5 Reasons the Church Sings (Part 2 of 3)

This is a continuation of a three-part entry on why the church sings. Find the first installment here.

Reason #3 – We Sing Because God Sings

He will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17

There are commands to sing littered throughout the scriptures and it’s important that we see this command rooted partially in the reality that God sings. Zephaniah calls God’s people to sing loudly with all their heart. Why? Because the LORD is in their midst, a mighty one who will save – and not only will he save – he will rejoice over them with gladness, he will quiet them by his love; he will exult over them with loud singing. If there was ever a reason for God’s people to lift their voice in joyous song, this is it! The Lord, having saved you, exults over you with loud singing. Now, let’s be clear here. This is not an act of worship on the Lord’s part as our singing is to Him, but it is the loving overflow of the Lord’s complete and total approval. All that He has desired to accomplish in saving His people through His Son Jesus Christ he has accomplished, and now He looks upon us with utterly exultant joy and pleasure that burst forth in song. What a liberating and worship producing thought! We are liberated in Christ from the incessant search for identity and approval to find that in Christ we have it. Not the fleeting and temporary approval of other creatures, but we have the free and joyous approval of our creator and our God. On the basis of Christ’s work, we are accepted and loved by Him which is evidenced in part by the fact that He exults over us with loud singing. But we can make further application still. As we grow in our faith, we are conformed in greater and greater degrees to the image of God. Surely part of our growth into the image of our Father in heaven is in this attribute – God joyously sings. We sing because God sings.

Reason #4 – We Sing to Teach and Admonish One Another

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 3:16

I’ve heard it said many times that we sing to an audience of one. While I think the central truth being communicated is a good one (namely that we sing as an expression of worship to God alone) the fact is that there is another audience – each other. In a highly self-reliant and individualistic society like the one we live in, it can be tempting to view our singing on Sunday morning primarily as a personal experience of worship with God. Of course I don’t mean to diminish the individual heart response of worship on a Sunday morning, but let’s not overlook the obvious reality that once a week we gather together with other believers into a common room where we sing the same songs in unison. There must be purpose for this kind of singing that goes beyond my own experience. Now it’s clear that we sing to God for different reasons than we sing to each other, but we do sing to and for one another. We sing to God and he hears our songs as expressions of worship – worship of which He alone is worthy. But we also sing to each other and hear each other’s songs as teaching, admonishment, wisdom, thankfulness, encouragement, etc… We sing so that the word of Christ, that is the gospel, would dwell in us richly. We sing to remind one another of the great grace that has been poured out to us in Christ Jesus so that the gospel would have its full effect in us as it conforms us more into the image of the Son. We sing to each other as expressions of our desire that the peace of Christ would rule in our hearts, to which indeed we were called in one body. How would you sing if you knew that your song had the ability to encourage those around you to hold fast their confidence in Christ? What if you knew that your song had the ability to teach those around you that the Lord is able to be trusted in every season and circumstance of life? What if you knew that your song had the ability to admonish those around you to forsake their life for the sake of Christ so that they might find it? Maybe you think it makes no difference whether you sing or remain silent, but the apostle Paul teaches us that we allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly by teaching and admonishing one another with songs that flow from hearts filled with thankfulness to God.