Before I read our children's questions, I just want to mention, maybe mention the obvious, but it is no secret that congregational singing can often be a point of strife in many churches. And we are in a series on worship, and we're going through the parts of our own order of worship, and we are at the point of congregational singing this morning. And like I said, sometimes that very issue, sadly, when it should be probably the most joyful part of worship and joyful part of the church can often be a point of contention, causing even divisions. I've seen churches torn apart by debates and discussions and arguments over congregational singing and worship. I will tell you that I have been exposed, I feel, to every angle of the debate and the argument from strict psalmody without any musical accompaniment to rock and roll in worship. But I do not intend to go down the road of any kind of controversy this morning. My goal is to encourage you in congregational worship. I want to avoid, like the plague, anything that would cause any division in our church. And I say that recognizing that maybe that's not the best witness to the world around us, that we have that kind of stuff in the church, but it is the reality. and yet we don't wanna be robbed of the joy of singing to the Lord as a congregation. Children, here are your questions for this morning. First, what book of the Bible has many songs in it for the church to sing? Two, can you name five musical instruments mentioned in the Bible? Three, what are your top three favorite worship songs? Again, this is a topical series, so I don't intend to explain everything in Psalm 98, but listen closely as you hear the holy and errant infallible word of our great God read. This is the word of God. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation. He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Break forth into joyous song and sing praises. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody. with trumpets and the sound of the horn, make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord. Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity. There ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray together. Lord our God, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for the way that you minister to us with it. And we pray that whenever we read your word, that we would receive it as it is, as your word spoken to us, breathed out by you. Lord, we thank you for the preaching of your word. And while we don't claim inerrancy, infallibility, even full inspiration, we pray that it would be your word that would be heard through the preaching. that we have. And so minister to us through the power of your word and through the help of your Holy Spirit. And so send your spirit to help each one of us to receive from you and help the preacher to preach in a way that would be pleasing in your sight. We come to you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, many places in scripture, we have the charge to praise God, to break forth in song before him, to come into the presence of the Lord with singing. And focus this morning is on that time when we do it as a congregation. We might break forth in song on our own in our homes when we're by ourselves, but our focus this morning is on congregational worship. And I want to encourage us as we lift our voices in praise to God in our worship. The psalmist does that. He encourages us to joyfully, to fervently sing to the Lord. Make a joyful noise, a loud noise, says the psalmist. called to exuberant song. In verse four in our psalm, make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth break forth into joyous song and sing praises. Those are strong words. In fact, one of them is to get across the idea of splitting the ears with sound. splitting the ears with sound. And so this particular psalm is filled with exuberant praise. And if you look at the psalm as we just read it, at the many things that the Lord has done, you can see why this is that kind of psalm. He has done marvelous things. He's worked salvation. He's made himself known. And then there's this call to not only mankind, but all creation to praise God with Loud praises with intensive praises. But in an examination of Scripture also reminds us that that's not the only way we're to praise God. There are more meditative types of songs. There are even laments, songs of sorrow. And so as we examine Scripture and see that we're called to worship God in song, we need to pay attention to what God is telling us to do. Before I get to the point of what we sing to the Lord, I want to mention a couple of things about the ethos of song. Now, I had a hard time finding the right word for what I was trying to get across, and I was very thankful to find out that the Greeks actually used this Greek word to describe the power of music and the influence it has on our emotions, our behavior, and even our morals. And so think about the way that music and songs, lyrics impact us. Can impact our mood and our mentality, not only the lyrics, but the music itself reminds us that we ought to have caution when we expose ourselves to certain kinds of music, whatever kind it might be. But in general, music has an influence on us, so do the words. They can make you happy. They can make you sad. They can make you sentimental. They can make you silly. There are silly songs, after all. But music has an amazing impact on us. Think about this. Think about our recall. Think about all the songs, maybe secular and sacred, that you know the lyrics to. Tons of them, probably, if you're at all musical. If you're not a musical person, maybe that doesn't fit, but so many songs we learned as children and then teenagers and growing up. We have great recall and we have to remember that those things in some way shape and influence us. We need to think about that. This morning, our interest is sacred music, sacred music, specifically what's sung here in corporate worship. I have a quote from our own music director that I think puts it very well. She wrote, words well paired with singable music attach themselves to our hearts. The sticking happens in such a way that our understanding of the theology grows as we walk through life's experiences and encounter joyous, our various joys and trials. And so there's a stickiness that sticks to our hearts, maybe even better, our souls when we sing praises to God. It's theological, it's spiritual, it's devotional, it's all of those things. And so we're reminded of what's taking place and that there's this ethos, this impact of song. And there's a special kind that happens when we worship, when we sing to the Lord. And that's what we need to keep in mind when we're here, that whatever kind of song we're singing in worship, ultimately it's directed to God himself. I want to read for us from the Directory of Worship, which I've quoted in this series a number of times. I find it very helpful. This one's a little long, but listen closely to what's said about music in our worship services. I found it very helpful. The singing of psalms and hymns praising God through the medium of music is a duty and a privilege. Therefore, the singing of hymns and psalms and the use of musical instruments should have an important part in public worship. In singing the praises of God, we are to sing in the spirit of worship, with understanding in our hearts. It is recommended that psalms be sung along with the hymns of the church, but that caution should be observed in the selection of hymns, that they be true to the word. Him should have the note of praise or be in accord with the spirit of the sermon. The leadership in song is left to the judgment of the session, who should give careful thought to the character of those asked to lead in this part of worship. And the singing of a choir should not be allowed to displace congregational singing. The proportion of time of public worship giving to praise is left to the judgment of the minister and the singing of psalms and hymns by the congregation should be encouraged. I know that's a lot, but think about what was just said about our worship and how careful we ought to be when we're designing our order of worship. And remembering that we're directly addressing the Lord. There are different kinds of songs and psalms that we sing. Some address the Lord directly. Some of those include elements of prayer, praise and thanksgiving, and even confession and song directly to the Lord, speaking to him. But then there are songs and psalms in which we inspire one another. And honestly, I have struggled with that. because I want so much in many ways for all the words just to be directly addressed to God. Maybe you struggle with that too, but that struggle was put to ease when I realized that many Psalms, many Psalms are used to inspire each other in the worship of God. still directed to God, but also to inspire one another. A call to souls in our psalm, a call to the people to worship, even a call to beasts, even a call to inanimate objects to praise the Lord. And then oddly enough, there are some hymns and psalms that we address to ourselves. Think about that one. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Singing, speaking to our own souls, even in the presence of a congregation. Here's one of sorrow. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Crown Him with many crowns. Awake, my soul, and sing, for Thou hast died for Thee." And so directly addressing God, inspiring one another, and even calling our own souls to worship, but always in worship ultimately directed to God. Even while we find, I hope, it inspirational. The ultimate end is that our songs are received by the Lord as a pleasing offering to him. When we sing and what we sing should be directed by scripture. I should say what we sing should be directed by scripture. That's where great care needs to be taken. We have singing and music throughout the Bible. Think about the fact that in Genesis 4, we find out that Jubal was the father of all those who play the lyre and the pipe. That's the beginning, as it were, of at least instrumental music. And then throughout, we have music and songs performed or sung by the saints, not necessarily in the context of formal worship, but think of some of them. The banks of the Red Sea, I will sing unto the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider thrown into the sea. David in the wilderness, O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. In the Exodus in Babylon, Kind of interesting, they're singing about not being able to sing, Psalm 137. By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept. When we remembered Zion, on the willows there we hung our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's songs in a foreign land? Jesus and his disciples sang hymns. It's hard to imagine. It's hard to imagine what it was like that right after Passover, right after Jesus had instituted the Lord's Supper, and right before he warns them of their denial and even betrayal, and right before Gethsemane, where Jesus will pray so intensely We read that they departed when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And so throughout scripture, times of great joy and times of great sorrow and times of great intensity, song, the singing of the saints. Even in prison, Paul and Silas in prison. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. The prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. What a witness that there are these prisoners, Paul and Silas, in prison singing psalms apparently that would reverberate through the prison. And who knows what was involved in the earthquake if God wasn't responding to their praises and their prayers. A soul and a whole family got saved through that. And then there's the songs of heaven. They sing the song of Moses. This is revelation. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the lamb. Saying, great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. Songs to God, songs of praises, songs of praise, everywhere on heaven and on earth. we have the Psalms. There are some who would say that we're only to sing the Psalms. Only to sing the Psalms. And honestly, they make a good case. But only 55 Psalms are specifically designed, at least by what they say, for congregational worship, where the Levites would sing one part and the congregation would chant back. The rest of them maybe were and maybe weren't for singing. It's always a point of debate, has been throughout the church, throughout history. We're of a tradition where we allow for compositions used by man, composed, written by man, not inspired necessarily at all the way scripture is, but we allow for that. We have to use great care in light of poetic license to make sure that what we're singing is biblical. What I mean by poetic license is some of the things that we sing are kind of fanciful. That's even found in some of the Psalms as far as describing God and describing some different things. But we have to be very careful about what we're singing to make sure that they fit with what Scripture has to say. But what a wonderful thing it is, isn't it, that we are set free to sing about Jesus. We sing about Jesus so much. Certainly in the Psalms, we sing about the coming Messiah, the Christ. Psalm 2, Psalm 110, whatever other messianic Psalms, if they're to be sung, point to the coming Christ, but we live in the era of Christ. And so we can sing of his incarnation. How many of you have many Christmas carols that you just love? Now that's where we need to be very careful about poetic license, because that's where sometimes it goes a little over the top. but Christmas carols, and then we sing of the life of Christ, and we sing of the suffering of Christ, and we sing of the death of Christ. We sing of the resurrection of Christ, even the ascension of Christ, and we certainly sing the song of the Lamb, the reigning and ruling Christ. And so we can sing about Jesus. Another consideration is instrumentation. throw out a little list of some of the instruments found in scripture that were used in worship. Some were maybe not used so much in worship, but to call people to worship or to congregate. You've heard of the shofar or the ram's horn. There are symbols, probably more like castanets, wooden clappers, silver trumpets, shakers and rattles, frame drums, Those would be associated maybe more with a tambourine, associated with dancing. Miriam with the tambourine and the women, the timbrels, reed pipes, woodwind instruments, the lyre, a stringed instrument, and the harp, stringed instrument. It's interesting to go through that list, isn't it, of what's in scripture and say, well, what is missing? Are there any instruments that we use that are missing in that list? I'll leave that for a little puzzle for your own brain. And ask yourself, what is allowed in worship as far as instrumentation is concerned? Well, here's what we sing in our church. We sing the psalms, and we must sing the psalms. We have a psalter. We have a hymnal in which many of the hymns that we just call hymns are psalms. We sing a lot of newer hymns as well. We sing songs that are from Bible times, ancient church. We don't tend to chant, but many of our hymns are chants put to music that we can relate to. We sing songs from the age of the Reformation, mostly psalms, sometimes hymns. There are songs that we sing that were contemporaries when some of you were young. I say some of you, I guess some of them that we sing now were contemporary when I was young and now they're considered oldies. Thankfully, there are still new songs being sung and being written, I'm sorry. And hopefully more will come. And they're not all great. In fact, there are thousands of hymns that we simply would not sing, written by some great hymn writers that they just never cut it. And some of them are just a little too out there. But we sing, and hopefully sing with full hearts, and we sing as a congregation, that our hearts are tuned together. We talked about prayer with one heart. Singing is much the same, where the voices of God's people are pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Acceptable worship together with one primary purpose to worship God that includes our song. With harmonious voices singing together with a variety of musical abilities in this congregation. But all engaged. Which calls us to rise above maybe our personal preferences and styles and make sure that we're doing all we can to participate in singing the songs that we're singing. If I'm going to say anything negative, and I've not seen it here, but if I'm going to say anything negative, there should not be any folded arms and pursed and sealed lips during congregational singing. We're in this together, bringing praises to God with harmonious voices. How good we are at harmony, I don't know. It always sounds pretty good to me. Well, not always, usually, but what do I know? The important thing is what God receives. And here's something that should lift all of our hearts up, that we are echoing heaven. There's a connection. With all the heavenly hosts singing praises without ceasing to God in the throne of heaven, with all the saints who have gone before us, We're participating in that perpetual never-ending worship even as we gather together here week after week and then with all the saints on the earth. What a blessing. All around the world, people singing praises. with all their cultural nuances, with all their different styles, with all their different instruments, with all their different things in worship, whether it's Western or Asian or Latin American or African, all praise is acceptable to God in congregational worship. Well, let me bring this home personally. We need to make sure that we're singing with grace in our hearts. That's what our confession says, very simply. Singing with grace in our hearts. As a corporate body, but also as individuals. You see, we're a corporate body, but we come here as individuals that make up this body. Where is your heart? Are you singing with grace in your heart? Am I singing with grace in my heart? I put that in three parts. First of all, with vitality. And what I mean by that simply is that there's life in us. That we've been made new creatures resurrected in Christ so that we're alive and we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us so we can say truly we are spiritually alive. Because Jesus Christ died for us, paid for our sins, and rose from the dead to give us new life. And then sent his Holy Spirit to breathe life into our once dead souls, now as living beings, as his new creation, alive and singing to him. Vitality and understanding. Taking time to consider the words we're saying. I've mentioned before, there's a reason why we put song notes in the bulletin every week, because some concepts, some words need explaining. We don't want anybody singing something that they don't understand. Our singing also should never be mindless, not just breathing the words, but from our hearts. Paul, in the context of The issue of tongues and stuff in the Corinthian church says this, I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. Very important. But then he says, I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Understanding what we're singing. And then with sincerity. Meaning what we're saying. Meaning what we're saying. I honestly don't know what to do with myself or anyone else when my heart is not in line with what I'm singing. In other words, am I singing what I'm singing with integrity, with sincerity of heart? Do I just stop singing? What should you do? I don't know the answer. Maybe we need to think about what we're singing sometimes in terms of the fact that we want to get there. I'm not being snarky, and I'm not mocking songs. I learned a lesson early on in my ministry not to pick on one song. I'll never forget using one song that I picked on kind of in a sermon, and sure enough, I found out it was one of the elders' wives' favorite hymns. And I found that out after the service. You live and learn. But think about what we're singing. I love to tell the story. Do you really, do I really love to tell the story, or do I tend to keep it a little more to myself? One that's often picked on, and I'm honestly not picking on it, I'm pushing for integrity, sweet hour of prayer. Some of you probably have sweet hours of prayer. But if most of you are like me, an hour would be awesome. and super sweet, but it's nothing that I experience on a regular basis. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer. Would we rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today? That's where we want to be. That's where I want to be. I think of my blessed Redeemer. I think of him all the day long. I think you get the point. Whether it's a psalm or a hymn, are we sincerely singing to God? If not sincerely singing about where we're at, at least where we want to be. Well, far more could certainly be said, and I have said more in other places, and I've written things, more could be said about congregational singing. But I do know this. that God is worthy of our praise. And we have this wonderful privilege of praising Him in song, and He receives the praises of His people. We have a lot to sing about. His goodness, His greatness, our trust in Him, our dependence, go through the psalm again. Think about the riches that you have in your life in Christ. You will say, as one of the songs says, how can I keep from singing? Some psalms make us want to dance. Some hymns make us want to dance. Some make us want to hang our heads in shame and repentance. Others bring us to the point where we're taking our deepest sorrows to the Lord. But here's what I think is always in the Christian's song, whether it's high praise or deep lament, and that's joy. That's joy. Sing to the Lord with joyful songs. As we gather together, may our singing be a sweet aroma of praise from this congregation, rising to our great God, who is forever to be praised. Let's pray. Oh Lord, our God, we are thankful that we can pray, and we are thankful that we can sing. And we ask that behind all of our singing would somehow be the prayer of our heart as individuals and as a congregation. So Lord, whenever we gather together, we humbly ask that we would have our hearts, tune our hearts to sing your praise. Tune the heart of this congregation to sing your praise, week after week, that you would be glorified and that our songs would be a sweet aroma to you. To you, our great God. We come to you in the name of our Savior, Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Amen.