Text:
Colossians 3:16
If you were here last Sunday you would
have heard a message entitled "Why Do We Sing?." We learned that God’s
people are actually commanded to sing. And therefore we should all be
‘singing Christians’ and not ‘sinning Christians.’ Do
you know that singing occupies a prominent place in the life of the
believer and of the church? It is one of the prominent features of the
worship that goes on in heaven, of worship at the temple
of Jerusalem, and also of our worship. We sing when we are
happy and thankful to express our joy (e.g. at an anniversary). We
sing when we are sad and need comfort (e.g. at a vigil or funeral
service). We sing to remember great events (e.g. Christmas). We also
sing whenever we have any Christian fellowship meeting or prayer
meeting. In fact we have half an hour of singspiration before the
Prayer meeting every week. This is why we need another message on
singing beside the one that we had last week. And this morning’s
message will focus what we are to sing – hymns. There are so many
wonderful hymns to sing with a wide range of themes covering every
expression of praise and trust!
Do you know that some of the hymns we
sing are hundreds of years old and have been sung by many generations
of God’s people? The earliest known Christian hymn is
“Shepherd of Eager Youth” This was originally sung in
Greek, and was composed by Clement of Alexandria (170-220, see
RHC 59). Some other hymns were originally sung in Latin. One of
them is the Gloria Patri which we sing at every worship service
just after the invocation. This song dates to the end of the 4th
century and it has therefore been sung by God’s people for over 16
hundred years! That makes it older than any country’s national anthem.
In order to be singing Christians it
is good for us to learn what the Bible teaches about hymn-singing, and
also about how the hymns we sing have developed up to the present
time.
I. What Are Hymns?
The word “hymn” occurs only 4 times in
our English Bible: For example, please turn your Bible to Matthew
26:30 – “And when they had sung an hymn, they went
out into the mount of Olives.” There are two verses where the
Greek word for “singing hymns” (humneo) is translated as
“sing praises” e.g. Acts 16:25 – “And at midnight Paul
and Silas prayed, and sang praises (humneo) unto God: and the
prisoners heard them.”
This shows us that hymns are basically
praises that are sung. According to hymnologists, a song must have at
least three elements in order to qualify as a hymn:
1.
It must give praise to God (not to one’s country – as in
a national anthem)
2.
It must be sung (It is not a poem that is read or
recited in praise of God)
3.
It must be sung by a congregation (unlike songs that are
performed on stage by a soloist). It is interesting to note that
during the Dark Ages congregational singing stopped, and all the
singing for worship was done only by a small choir of monks.
But the common people who attended the worship services could not
understand what was sung at all because the monks sung everything in
Latin! The 16th century Protestant Reformation has rightly
restored congregational singing as we have it today. The invention of
printing not only placed Bibles in our hands, but hymnals as well, to
use for congregational singing!
II. How are Hymns Different from
Psalms?
Now, hymns are a different type of
song of praise from the psalms. Psalm-singing is a biblical
practice, as James wrote in James 5:13 – “Is any merry? let him
sing psalms.” Do you know that the book of psalms was the
original songbook that was used for worship by Israel? They were sung
at the Temple and continue to be sung in synagogues today. In order to
make the psalms easier to sing in English, the words of the psalms
have been rearranged in metrical form to give a certain number of
syllables per line. And these psalms that can be sung easily are
compiled into a songbook called a Psalter.
And since April this year we have been
using the Trinity Psalter (red book) to encourage the singing of
psalms both in our worship services and in our singspiration on
Tuesday night before prayer meeting. The Reformer John Calvin said
that whenever we look for suitable songs of praise, “we shall not
find better songs nor more fitting for the purpose, than the Psalms of
David which the Holy Spirit spoke and made through him… when we sing
them, we are certain that God puts in our mouths these, as if He
Himself were singing in us to exalt His glory.”
Hymns are songs of praise to God other
than the psalms. Unlike psalms, the words of hymns are composed by
human writers, as a result of their own personal meditation on
scriptural truths.
Some people may then ask, if God has
already given us the book of 150 psalms to use for our singing, why
should we add hymns to our singing? Well there are several reasons why
it is biblical to sing both hymns and psalms.
A. Hymns and Psalms are a medium to
teach the Whole Bible
One verse that speaks of singing hymns
and psalms is 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.” To understand what psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs in this verse means, we need to look at the first part
of the verse: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
This term refers to the whole Bible, and this verse exhorts us
to know all of it well. This is brought out by the phrase
“in all wisdom” which implies that the whole counsel of
God is meant.
Then it goes on to prescribe one way
of doing this – through singing. Singing becomes one of the aids
to be used in this ministry of teaching the Word of Christ to one
another, and to admonish one another in the Word of Christ. Since the
verse states that it is the entire Word of Christ that is
communicated in singing, and not only what is written in the Book of
psalms alone, then hymns and spiritual songs must
logically be the medium for teaching what is found in the
rest of the Bible.
B. Many Biblical Songs Are Not
Psalms
The singing of songs that are not
psalms has been a feature of the life of God’s people even in biblical
times. In last week’s message Pr Quek provided us with a list of
familiar songs both in the Old Testament (15) as the New Testament
(9), including The Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32) The Song of Deborah
and Barak (Judges 5); The Song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10) Mary’s
Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) The Song of Zechariah (Luke 1:67-80);
and Simeon’s Nunc Dimittus (Luke 2:27-32).
In addition to these, there are many
portions of the New Testament which are believed to be early
Christian hymns because of the poetic form in which they are
written, e.g. Romans 8:31-39; Ephesians 1:3-14; Philippians 2:5-11; 1
Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 2:11-13. These were
composed and probably sung in church services for the purpose of
instruction, memorization as well as worship.
C. Hymns Convey Truths about Christ
better than Psalms
There is one more reason why we should
sing hymns and not only the psalms: It is that hymns convey truths
about Jesus Christ better than the psalms. God’s revelation is
progressive. In the Old Testament the truths concerning Christ and
His salvation were revealed only in types and shadows. It is
only in the New Testament that the fullness of revelation was
attained. Because of this, the psalms cannot reveal clearly that Jesus
is God in the flesh who came to die in the place of sinners. Christ is
revealed only in vague and somewhat hidden forms in the psalms,
in the form of allusions, types and prophecies. E.g. Psalm 16:10 –
“For thou wilt not leave My soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption.” For clear teaching about
Christ and the truths of the Gospel we must therefore sing hymns.
There are some hymns that express the
full revelation of the New Testament very well. For example, let us
listen to the words of the familiar Christmas Carol, “Hark the
herald angels sing” (RHC 157, 2nd stanza) – “Christ
by highest heaven adored; Christ the everlasting Lord; Late in
time behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in
flesh the Godhead see, Hail th'incarnate Deity! Pleased
as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel”. We can see
how every line comes from the New Testament scriptures and is rich
with New Testament teaching about Christ!
It is because of this that hymns have
sometimes proved to be an effective tool for combating false doctrine
– especially when the church was faced with false doctrines that
denied the deity of Christ and the Trinity in the 4th
century. One example is the hymn “O Splendour of God’s Glory
Bright” (RHC 23) – Note how it emphasizes Christ’s deity
and equality with the Father in last stanza: “Dawn’s
glory gilds the earth and skies, Let Him our perfect morn arise, The
Word in God the Father one, the Father imaged in the Son.” If you
look at the top left of the music, you will notice that this hymn was
composed by Ambrose (347-397), the famous bishop of Milan who
fought against false teaching.
D. Many Hymns Have Stood the Test
of Time
Dearly beloved, all of this means that
we should sing both hymns and psalms in our worship. If we limit
ourselves to singing psalms alone in worship, then we would also miss
out on the rich heritage of Christian hymns that has been built
up through almost 2000 years of history. Many of these hymns have
stood the test of time, and have been used of God to bless the
devotions of generations of God’s people.
It is interesting to observe that the
greatest periods of spiritual renewal in Christendom have always been
accompanied by an outburst of new hymns composed for God’s
people to sing. For example, many of the hymns that we sing came as a
result of the Protestant Reformation. John Huss, the Bohemian
Reformer who was burned at the stake, wrote many hymns in the 15th
century. Martin Luther (1483-1546) the German Reformer who
initiated the Protestant Reformation. He wrote 37 hymns, one of which
is the famous “A Mighty Fortress” (a paraphrase of Psalm
46, RHC 46). Luther compiled a hymnbook for Protestants to use in
worship, which included psalms, hymns as well as translations of many
Latin hymns.
Two centuries later these hymns of the
Reformation gave the inspiration to a famous Baroque composer,
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) to refine and arrange them in
four-part harmony both for choir as well as congregational singing. It
is said that Bach made the greatest contribution of any
composer to church music. (e.g. O Sacred Head RHC 188).
Spirited hymn-singing has been one of
the hallmarks of the many Revivals in Church History. During the
Evangelical Awakening in England and America in the 18th
Century there was prolific hymn writing by godly writers like
Charles Wesley, John Newton (Amazing Grace RHC307) and
his friend, William Cowper (O for a Close Walk with God
RHC 388), and Isaac Watts (When I Survey the Wondrous
Cross RHC 551).
Another period of prolific
hymn-writing was the John Sung revival in Singapore in the 1930s when
souls were saved and believers were greatly revived in large numbers.
Many of the choruses that were composed in that revival can be found
in our hymnal (e.g. RHC 515 – How Marvelous His Love –
John Sung Choruses). They bring back echoes of the spiritual vitality
that characterized the revival.
III. What Hymns Should We Sing?
Now while we have seen how it is
biblical to sing hymns composed by men, beside the singing of psalms
of the Bible, we also need to exercise some wise discernment in
our choice of hymns. Not all hymns are suitable for singing in
worship. Some hymns are in fact unbiblical and also unedifying. In our
choice of hymns we should sing those that have three qualities:
a. They should be faithful to
the Scriptures (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.”)
b. They should be objective and
free from introspection (1 Corinthians 14:15 – “I will sing with
the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”
Cf. Psalm 47:7)
c. They should not be conformed
to the world (Romans 12:2 – “And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”)
Many new hymns composed in recent
times lack these qualities. They are quite different from the old-time
hymns that we sing in our worship services. The main difference is
that they are becoming more and more conformed to the
world’s music, reflecting the same trend to compromise with the
world that is also found in Christendom today. There are two parts in
this trend:
Firstly, the words of many
Christian songs are less faithful to scripture and less objective than
before. The stress has shifted away from doctrine to emotionalism
and existentialism.
Secondly, the tunes of the
songs have become more like the contemporary sentimental pop music
that the world loves to hear. This trend has gone even into rock
music, e.g. In the 1980s a group called STRYPER – became the first
Heavy Metal Christian band to break into the music industry.
They set the pace for Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) until the
band was disbanded in 1992.
Some years ago I was invited to speak
at a Youth Worship service of another Church, and almost all the songs
they sang were contemporary, reflecting the prevailing type of music
that appeals to the world, and sung to the rapid accompaniment of a
keyboard, bass guitar and bongo drums. I personally do not think that
this should be encouraged in our worship. I believe that the music
that believers use to worship God should be intrinsically different
from the world’s music. Someone has put it this way: “We do not
sing the world’s songs with God’s words because the music of the world
will always overwhelm the words of the song even with the best
of intentions.”
Let us remember that the primary
purpose of all our hymns must be to praise and glorify God and
not to entertain men. They should help us to love God more and to
declare that love to others. Since our God is a God of truth, order,
goodness and beauty, our music should be the same too, in order to
reflect His glory well.
This brings us to the last and most
important part of the message, which is on
IV. How Should We Sing Hymns?
The last part of our text in
Colossians 3:16 tells us that we should sing “…with grace in your
hearts to the Lord.” There are at least three things that must
characterize our singing: Firstly we should sing with grace in our
hearts. This means that one pre-requisite for singing hymns is that
you must first be saved. If you have not experienced the grace
of God that alone can saves you from sins, your singing of hymns will
become a meaningless activity, and at worst, it may even be
something displeasing to God! This happened to the people of Israel
when they had turned away from God. God spokte to them in Amos 5:23 –
“Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; for I will
not hear the melody of thy viols.”
And so if there is anyone here who is
still outside Christ, let me urge you not to wait anymore to receive
Him as your Saviour and Lord. Only when you are saved will you be able
to sing with a genuine thankful spirit, and with grace in your
hearts to the Lord!
Secondly, we should sing in our
hearts. Notice that it does not say singing with your mouths.
It is easy to sing with our mouth, but it requires effort to sing with
our heart as well. Singing hymns will be futile and meaningless if it
becomes a mere outward form, done mechanically with no inward
expression from our hearts. It may be possible for a person to sing a
hymn most beautifully and with perfect pitch, but it will be nothing
but noise to God, if his heart is not in it. Dearly beloved,
when you sing hymns, please don’t get too carried away by the music.
Pay close attention to the words that you sing. Think about
what they mean, and let your singing be a genuine personal
expression of the words. Only then will your soul be blessed with the
Word of God that is found within them, and your singing will be filled
with life!
Finally, we should sing to the
Lord. Every hymn we sing in worship is an offering
dedicated unto Him. We should not sing to be heard by the people
around us, hoping that they will be impressed by our fine singing. We
should not sing even to ourselves, for our own personal entertainment
or enjoyment. But we should sing to the Lord, to minister to Him
and to give Him the greatest pleasure that mortals like us can give.
Dearly beloved, let it be our fervent
prayer that the hymns of our Sunday worship services will always be
sung with grace in our hearts to the Lord. And may this morning’s
message on the singing of Hymns help us to appreciate the value of the
old-time hymns, and sing them often with meaning and expression, and
promote their use in praising the Lord.
