Expressions Of Worship Series

Turn your Bibles to Colossians 3:16

Title: Expressions of Worship

Theme: Connecting with God in the Song Service

“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.” (Colossians 3:16)

Introduction: It should be noted that the entire church service is to be considered as a time were Christians can worship the Lord in spirit and truth. Sunday school is a wonderful opportunity to study the Word of God with other people. The announcements are a wonderful opportunity to share with others all of what God has coming up in the church. The proclaiming of God’s Word should be prepared properly and received with expectation that God will have correction, guidance, and comfort for you. Jesus said that God’s house should be called a house of prayer. (Matthew 21:13) It is also a time in which all should gather together and sing praises to the Lord.

Psalms 147:1 says; “How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him.” The heart of this psalmist reflects what should be in the heart of all Christians as they participate in the song service. The heart attitude that is pleasing to the Lord is the one that says it is all about you Lord, and not about us.

Steve Camp, in his written reformation to the contemporary Christian music industry wrote; “Music is a powerful tool from the Lord Jesus to His church intended for worship, praise, encouragement, edification, evangelism, teaching, admonishing and exhorting God’s people to holiness. Its chief aim is always to glorify God and worship Him.”

Proposition: I would propose to you that God wants you to worship Him in spirit and truth. He longs to deliver His people from the religious bondage that comes from legalism, traditionalism, denominationalism and faddism. Our Lord longs for His church to look into God’s Word so He can birth forth worship in the song service that has freedom and actions that are a response from a joyful undivided heart.

Interrogative Sentence: Just what does the Bible say about “Expressions of Worship” in the song service? What can we or rather how are we to express our love while singing praises to God?

Transitional Sentence: The New Testament does not give any pattern for conducting a specific corporate worship service in the Lord’s churches. It does not tell how long the services are to be, how many psalms, hymns or spiritual songs are to be sung and it does not tell us how long to stand or sit down. The New Testament does not tell us the styles, types of music or what instruments can be used.

The Bible does tell us what expressions are to be used in our worship to the Lord. The child of God who looks attentively into the Word of God and then meditates on how to implement His instructions is the Christian who will overcome the conjecture of men and sing praises to God, which ushers in the presence of the Lord into his heart and life. There are church services that are experiencing the Lord in great measures because of their heartfelt song services and powerful proclaiming of God’s Word.

All through Biblical accounts of the song service unto the Lord we read it ushering in a powerful presence of God, thus, lives are touched, empowered and comforted.

Transitional Sentence: There are truths that are worth grasping in God’s Word in regards to expressions of worship. Let us began with His simple instructions found in Colossians 3:16 and from Ephesians 5:19.

Ephesians 5:19 says, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” This text is breathed forth by the Holy Spirit of God and therefore must be used in guidance to expressions of worship in the song service. Paul uses three terms to describe the music that should be coming out of the spiritual heart. The first is psalms.

Psalms (psalmos) are sacred songs sung to musical instruments and they may be referred to as a chant. (Spiros Zodiatiates) Psalms of praise consist of short sentences expressing praise for the Lord’s character or actions. Many of the modern day choruses fit into this category and they should be sung by all no matter what age and sung with one purpose and that is to please the Lord Jesus.

There are various types of psalms that can be sung unto the Lord in the song service such as psalms of praise (Psalms 8; 29; 33; 104; 111; 113), psalms of thanksgiving (Psalms 30; 66; 116; 138), psalms of lament (Psalms 12; 44; 74; 79) or psalms of wisdom (Psalms 1; 37; 49; 119).

Matthew Henry writes; “By psalms, he may have meant to sing the songs written by David or such other composers, they are to be sung with musical instruments.”