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by Dennis Wheeler
In Romans 12:1 we read that in view of God's mercy we are to ... "offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God; for this is our spiritual act of worship."
So just how do we 'offer our bodies as living sacrifices'? The Bible speaks on various ways to do this and one specific avenue is to SING.
There are 139 verses of Scripture about singing to the Lord (and of course, the book of Psalms is a collection of 150 song lyrics.)
Psalm 89:1 - "I will sing of the Lord's great love forever."Psalm 104:33 - "I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live."
Ephesians 5:19 - "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything..."
Colossians 3:16 - "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
Jesus sang...Matthew 26:30
Paul sang...Acts 16:25
Moses sang...Exodus 15:1
David sang...2 Samuel 22:1
Solomon sang...Song of Solomn 1:1
Jonah sang...Jonah 2:9
So singing must be important to God.
Yet...look at the church of 2003. So many churches are in an uproar over the 'style' of music...
"We should only use hymnals!"
"There shouldn't be drums in the church building!"
"We've become a '7-11' church. We sing 7 words 11 times!"
"The hymns don't make any sense to me!"
MUSIC...worship of our Lord...is dividing the church today. How sad!
Actually - when you cruise through the Bible - you don't see musical notation. There might be a good reason for that. Perhaps it is because He knows that if music were in the Bible, then the music in the church today would still sound like a song-and-dance number from a Charlton Heston movie, and all the instruments in church would be trumpets, lyres and cymbals. (Did you know they didn't have organs, keyboards, and pianos back then??!!)
We are instructed in the Holy Scripture to sing to the Lord. In fact, David says, "Sing to the Lord a new song." (Psalm 149:1). The song of worship keeps our hearts in a posture of praise. It reminds us of God's faithfulness, His kindness, His majesty, and above all...His presence.
If you take a close look at the lyrics of hymns and worship songs, you will find that many of them are written to God, not just about God; they are in fact prayers. Consider..."I Love You, Lord"...."As The Deer"..."Amazing Love"..."How Great Thou Art"...."Lord, I Lift Your Name On High"..."I Could Sing of Your Love Forever". All of these songs are sung to God - they are prayers set to music.
So...when you arrive at church on Sunday morning...remember this...THE WORSHIP SERVICE ISN'T DESIGNED FOR YOUR APPROVAL! The worship service is to honor and adore HIM!!!
So whether you're singing from a hymnal or words are projected onto a screen; whether you're singing a grand old hymn or a brand new chorus you've never heard before; whether your church has a praise band, an organ or maybe no instruments at all; whether you have a beautiful voice or can't carry a tune in a bucket . . . SING!
Sing to the Lord and let the song draw you deeper into prayer and into His presence
"Then sings my soul to my Savior and God...how great Thou art!!"
He serves as the Senior Pastor with southwest Virginia church... a loving church family in Abingdon.
He and his wife Sharon have been married for over 27 years and are the proud parents of two beautiful daughters, one son-in-law, and two precious grandchildren, the second arrived arrived on the scene in September 2004!!
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