What makes it possible for voices like these to sing music like that? Where do they get whatever it takes to sing with such grace and power and beauty?
Of course they have been blessed with a good deal of natural skill. Of course these singers are talented, and there’s no substitute for that. And yet I don’t think that’s all of it. There are plenty of gifted singers, and a good many of them can go through the motions and belt out the notes, but it leaves you cold. It’s not convincing. There’ s something more in these people.
Could it be their trainings? Clearly these folks have worked and have been rehearsed well. And again there is no substitute for that. Especially when you are doing something for the Lord, there is no substitute for that. Why is it that when we are doing something for the Lord or for the church we think we can get by with so-so work? There is no substitute for careful preparation, for good solid training, for knowing what you are doing. And when these folks sing, their training shows.
And yet I don’t think that’s quite it, either. I don’t think that fully explains the sound we’ve been hearing. I don’t believe that really tells us why these voices provide the music we’ve heard. There are plenty of technically capable people, who can do the music correctly, with every note in tune and every word in perfect diction and every beat right on time, but when you hear them, you know something is missing. That warmth, that personal quality, that human side: it’s missing with some people. But these folks have something extra.
Let me tell you exactly what I believe we are hearing this morning. We are hearing not only the voice of talent; we are hearing not only the results of training; we are most of all hearing the power of the song of a free spirit. The song of a free spirit.
For, you see, the thesis of my message this morning is that it is only when your spirit has been freed that you have a song to sing. It is only when your heart has been released that you have praise to offer. It is only when your life has been changed that you have a dynamic quality to share.
The other night some of us gathered to look over some line drawings showing how we might do some renovations and expansions of this church building. The line drawings were all right in their own way. They did show the length and the width, they did have all the facts right there. But as we struggled to visualize how it all might look, one of our members, who is an architect, said to another, "Let’s you and I build a mode1 so that we can see it in three dimensions.” "Let’s give it that missing ingredient that goes beyond the mere facts and give it some body, some substance, some feeling".
When your spirit has been freed, you have a song to sing like no other. It is not just the song of a talented person; it is the song that convinces, because it comes from deep within. It has body and substance and feeling.
And it is not just the song of a well-trained musician; it is the song that reveals the very heart and soul, coming out of personal experience. And for that there is no substitute, no substitute at all.
The Christian church back in the 16th Century did its thing and did it well enough. No end of artists, musicians, craftsmen, teachers, writers, many others, gave their skills to the church. You have only to look at the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages and you will see that. Tremendous beauty, fascinating and intricate work. But by the sixteenth century, it became clear that something was missing. Something just did not fit. Something was not there amid all the masses and festivals and pomp and circumstance. What was it? What was it that did not satisfy?
Martin Luther thought he knew. This young German monk, studying the Scripture not only because he had to teach it to others, but also because he truly wanted to know it for himself, Luther thought he had found the missing ingredient: “The just shall live by faith". "The just shall live by faith" -- a personal, vital relationship with the living Christ. And Luther thought, you may do church all day long; you may chant psalms and repeat prayers and do everything the church asks you to do, but if you have no faith, no trusting relationship with Christ, it means nothing.
And so when Luther found faith -- when Luther found out how to set his heart free -- is it any surprise that a mighty renewal came about in his life? Is it any surprise that a mighty revolution came about in the church of his day? Is it any surprise that "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" came out of his lips and off of his pen?
No, it is not -- because when your spirit is freed, then you can sing. And until the heart soars, the voice will be still.
Twenty-five centuries before Martin Luther’s discovery, someone else discovered the same thing. He put it down as what we call the 51st Psalm. The King of Israel had been a talented singer -- that we know. The story is told of how the old king, Saul, had summoned the young David to play for him and soothe his troubled spirit. David had the talent, without question.
And David had all kinds of skill, too. He had rehearsed his music on the hillsides, tending the sheep. He had honed his skills in the courts of the war-weary Saul. And he had become so capable that the priests of the Tabernacle had used his many compositions in the worship services. No question about David’s technical training.
Oh, but David’s human side! King David’s emotional side! What horrible things he had done! How power had corrupted him! The King of Israel had wanted what was not his. He had wanted another man’s wife, and had seduced her. To top it off, he had arranged to have her husband eliminated, murdered in cold blood. And with reckless abandon, he had flaunted the law of God, he had destroyed his standing with the people, he had crushed his own very soul.
Where is the song now? Who cares to hear the song of an arrogant, lying, lecherous, murderous, conniving, power-hungry man?
But David saw one day. He saw what Luther was to see. He saw what Wesley was to see. He saw what they saw in the cotton fields of the South. He saw what Beethoven and Roland Carter, Brahms and Walter Hawkins, and scores of others were to see: David saw that it is only when you let the free and gracious spirit of the living God cleanse you and set you free that you will have a song to sing. David saw that:
"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. … Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit …Then … then … then my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Then … then … then, O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise."
Have you seen this, have you felt this, has this happened to you? Have you a song to sing because you are forgiven and you are free?
Are you just going through the motions, saying all the right things and touching all the right notes, but you know you cannot yet say, “This is my story, this is my song.” Then you need to pray with King David, “create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
Are you just settled down and in a spiritual rut, never changing, never growing, never willing to take a risk, never feeling as though you could just explode with joy and laughter and praise? Then you need to cry out with King David, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit", and you need to sing out with Martin Luther, "Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still; His Kingdom is forever.”
For it is only when your spirit is freed that you have a song to sing. "My tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." It is only when you know Jesus Christ, for yourself, in faith, that your song and your life is at all convincing. Then and only then, "I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free.” Then and only then, “O for a thousand tongues to sing, blessed be the name of the Lord.... for He breaks the power of canceled sin, blessed be the name of the Lord, my Lord"
Will you come now? Will you receive Him into your heart and life right now? Will you let Him give you substance and feeling and depth? Will you let him set your spirit free so that the song you sing, the life you live, becomes authentic? Blessed by the name of the Lord, who will free your spirit and give you a song to sing right now.
