26 and verse 30, as Jesus is preparing for His final moments on earth,
as he is preparing to be led to the cross, as he is preparing to prostrate himself in the garden of Gethsemane, praying to God that there be any way, let this cup pass from me.
What do we read him and the disciples doing in verse 30?
They sang a song.
They took the time to praise the Lord.
Even in what many of us would consider to be the darkest moment of Jesus's life, he chooses to praise God and to do so in song.
We as Christians are to follow the example of Christ.
And in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 12 we are also reminded that Christ is singing with us.
that we as Christians are singing praise to God, but not alone.
but that the one who is our King is joining right in with us.
Isn't that amazing?
Isn't it amazing to think that when we are singing, we're singing with Christ?
Truly, it is a blessing to sing praise to God.
And you know, it's one thing that we know for sure that we will be doing in heaven.
As we get a glimpse into heaven in Revelation chapter 14, verses 1 through 3, we find the elders, those 24 elders and the whole room as it were, lifting up their voices in song of
praise to God Almighty.
In other words, when we are singing praises to God, we're getting a little slice of heaven on earth.
And I don't know about you, but that's a reason to praise God.
That's a reason to sing.
Number two, we sing to express joy.
In James chapter five, verse 13, we are told that if any is merry, let him sing songs.
Let him sing songs.
Have you ever sung the song, we're marching to Zion as if we're never going to get there?
So many times we sing these songs and we don't really appreciate the joy that is expressed in them.
But yet it is a merry heart that sings to God.
It is a merry heart.
It is with a merry heart that we sing praise to our Lord.
because we have reason to be merry.
You see, the thing about singing is that it's not about the sound.
It's not about how we sound.
Yes, we try to do our best with singing, but it doesn't matter if you can hit a tune in the bucket or not.
What matters is your heart and singing the truth in those songs.
We'll notice the truth aspect of singing later, but right now let's focus on this idea of our heart, of being joyful.
in singing.
It's not a dreary obligation that compels us to sing, rather it's a joy knowing to whom we are singing.
It's a joy knowing that we are praising God with our songs.
the book of Psalms, we find many examples of singing, and we find that we are to sing because of God's love, because of God's care and deliverance for us.
That should bring us joy.
When connecting singing and joy in the Psalms, there are about 27 different times in which those two are connected.
It's important for us to remember.
our heart should be in what we're doing.
Remember we mentioned as we began that the Father is seeking those to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
So how is our heart?
How are our hearts when we are singing?
Are we joyful?
Let's notice a few Psalms together.
Psalm 64, 67, verse 4.
Psalm 67 and verse 4.
Here the psalmist writes, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon the earth.
Let the people praise thee, O God.
Let all the people praise thee.
We have joy knowing that our judge, the one who will pass judgment on us is righteous.
He will not look at one who is a Christian who is faithful to him and say, I don't like your face, so you're gone.
He is righteous in his judgment.
He is righteous and how He treats us.
but also notice the mercy that he gives us.
Because truthfully, all of us deserve a devil's hell.
All of us deserve eternal torment, but Christ came that we might have life.
God shows mercy to us and allowing us a way to escape, a way out of the depths of hell.
Notice Psalm 95 and verse 1.
Psalm 95, verse 1.
O come, let us sing unto the Lord.
Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods.
Truly we have reason to rejoice.
Truly we have reason to find joy and to sing songs of joy and praise to God because He is our salvation.
He delivers us.
If there were ever a reason to rejoice, we have one in Christ.
As Christians, we have a reason to rejoice because we know where we're going.
We have hope of that home over there.
And as we sometimes sing, oh, think of the home over there.
that beautiful place that is waiting for us, we have joy.
And we can't have joy, and we should have that joy in singing.
But we also sing for joy because God has redeemed us.
Isaiah 44.
Let's notice this together.
Isaiah chapter 44, starting in verse 22.
Isaiah 4422.
Isaiah is prophesying to a wicked nation, to the nation of Israel in their sin sickness, their lost state.
And yet notice the hope that he prophesies for them.
Starting in verse 22, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins return unto me for I have redeemed thee.
Notice the response to God's promise of redemption.
Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it.
Shout, ye lower parts of the earth, break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and every tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel.
we like Israel do not deserve redemption, but yet Christ offers it to us.
We do not deserve redemption from our sins, but yet we can be saved.
Galatians 3 22 tells us that we were all under sin We in other words we were all in bondage to sin But through Christ Through Christ we can have freedom We can be bought back
in 1st Peter chapter 3 and chapter 1 rather and verse 18 We are not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold
There is no amount of gold or precious stones that could buy us back.
But rather we are bought.
We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
It is only through Christ that we have redemption and it is because of that redemption that we have reason to rejoice and we have reason to sing.
But we also sing songs and this is in connection to what we just discussed.
We sing songs of joy because Christ has come.
We think about the scene in Matthew 21 verse 9 as Jesus is entering into Jerusalem and the people are shouting, Zanna, they're praising God because the Messiah has come.
Of course, we know that those very same people would be calling for his blood later.
But we see the response, and truthfully the right response, to the facts that Christ has come.
The joy that we have in that Christ has come.
The Messiah has come.
The Redeemer has come.
We are not looking to some future time when He would come.
to buy us back, but rather we look forward to the time when he calls us to be with him for all of eternity.
And that last Trump sounds.
Truthfully, there is joy to be found in Christ.
There's joy in that He has come.
And because of that joy, we sing.
Because of that joy, we express joy in song.
And finally, we express joy, we praise God, yes, in song, but we also sing to teach others.
Of the three, this is probably the most forgotten.
Many times people look at songs and say, does this sound good?
Well, I'm concerned about how it makes me feel, but have we considered what it's teaching?
Have we considered the message that we are teaching to each other in songs?
Ephesians 5, 19 and 20.
When thinking about singing, that being a part of our worship, we often will go to this passage.
But let's truly consider what is being said here.
Speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.
Notice verse 20.
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we sing, we are teaching each other to give thanks.
We are teaching each other
to have a mindset of thankfulness to God for who He is, for what He has done.
You know, it's easy to get caught up in this mindset of, let me tell you what terrible thing happened to me this week.
But it's rather hard to be downcast.
It's rather hard to be ungrateful when singing a song such as Thank You Lord.
When singing a song such as Count Your Many Blessings.
When we are singing, we are teaching each other to be thankful to God.
and teaching each other not to have a mindset that is only focused on the negative, but is focused on the joy, on the reasons we have to be thankful.
We also look at Colossians chapter 3.
Colossians chapter 3 verses 16 and 17.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord.
And whatsoever ye do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
When we are singing, are teaching each other to have grace in our hearts, teaching each other.
to look to God.
to do all by His authority.
far too often we let bitterness into our hearts.
Far too often we become skewed in our view of others.
but it's kind of hard to speak ill of a brother when you're singing a song such as Angry Words.
It's hard to have a mindset of bitterness in your heart.
when you're singing about wringing out the message.
and about sharing the gospel to others.
Because ultimately, no matter how on your nerves someone is, someone gets, they're still a soul for whom Christ died.
They are still a soul that needs saving.
And that's something we have to remind ourselves of.
That Christ, that God loves every one of us.
But you know, we also think about the fact that things need to be done in accordance with God's Word.
By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have no right to rewrite the Scriptures.
The Word of God is our standard.
This is our law book.
But it's amazing that God worded it in the form of a love letter.
In the form of a letter expressing His love and His care for us.
And what a joy that is.
But we teach.
and we teach each other through Psalm.
Consider with me the example of Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16.
As we consider their example, we consider the fact that they are in Philippi at this time.
They have been teaching the word of God, proclaiming it faithfully.
They have been casting out demons.
But the people didn't like that.
Specifically, those who were the masters of this girl who was demon possessed, and they were getting money from that possession, from the things that she was able to do.
And so when the demon was cast out,
They lost their revenue.
And so they convinced the rulers of the city to throw Paul and Silas in prison, but not before they beat them.
Keep in mind, none of this was done in accordance with the law.
This is all done unjustly.
And so as Paul and Silas are in these shackles, as they are in the stocks in the innermost part of the prison, they have been beaten unjustly, thrown in prison unjustly.
They could have looked around and said, you know what, this whole Christianity thing just ain't worth it.
They could have looked around and said, God, why did you put us in this position?
We are preaching your gospel.
We were doing your work.
But look with me at verse 25.
And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God.
And the prisoners heard them.
What an example that is.
What an example they set of how to handle the difficulties of life.
They sang.
And you want to know why they sing praises to God.
You want to know why they could still honor the one,
Who is above all?
The reason why is because their joy could not be taken.
Because their joy was in God.
Their joy was in Christ.
Their joy was in the salvation that they had through Christ.
So they praised God.
And we think about what happens as we continue reading in Acts chapter 16.
The Philippian jailer, he and his house are both converted through the teaching of Paul and Silas, but when we consider the earthquake that happens and the detrimental spot that
the jailer found himself in,
we, at least if you're anything like me, you wonder why was it Paul and Silas that the jailer asked?
When he asks, must I do to be saved, why does he ask Paul and Silas?
Is it just because they were the first to speak up?
Possibly.
But notice at the end of verse 25, the prisoners heard the singing and praying of Paul and Silas, and it's quite possible
But the jailer heard it as well.
We never know the impact that even something so small as singing a song can make.
We never know the influence that we exert, that we exhibit rather.
when we take the time to pray to our Lord and to sing to Him even when things are difficult, even when times are tough.
When we think about singing.
Sometimes it is forgotten, but we need to be reminded why we sing.
We do not sing to please ourselves, to think about how good we sound or how bad we sound.
We do not think about ourselves in singing, rather we are thinking about praising God.
When we sing, we are not doing it out of just obligation and a sense of, I have to.
No, we're singing because we have joy in Christ.
We sing in joy.
That's the emotion behind it.
And we do not sing just to fill up a time in worship, but rather we sing to teach each other about the gospel, about the message that God has left for us.
Singing is a gift of God.
It is a blessing to be able to sing every Sunday and Wednesday.
It's a blessing to have a singing service as we're going to have this afternoon.
But you know the true blessing is in knowing that we are saved.
And so if you are here today and you realize you're not saved, you realize that you have not obeyed the gospel, we stand willing to
and ready to aid you in fixing that.
All one must do is hear the word, Romans 10 and 17, believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, John 8, 24.
Confess His name, Romans 10, verses 9 and 10.
Repent, Acts 17, 30.
Putting away that old life of sin and then being baptized into Christ, burying that old man of sin and being raised again a new creature, a Christian.
One who can sing with joy and praise to God.
Acts 22, 16.
But maybe it's the case that you are a Christian.
You have done those things to become a Christian, but you find yourself lacking in your service of God.
You find that you have been more focused on this world.
You've let sin creep back in.
It's not too late.
As long as there is breath in our lungs, it is not too late to make your life right with God.
If we can help aid you in any way, please come now as we stand and as we sing.