Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What do you think about our singing?

Is it good?

Is it bad?

Is it compelling?

Is it dull?

How do you evaluate the musical or song portions of a Sunday service?

Do you measure it by instrumental or vocal talent?

Do you measure it by your personal stylistic preferences?

Or something else?

What if I told you that one of the main signs or indications of a church’s health is its singing?

In early 2019, I was a month or so into a 5-month pastoral internship at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.

I was holding Malachi, and Cassie and Micah were standing beside me.

It was a normal Sunday evening, and we were singing with the rest of the congregation (about 700-800 of us) during the evening prayer and praise gathering in a 100-year-old church-building on Capitol Hill.

I don’t remember the song, but I remember how glorious it sounded to hear everyone singing so strongly together.

It wasn’t unusual for the church members to sing loudly, but that night I was gripped with a desire for FBC Diana to experience what we were experiencing right then… a gathering of saints, singing their hearts out to the Lord and to one another.

With tears in my eyes, I told Cassie that I wanted so badly for FBC Diana to have this.

I look back on that moment now and that desire as one of the factors that ultimately motivated me to want to come back to Diana when the internship was over… and I’m glad I did.

About a month or two ago, some of us here this morning were gathered in our own auditorium for a Sunday evening prayer and praise service.

I don’t remember the song we were singing then either (I think it might have been “All I Have is Christ”), but I remember hearing what seemed like everyone singing so strongly together.

In fact, I’ve noticed that those Sunday evening prayer and praise gatherings are becoming more and more a time of strong singing.

On Sunday mornings I sit far off to the side, and we are more scattered about the room on Sunday mornings, but even then, I’m noticing a move toward louder and stronger singing during our times as a church together.

I believe this is a sign of increasing health among our church.

In our singing, we will inevitably show and vocalize what we really believe about God, about the gospel, about our own struggles with sin, about our hope in times of sorrow, and about our anticipation of the life to come.

Do you sing?

Why do you sing?

To or for whom do you sing?

What sorts of songs do you expect to sing… when we gather each Sunday?

These are the questions I plan to address this morning, and I pray that God will grant us insight as we consider this topic together.

Let’s turn to Colossians 3, and let’s read God’s word together.

Scripture Reading

Colossians 3:12–17 (ESV)

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.

And be thankful.

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.

17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Main Point

Congregational singing is one of the main ways the word of God reverberates through the church in grateful praise, mutual edification, and evangelistic zeal.

Message Outline

1) Worship is bigger than singing

2) Why do we sing?

3) For whom do we sing?

4) What should we sing?

Message

1) Worship is Bigger Than Singing

Worship is an all-encompassing way of life, living in a posture of gratitude and glory.

v17 says, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [i.e., for the glory of Christ], giving thanks [i.e., gratitude] to God the Father through him.”

One theologian said, “Worship in the [Bible] is a comprehensive category describing the Christian’s total existence” (Peterson, 18).

And he went on, “The worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes and in the way that he alone makes possible” (Peterson, 20)… “through him [Christ]” (v17).

We worship communally (as a body, a society, a people) on Sundays throughout our entire gathering (more on this in #3 “For Whom do We Sing?”).

There is no such thing as the “worship time” or the “worship segment” of our Sunday gathering.

The congregation is intended to be actively participating in every aspect of the Sunday morning service (i.e., worshiping).

When we read Scripture together, we all should be actively listening to the words, meditating upon their meaning, and clinging to their trustworthiness.

When we pray together, we all should be joining our hearts in praise, in confessing sin, and in pleading for God’s help.

When we gather around the Scripture together, to hear the Bible explained and applied, we all should be actively aiming to understand the preacher’s exegesis (his interpretation of the passage), to follow his logical arrangement of the sermon, to consider his probing questions, and to eagerly embrace his application (in so far as he’s being faithful to Scripture).

When we express thanks for God’s provision and we aim to invest in those things that God values (even as we forgo spending our money on some of those things the world values), we all should contribute, not out of compulsion, but cheerfully and as we are able.

And all of these are features of our communal worship… our worship as a church, a body.

Congregational singing is one aspect of our communal worship.

Along with all those other elements which I’ve already mentioned, so too singing together is a way that we worship God as a body of believers.

When we sing together, we all should join our voices in musical worship…

But we do more than praise when we sing… so much more.

2) Why do We Sing?

We sing because we’ve been redeemed!

…gospel…what does this mean?…and

how have we been redeemed?

The church in Colossae was called “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved” (v12), and it was from this indicative that the imperatives come:

“Put on then… compassionate hearts, kindness, humility...” (v12).

We are compassionate, because God has first shown us compassion in Jesus Christ!

We are humbled, because God has told us the truth about ourselves and offered us salvation, not by making ourselves better, but by trusting in a Savior outside of ourselves!

And, “as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive...” (v13).

We forgive, because we know what it feels like to be forgiven of so much!

And, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (v16).

We sing!

We sing because our God has given us joy we couldn’t have known and words we couldn’t have invented, even if we’d had all the time and opportunity in the world.

The central theme of all our songs should be the grace of God in Christ, because the gospel is what renews our minds, invigorates our hearts, and looses our tongues to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Pet.

2:9).

We sing, “Come behold the wondrous mystery, Christ the Lord upon the tree; in the stead of ruined sinners, hangs the Lamb in victory… See the price of our redemption, see the Father’s plan unfold; bringing many sons to glory, grace unmeasured, love untold.”

We sing, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

We sing, “My sin, oh the bliss of the glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more; Praise the Lord, it is well with my soul!”

We sing because singing is one of the main ways the word of God reverberates through the church.

I want to zero in on v16… “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” (v16).

The “word of Christ” takes deep root in our souls when we “teach” (teach sound doctrine) and “admonish” (warn, rebuke, instruct) by “singing”!

In times of tragedy and loss, we must remember God’s sovereignty and goodness.

so we sing, “Great is Thy faithfulness, Oh God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee...”

In times of prosperity and comfort, we must remember the fleeting nature of worldly treasures and the glories of the life to come.

so we sing, “My worth is not in what I own, not in the strength of flesh and bone, but in the costly wounds of love, at the cross… I rejoice in my Redeemer, greatest treasure, well-spring of my soul; I will trust in Him, no other; my soul is satisfied in Him alone.”

In times of persecution and affliction, we must remember the present victory of Christ.

so we sing, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing… And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God has willed His truth to triumph through us...”

In times of guilt and shame, we must remember the unfathomable depths of God’s love and mercy for sinners in Christ.

so we sing, “What love could remember no wrongs we have done?

Omniscient, all-knowing, He counts not their sum; Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore, our sins they are many, His mercy is more!”

In times of self-assurance and self-righteousness, we must remember our utter helplessness apart from grace.

so we sing, “Nothing can for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus; naught of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

Summary of point 2:

We sing (1) because we’ve been redeemed, and (2) because we want the truths of God’s word reverberating throughout our church family… when we’re gathered and when we leave this place.

These songs and many others give words to our joy, and songs stick with us much longer than any spoken word.

3) For Whom do We Sing?

We sing to God, in response to what He has revealed about Himself.