Theme: Give thanks thru worship
Text: Ephesians 5:18-20
Greetings
The Lord is good; his love endures forever. I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Today, I would like to share with you the significance of giving thanks to God through worship. It is based on Ephesians 5:19-20.
The spiritual requisite for the Public Worship.
• Worship through Songs and Music
• Give thanks through Dignity and Honour
• Give thanks through the Holy Spirit and Name of Jesus
1. Worship through Songs and Music
‘When you meet together, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as you praise the Lord with all your heart’ (Ephesians 5:19 Contemporary English Version)
‘And your hearts will overflow with a joyful song to the Lord. Keep speaking to each other with words of Scripture, singing the Psalms with praises and spontaneous songs given by the Spirit!’ (The Passion Translation).
‘When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other in the soulful words of pious songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; to sing and make music with your hearts attuned to God’(The Voice).
‘Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise with voices and instruments and making melody with all your heart to the Lord’(AMPC).
Ellicott says the usages of the words Psalm and Hymns have particular reference to the Public worship understood by the Jews and the Early Christians (Acts 4:24). Psalm implies a piece of music with instrumental accompaniment (1 Corinthians 14:26; James 5:12). Hymn means purely vocal music directed to the praise of God of the whole company of the Christian Church (Matthew 26:30; Acts 16:25).
Meyer expresses that according to Paul the worship is an expression of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and cannot be a program of a Church (FB Meyer).
Singing is neither to reveal talents nor for mercantile. It is not for self-glory, but to edify one another, to promote purity of heart by songs of praise. It has the force of a command, and it is a matter of obligation on Christians. From the beginning, the praising had a significant part of public worship (Albert Barnes).
Music constituted another demanding part of the worship of the temple and evidently in the early Christians. So, the singing of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual songs play important roles in worship mentioned by Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians.
Pulpit Commentary writes: ‘Receive the Spirit - pour out the Spirit; let your songs be effusions sent forth from your hearts with the aroma of the Holy Spirit’.
According to Charles Hodge, spiritual songs mean either “inspired”—i.e., derived from the Spirit—or expressing spiritual thoughts and feelings. It is not only inspired people who are said to be filled with the Spirit but all those who in their ordinary thoughts and feelings are governed by the Holy Spirit (Charles Hodge).
John MacArthur comments that "For over a thousand dark years of its history (c. 500–1500) the church, in general, did not sing. Until reformation, the church had professional musicians. The music they presented could not be understood or appreciated by an average church member. Since, they could only sit and listen, unable to participate. But reformation brought the Bible back into the along with singing. Martin Luther and some of the other Reformation leaders are among the greatest hymn writers of church history.” (ref:preceptaustin.org).
It is a very true statement. After the reformation Charles Wesley brought modern music to the Methodist Church and to the Christian world, he was like a pop singer in those days. He brought church music to the modern and popular world. Today, the Lord looks for creativity within the sphere of the spiritual life of the Church.
2. Worship through Dignity and Honour
John Stott - Drunken People give way to wild, dissolute and uncontrolled actions. They behave like animals, indeed worse than animals. The results of being filled with the Spirit are different. If excessive alcohol dehumanizes, turning a human being into a beast, the fullness of the Spirit makes us more human, for he makes us like Christ. It leads to dignified worship.
The Net Bible note for Ephesians 5:18: It says that being filled by the Holy Spirit refers to five unchanging practices: (1) speaking, (2) singing, (3) making music, (4) giving thanks, and (5) submitting (ref:preceptaustin.org).
However, Christians of the present day are struggling with the last one, submission. They want to do everything except submission. Submission to God as well as to authority is important and undeniable to be a Christian.
The heathen festivals were noted for intemperate revelry and song, but the Christian congregation was to set an example of deified exhilaration and rapture (Clement of Alexandria).
We must stand firm in determination to appreciate and maintain the purity, dignity, and vivacity of the corporate worship of God. The entirety of your redeemed humanity is honoured. You can’t present your body without presenting your soul. You can’t separate them. Your body goes, and its energies and faculties, where your heart goes (Romans 12:2). “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, Oh God, a broken and a contrite heart thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 51) (Ref:heraldofgrace.org).
Dignity needs to be maintained while we express our love to God as well as to one another. No trespassing to the advantage of Satan. Many choirs do not share the salvation experience. Many musicians do not respect the values of the Bible. In some Churches, the organists and musicians go away during the sermon. They do not involve with the worship of God. They want to be appreciated and honoured. They rob the glory of God. Be watchful of your dignity.
3. Worship through Holy Spirit and Name of Jesus
‘In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, always give thanks for everything to God the Father’(Ephesians 5:20 GNT).
‘Always give thanks to Father God for every person he brings into your life in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (The Passion Translation).
‘giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:20 Century BV).
Matthew Henry says Paul wants all God's people to have to sing for joy. Though we are not always singing, we should be always giving thanks.
We should never want disposition for this duty, as we never want matter for it, through the whole course of our lives. Always, even in trials and afflictions, and for all things; being satisfied with their loving intent, and good tendency.
Paul had admonished the followers of Christ that they should Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks. ‘Thanksgiving is for what God has given us, and prayer for what we still need, both must be united in our imperfect condition’ (Ellicott).
Paul describes the habitual spirit of thankfulness, prevailing alike in joy and sorrow, undisturbed even by a penitent sense of sin, as the inner music of all Christian life. (1 Thessalonians 5:18, Colossians 3:17).
The Liturgy of the Episcopal church puts, "We, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for thy goodness and loving-kindness to us, and all men.
In 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul exhorts the believers to pray for all men. The sense, according to this, would be, that we are to praise God for his general mercy to mankind; for all the happiness which mortals are permitted to enjoy; for the love of God to mankind in creation, in providence, and redemption - just as a grateful child will give thanks for all the kindness shown to his brothers and sisters One obvious effect of this would be to overcome "selfishness," and to make us rejoice in the happiness of others as well as in our own."(Albert Barnes).
Giving thanks always for all things. They are things of temporal, things of spiritual, the mercies of life, for the election, redemption, sanctification, adoption, pardon, and justifying grace, and eternal life through Christ. Further, for his unchanging promises, truths, ordinances. So, Do always, at all times, in times of adversity, abandonment, temptation, affliction, and maltreatment, as well as in prosperity and success (John Gill).
Give thanks for the blessings of your dear ones, prosperity of friends and all. The praise, both outwardly with the mouth and inwardly in the silence of the heart. This third form is thanksgiving. This thanksgiving is described as a constant duty. It is performed by the mind, by the tongue, and by working.
St. Chrysostom’s habitual doxology was, “Glory be to God for all things”, and it was the last word of his suffering life (Notes from the Cambridge Bible).
God the Father is the proper Object of thanksgiving, as of prayer always done in the Name of Christ. Because through Christ, God has brought the economy of grace, whereby for wrath we get the blessing, for suffering we get the reward, for the misery we have glory, whereby the whole aspect of life is brightened and even the greatest trials and sorrows turned into real blessings (Pulpit Commentary for Ephesians 5:20).
The following verses refer to the power in the name of Jesus: Matthew 10:41, Mark 16:17, Luke 10:17, John 14:13, Acts 3:6, 1 Corinthians 5:4, Philippians 2:10, Colossians 3:17, James 5:14, and 1 Peter 4:14.
Conclusion: Worship through Songs and Music, Dignity and Honour. Holy Spirit and Name of Jesus.
