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Singing W

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SERIES INTRO: This eight-week study is based on a sermon series on worship and the psalms called “Grace and Gratitude: Worshiping a Gracious God with a Grateful Heart.” Worship is our response to God and the grace and love he shows us in Jesus. Worship is how we relate to God—gathering, singing, confessing, hearing God’s Word, celebrating our unity with him through baptism and the Table, professing our faith to one another, and then re-entering the world as those who are ready to be part of God’s mission. The psalms lead us into worship, reminding us that God not only hears and understands all our many different prayers, needs, and emotions, but welcomes us and rejoices with us as we draw closer to him.

Mark Labberton, a contemporary pastor/theologian, calls worship a “dangerous act.” He writes, “When worship is our response to the One who alone is worthy of it—Jesus Christ—then our lives are on their way to being turned inside out. Every dimension of self-centered living becomes endangered as we come to show God’s self-giving heart.” Centuries earlier, Augustine said the gathering for worship is the “fundamental and original form of the church, for it is through this gathering that the church expresses to itself and to the world its nature, its purpose, its mission, and its role in history.” I believe both are correct!

A few years ago, followers of Jesus from around the world worked together to create a document called “Worshiping the Triune God” that attempted to explain the amazing potential of worship through a series of contemporary ‘proverbs.’ I was asked to write a commentary on these, and the book Wise Church: Exploring Faith and Worship with Christians Around the World came into being. We will be using some excerpts from this book as the basis for our small group study throughout this series.

Each week there will be different types of questions. Some might be better for longer-term small groups and others might be more useful for the new groups formed through Taste & See. Leaders may pick and choose what they want to focus on depending on the make up of their small group. May all we say and do over these next weeks encourage us all in our lives of grateful worship! ped

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WEEK TWO INTRO:

In Psalm 139 we read,

You [God] made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. Psalm 139:13-14

All of us can sing. Maybe not all of us sing beautifully, but all of us can sing. That’s how God made us! We are a singing people, and when we sing we are simply joining with the rest of God’s created world. There is no other activity that everyone (short of physical limitation) can do as naturally. Singing is written into our DNA, and the Bible tells us that making instruments to accompany ourselves is as old a trade as making tools to enable work (Genesis 4:21-22). Not only that, but we are attuned to the words we sing. It has been suggested that 99% of people remember far more words set to music than they can recite Scripture from memory! The Bible tells us that singing pleases God. One of our core documents of belief, the Westminster Catechism, begins with this question: “What is the chief purpose of humanity?” The answer the catechism gives is “To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” If you want to enjoy someone, you try to find out the things that bring them joy—the things that are important to them. Clearly beauty is vitally important to God; the beauty he creates in nature, the beauty he creates in the technical intricacies of all levels of the universe, the beauty he inspires in art and movement and music. God has created each of us to enjoy and to create beauty. That capability is sewn into every fiber of our God-designed being, just as it is evident in every aspect of our God-designed world. Of all the beauty in the world, the Bible most frequently commands God’s people to sing!

Come, let us sing to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Psalm 95:1 Consider a couple of paragraphs from a book by Keith and Kristyn Getty, the couple who wrote “In Christ Alone.” The title of the book is Sing! How Worship Transforms your Life, Family, and Church. In it, Keith Getty writes:

In C. S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew, the great lion Aslan creates Narnia by singing it into existence. The character and timbre of the song are seen in the shapes and colors of all that springs up out of nothingness. Lewis

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delights to point out that the song could not be separated from the Singer. He eclipsed everything else. We are created to sing because it leads joyfully to the great Singer, Creator of the heavens and earth. In his book, A Quest for More: Living for Something Bigger Than You, author/pastor Paul Tripp writes:

God is the ultimate musician. His music transforms your life. The notes of redemption rearrange your heart and restore your life. His songs of grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, truth, hope, sovereignty, and love give you back your humanity and restore your identity. Followers of Jesus find great comfort, peace, assurance, strength, and joy in singing our faith together. While we have a choir in the 9:00 am service and a worship team in the 10:45 am service, both of which are comprised of people who have training and expertise in music, the ultimate choir at First Pres or at any church is the congregation—the people who blend our voices together in praise. What we sing is also vitally important. Remember that music re-enforces memory. The words we sing matter greatly. Look at the text of a hymn or worship song and answer questions like these:

“Who” is speaking the words? To whom are they speaking? About what or whom are they speaking? What are they saying? What is the expected outcome? Are these words directing your focus to the worship of God?

Proverbs for the Week

Wise is the congregation that makes clear that its worship

participates in the song of praise that is offered by all creation.

Blessed are the musicians who offer and discipline their gifts so

God’s people may testify to the goodness of God, offer thanks,

and express repentance.

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Questions for Discussion Choose the questions that seem most appropriate for your group from among the following. General Questions:

1. What is your earliest memory of singing? How did it make you feel?

2. How has singing played a role in your spiritual development?

3. What do you experience during congregational singing—joy, fear, self-consciousness, freedom?

4. Can you remember a time when the singing in worship made a particularly strong impact on you?

Questions about Psalm 98:

1. What are the reasons given for singing in Psalm 98?

2. What do you think is the content of the “new song”?

3. What connections do you see between Psalm 98 and the hymn “Joy to the World”?

4. From what we see in this Psalm, why should we live a joyful life? How can you let your joy overflow to others?

Additional Questions:

1. What are some ways that the worship at First Pres might “participate in the song of praise that is offered by all creation”?

2. How do the gifts God has given Jane and Mark and other music leaders help you offer praise or express repentance?

3. In the context of this week’s session, what does the Bible mean about “...singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts”?

4. What kind of song does your heart most naturally sing at this moment in the journey of your life?

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Scripture Texts

Psalm 98

Sing a new song to the Lord, for he has done wonderful deeds. His right hand has won a mighty victory; his holy arm has shown his saving power! 2 The Lord has announced his victory and has revealed his righteousness to every nation! 3 He has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to Israel. The ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

4 Shout to the Lord, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy! 5 Sing your praise to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and melodious song, 6 with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn. Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King!

7 Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands in glee! Let the hills sing out their songs of joy 9 before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness.

For Additional Thought

Ephesians 5:18-20

18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ___________________________________________________________________

Scripture for this session is from the New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation

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Just for Fun! In his 1761 hymnal, Select Hymns: with Tunes and Text, John Wesley gave a short guide to congregational singing. These “Directions for Singing.” offer seven principles for singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs(!)

1. Learn these [hymn] tunes before you learn any others. After that learn as many as you please.

2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.

3. Sing All – see that you join the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If singing is a cross to you, take it up and you will find a blessing.

4. Sing Lustily – and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half-dead or half-asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sang the songs of Satan.

5. Sing Modestly – do not bawl so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation that you may not destroy the harmony, but strive to unite your voices together so as to make one melodious sound.

6. Sing in time – whatever time is sung, be sure to keep with it. Do not run before and do not stay behind it; but attend closely to the leading voices and move therewith as exactly as you can and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from among us and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.

7. Sing spiritually – have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing Him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.