Liturgy and the question of how to worship are receiving a great deal of attention today—for better or for worse. That we should have and follow the proper guidelines for this is of the utmost importance. In this issue, Rev. Jerome M. Julien, pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church of Pella, Iowa, presents the eighth and final article in a series on the topic: The Sacrifice of Praise.

Throughout the centuries music has been a part of the worship of our God. God even gave His Old Testament people a song book so that they would know how to praise Him. Of course, this is the Book of Psalms.

The New Testament is full of music too. The air around Jesus’ birth was full of song. Mary sang, “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” Zacharias sang, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel . . . .” Simeon sang, “Now lettest thou thy servant depart . . . in peace.” Even the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest.”

Singing was to be a part of the life of the church of God. In Ephesians, Paul tells the church that we are to be people who sing. We read, “and be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord . . .” (Eph. 5:18, 19). The church is to praise the Lord!

Even the picture that we get of heaven is a picture that rings, as it were, with music. Revelation 5 gives us an opportunity to hear the music of heaven which rings by the Crystal Sea.

Did you notice what all this music has in common? It is always God–directed. It is an expression of praise to God.

Today, still, music plays an important part in worship. But there is something we must remember something that we often forget -this music must be to God’s glory. It is not to elevate man; nor is it to be mere entertainment. Therefore we read in Psalm 96: “Oh sing unto Jehovah a new song: Sing unto Jehovah, all the earth. Sing unto Jehovah, bless his name; Show forth his salvation from day to day” (vv. 1, 2).

Why We Sing

The Psalmist writes, “Oh sing unto Jehovah a new song: Sing unto Jehovah, all the earth.” And all through this Psalm, this is the theme: We have a great God.

Again and again, this truth comes out. It forms the foundation for the expression of our joy and praise in worship. The Psalmist writes in the third verse, “Declare his glory among the nations, His marvellous works among all the peoples.”

Do not the very works of God give us reason to praise? As darkness falls and you scan the heavens, you see the heavenly work of God and you realize that this was not made by man. It is God‘s handiwork. Is there not a song of praise in your hearts? As you look about you and see on every hand what God has made, you know that this, too, was made by God. Does not this call forth a song of praise unto God?

We read in Scripture of the mighty acts of Jehovah; we read of what God has done. Genesis, the Psalter, Isaiah, the prophets—they all tell us what God has done! And if we know the Lord this truth brings great joy to us. What a great God we have!

His program is a cause for praise, too. We read in Scripture of how God has dealt with His people down through the ages, and we thrill. The whole story of God’s dealing with Israel in the wilderness causes our hearts to leap for jay. Imagine that! They were a people who would grumble against God, who would complain against God, who would spit out their violence and their hatred. But they would still be fed by God. They were a people who wanted nothing to do with the service of God. They would serve a golden calf. Yet, God would lead them through the wilderness into the promised land as He had promised. There is mercy and grace!

Beautiful are the evidences of God‘s hand in history. We could multiply them greatly. Oh, how we would join in praising God in the Song of Moses as he celebrates the coming victory through the Lord Jesus Christ! What a God we know by grace!

All of this takes on a new and blessed meaning in the New Testament, we learn that the key to all of this which has been revealed in the Old Testament is really Jesus Christ. We see that even these Old Testament songs ring with the Lord Jesus Christ. There are the beautiful Messianic Psalms—the Psalms that speak of Jesus and what He is coming to do. There is that beautiful 22nd Psalm that speaks of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ as King. And then we read of Him as the Priest-King in Psalm 110.

Even the other Psalms take on new meaning in Jesus Christ because in Him there really is meaning to life and there really is meaning in all of history. Christ is the Surety of the Covenant. He has come to make sure the Covenant promise that God made to His people. Through Him, the Covenant is realized.

The New Testament shows us the mercies of God as they are revealed in Jesus Christ. Our hearts arc filled with praise because God has done so much. We sing of the mercies of the Lord, today, tomorrow, forever, because they are so wonderful! Each day brings us a deeper experience of our saving God. Each day shows us anew our need of salvation. Each day reveals the power of the Gospel. Each day the Holy Spirit works in applying the Gospel to our hearts. And with each new mercy we receive, as it were, the “pitch” so that as we gather together on the Lord‘s Day with hearts bursting with praise, we are ready to sing with one accord to Jehovah‘s praise. He is a great God and glorious!

What We Sing

So you see, as we are engaged in congregational singing, with unity we praise and testify.

What is it that we are to sing? Well, the Psalmist says that we are to sing “a new song.” Now, that doesn’t mean as some think it does, that we are to use new songs for this praise. When the Psalmist says, “Oh sing unto Jehovah a new song,” he is saying that we have a fresh occasion, a new opportunity to sing praise to God for some new evidence of the grace of God. All through the week we, experience that grace of God and we have a new reason to sing! Or do we?

Could it be that because we are not attuned spiritually to the Lord and to His Word, that we don’t see that evidence of grace. Then on Sunday we come together and we sing, but our mouths are hardly open and our hearts aren’t bursting with praise. Instead, it’s just an activity that we have to go through if we go to church.

“Sing a new song.” If we have known new blessings of God through the week, if we’ve experienced God‘s grace again in a new way—and we do if we are God‘s children—we have a song to sing, a song of praise even unto Jehovah, our God.

What are we to do when we sing? We are to “show forth His salvation”! We are to testify! We are to make known with that singing that we are the Lord‘s and that He is our God.

Now, of course, all singing must be seen as prayer. We arc singing before God’s throne.

Singing in worship is the work of God‘s people. Together we participate in this praise. It‘s a tragedy, as it happens in some churches today, that all of the singing is done by a choir; the congregation never utters a sound. We have music so that we will be praising the Lord as the people of God. We blend our voices together in unity saying that we are one in Jesus Christ, bowing before the throne of the living God.

You will notice that here again, we are face to face with the idea of congregational participation. Though there are ever so many who tell us that the congregation doesn‘t participate enough in worship, all along we have seen how we participate. We participate when we pray; we participate as we give; we participate as we confess our faith. We participate as we hear; we participate as we listen to God speak from Sinai; we participate as we hear God speak to us the word of welcome and the word of benediction. Here, too, in singing we participate now vocally.

While we don‘t want to suppress the Spirit, neither do we want to forget that things are to be done decently and in order. We sing in unity because we are one body in the Lord Jeslls Christ. In that unity we express our gratitude for Covenant mercies.

True, there are others in the crowd who, while they do sing, do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. But their singing is different. They do not sing as God‘s children because they do not know “the new song” by the work of grace.

In Psalm 96:1, 2 there are several words which explain what this prayer of praise is like. For instance, we have here the verb “sing”: “Oh sing unto Jehovah a new song.” The idea of this word in the original is that this is to be God-honoring praise. We are to speak before the Lord, giving Him all the praise for what He has done. No praise belongs to us. Another verb in this passage is “show forth.” This word says that we are to testify of God’s work We are to say what God has done and that we know it by the grace of God. Both of these aspects are to be present in prayer.

Of course, there are many kinds of songs that we sing. There are songs about spiritual matters, songs about repentance, songs about the fellowship of believers, the communion of saints, songs about how God deals with His people and gives them hope and comfort. As we sing each song we must remember that we are at prayer. It may be a prayer of adoration; it may be a prayer of confession; it may be a prayer of petition; it may be a prayer of testimony. We may simply be saying to God that we have seen what He has done, we believe His word of promise, and we are thankful to Him for His wonder of grace.

Now as we sing, Ihis fact must always be remembered: our singing must be God-centered. When we go to the throne of God, we are not to be singing to men; we are to be singing to God.

Much modern hymnody, sad to say, is not God-directed. It is man-centered. By this we mean that it’ is more than just centered in experience. We mean it often expresses experiences which are not common to all of God’s children. The revivalism of the last century that individualized the Gospel has made an impact on our singing. There are Christian songs that not all Christians can sing. For instance, there are songs that make us all say that we have all been brought out of the horrible way of ungodly life and have had a tremendous Paul–like conversion. But not all of us have had that kind of conversion experience. There are Christian songs that not every Christian can really sing. And so it is important for us to remember that we do not just sing words. We are speaking to God and as we speak in song we are saying something that we really mean.

When we are really gripped by the greatness of God, prayer and praise will inevitably result. Our singing will be a response to our Covenant God. We will not just sing about Jesus, as much as we love to sing about Him. We will sing about the Triune God. This song will develop into a lofty, joyous praise and testimony. There will not be the sounds of the theater or sensational in it. It will be music fit for the King. Triumphant praise must be directed to Him!

Without a doubt we have a lot to sing about. The precious works of Cod bring us to respond: “The tender love the Father has for all His children dear.” We hear of His great redemption and we sing: “His right hand and His arm most holy the victory to Him have brought.” We hear of His tender care and we sing: “Our God upholds us in the strife; to us, He grants eternal life . . . He hears the needy when they cry . . . This God is our salvation.” Then placed before our minds is the marvellous message of the works of Christ and we respond: “How vast the benefits divine which we in Christ possess.” And we could go on! We have a vast, vast field of truth to sing about. It is so beautiful!

How We Sing

When we gather together as the people of God, that is exactly what we are doing: responding in praise to God. But how do we do this?

As we read Psalm 96, there is a desire building up in us to open our mouths in song. But do you know the Lord in such a way that this truth grips you and you can do none other than praise the Lord? Spurgeon said, “It is wretched to hear God praised in a slovenly manner. He deserves the best we have.” How true. When we know the Lord in a real, living way, we love to sing and praise the Lord. But in many congregations the singing is dead. The people don’t sing. They hardly open their mouths. A look at their faces betrays the fact that they could not care less! A good question for them is, do they really know the Lord? Have they been gripped by the wonder of God’s grace?

Even our boys and girls should learn how to sing the songs of the church. With their open mouths they can praise the Lord.

True, there is an art in singing. That’s not to say that singing is difficult or that it’s to be reserved for someone that has voice training. If we were digging into Ephesians 5:10, there would be a lot of things we could say about singing—we are “speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” Of this singing the Psalmist says that we are to “bless his name.” Let‘s be sure that we do that when we sing!

How are we to sing? We are to sing as those who are the Lord’s own. We are happy that we are the Lord’s. We are glad that He has made known His sovereign grace.

Thoughtfully, we must bless Him in song. This means that we know what we are doing and saying. That’s a very important part in singing to the praise and glory of God. We are to know what we are saying. But, do we really know? Do we really know what we are saying as we have that book before us and we sing those words? Do we really sing the words? Or is it only an exercise of our vocal chords in a rhythmic and melodious way?

If we do this thoughtfully, carefully, then our singing becomes an expression of our trust and our faith. Then we really sing and mean, “O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come.”

Our singing will be an expression of praise to God. But certainly as we sing, it will not be done in a fleshly way. Paul makes an interesting comparison in Ephesians 5:18, 19. He says, “And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms . . .” and so on.

Paul says that there are two ways that people sing: as if they are drunk with wine and as if they are filled with the Spirit. He draws quite an interesting picture. He says, you can go into one place and there you will find the people having their good time, drunk with wine. They will be singing. But the sound of music will not breathe with praise to God. The way the people are doing it is not really a way of praise. It will have the sound of depravity in every way. Now he says, “Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.”

You go into another place and there you see the people of God gathered to worship. The sound of their music will not be as the sound of those who are drunk with wine. It will not have the sound of the beer hall or some other similar place. It will have the sound of praise to God. It‘s going to have the sound of the holy temple. It will sound with praise to the Lord! He is our Sovereign King.

Oh, of course, this doesn’t exclude happiness! We should be happy when we sing! Being the Lord‘s is joy, indeed. This joy grows out of the holy relationship we have with Him. We are to sing as those who are the Lord’s own!

We are also to sing as those who are marching to Zion. When we ‘are Christians, we are part of the Church Militant. As part of that army of the Lord we sing with confidence. No, this does not mean that we sing every song in the same way. We sing each one in the light of what it says. But we sing with confidence, nonetheless. We can sing:

This is my Fathers world: O let me ne’er for get That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. This is my Father‘s world: Why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King, let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad.

We can sing confidently! We are in the Lord‘s world! We are pilgrims! But He is God! Unto Him we bring our songs of praise. There is no hesitance; there is no fear. “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Who shall I fear?” He is our God!

We possess hope. Right now, we have the assurance that we are the Lord’s. We also have the assurance that one day, God will be glorified and “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father.” Our hope is bound up in Jesus Christ. We can do nothing but sing praise to our Sovereign God!

We who are the Lord‘s march through this life, singing as we go. We are in a great singing rehearsal for an eternal and a mighty festival of music and song. The Bible speaks of the music of eternity. There are those who will not hear it. They are the ones who will hear only the agonizing screams of hell forevermore. However, the child of God who is part of the Church Militant here on earth will one day be part of that grand and eternal and mighty festival of music for which our singing on Sunday—and everyday—is but a rehearsal.

The child of God shall join with the ten thousand times ten thousands singing, “Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.. Unto Him . . . be the honor, and the glory, and the dominion forever and ever” (Rev. 5:12, 13).

What a joy it will be to participate in that grand and glorious music festival. And what a joy it is to prepare even as we worship together before the throne of God. He is such a great God!