Ephesians 5:18b-21 “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
Pastor Herk continues: We need to saturate ourselves with the Word of God. We cannot just analyze, discuss and describe worship music. But, singing out to the Lord in expressive adoration that God is great! But, what kind of music is pleasing to God? (1) Music that is centered on God with reverence; focus to the Lord, to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ because the sole aim is to glorify God. Psalm 84:2 “My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.”
(2) Music that is from the heart. Not just singing words memorized, on a screen or paper, but in thoughtful and joyful prayer as worship to a just and holy Father God, not allowing our minds to wander in other directions, but focused on the words we are expressing to the Lord with purpose. Colossians 3:16 “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.”
Luke 6:45 “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Prepare your hearts for worship in praise, adulation and admiration. What are you singing the rest of the week, when we are away from church? Hopefully, our thoughts encompass godly things. If we are reading the Scriptures of the Bible and saturating ourselves in the Word of God on a daily basis, then when we come together on Sunday to worship the Lord together, the service is going to be impacted from what is in our hearts and infused into our lives through the Holy Spirit during the week.
(3) Music that recognizes the sovereign goodness of God, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Always and for everything, but not everything is good on this side of eternity. Nations war, governments are corrupt, haste, violence and crime abound, disasters arise, illness and death occur, inflation rises, markets fall and loved ones turn to walk from the Lord. The only way to give thanks always and in everything in a fallen world is to have trust in God’s sovereign goodness. In God We Trust is the American National Motto. We have to trust God, His all-powerful hand and His all-knowing wisdom.
Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God is good and works all things for good in the long run. Once we understand that truth, mere words are often inadequate to articulate what we experience in our soul, so our hearts sing out. God is good all the time. We need to think about how our joyful noise reinforces the sovereign goodness of our God. Blessed be the name of the Lord! This leads to the body of Christ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ; our common good.
Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on making a joyful noise unto the lord in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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