There are 3 designations: Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; but who do we sing them to?
My Service of Singing My Spirit Filled Life
Ephesians 5:18-21 & Colossians 3:15-17
Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
Please turn to Ephesians 5. We are going to be in Ephesians 5:19 through 21 this morning. As you are turning there, I want us to be considering how respectable the Spirit filled life is. I mean, let's think about a person who expresses the attributes of being filled with the Spirit of God, as Paul calls it in Ephesians 5:18. Such people are respectable to other Christians. When we think about a Spirit filled person, we should think about someone who is emulating more of Christlikeness, than they are of themselves. They are imitating God, as Paul explains it in Ephesians 5:1. Anyone who is manifesting the Spirit filled life is an absolutely wonderful person to be around. We Christians feel edified around Spirit filled people. When you are around such people, you sense that you are around people who have something eternally meaningful on their hearts that is driving them. You sense that their thoughts, goals, and actions, have eternal value. They don't just talk like there is a high purpose. They talk like they are inside the high purpose. They talk like they are being the high purpose as it unwraps itself each moment. They walk like their purpose is directed. The person who is described as being filled with the Spirit, acts as if the things they do are as important as God's will, because they know that this is the way it really is. They are consciously, and even sometimes what some people might call unconsiously, acting out God's will as is expressed in the Bible. It is beautiful. The beauty of the Spirit filled life can be seen expressed in all types of dynamic ways of action. For example, it can be seen, where the boldness of Christ resonates from such people as they proclaim Christ to others in seeming disregard for the consequences. There is a fascinating confidence; it is surety that leaves people stunned as to how such people could be so secure in their relationship with God. The Spirit filled life can be expressed in gentleness that is calming--gentlenss that is sure, and faithful. But, the Spirit filled life is not soft and fragile. It is the kind of gentle, calm, faithfulness, that is solid, unmovable, and strong. It's like a quiet mountain that is peacefully content with its importance, with its presence, with its purpose, and existence. It is huge, yet unassumingly humble, because it simply is what it is, and what it is, is respectable. We, who are open to what our Father wants from us, are people who love everything that has to do with the truly authentic Spirit filled life. We should want it, thirst for it, get it, and be it more than anything else. We are going to learn about some more things that have to do with being filled with the Spirit. We are going to learn about ways that we can manifest being filled with the Spirit as we read our Ephesians text this morning. Please read along with me, starting in verse 18,
"18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the awe and reverence of Christ." Ephesians 5:18-21
Okay, stopping here, let me just say that one interesting thing about Ephesians is that we have another Epistle that was written by Paul in the same time frame. It is Colossians. It has a parallel passage. It is generally recognized that Paul wrote and sent out a cluster of epistles from his first imprisonment in Rome. He wrote Colossians, along with Philippians, Philemon, and our Ephesians epistle under study. In reading Ephesians with Colossians, it is quickly obvious that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to teach certain similar truths for both areas of churches. I'm going to be reading Colossians 3:15-16, and as I read, be thinking of what we just read from Ephesians,
"15 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 richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Colossians 3:15-17
Keeping in mind how wonderfully similar Ephesians 5:19-20 is to Colossians 3:15-16, I want us to also to be thnking about the theme of the sermon this morning. The theme is,
"My Service of Singing My Spirit Filled Life"
[prayer]
When we look at Ephesians 5, and Colossians 3 together, we get a comprehensive insight into two primary things being manifested. In Ephesians, it is to be being filled with the Holy Spirit. We looked at that last week. It is what I talked about in the introduction. It is what Paul means in 3:19, when he says, we know Christ's love, so that we may be,
"... filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:19
It is what Paul means in 4:13, that through discipleship, we would,
"... attain to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," Ephesians 4:13
But, in Colossians, it is letting the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, verse 15, in filling up our mind and our actions. So, to be being filled with the Spirit; and to be filled with all the fullness of God, 3:19, is to be imitating God, 5:1, by being controlled, and manifesting more of the Spirit than ourselves. To let Christ rule in our hearts, with His word dwelling within us, is to be manifesting more of Christ as the leader of our life, and more of Christ's words, as those words that we think, we live, and we speak, than our own words. In a simple sentence, what I am talking about is to practically reveal that we are acting like Psalm 23, which states,
"the Lord is my Shepherd, ... He makes me ... He leads me ... He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake ..." Psalm 23
So as such, in the fullness of God, I am being fully shepherded, and I am acting like it is true. I am fully made to do what I am supposed to do by doing it. When we look back into the ancient past, we think of a young man who had God with Him. His name was David, the son of Jesse. He is the one who wrote the line from the Psalm that I just quoted; "the Lord is my Shepherd, ... He makes me ... He leads me ... He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake ..." The scriptures proclaim that David was a man after God's own heart. God had anointed David with a special calling, and a gifting, and a purpose. David's life was typically characterized as one in which there was more of God, and His will, than of David, and David's will.
Is that you?
In your salvation where you are saved by grace through faith, where God energizes you in His Son, are you typically characterized as someone in which there is more of God than of you?
Christ is in us as our hope of glory, so we have a special relationship. We are urged from our position in Christ, to live more of God, and His will, than of the will of self.
If people in the future were to look at your life in a history account, even though you fail sometimes, would they read about a life typified as being more of God, and His expressed precepts, than you, and your will?
Paul says that we are living letters, written by the Holy Spirit.
When people read the letter, are they able to understand the Holy Spirit's words when reading your life?
David was known as a man after God's own heart. But, looking back at that ancient time and place of David's life, we read of another man. He was a man who was characterized as running away from God's own heart. His name was Saul. God had made Saul into the first king of Israel, but Saul, (full of himself), rebelled against the Lord. As a consequence, though Saul was God's anointed king, God was no longer with Saul. He was no longer filling Saul's life with His goodness and mercy. Saul's life became manifest as a torn, smudged letter that had more of Saul written on it, than of God. We read, that directly after young David was anointed by Samuel the prophet, that,
"14 the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah terrorized him. 15 Saul's servants then said to him, 'Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. 16 'Let our master now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well.' 17 So Saul said to his servants, 'Provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.' 18 Then one of the young men said, 'Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite [David] who is a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man; and Jehovah is with him.' ...
[So, we see that God was with David. And we also see that others knew that God was with David. Now, verse 23]
23 So it came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him." 1 Samuel 16
David walked with God. David sang to God--playing his harp as a young shepherd boy out in the limestone and scrub brush wilderness of ancient Israel, but more importantly, God was with David. So, David would sing spiritual songs. In ministering to Saul, David, who knew Jehovah was with him, and walked as if Jehovah was with him, and who was anointed with the Holy Spirit rushing upon him, 1 Samuel 16:13, would send evil spirits rushing away from Saul when he sang. Later, David grew, and the hard-hearted Saul, who had turned against God, also turned against David. Saul chased David all over that same ancient liimestone wilderness, in his relentless ambition to kill David. As David ran, hid, and camped, he would do something else. He would write songs. They were called Psalms. Most of the Psalms in the Bible were written by David--many of them were written during this time of being chased by his enemy, Saul. We find those songs recorded in the Book of Psalms as Holy Scripture in our Bibles. We read in Psalm 13, which though a song, is titled,
"Prayer for Help in Trouble. For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
As scripture, God preserved this Psalm to be sung among the congregations of Israelites, and also for us christians. What is important to remember is that the Psalm is a prayer. It is a prayer of deliverance from David's enemy, Saul. The Psalm goes on,
2 ... How long will my enemy be exalted over me? ... 5 But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. 6 I will sing to Jehovah, Because He has dealt bountifully with me." Psalm 13
In our Bibles, five Psalms later, we read, of David's triumph over Saul,
"Jehovah Praised for Giving Deliverance. For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of Jehovah, who spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said, ... 3 I call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies. ... 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, ... 48 ... You rescue me from the violent man." Psalm 18
David sang praises to God for His deliverance, but what is an amazing demonstration of a man who walked as one who was more full of God than of Himself, David was inspired to go on to write what is called,
"The Song of the Bow,"
How many of you have heard of "The song of the Bow?" We find it in, 2 Samuel 1:17-27. When wicked Saul--the enemy of David--died, David wrote and chanted a song to the men of his camp. David understood grace. David understood that though God had lifed His blessing on Saul, Saul was still considered an anointed man according to God's election, as David calls him in the same passage in verse 15. "The Song of the Bow" was a song of grief, where David grieved for Saul,
"17 Then David chanted with this lament over Saul and Jonathan his son, 18 and he told them to teach the sons of Judah the Song of the Bow; behold it is written in the book of Jasher ... 22 'From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, And the sword of Saul did not return empty. 23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their life. And in their death they were not parted; They were swifter than eagles, They were stronger than lions. ... 27 How have the mighty fallen, And the weapons of war perished!'" 2 Samuel 1:17-27
David was a man who was anointed by God, where his election, and calling was followed by the Spirit rushing upon him. David had the Lord with Him, and David was a man who sang out the beauty and power that was with him. He wrote songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in His heart. The word of God dwelt within David to such an extent of God inspiring David to sing the songs that would come out of David as Holy Scripture. And so this leads us to recognize the outward flow of the inner life that is filled with God and His word. Okay, Bridgeway, this is what we want, where, in being filled, we should be doing as Paul directs us in both Ephesians and Colossians,
"19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," Ephesians 5:19
"16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," Colossians 3:16
As we proceed into drinking this command into our own being, we want the overflow of the God-filled life, so we must recognize something very important about this passage. It is easy to quickly read this passage, and think that what Paul is getting at with the whole instruction is like Psalm 95, where we read of the exhortation to sing to God,
"1 Oh come, let us sing to Jehovah; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!" Psalm 95:1-2
Stay with me here on this point, because for us Christians, to sing to Jehovah is an action of being Spirit filled. We know this. You and I should do what Psalm 95 is telling us to do. Making a joyful noise to God, is an overflow of the Spirit. But, there is something here that is very important about what Paul is saying concerning this manifestaion of the Spirit filled life. We must notice that Paul is not exhorting us to only sing to God alone in our passages under study. We need to notice this. There is more to it.
What does Paul say in the start of his directive to us in Ephesians 5:19?
He says to speak to one another. In Colossians, he says we are to be teaching, and admonishing one another with all wisdom. So, we do this toward one another, and we do this for one another.
And how do we do it?
We are supposed to do this toward one another, and for one another with Psalms, Hymns, and spiritual songs. This is what the first half is telling us. This is a really fascinating directive that I think too many of us are missing in our day when it comes to the spirit filled life. You see, back in the days of the newly blossoming churches of Ephesus and Colosae, the pagans of that time revelled in drunken parties. They were hard core party animals. It was at these party feasts, that they would typically sing their cultural songs to one another. They were parties that glorified sensuality. They glorified fleshliness, and the baseness of the sinful futility of the Gentile mind, Ephesians 4:17. The people were partiers--eating, drinking, and being merry, because soon, like all humanity, they would die. Many of their parties were demonic worship experiences of devotion to false gods. Many were sexual orgies. Many were parties of binging and drunkenness. The lost, world culture of our day, does this kind of thing too. People will get together and sing songs to one another in unison while enebriated, or altered on drugs. They get caught up in the entertaining spirit of the drunken moment. In some areas, people still sing what are called bar room tunes. You can find large crowds of people singing songs of fading culture to each other in pubs, cantinas, and places called clubs all over the world. There are bar rooms where kareoke is the expression of this kind of entertainment. Bar room Kareoke is typically practiced when people sing to others as if they are performing songs that have been made popular by music artists that are idolized by the world culture. There is an important point here, and we must face it. Songs produced by the world, that find their roots in the soil of the lost world culture, whether from pagan Ephesus, Colossae, or the secular humanistic culture around us today, are sermons set to music. There really is a well thought out message coming from the mouths behind the music; there really is a message mingled with the medium. It is the message preached by a lost dying world every single day, and it is a message meant to mold your thinking according to the futility of the Gentile mind who wrote it. Unfortunately multitudes of Christians willingly pay, (or download for free), to listen to these sermons that are preached in complete opposition to the word of Christ that should richly dwell within us, with all wisdom. But, this is Paul's point. Songs of the world are natural, and are according to the flesh, which means that to some degree, they are mixed with some shade of that which is lesser than God's glory. What this means is that the sermon-songs of the world aren't neutural, or meaningless. We don't listen to those preachers, and think:
Well, it's OK because I like the sound of the music. I like the sound. I like the way the lead guitarist plays--I like the beat, but I don't really listen to the words.
But, logically, we must ask ourselves a very probing and exacting question. Ask yourself:
Would I tune into a false cultic preacher every day and listen to his philosophies, and lies, just because he has great music playing in the background?
Would I listen to the advice of one of my neighbors that I don't respect, or that co-worker that I know is foolish, and believes foolish things--(seriously, ask yourself) would I listen to them preach at me just because their words rhyme, and they have a nice band, and cool melody to back them up?
Be painfully honest, because when you think about it this way, then you are thinking about it the way God does, and when you think about it the way God does, then you are living the Spirit filled life! The songs of the dark futility of the Gentile mind, might have a shade of the darkness mingled into the melody that is so subtle that you have to concentrate really hard to see the harm that is being preached. But, isn't that how the snare always is?--add just enough poison into the tasty dish to where you can't taste it. Or, you taste it at first, but you become desensitized, and so after a while, you no longer notice the poison that is permeating you because you keep letting it into yourself. When you add poison over time--meal after, meal, after meal, your body starts to get sick. You start to die inside. You start to manifest more of the death of the poison, than you do of the life that comes from healthy blood. The point is that the picture of health is the picture of the high standard of the Spirit filled life, and in the infection, you don't come close to reflecting the high standard. It doesn't matter how subtle the sinful message is; when you sow to the flesh, then you will reap to the flesh. On the other hand, when we set our hearts to do what God is telling us to do from His word, then we are doing something that is not of the song of the natural man. We are not doing what is mixed with dead, empty spirituality. What we are doing is something that is of the supernatural man, mixed with the Holy Spirit of God. Rather than listening to the spirit that is now working in the minds of the sons of disobedience, Ephesians 2:2, and 5:6, Paul says, don't be drunk with wine, but be being filled with the Spirit, as you--children of God--speak spiritual songs to one another. The Greek word that Paul uses here, laleo, when he says to speak these various kinds of songs, is a word that is often used for speaking out something, like talking, but it is not a word that is confined to conversation. It is a word that applies to utterances of any kind, including singing. It can mean simply uttering a Psalm without melody, as we find demonstrated in so much of the New Testament. Paul did this. I've done it in this sermon. So, to get a fuller picture of what Paul means, we need to look at each of the various distinctions that he makes. He mentions various kinds of songs that he wants you to start speaking.
/1/
The first one is Psalms. Psalms were what David wrote. They are God's inspired scriptures given to us in His preserved word. The book of Psalms is the congregational song book of the Old Testament--quoted often in the New Testament. So, when Paul tells the churches to speak to one another with Psalms, he means the Psalms of the Bible. He means the Psalms that we find in the book of Psalms. It is no wonder, then, that there are 116 direct quotations from the Pslams in our New Testament. In fact, many of the Psalm quotations in the New Testament scriptures, are direct prophiecies of Jesus as the promised Messiah. When God preserved the Psalms as His word, in His word, He gave many of them as accurate prophecies of the coming Messiah. In Matthew 22:41-46, we find Jesus speaking a prophetic Psalm about Himself to confound the Pharisees. He spoke Psalm 110:1, as we read in Matthew,
"44 'The Lord said to my Lord, 'sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies beneath your feet.'" Matthew 22:44
In Luke 24:44, Jesus declared that all the things written in the Psalms would be fulfilled concerning Him. When Jesus was on the cross, he even quoted a Psalm to the Father. He, as God manifest in the flesh, authored the Psalm in the past, as Holy Spirit, Who is also God, as an ancient prophecy in the Psalms. He authored it in the ancient past, knowing the point in time in the future that He, would, must, and ultimately, did, speak the same words on the cross for the purpose of fulfilling the prophecy. He cried out Psalm 22:1,
"My God, my God, why have you deserted me?" Matthew 27:46
Jesus, who was all the fullness of Deity manifest in bodily form, did not think God had deserted Him. He did not suddenly forget that He had written the Psalm beforehand. No, He quoted it so that the Messianic prophecy of Himself would be fulfilled, people would hear Him, and it would be recorded once again as Scrpture in our gospels. What Paul is saying is that we should speak these same Psalms to one another. There are many examples of Psalms in the New Covenant scriptures that we should speak to one another. There are about 14 Pslams quoted in Romans. Psalms is quoted at least 4 times in 1 Corinthians, and a few more times in 2 Corinthians. Paul quotes from Psalm 4:4, in our Ephesians letter under study, in 4:26. He quotes the Peshitta and Targum version of Psalm 68, in Ephesians 4:8. James quotes Pslam 138, when he wrote James 4:6-7. Peter quoted the Psalms numerous times in 1 Peter, and makes reference to some details of some of the Psalms in 2 Peter. The writer of Hebrews quotes directly from the Psalms over 15 times. God expects us to speak these same Psalms to one another, in fact, sing them to one another, with one another. Even using musical instruments as accompaniment is something that we can do when we practice this manifestation of the Spirit filled life. In saying this, I realize that there are Christians today who say that to use musical instruments in church is a sin. The denomination called the COC, meaning the Church of Christ organization, believes that this is true. But here is the problem for the COC, and anyone else who believes we should not use musical instruments. Paul says to speak to one another in Psalms--right? So, when we go to the Psalms to get the Psalms that God has given us to do this, we find those very same Psalms giving the direction to use musical instruments among the congregations while singing those same Psalms. For example, we read in Psalm 98, which is a call to praise the Lord for His righteousness,
"2 Jehovah has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. ... 5 Sing praises to Jehovah with the lyre [a stringed musical instrument]; With the lyre and the sound of melody. 6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn. Shout joyfully before the King, Jehovah." Psalm 98
In Psalm 150, it says,
"Praise Him with stringed instruments." Psalm 150
So, if we are to be both honest and obedient to this urging to practice the Spirit filled life, then we will not say something abberantly anti-biblical as it is sinful to use musical instruments in the New Covenant congregations; Honest, because we recognize our direction from God's New Covenant word, to speak the Pslams; Obedient, because we decide to practice the portions which prescribes accompaniment with musical instrumentation.
/2/
The next thing that Paul says we need to speak to one another in, is Hymns. Typically, this Greek word translated as hymns, was used for songs in pagan circles that were sung to eulogize one of their false god's or a folk hero. People of the Roman empire would sing hymns about Constantine, or the false Goddes Diana, and so forth. The hymn would bring praise to their names, and their supposed accomplishments. Paul is directing the Colossians and Ephesians to builld one another up by singing Christian hymns. They are songs that are meant to exalt the name of Christ , and God the Father, as Paul goes on to reference here in verses 19, and 20. Such songs are immensly edifying to us, and they bring glory to God for His greatness in Christ. If you think about it, in manifesting more of God, than of ourselves, praise of God in the midst of any situation is one of the ultimate expressions. Christ and his disciples, sang a hymn on the Passover, directly before He set out to fufill his task as High Priest and sacrificial Lamb. Traditionally, the Israelites would sing Psalm 115 on through Psalm 118 after partaking of the fourth cup of the Passover. Those four Psalms are full of giving honor, glory, and praise to God for who He is, and for His great deeds. When Matthew describes Jesus and the disciples singing the traditional Psalms after partaking of the fouth cup of the Passover meal, Matthew calls it a "hymn." What is beautiful to recognize is that Psalms 115 through 118, are Messianic Psalms, that found their fulfillment in our very Messiah Who was singing of Himself and His very own deeds on that pinnacle night! We also find a biblical example of singing hymns, when Paul and Silas were imprisoned for the gospel. Alone, and in prison, they glorified God in melodious adoration. We read about in Acts 16,
"25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;" Acts 16
Praise is worship directed at who should be worshipped. We should speak hymns to one another to build one another up in the glory of God as we praise Him. In Paul and Silas' case, the other prisoners were listening to the same God-glorifying utterances. But, the thing about this that is so important for us to consider in being filled with the Spirit, is that it is a prviliege. When the unsaved worship false Gods, or they assert that they are worshipping the One True God, because they claim to be Christians, like Mormons, and Jehovah Witness cultists, they are not truly worshipping the One true God in Christ, because they have not been regenerated and sealed by the person of the Holy Spirit. Our privilege is that when we worship, we are worshipping the One true God, and what we are doing is something that we do because of having God in us in respect to His Spirit in all who are truly saved. Paul says,
"for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh," Philippians 3:3
What this means is that God will get praised and worshipped, because God is the one who makes sure it happens from us, in the Spirit of God Himself. In other words, God brings praise, worship, and adoration back to Himself, and He has designed us to be the vessels in which He accomplishes this. The Spirit filled life, then, is simply a reflection of this wonderful relationship that you and I are privileged to have in Christ. Please listen to me because this is so important, whenever you worship God, the worship is something that only happens because God worships Himself through you. I know that sounds deep, but it doesn't matter if it is deep. What matters is that you and I get in on the action as willing and obedient secondary vessels of honor. For us to worship our own selves is sin. For God to worship His own self by empowering us to worship Him, is His glory, and the fact that we partake in the process is a privilege.
Are you taking your privilege for granted?
One way to check yourself to see if you are taking your privilege for granted, is simply to consider whether you take lightly the task of speaking hymns of praise of God to one another, and especially in worshipping the Lord directly.
/3/
This leads us to recognize the third type of song that Paul mentions. They are spiritual songs. Spiritual songs, of course, encompass Psalms, and hymns, but there is a designation here that needs to come out. Spiritual songs can be personal testimonies, where God's children sing of faith, triumph, molding, desire, fulfillment, and salvation, in Christ. There is a spiritual song that is also somewhat in the form of a hymn found in Revelation 5:9-10. The spiritual song sang there, points out God's sovereignty in slaying His Son; the purchase of people from every tribe tongue and people, and nation, through the blood of Christ, making them to be a kingdom and priests to God, who will reign upon the earth. Spiritual songs by implication, are a stark contrast to carnal songs. God, and Paul, both realize that the world sings songs to the world to make the world forget its problems, or to find something sentimental to relate to, or something sexual to feed upon. Spiritual songs, on the other hand, are songs that build us up in the faith. Many spiritual songs are like mini doctrinal creeds, or poetic descriptions of our needs, and God's provision. The Greek noun translated as songs is sometimes translated as spiritual odes. An ode is an old english transliteration of the word in the Greek (ode), which is pronounced as Oday. Recorded odes of the early Christians were poetic, or were dialogues, stories, and descriptions that were very expressive. The main point is that our exhortation is to actually be doing it. As those who are seeking to fulfill our service of singing the Spirit filled life, we should be recognizing that it is not for us to consider speaking to one another with spiritual odes as something we are exempt from. We should be doing this, and one of the best ways to do this is to sing spiritual songs along with other saints in the church gathering. Another way to do this is to sing scripture. I'm not just talking about the Psalms. I'm talking about all scripture--particular New Covenant scripture. One reason for this is that when you sing the scriptures, you can be assured that you are singing truth that has been inspired by the Holy Spirit in the first place. This is God's gift to us to help us overflow being filled with His Spirit. Finally, Paul gives the great urging to us to sing to God.
19 ... singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;" Ephesians 5:19
"16 ... singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:16
This is beautiful because what Paul is saying is that you do this in your own heart. This can be songs that you have learned, but this can be songs that you make up.
How many of you know that you can make up your own songs to the Lord?
Paul wouldn't tell you to do it as part of the Spirit filled life, if you can not do it. All you have to do is just start singing to God. Make up you own melody. The words don't have to rhyme. It doesn't matter if the words rhyme. What matters is that you are singing to God, making melody where it counts, which is where?--in your heart, and to the One it counts to, which is who?--which is God. As in all things that have to do with the Holy Spirit, like evangelism, sanctification, and prayer, though the Holy Spirit is the overflowing source, you are the human who has to do something. Often, while I am driving down the road, by myself, I will just start making up songs to the Lord. It's beautiful. No, it doesn't sound very pretty, but it's still beautiful. The words don't usually rhyme. Sometimes I have to pause to think about what to sing next, but none of that matters to God. What matters is that I am worshipping God, and I am talking to Him, and He loves every single moment of it. By the way, I think I need to mention here that one of the main reasons why Christians don't sing to one another, is because of shame and embarrassment. What I mean is that because Christians think they are performing for others, then they get embarrassed to sing. I've seen multitudes of people who are afraid to lead praise and worshp because they are afraid of messing up. What has happened is that they are not focusing on worshipping God, but rather, they are focused on something else. What they are focused on is performance for people. Folks, we aren't performing for people when we worship God. If Christians would get the notion out of their heads that they are performing when singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to others, in front of others, then it wouldn't matter if they missed a beat, or were off key a little bit, or forgot a word, or stuttered. If they would treat it as ministry, then all would be just fine. There would be nothing to be self conscious about. There would be all God consciousness that we are supposed to be about when we are worshipping Him to begin with. And so there would be nothing to be embarrassed about. Finally, even if you are alone, and it is just you and God, even if you can't think of what to say in singing and making melody in your heart, then sing God's word back to Him from the scriptures, which leads us to somethng that we know we are urged to sing with surety,
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and it is what Paul says next,
"20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;" Ephesians 5:20
"17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Colossians 3:17
If you can't think of anything else to say, or sing to the Lord, you can at least give Him thanks. Thanks has always been the great song of the church since its very beginning. The words may change from person to person, but the song of thanskgiving for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, is the same universal spiritual song, no matter what language, or choice of words of thanks are chosen for the chorus.
Have you ever noticed that the songs of the contemporary music industry, don't typically give thanks to God?
Whenever I find myself out and about, sometimes I am trapped somewhere where secular music is playing over a speaker where the sermons of the world are molesting my ears. What I have noticed is that the singers are typically singing about the symptoms of the problems of sin, but they never get to identifying sin as the problem. They do not sing about God being the solution. They don't sing about living according to the word of God. They don't sing about God being worthy of thanks for all He has done. They do not sing thankfulness to God. They sing about the problems they are having with someone of the opposite sex. They are singing about political causes to govern the problem of a cursed world culture. They are singing, in a huge percentage of the songs, about being unthankful. The reason is because they are filled with the spirit of this world. Let me share a story with you that illustrates the spiritual contrast. It is a story that dramatically reflects the thanks we should always be mindful to give to God in the Spirit filled life. It is different than the ungrateful songs of the world. About 400 years ago, Germany experienced wars, famine, and disease to such an extent that the average person could find little to be thankful for. Even the typical Christian in that situation, could easily succomb to manifesting more of themselves than the Holy Spirit by being unthankful to God in the morbidly tragic circumstances of the time. During the lowest point of doom and gloom, there was a pastor who lived in Eilenburg. His name was Martin Rinkart. At this time, Rinkart was conducting up to 50 funerals a day because of a plague complicated by the ravages of the Thirty Years War. I have only conducted a handful of funerals as a pastor, and no matter how joyful people are to see their loved ones walk on over into the arms of the Father to be with Him forever, there is always sadness. In Rinkart's situation, he even had to bury many members of his own family. But, in the midst of all of this gloomy oppression, Rinkart wrote 66 spiritual songs. It was then that he wrote the beautiful thanksgiving song to our Lord, called "Thank We All Our God." As unthankfulness filled the hearts of many war torn, disease ridden Germans, and sorrow filled the hearts of mutlitudes of Christians, Rinkart wrote,
Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voice,
Who wondrous things has done,
In whom His world rejoice;
Who, from our mothers' arms,
Has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.
Now thank we all our God (1)
Folks, I urge you to be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Be practicing your service of singing the Spirit filled life. God has given you His word, so begin speaking out the Psalms. God is worthy of all praise, so begin singing hymns of praise for the great things He has done. Sing!; and sing spiritual songs because of the great God that He is. In everything give thanks, but give thanks in a joyful melodious heart that is full of the Spirit.
(1) (JDB, Our Daily Bread, October 12, 1998)
