Discipleship Lesson 7: Singing and Music

Ephesians 5:19-20 “¹⁹ Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; ²⁰ Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1. Why Christians Should Sing

We were made to glorify the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 10:31), so we have both ability and an affinity for singing (Ecclesiastes 2:8). The Lord commands us to praise him (Psalm 47:6; Psalm 135:1-3); God formed and saved us to “show forth his praises” (Isaiah 43:21; 1 Peter 2:9-10).

Psalm 147:1 “Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is       pleasant; and praise is comely.” (See also Psalm 92:1).

God is called, “thou that inhabitest the praises” of his people (Psalm 22:3). The songs we sing should always honor and reverence God: “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me” (Psalm 50:23). God alone is worthy of all worship from all creatures (Revelation 4:11; 5:12-14). Only the creator should be worshipped, not the creature (Acts 10:25-26; 14:11-18; Revelation 19:10; 22:8-9; see Romans 1:25).

Matthew 4:10 “…for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

God is the greatest being. The Lord should be worshipped for what he has done (Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31; 103:2) and for who he is (e.g., his power: Psalm 21:13; his holiness: Psalm 30:4; his goodness: Psalm 145:7).

2 Samuel 22:4 “I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved  from mine enemies.” (See also 1 Chronicles 16:25; Psalm 48:1).

1. What Music Christians Should Sing

The godly genres of music which God desires and commands us to sing includes Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. Peculiar people should have peculiar music (Deuteronomy 14:2).  Most music is worldly and wicked (e.g., “Rock,” “Pop,” “Rap,” “Country,” “Jazz,” “Gospel,” etc.), “earthly, sensual, devilish” (James 3:5). A Christian should not be participating (listening, singing) in worldly music, but should center their musical life on the music of God (Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4).

Ecclesiastes 7:5 “It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.” (See also Psalm 69:9-12).

A PSALM is a song in poetic form, which is completely scripture. There are 150 psalms of varying length and style contained within the Old Testament book of Psalms (see also 1 Corinthians 14:26).

A HYMN is a song in rhythmic form, based on scripture. Traditionally, hymns are the greatest amount of songs sung in church, as they are the simplest to create, set to music, and to learn. The only time Jesus is recorded singing in the Bible, he “had sung an hymn” (Matthew 26:30).

A SPIRITUAL SONG could be any song which is spiritual and non-worldly in nature. Because “spiritual” often has to with the scripture (1 Corinthians 2:12-13), the spiritual song is probably a scripture song. There is a great difference between sensual music, which appeals to the flesh, and spiritual music, which appeals to the spirit (see Jude 19).

Psalm 40:3 “And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.”

The Aspects Of Music

There are two aspects of music (Ephesians 5:19): lyrical (“singing”) and musical (“making melody”). How music is played, and the instruments which are involved must be God-honoring (See Psalm 150). In this way, the Bible speaks of both “the songs of the LORD” (1 Chronicles 25:7) and the “musical instruments of God” (1 Chronicles 16:42).

1. ♫ All music is spiritual: Music has a spiritually light/dark sense to it ♫

Worldly music attracts the unclean spirits of the world just as godly music drives them away. The evil spirit departed from Saul when David, “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:1), played the harp (1 Samuel 16:14-23).

2. ♫ All music is moral: Music has a good/bad sense to it ♫

Worldly music causes the participant to sin: Nebuchadnezzar’s band enticed the people to commit idolatry (Daniel 3). The wicked often accompany their wickedness with music (see Isaiah 23:16).

3. ♫ All music is sourced: Music has a divine/demonic sense to it ♫

Worldly music ultimately comes from the devil, who is a musician (SeeEzekiel 28:13; Isaiah 14:11), and “deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:10).

The Elements Of Godly Music

1. We should sing SCRIPTURAL songs which sing from or about the Bible in a biblical way. Not only should our songs be about Biblical subjects, but also the lyrics should not be contrary to the teaching of scripture. In the book of Psalms, God’s songbook, all of the lyrics were scripture, showing us that God desires that we sing his word.

Colossians 3:16 “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.”

3. We should sing DOCTRINAL songs which are instructive and edifying. Most music is shallow and has no educational value; the songs we sing unto the Lord should have a depth to them––“I will open my dark saying upon the harp” (Psalm 49:4). Often in the Bible, prophets would be moved to prophesy when accompanied by music (1 Samuel 18:10; 2 Kings 3:15; 1 Chronicles 25:1). In the Psalter many doctrines are taught through song. When Moses wanted to teach the Israelites about faithfulness to God, he did it in song: “for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of their seed” (Deuteronomy 31:21).
4. We should sing DOXOLOGICAL songs which are about God and bring glory unto God, not ourselves. The most frequent command in the Bible is to “praise the L” Accordingly, God should be the focus of our music. Throughout the book of Psalms, God is often the object.

Psalm 29:2 “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

III. How Christians Should Sing

John 4:23-24  “²³ But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. ²⁴ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

• Sing Mindfully

As we are singing, we should be contemplating and reflecting upon the meaning of the lyrics and what they mean to us. We are not supposed to merely be singing, but also meditating upon what we are singing.

            Psalm 47:7 “For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.”

1 Corinthians 14:15 “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the   understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”

Whenever we sing, we should mentally direct our singing to God. Even as David danced before the Lord, and not to be seen of others (2 Samuel 6:14-23), so we should sing before God, and not man.

Psalms 30:4 “Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” (See also Psalm 96:2).

• Sing Loudly

When we sing unto God, most often we should sing “with a loud voice” (see Revelation 7:10; Luke 17:15)––not only humming or whispering, but with all of our being (Psalm 104:33; Psalm 146:2), just as God’s ordained singers did in the Old Testament: “…and the singers sand loud…” (Nehemiah 12:42; see also Ezra 3:11).

            Psalm 81:1 “Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.”

Psalm 59:16 “But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.” (See also Psalm 51:14).

• Sing Joyfully

We should sing with all of our emotion, “with joyful lips” (Psalm 63:5) to bless the Lord by our song.

Psalm 71:23 “My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.”

God desires to hear a joyful noise when he listens to our singing, one which we use all of our heart to sing (Psalm 9:1). “Is any merry? let him sing psalms” (James 5:13b).

Psalm 98:4 “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.” (See also Psalm 95:1).

• Sing Skillfully

Whenever we do something unto the Lord, it should be done to best of our ability (Colossians 3:17, 23). Therefore, our desire ought to be to sing as skillfully as possible.

            Psalm 33:3 “Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.”

We can improve our singing ability by singing more, and by learning the songs which we sing better. We should sing unto God every day, wherever we are (Psalm 149:5; Psalm 57:9). Paul and Silas even sang while in prison (Acts 16:25). The psalmist said, “Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments” (Psalm 119:164).

 Psalm 145:2 “Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.”

Psalm 35:28 “And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.” (See also Psalm 71:8, 15; Psalm 113:3).