Christ and the Psalms
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This morning marks the beginning of a new teaching and preaching series on the Psalms. My excitement for this series has grown as I have been preparing for it. In my sermon this morning my goal is that you will join me in being excited about studying the Psalms. There is one verse in the Bible that more than any other teaches us why we should be excited about the Psalms, it is Colossians 3:16. Listen carefully as I read this one verse:
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.
This verse teaches us that the Psalms are...
The Word of Christ
The Teaching of Christ
The Hymnal of Christ
First of all...
The Psalms are the Word of Christ
The Psalms are the Word of Christ
Colossians 3:16 open with this command, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Some commentators believe this “word of Christ” refers to the oral tradition that was passed on to early believers before the Gospels were written. However, in the verse itself points to the Psalms. When we read the words, “sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” we need to realize that all three terms are used in the titles of the various Psalms found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Contrary to popular thought, Paul is not talking about the three categories of songs we sing in the church today: Psalms, traditional hymns and praise choruses. He is talking about three different types of Psalms! Thus, the Psalms in their entirety are “the word of Christ.”
What does it mean that the Psalms are the word of Christ? The word “of” is a tricky one in English and it is in Greek as well, sometimes it can mean “of” as in “about.” Clearly it means that here. When the Apostles preached or taught about Christ from the Old Testament, we can see for the book of Acts that the part of the Old Testament they turned to most often were the Psalms. Jesus himself, when He taught about himself frequently turned to the Psalms.
The revelation of Jesus in the Psalms is not found just in the Messianic Psalms, but in all of them. When a Psalm praises God as creator, it is praising Christ Jesus as creator! When a Psalm is praising God as King, it is praising Jesus as King! This is true not only because the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit share all the divine attributes equally, but it is especially true because Jesus as the divine “Word of God,” in other words, He is the revelation of God. We can only see the Father and the Spirit by seeing Jesus.
Thus, if we want to get to know Jesus better, we must turn to the Psalms.
“Of” can also mean “produced by” and here too the Psalm are “of” Christ. He by the Holy Spirit is the divine authors of the Psalms.
Finally, “of” can mean “possessed by.” Once again, as we look at the life of Jesus, we see that the Psalms were used by Jesus in His devotional life, His teaching and His worship. Not to sound trite, but as the old saying goes, “If it was good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for me.” We should use the Psalms in our devotional life, our teaching and our worship because that is what Jesus did.
This leads us to the second point:
The Psalms are the Teaching of Christ
The Psalms are the Teaching of Christ
Next week we are going to look in depth at Psalm 1, but today I just want to read one verse.
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
The Hebrew word behind the word “law” in our English bibles is torah. Torah can refer to a law code, but its basic meaning is instruction or teaching. This is reflecting in passages such as Proverbs 1:8.
Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
“Your mother’s teaching” is literally “your mother’s torah.” When we look at how commands or “laws” are used within the context of a family we see the truth of this. As a child when I asked my parents why they gave me rules to follow they said, “To teach you right from wrong.”
God’s Torah contains commands, but all of these commands are given primarily to teach us.
When the first reader read Psalm 1 and read the words, “his delight is in the Torah of the LORD,” what did they think of? The first thing they would have thought of is the Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Even today, when a Jew thinks of the Torah, the first thing that comes to mind are the Five Books of Moses, but there is a second thing that comes to mind—The Five Books of the Psalms.
Have you ever noticed that the Psalms are divided into Five Books? This was done by the final editors of the Psalms. The individual Psalms were composed over a 1000-year period, beginning with Psalm 90 in 1400 BC and ending in Psalm 137 in 400 BC. Christ by the Holy Spirit guided each and every one of these authors so that the words they wrote were the very words of God! Christ by the Holy Spirit also guided the final arranging of theses Psalms in the order we have them today. Christ wanted us to have five books of the Psalms so we would recognize that they are Torah as well.
Moreover, Christ directed the final editors to place Psalm 1 first so that we would understand the purpose of the Psalms: If a person delights and meditates on the Five Books of the Psalms (as well as the Five Books of Moses) they will be blessed with a holy and happy life!
This is why Paul in Colossians 3:16 commands us to “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom BY singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”
The Psalms are Christ’s instruction manual to a blessed and successful life!
Who here does not want a holy and happy life? Of course, you want this! This is why you should be excited about studying the Psalms.
Finally...
The Psalms are the Hymnal of Christ
The Psalms are the Hymnal of Christ
As I quoted Colossians 3:16 a few moments ago, did you notice that it was by “singing” the Psalms that we “teach and admonish” each other?
It has long been recognized that one of, if not the most, effective way of teaching is through song. In our text from Colossians Paul speaks of “the word of Christ dwelling in us richly.” This is the power of song, it gets in our heart. This is why the church historically has been very careful about what songs were sung in the church. The songs we sing can either lead us to heaven or to hell!
This is why the Psalms have been the hymnal of the church, except for the last few hundred years. It is not that the church did not sing other songs, but they were few and far between.
I have attended church all my life. From an as an infant my parents brought me to church, and I have attended faithfully ever since. As I look back on those 58 years, I can only recall singing hymns or choruses based on Psalms, never the Psalms themselves. In my preparation for this series a great sadness and regret has arisen in my heart because I now see what a blessing, I have missed by not singing the Psalms.
This morning we sang Psalm 1 as our opening “New Song.” I hope you enjoyed it a much as I did. If you didn’t, I hope you will next week as when we sing it again, knowing that God has a special blessing for us when we sing Psalms.
Let us pray.