Why Do We Sing? A Case for Christian Worship through Singing

Why do we sing? Why do Christians sing in worship? What is the point? Hardly any other group, or club, or community sings together. I have thought about this lately. I love singing honestly. I have mostly all my adult life loved singing to Jesus through worship. I have lately come across more and more men (and some women) who are a little reticent to sing. It is not their thing, and or they are like most men and don’t care for singing. It seems a case needs to be made for why we as Christians sing. I have thought of fourteen reasons why Christians should sing...

1. The Bible Commands Us to
In Colossians 3:16; and Ephesians 5:18-19 it is pretty clear that the new community of Christ sang and did it in obedience. The early Church sang as a rule, and these passages command us to sing together. 

2. It Reminds of God's word
That same passage in Colossians 3:16 says, “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.” From this passage it is clear that the word of Christ dwelling richly includes admonishing, and singing. How do we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly? First teaching or admonishing and then second singing. Singing is a teaching tool. So as we sing through worship it reminds us of God’s word

3. It is Our Emotional Connection to God
First of all we are commanded to be emotionally connected to God. in Matthew 22:37 Jesus said, “You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” No matter how we spin it love is an emotion. We do make decisions to love, but if you are not emotional about the object of your love, then I would say that love is lacking something integral to a healthy love. It is a total love, a full love, and what Jesus describes here is deeply emotional, and singing helps us stir our emotions.

4. It is a Way to Show Our Affection for Christ 
In the same vein as being emotionally connected, we must foster and fan into flame the fire of affection for Christ. singing to anyone is an affectionate thing. That is why people have sang and written love songs for centuries. That is why we listen to love songs together with our wives, husbands, boyfriends, and girlfriends. We love to increase affection, but why when it comes to singing to the creator of the heavens and the earth we suddenly get tongue tied? This should not be. Loose your tongue and sing your affection for Christ! You can’t love Christ too much. You can’t think about him too much, or thank him too much, or depend upon him too much, or sing to him too much. All our righteousness, is in Christ and that should make us rejoice with affectionate singing. 

5. Jesus Did
If Jesus sang then we should. He is our Lord and master. He is our Head worship Leader. You might ask, "wait, he is God what did he sing about?" Did he worship himself? No, he sang as an example to show us that singing is necessary in worship. Of course singing is not all of worship, but like Jesus, he didn't neglect it. Like a healthy diet if you only eat one thing too much, or never eat the healthy stuff you will not be healthy. We need a balanced diet in worship, and Jesus showed us how, he prayed, and he sang with the disciples. “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). The writer of Hebrews quotes scripture, and writes it as if it were Jesus speaking, "saying, "I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”” (Hebrews 2:12) In Romans Paul also writes as if Jesus were the one speaking in the scriptural quote, “For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”” (Romans 15:8-9) So Jesus will and continues to lead worship by glorifying God’s name through singing.

Czigány The Singing Monk

6. Generations of Saints Before us Sang 
If this is true we can join the throngs of saints who have gone before us. Augustine said, “The clouds of heaven thunder out throughout the world that God’s house is being built; and the frogs cry from the marsh, We alone are Christians. What testimonies do I bring forward? That of the Psalter. I bring forward what you sing as one deaf: open your ears; you sing this; you sing with me, and you agree not with me; your tongue sounds what mine does, and yet your heart disagrees with mine. Do you not sing this?” (Exposition of Psalm 96). Tertullian also said about the martyrdom of Perpetua, “Perpetua sang psalms, already treading under foot the head of the Egyptian;” (The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, Schaff’s). Clement of Alexandria also noted the importance of singing, “But let amatory songs be banished far away, and let our songs be hymns to God. Let them praise, it is said, His name in the dance, and let them play to Him on the timbrel and psaltery. And what is the choir which plays? The Spirit will show you: Let His praise be in the congregation (church) of the saints; let them be joyful in their King. And again he adds, The Lord will take pleasure in His people. For temperate harmonies are to be admitted” (The Paedagogus, Book 2, ch.4). Eusebius summarizes Christian worship as "The singing of psalms and recitation of other such words as have been given us from God" (Church History X.iii.3). In Revelation John also has a vision of what will happen before the throne of God in heaven, "And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:8-9) Join the throngs of saints who have come before us and will follow us with singing. 

7. It is a Test of Spirituality Maturity 
People who sing often to Jesus show that they are mature Jesus loving Christians. Those who make excuses not to sing should question why they would make excuses to not worship the one absolutely worthy of being sung to. Jesus said, "He who is forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47), and so when we do not return love to Jesus in song, it shows the outside world that we think very little of Jesus. Do you love him? Then you will act like a crazy person singing love songs in the shower. Well now wouldn't that would be awkward at Church on Sunday?

8. The Church is One of the Only Places in Culture Where Communal Singing Takes Place
It is a great thing and community building to sing together. Have you ever been to a concert where everyone in the whole audience was singing together every word of the songs? There is an incredible community building component when we sing together. I remember seeing U2 at the Oakland Coliseum. When it came to the time for U2 to play their very popular song “Where the Streets Have No Name," we all shouted the lyrics together! It was exhilarating, it was community, it was the way church ought to be. The one place where regular communal singing takes place is in the church, and we should engage in it for our own sake, and for the sake of the communal experience in giving God glory together. 

9. You Build up the Body of Christ with Encouragement Through Singing
In Ephesians 5:19 Paul writes, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,” In our worship through singing we "address one another" now what could that addressing do for us? It is a form of submission to each other's needs as that passage further points out “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21). So why would we as a body of Christ neglect something that  is so important for "one another." So build each other up through singing. 

10. It is a Missionary Act 
“Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” (Psalms 105:1-2). This passage in psalms shows us how singing is an opportunity to tell people of God's wondrous works, and it is making him known to an unbelieving world. Do you want to be a missionary and make Christ known? Then sing!

11. Singing is a Direct Attack on the Enemy
What does Satan hate more than anything? He hates God, and so it follows that he would hate anything that would give glory to God. Because Satan is ultimately a glory stealer. And so when we sing to God we give him glory, and steal it from Satan. Thus it follows that Satan hates worship through music. And it is also a direct attack on Satan's glory stealing attempts. It is very hard to sin while you are singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Satan would love to see you sin. And as a Christian, I have found it almost impossible to sin when I'm worshiping God through song. Every time in ministry where I have dealt with demonic, or enemy powers in some way, I have asked the rest of the body of Christ to sing, and pray. 

12. Singing is Preparation for and Encouragement During Trials
What did Paul and Silas do during their imprisonment in Ephesus? They sang! “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” (Acts 16:25) Saints under persecution have sung during imprisonment, torture, and trials and have taken seriously the command to "rejoice in the Lord always.” Richard Wurmbrand the founder of the Voice of the Martyrs and imprisoned in Romanian prisons for 14 years said, "While in jail, we sang. Once the director of the prison entered our cell, furious. 'I was told that you sing subversive songs here. Let me hear one,' he commanded. We sang these moving words: 'O sacred Head now wounded, with grief and shame bowed down...' He listened to the end, then turned and left without saying a word. Later he became a brother in the faith" (Jesus Freaks page 290). The current president of Voice of the Martyrs Tom White recounts his experience in a Cuban prison, "I started singing...I was no longer conscious of the cold, only of Jesus...I had entered the highest level of warfare against the enemy--praise. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits our praises...He held my shaking body in His arms. (Jesus Freaks page 259) As the saints before us have done let us sing to prepare ourselves to joyfully endure suffering and trials in the service of Jesus.

13. It Glorifies God 
How many times in the Scriptures are we commanded to sing "to him" or "unto him?” It is one of the most often commanded things throughout the Psalms, Prophets, and even on into the New Testament. It is seen as a one of the most normative act of worship in the New Community of Christ. 

14. You Increase Your Joy
James is clear that singing can and will increase our joy. “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” (James 5:13). Singing is clearly linked to our Christian cheer. So sing and increase your Joy in the Lord, or on the other hand don’t sing and you can stay in your sorrow. Never heard of 'Sorrow of the Lord?' That’s because it isn’t a thing. 

Singing to the Lord is not something that we must resist, but rather submit to for our good and the glory of the Lord. A simple way to apply these truths is to sing joyfully. For instance don't skip the singing times in Sunday services, but go with gladness and focus on Jesus. Another idea is to use Spotify or Pandora as a tool to always fill your heart and mind with the songs of worship. Search for worship artists and create worship channels it's easy. Maybe these songs will soon come out of our mouths too at just the right moments. So Lord fill us with your Spirit that we would respond to you with great Joy in song. No matter how good of a singer you are, we can all sing and shout with a ragged voice because Jesus has saved us. He said, "It is Finished!" SO SING!

Paul's Discipleship Strategy

Paul's Discipleship strategy was very very intense.  That is why it was also so effective.  One of the many passages where he expresses that strategy is found in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-19 where he expresses his deep affection for the Thessalonian believers. Actually I am pretty sure that if Paul read the title of my blog it would seem so foreign to him to call this a 'strategy' because it was so personal to him. That is the label we put on it in the modern era. All our attempts to disciple people into the life of Christ are, and have failed. We have for the most part relegated the discipleship life to what we as a church do on Sundays.  This would never have been able to fit into the practice of Paul. He could not have even have come close to accomplishing what he describes in this passage on Sundays. I have heard from a mentor and friend that a very famous preacher said that "discipleship happens for him during his sermons on Sundays"! I also heard from this same mentor that a youth pastor had been 'let go' recently after 10 years at a large church, and was devastated.  He was devastated because youth ministry is the ministry in churches, in my experience, that comes closest to what Paul talks about here.  In youth ministry over time you get really close to people in your desire to minister to them.  This has been my experience at least.  As I read and exegeted Paul's experience or 'strategy', if we have to call it that, of discipleship it blew me away how little of those things I actually did while discipleing students for the past 8 years. But in doing only some of them that is why it was still that hard to leave my most recent church like I did two weeks ago. because when you show a deep affection, your job then as a pastor becomes so personal it is not a job anymore.  Please read the following passage here and my notes of the things that Paul implemented with the Thessalonian believers and ask, Does my discipleship strategy line up with his...

For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed-God is witness- nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while-in person, not in spirit-were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you-I, Paul, more than once-and yet Satan hindered us. For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? (1 Thessalonians 2:1-19 NASB)

Here is a list of the things he did while among the Thessalonians:

1. Suffering (for the Gospel)

2. Boldness (in the Gospel)

3. Opposition (He faced Opposition to the Gospel)

4. Exhortation (A deep pleading to obey the Gospel)

5. Approved (He was deeply called by God) 

6. Entrusted (He was entrusted with the gospel and He entrusted them also with the sacred Gospel)

7. Speak to please God not men (Paul always sought to please Jesus through reliance on Him)

8. Non-flattering speech (He did not seek to flatter the Thessalonians but was in their face)

9. Non-greedy (He sought to never be a burden on them)

10. Non-glory seeking (He sought only God and His glory)

11. Gentle (as a nursing mother)

12. Affectionate

13. Labor (Faithfully labored among them)

14. Hardship (Faced great hardship for the gospel and them)

15. Proclaimed (Fearlessly)

16. Devoutly (He was devout so they could see holiness in action)

17. Uprightly (not just a holy life but he avoided things that could be construed as not being right)

18. Blamelessly (and walked a blameless life in Christ in front of them)

19. Exhorting (as a father does his children: Notice he made it personal by seeing himself as their mother and father Just a bit personal huh?)

20. Encouraging (as a father does his children)

21. Imploring (as a father does his children)

22. Constantly thanked God when the word was received (I am terribly poor at this! He rejoiced)

23. Connected in the spirit (He saw distance from them as an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to connect them deeper in Christ!)

24. Eagerness to see each other (How many times are we so eager to see each other that you can hardly stand the time when you are not together)

25. Enduring suffering (He endured suffering for them to get a glimpse into the sufferings of Christ)

26. Disciples are hope, joy, and crown of exultation in the presence of Jesus at His coming (Do I really think of the students that I have discipled over the years as my crown of exultation (rejoicing) when I stand before Jesus on the day of his return?)

If we are honest we are probably fall woefully short of this standard of discipleship that Paul gives here. Let us repent of our inadequacy. Let us run to Jesus the perfect discipler and "fisher of men", and ask Him to make us desperate for Him and His way of affection, boldness, suffering, gentleness, Holiness, and rejoicing that He lived in, and now lives in for us!

Here are a few other passages in 1 Thessalonians that I gleaned on how Paul felt about the Thessalonians. You can peruse then and ask God to change our heart for people and become the "Fishers of Men" that Jesus would have us become!

• "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor," (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4 NASB)

• "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words". (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4, 14-18 NASB)

• "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:4-11 NASB)

• "But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." (1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 NASB)

Here is a quick video of what it might cost us to be a disciple and a disciplemaker of Christ.