“Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For Yahweh, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth…
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!”
(Psalm 47:1-2, 6)
Our King is worthy of our songs. The Gospel of Jesus Christ gives plenty of reason for our hearts to swell with uncontainable joy that finds expression through our bodies and voices. It is quite literally a command, but think of it as an invitation to the only response befitting the glorious reality of who God is and what he has done for us. “Serve Yahweh with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (Psalm 100:2). We are called to come to church and sing. Loudly. Not for God’s benefit—as if he couldn’t hear our silent thoughts!—but for the benefit of each other. Others are meant to hear you sing, and you are meant to hear them sing, for the purpose of mutual encouragement.
“Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Ephesians 5:18-19). We are corporately filled with the Spirit, and the Word of Christ dwells in us richly (Colossians 3:16-17), as we sing to God and to one another. The Spirit is himself the breath of God, the divine song of God filling the church, bringing us together in a beautiful unity. With our different voices—even singing different harmonies—we sing together, to give an embodied expression to our unity in the Spirit of the Triune God, a unity-in-diversity.
This isn’t an easy unity. Music touches us at a profoundly visceral level, and musical style can be controversial and divisive. Musical preferences are shaped by cultural and personal tastes, and not everyone will always “resonate” with every song that is sung together. Complaints like, “This music is too traditional,” or, “too contemporary,” or, “too slow,” or, “too fast” might be heard of music all in the same church service! But God calls us to do all things without complaining (Philippians 2:14), and singing is perhaps especially difficult to do with any frustration or reluctance! The fact that we cannot all be enthusiastically satisfied with every aspect of our songs in the church isn’t due to some failure of the musicians or leadership. Rather, it’s an opportunity to love and serve our brothers and sisters in the church and to exalt the Lord together.
So, what we sing—the content, the lyrics—should probably be more important to us than in what style or how well we sing. We want to sing biblical truth. And the Bible is full of rich, robust, deep, moving truth. From beginning to end, the Bible is full of songs that invite us to sing God’s truth. In the first chapter of the Bible there are song-like qualities found in the description of God’s creative work, “when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). And the last book of the Bible reveals the angels and redeemed saints singing the praises of the Father and of the Lamb in heaven.
We sing because we have a God who “exults over us with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17), and because the Lord Jesus leads us in song (Psalm 22:22; Hebrews 2:12). The Psalms are God’s own Word become our songs, and many of them were written by the king and representative of God’s people. Jesus is himself God’s Word and our King. Of all the Hebrew Scriptures, the Psalms were most frequently on his lips (e.g., Matthew 7:23; 16:27; 21:16, 42; 22:44; 23:39; 26:30, 38; 27:46). We learn to sing to God throughout life in the name of Jesus Christ.
Singing is also eschatological—it is, in some sense, the consummation of our creation and salvation. Another way to say it is that singing is unnecessary, superfluous, gratuitous, extravagant. Singing is not strictly utilitarian. Singing is when our voices dance and our words play. (You don’t “operate” musical instruments, you play them.) And playing in God’s presence is our very serious destiny. Singing and playing music does require devoted attention and practice. But even if you’re not very good at it, you can probably clap your hands and shout and “make a joyful noise to Yahweh!” (Psalm 100:1).
So, sing with thanksgiving and joy! Sing to confess your sins! Sing your laments! Sing to wrestle with God! Sing to proclaim the wisdom of God! Sing to cheer others with the gracious, victorious, never-ending love of Christ! Sing to remind yourself of the Gospel with insistence and emphasis! “Sing praises to God, sing praises!” (Psalm 47:6). “Praise him with trumpet sound… with lute and harp… with tambourine and dance… with strings and pipe… with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise Yahweh! Praise Yahweh!” (Psalm 150:3-6).
Do you enjoy singing together with God’s people? What do you enjoy about it? What about it is difficult for you? Do you think some might consider it strange that people sing together in the church? What do you think about the fact that we sing not just joyful praises, but also confessions of sin and laments? In what specific ways is singing in church an opportunity for you to participate in the love of Christ for your fellow believers? An opportunity to be blessed by your fellow believers? What might you be giving up in order to sing in church? How might you personally give attention to preparation for singing in church?
