Should We Ever Forget

Hey guys, this is a refreshing reminder on our foundations as worshippers. Let us continuously dig deep into the Word of God so that we can worship in spirit and in truth - the truth from the Word of God!

::WHAT IS WORSHIP?::

Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

Now there are many ways the above verses can take shape in the live of a Believer but for our context, Donald A. Carson puts it beautifully in his book entitled Worship by the Book:

"Worship is the proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God, ascribing all honour and worth to their Creator-God precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so. This side of the Fall, human worship of God properly responds to the redemptive provisions that God has graciously made. While all true worship is God-centered, Christian worship is no lessChrist-centered. Empowered by the Spirit and in line with the stipulations of the new covenant, it manifests itself in all our living, finding its impulse in the gospel, which restores our relationship with our Redeemer-God and therefore also with our fellow image bearers, our co-worshippers. Such worship therefore manifests itself both in adoration and action, both in the individual believer and in corporate worship, which is worship offered up in the context of the body of believers, who strive to align all the forms of their devout ascription of all worth to God with the panoply of new covenant mandates and examples that bring to fulfilment the glories of antecedent revelation and anticipate the consummation.” 

::WHAT DOES THE BIBLE TEACH ABOUT CORPORATE SINGING?::

Now as we go into the following texts from the Bible (and really the Bible ought to be and is, the final authority from which we will derive all our church'ing, no?), we should see that the purpose of why we do what we do (not just in the CM when you're "on duty" specifically but also as a Bible-believing Christian): to mutually edify each other’s faith in God and the Gospel and with that:

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

1 Corinthians 14:15 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 

1 Corinthians‬ ‭14‬:‭26‬ What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

Ephesians 4:11-16 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Ephesians 5:19-21 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Colossians 3:16 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.

To sing for and to God as the Church of God therefore, we must first begin with the truth of God. To that effect let us consider how Calvin puts it in his Preface to the Psalter (dude wrote this all the way back in 1543 no less): 

“…But this cannot be done unless we are instructed to have intelligence of all that has been ordained for our profit. Because to say that we are able to have devotion, either at prayers or ceremonies, without understanding anything of them, is a great mockery, however much it is commonly said… that there is no edification, unless there is a doctrine…”

As for the rest, it is necessary to remember that which St. Paul hath said, the spiritual songs cannot be well sung save from the heart. But the heart requires the intelligence. And in that (says St. Augustine) lies the difference between the singing of men and that of the birds. For a linnet, a nightingale, a parrot may sing well; but it will be without understanding. But the unique gift of man is to sing knowing that which he sings…” 

::THE TYPES OF SONGS THAT WE SING::

Doubtlessly there are as many types of songs as there are types of people, but what we are getting at here is not so much genre but the nature of the songs that we sing in context of our God (the object of our worship), the work and person of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Church and Assurance -- and these types (completely welcomed to the list being expanded because it isn't exhaustive) are:

1) Songs of Direct Address When we are (often with expressing emotional components) singing to God, as it were.

2) Songs of Confession Where we sing about Christian nature -- it's proclamatory in a way that is also explanatory and it is where we singing before God.

3) Songs of Exhortation Where we are singing to God's people -- not that we are worshipping them (goodness heavens no) but through singing we get to encourage, challenge and inspire each other and the congregation (viz. the church) to draw closer to God. A good example of this is the book of Psalms.

It goes without saying that there ought to be a healthy mix of the above 3 types of songs with no overemphasis on any particular type of song over another.

On a closing note, let us consider the following when it comes to choice of songs (everyone listen up! This ain't just for WLs but for the rest of us too -- iron sharpens iron and all that):

...Is it theologically sound? What are the main Biblical/doctrinal truths in the song that are conveyed?

...Is it consistent with the passage at hand? What is the function of the song? How does it fit in the worship service? Song of praise, proclamation, prayer, exhortation or lesson?

...If it is before the sermon, what is being taught and for what purpose? Are the doctrinal truths raised in the songs meant to lead up to the sermon by raising certain truths needed as a presupposition to listen to the sermon or raise points from the sermon so as to prepare the congregation to be taught these points during the sermon? 

If it is after the sermon, what songs will inspire the congregation to respond rightly and theologically based on what they have heard from the preached Word? Will the response song be a response by the individual to God or a corporate response (the pronouns “I” or “We”)?

Depending on the number of songs, are they all about the same point, have similar notions of the same point or different points?

And last but certainly not least:

...Is our assurance and therefore how we go about church'ing (and by extension how/what we sing) ultimately founded in God? Are airy-fairy nebulous "feeling God" episodes that are more "emotional high so you cry" the order of the day rather than conviction/exhortation/confession/proclamation of Bible-based truths? Let's not push for 'Wows' at the expense of losing the plot (so to speak) which is the Gospel. Otherwise we would end up with the church version of Michael Bay's Transformers.