The Weekly Encourager – June 12, 2012 – Worship in Song

“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.” - Colossians 3:12-17

Pastor Dave Coffin gave a fine sermon on our calling to Worship in Song, drawn from this passage and others. As he discussed the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How of song, he said that “song is designed to impress truth upon the heart” and to express our heart's response to that truth. Songs often contain poetry, and “Poetry is to be the nursery of piety, the herald of immortality, the promoter of cheerfulness, the conqueror of sadness, and a foretaste of heavenly glory,” said hymn-writer Johann Franck.

As we sing with joy by the Spirit, we proclaim the word of God back to God first, then to ourselves and to one another. We should sing with others in such a way as to encourage and profit those around us. The pastor gave a good example of his grandson learning songs from hearing his mother sing around the house, even though little Peter sometimes got the words wrong. Betsy Coffin sang, “Help my unbelief” and Peter echoed “Help Mom's unbelief!” I remember back when our own children were little, we used to play Scripture songs at nap-time and sing at bedtime. One song was from Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” When I heard Austin sing it later, it was “sitteth in the seat of his corn field!” (Did he ever wonder, having grandparents who were farmers, what was wrong with sitting in corn fields?) Children mimic what their parents do, say, and sing. Even if you think you “can't carry a tune” you can still sing along with Christian CDs and teach your kids that way.

We may not have great skill in the art of singing, but we can always make a joyful noise from the heart. Pastor Coffin said, “Only Christ makes our worship acceptable, but we want to bring our best.” Psalm 33:3 is one of my favorites: “Play skillfully to the Lord.” I believe there is Biblical warrant for those skilled in music to aid the congregation in worship. (Unfortunately, when well-meaning but unskilled brothers lead music in public worship, it can be a great distraction to those of us with some musical training. In those cases, and I say this to myself, we must resist the temptation to criticize. We need to view it as an opportunity from God to bear with one another's weaknesses patiently, exercising the fruit of charity. Godly skill always trumps musical skill.) Also, I applaud those churches which have a tradition of teaching songs to the congregation. As a teenager, I was a “baby Christian” in a charismatic fellowship. How many passages from God's word were hidden in my heart because of singing Scripture songs taken directly from the Bible! Those simple songs were easy to memorize, and isn't that the point? The Spirit has brought them to mind at appropriate times through the years. “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.”

A further point of Pastor Coffin's was that, when there's an assault on the truth of the gospel, there's an assault on singing in churches. Hymnals reflect this. A man reviewing a Presbyterian hymnal once said, “If you want to know the trends in religion, listen to the way that religion sings.” All too often today there is a “deadly vagueness” in hymn and song lyrics. While on vacation last summer, our family visited a church and one of the songs was “Let the water flow, let the water flow” repeated over and over. Although the tune was pleasant, there was no explanation of what water was being referred to, and what it had to do with our worship that morning. While singing it along with the congregation, I chose to picture the River of Life which flows from Jesus Christ in the kingdom of heaven; otherwise I would have been singing in “vain repetition as the heathens do”! Let's make sure that the cross of Christ is not deleted from our songbooks.

Pastor Coffin also exhorted us to sing to the world as a joyful witness to God's greatness. He quoted Jonathan Edwards: “When one thing sweetly harmonizes with another, as with the notes in music, the notes are so conformed and have such a proportion to one another that they seem to have a respect to one another as if they loved one another. It's very much the image of love in all the parts of society united by the sweet consent of charity in the heart.” What a noble goal! Lord, teach us to sing Your praise in harmony with Your Spirit! Let the sweet unity of our voices show our sweet unity in Christ and be a witness to a world which desperately needs You.

Yours in the God of Song,

j

To hear Pastor David F. Coffin Jr.'s complete sermon, go to http://newhopefairfax.org/resources/sermons-to-hear and select the message from June 3, 2012. Any mistakes in quotation are mine.