The Need to Sing

 

Almost without fail no matter how small a congregation gets you will find some brethren not singing.  If it was just a matter of having a bad cold, a sore throat, or something along those lines there would be no problem.  Sometimes we cannot sing.  It is not for me to judge you when you do not sing for I do not know your situation but when Sunday after Sunday rolls around and you never sing, while physically able to do so, there is a problem.  When you never or only very rarely sing there is a problem. 

 

What is that problem?  The question is answered with another.  Is singing a command of God for worship?  If it is but I fail to do it when I am able am I sinning?  I see no way around that conclusion.  If I am a Christian and the Lord's supper is being observed and the emblems are passed around but I fail to partake is it sin?  How can it be anything else?  I have refused to worship God when I was able to do so. 

 

I would like to take a look at what the Bible has to say about singing and would like to begin with the very first time singing is mentioned in the Bible, Exodus 15:1.  The occasion was that of the time when the Red Sea had closed over Pharaoh and his troops bringing salvation to the children of Israel.  It was a time of great relief, of joy and happiness, and thanksgiving.  The Bible says Moses and the children of Israel sang and then gives the words of the song as found in Ex. 15:1-18.  It is too long to quote here.  Let it suffice to say it was a song in which God was exalted and praised.

 

I do want to quote part of verse 1, however, which says, "Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD" (Ex. 15:1 NKJV).  This is very important.  Please note that they sang to the Lord.  The singing was worship.  So it is today.  17 times in the Old Testament the phrase "sing to the Lord" is found based on the New King James Version and the e-sword concordance.  There is thus no doubt as to whom the singing is addressed.  Singing is an act of worship.

 

In Rom. 15:8-9 (ESV) Paul says, "For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.  As it is written, 'Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.'"  So, note it once again, when we sing we sing to God.  It is an act of worship and we either worship by singing or we do not sing and do not worship.

 

In Rev. 15:3-4 we have an account of those who were being victorious over the beast and the Bible says, "they sing, the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:  'Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!  Just and true are Your ways, O king of the saints!  Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?  For You alone are holy.  For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.'" (NKJV)

 

Every song I have found in the Bible is a song wherein God is being praised, and glorified, and exalted as in the Revelation passage.  And, they are sung to God directly.  Take a look at the very first line of this song of Moses and of the Lamb, how it starts, "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!"  To who is the song directed?  Directly to God just as much as a prayer would be.

 

We know Jesus sang.  At the last supper when Jesus instituted the Lord's supper the Bible says, "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."  (Matt. 26:30 NKJV)  Speaking of Jesus we find in Heb. 2:11-12 this, "For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying:  'I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.'" (NKJV)  Again note the singing is to God, "I will sing praise to You."

 

If Jesus is our example, if Jesus sang hymns of praise to God, what do you suppose God thinks of us when we refuse to praise him in singing.  Remember I cannot sing for you, you cannot sing for me.  I cannot worship for you, you cannot worship for me.  Paul and Silas sang hymns to God while in prison (Acts 16:25).  Do you not think you ought to sing hymns to God in the very assembly of the saints in worship or will we refrain and refuse to worship?  Will Jesus be our example?

 

The actual commandment to Christians to sing is found in Eph. 5:18-20, "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (NKJV) 

 

You know one should always be learning.  If you take a close look at the passage just quoted I call your attention to verse 20, "giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."  Up until preparing this article I had always taken that to be in reference to prayer, not song, not singing.  I believe I have been wrong.  Take a close look at the verse for yourself and read it in context.  I believe it refers to singing, giving God thanks in singing.

 

Barnes says of this verse, "This is probably designed to be connected with the preceding verse, and to denote that the proper subject of psalms and hymns is thanksgiving and praise. This is indeed always the main design, and should be so regarded … ."  Lipscomb says much the same when commenting on this verse, "The giving of thanks seems to be a part of the service performed in singing." (Commentary on Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians, page 109).

 

Thus we find in singing, thanksgiving, praise, glory, and an exalting of God.  In the book of Psalms we find psalms that were sung under the old dispensation.  By reading those we can get a good grasp of the nature of what a hymn ought to be like.  In them we find thanksgiving being given to God continually as well as praise and glory and very often a recounting of his great works and blessings.

 

It would be good to take a look at the comments found just above many of the Psalms.  It is quite common to read things such as "To the Choirmaster", or "A Song".  This lets us know they were written to be sung.  I might add those comments while considered reliable were not a part of the inspired text itself.  Neither am I taking the position that every Psalm was written for public worship but there is no doubt a great many were, no doubt at all.

 

King Hezekiah was one of the good kings of Judah found in the Old Testament.  He restored the temple worship and in the chapter that tells of this we find this, "And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer.  And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped." (2 Chron. 29:30 ESV)

 

In the parallel passage to Eph. 5: 18 and 19 found in Col. 3:16 we find that as well as worshipping God in singing, praising his name, there is also another purpose.  "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (NKJV)

 

Well, we might ask, what kind of teaching would we find in the singing of hymns.  If they are the kind of hymns they ought to be we would learn of his mighty works.  Moses' song was made up of much of that back in Exodus 15.  We would learn of God's nature or character, of his holiness, his love, his kindness.  We would learn of his power and grandeur.

 

If the Bible teaches that we are to be instructed in song then we have to have hymns that teach spiritual truths, based on God's word.  This is a duty a song leader cannot overlook.  Does a hymn teach truth?  It must.

 

God does not change.  The same glory that the Jews of old attributed to him ought to be attributed to him today.

 

Another thing you will find as you begin studying the subject of singing in the Bible is that it was not something people had to do as a duty so much as it was an expression of the heart.  Generally hearts were overflowing with gladness, thanksgiving, and joy.  They wanted to sing and would have found it hard not to. 

 

In the New Testament we find this statement from James, "Is anyone cheerful?  Let him sing psalms." (James 5:13 NKJV)  When you are just deeply thankful to God for what you have, for what he has done for you, how he has blessed you, the joy he has brought into your life singing is not a chore but a joy.

 

David said in the 9th Psalm, a psalm in which the heading in my Bible says "To the Chief Musician", "I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.  I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O MOST HIGH." (Psalms 9:1-2 NKJV)  When we sing to God he wants it to be as David's singing was, from our heart, our whole heart.  If we do not feel the thanksgiving, the joy, the gladness as we sing the words what do our words and actions mean to God?  Are we just wind up dolls who speak and sing?

 

Here is some more from David in the 66th Psalm, "Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!  Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious. … All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name." (Psalm 66:1,3 NKJV)

 

From the 96th Psalm, "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!  Sing to the Lord, all the earth.  Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.  Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples." (Psalms 96:1-3 NKJV)

 

Why did David sing Psalms?  He says in Psalms 13:6, "I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me."  When we feel this way deeply enough we will rejoice in the opportunity to sing.

 

Our attitude needs to be that which the Psalmist declares when he said in Psalms 104:33 (NKJV), "I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being."  Then in the 147th Psalm, "Praise the Lord!  For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful." (Psalms 147:1 NKJV)

 

Surely, there has been enough said, enough verses quoted, to convince us all that God's people were meant to sing, were meant to have such deep inward joy that they can hardly keep from singing.  Paul and Silas' joy was such that they were "singing hymns to God" in prison and the Bible says "the prisoners were listening to them." (Acts 16:25)  I add that last part for spiritual singing does make a difference.  People do listen, do learn, are affected by it, and it often touches their heart.

 

Some do not seem to think that singing has that great an affect on the worship.  How very wrong they are.  The singing, since it about always comes at the beginning of our worship, sets the very tone of the worship.  Everyone singing and pitching in and it is a joy to the soul to take part and listen in.  Good singing makes an enormous difference in the worship service.  You immediately know you are where you want to be and where you ought to be when the singing is as powerful as it can be.

 

That power comes not from the best voices in the land but from some of the best hearts as brethren worshiping together in deep sincerity sing God's praises.  Besides, even though we may not have the best voices in the land I have never heard a time when there was a large group of brethren gathered together singing when the singing was anything other than good and a joy.

 

We may say I know I ought to sing but I do not have a good voice; I am not a good singer.  That may be.  Does God care?  He cares about your heart.  The question is not about your voice but about how you are going to treat God in the worship service.  Will you worship or will you refuse?

 

I do not know that the Bible teaches that I have to sing so loudly that I drown out all the other voices in the assembly.  But, it is against the spirit of the teaching of the Bible to say that a man ought to just whisper the words.  Whispering is not exactly singing.  A joyous heart does sing, not whisper.

 

Quickly, two more thoughts and I close.  Sometimes we know we ought to sing but we are embarrassed.  We have never sung; we were not from a singing family; we are shy about it.  I have been there and know how it feels.  What do you do?  Well, you sing, that is what you do.  Maybe we start out not very confident, maybe we are not very loud, but if we will do it and keep at it we will get over our shyness and backwardness about it.

 

Finally, we all need to understand there may come a time later in life when we can no longer sing.  Maybe our health will just not allow it or only allow a limited amount of it.  And, as was said in the beginning, we ought not to be seeking out people to judge in this matter for there are always things coming up as was mentioned - colds, sore throats, etc..  It may be we have babies or small children to attend to.  It may be parts of a song are so high we just cannot hit the notes and they create a real strain on us to sing them.  We ought not to be looking around checking on people, a sort of spy.  That is not what this was all about.

 

The purpose of this article was not to condemn or be a policeman or a judge but to teach the Bible truth that God wants us to sing if we are at all able.  The brethren may call on you to lead prayer or take an active role in other parts of the worship service but if you are one that was able and you sat through the song service in silence you ought to think about that as you lead prayer, hadn't you?  Can one go to heaven without singing?  Do you want to try?  Think about that, do you want to try in light of what God's word says?