Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
Last week we spend some time covering this portion of Scripture in Ephesians Chapter 5 where Paul is writing about the spiritual walk of the believer. The fact is the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are given and sealed with the Holy Spirit.
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“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. (John 15:26 ESV)
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9 ESV)
The life of the believer is characterized by being filled with the Spirit. We said this is not a static filling as you may fill a box with balls, but a dynamic empowering filling, like how the wind fills the sails of a boat and gives it movement. It is an ongoing filling that guides our lives, gives us direction, convicts us of sin, and (as we studied last week), grants us wisdom in an evil world, and enables us to discern the will of the Lord.
Today we are going to continue along that theme, in talking about our worship. What I first want you to understand is that worship is not an event; it is a lifestyle. William Temple defined worship as “…the submission of all our nature to God; the quickening of conscience by His holiness; nourishment of mind by His truth; purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart by His love; and submission of the will to His purpose. All these gathered up in adoration is the greatest expression of which we are capable.”
· The quickening of conscience by HIS holiness (not mine)
· The nourishment of mind by HIS truth (not mine)
· The purifying of imagination by HIS beauty (not mine)
· Opening of the heart by HIS love (not mine)
· The submission of the to HIS purpose (not mine)
Nothing you do is more serious and important than worship; nothing. The basis of our worship, and the only basis of our worship, is to be the person, nature, and character of God through His son, Jesus Christ. It is not for entertainment. It is not a performance or an emotional appeal. It is the highest expression of love and reverence we can give to our Lord. Worship is the highest expression of the believer’s life and therefore the music that accompanies our worship should be the highest, noblest, and the best.
Music dominates our culture and world. Rarely, can we get away from it? If you are in the car, music is usually playing, at home, on the television, or on our phones. If you go into a store, on an elevator, exercise, and so on. In today’s world, almost everything we do has music involved in some manner. The reason is music is a powerful emotional stimulator. Truthfully, music is a gift from God. No wonder Satan uses music to pull people away from God and divide people.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18–21 ESV)
Music bypasses the mind and reaches deep into the heart, but music also reaches deep into the mind. The more we know about God, the more we will worship Him, but the more we worship the more we will know about God. God created music to extol His truth and honor His name. Music helps us learn. Why do you think we use music to teach our children their ABCs?
Scientists found that music induces a state of meditation and relaxes the brain. Thus, the effect of music on memory is that it allows our brains to become more disengaged or freer of “debris” which impedes our thoughts. Marketers also caught onto this and search for that perfect jingle to help you recall the product they’re marketing:
· “We are Farmers....”
· “I’m a Pepper...” (Dr. Pepper,1977)
· “Two All Beef Patties....” (McDonald's, 1975)
· “Oh I wish I were...” (Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs #1 Jingle Ever 1960s)
· The Intel Theme is one of the most notable tunes in commercials with just 4 Notes.
Now, if we can do that for hamburgers and sodas, how powerful should it be to use music to help up memorize Scripture and teach doctrinal truths? Music is a powerful way to glorify God and declare the awesome truths of His deeds, majesty, and character. But as the world grows eviler, so does the world take music deeper and deeper into corruption.
Satan also uses music as his training ground for the minds of degenerate people. He also uses music to convey false doctrine. It seems that, in most cases, if you want music that is beautiful, noble, lofty, pure, good, intelligent, and magnificent, you have to go back in time to a less sensual era, a less blatantly corrupt era.
The reason why music is so important in the church is that it is the gift God gave us music to help facilitate our worship of Him. Worship is the highest expression of a believer’s life, and therefore the music that accompanies our worship should be of the highest reverence and honor to God. In the case of secular music, it reflects the attitude of the society at the time it was produced, but that’s not true with Christian music. The music of the church should express the unchanging truth of the Word of God, that transcends culture.
But understand, that worship is not restricted to music alone; music is a means to express worship. Music gives sour worship wings to elevate our worship, express our adoration to our Heavenly Father, and declare his truths. Music does not motivate worship or induce us into a ‘Spirit of worship’. What I mean by that is worship should be not an emotional exercise to produce within us a feeling. Music is the expression of our worship through the Spirit of God. Your worship comes from the truth of the Gospel that you have come to love and understand.
Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. (Psalm 33:1)
1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. 3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! 5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! 6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord! (Psalm 98:1–6)
Someone once said, “Worship begins when we put God into our view. ”The more we understand the truths of God’s majesty, the more we have to worship. It is not something that needs to be conjured up in us. It is something that is a result of the overflow of knowing God and His truth in our lives. In other words, the more you begin to understand who God is, His mighty works, and the truth of Scripture, the more you want to praise him.
Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:3)
Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! (Psalm 149:3)
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. (Hebrews 13:15)
Over 250 times in the Bible we are told to praise the Lord. It is the second most frequent command in the Bible. In fact, God mentions in the Bible worship 509 times.
What produces true worship is His truth in your heart and the work of the Spirit of God. Your preferences, your style, lighting, instruments, and all these other peripheral things are irrelevant if our worship is not rooted in the truth of Scripture and led by the Spirit of God. Our attention and focus are on Him and His truth and everything else becomes a distraction from Him.
What all this leads to is our text in Ephesians 5:18 “18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” Now, why would Paul contrast being filled with the Spirit with being drunk? Because pagan worship was rooted in becoming drunk so that you would lose your inhibitions to the point of reaching some kind of stupor in relationship to the god you are worshipping. Then, add to that temple prostitutes and you have a description of the pagan religious experience. It is the total abandonment of all things sensual.
That’s why on the Day of Pentecost when the crowds saw the first disciples worshiping they thought they were drunk. Acts 2:13 “13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. (1 Peter 4:3)
Now Paul follows that prohibition with a command. Instead of getting drunk, be filled with the Holy Spirit. literally in the Greek - “be being kept filled with the Spirit.” It is a command for continuous filling. Some people think being filled with the Spirit is some kind of ecstatic experience; some people equate it with being slain in the Spirit or speaking in tongues. None of that is what Paul is talking about. Paul is contrasting the effects of alcohol with the results of the Spirit-led life.
Drunkenness damages the body, The Spirit builds the body
Drunkenness is a spiritual root of destruction, the Spirit gives life
Drunkenness inhibits our fight against temptation, the Spirit empowers us over temptation
Drunkenness makes us lose control, the Spirit leads us in order and reason.
Drunkenness produces immorality, the Spirit builds holiness in our lives.
Worship is inseparable from holiness. Holiness is inseparable from obedience. Obedience is inseparable from knowledge. Knowledge is inseparable from Scripture. And Scripture leads to knowledge. Knowledge leads to obedience, obedience leads to holiness, and that’s what it means to be under the control of the Holy Spirit. What happens when we abandon the Holy Spirit and truth?
Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps, I will not listen. (Amos 5:23 ESV)
There are those in modern worship circles who marginalize the importance of scriptural integrity. The operant priority is feeling, musicality, and popularity. There are others who brand themselves Christian music because of the popularity and therefore the financial benefits of that popularity who really have no faith at all or they’re heresy. Bethel Church in CA is a popular worship band derived from a cult and Hillsong has drifted so far away from the faith that neither one of these has a place in the worship of God.
What does Paul tell us to do? Look at his command in Ephesians 5:19-20 “19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Speaking is the Greek word laleo. It actually means - it is used for the sounds of a baby or animals and chirping of birds; it means to say or to speak. But it really could be simply translated as making sounds; making sounds. And further defining those sounds, we are making sounds to one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs by singing and making melodies.
The book of Psalms is the collection of songs written under the direction of the Holy Spirit (Mark 12:36; 2 Peter 1:21) by ancient Jewish leaders such as David, Moses, and Solomon. These inspired songs were part of the Hebrew Scriptures and used in corporate worship. The word psalm means “praise.”
A hymn is a song that gives praise, honor, or thanksgiving to God. The best ones often incorporate portions of Scripture and are filled with rich doctrinal truth. Hymns are often metrical poems arranged to be sung corporately. After the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn in Matthew 26:30.
The term spiritual songs are more general. Believers are to express their faith in song—but not just any song; Scripture indicates the songs of believers must be “spiritual.” That is the songs of the church deal with spiritual themes. They might not directly praise God, but they will teach a doctrine, encourage the body, or prompt others toward love and good works. A spiritual song might express the joy of one’s salvation, revel in the grace of Christ, or exalt the greatness and power of God.
Notice that in all of these, the focus and primary topic is ALWAYS about and centered toward God.
Singing is the Greek verb ado; making melody is from the verb psallo, from which the word psalm comes from - it literally means to sing to the accompaniment of an instrument, or to play an instrument. This is an expression of the Spirit-filled life. Vocal, instrumental music is the initial expression of the worship of a Spirit-filled believer. The voice of the believer is to be the most prevalent part of the church’s worship.
It is also a shared ministry among the saints. It is not entertainment. It is not evangelistic. It is to corporate worship. By the way, the Roman Catholic Church robbed the church of this for a thousand years, and when the Reformers came back and rediscovered the gospel, they also started to write hymns to share the truth of Scripture with believers.
?“I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” (Hebrews 2:12)
All of this is to say that our lives, the very fabric of who we are, is to be rooted in a lifestyle of worship. One of the most beautiful expressions of our adoration of our God is through music. That being so, we ourselves should give our absolute best toward that ministry. We need to learn how to be life-long worshippers. We need to champion the truth of Scripture and doctrine with our best music.
Why? The highest praise is due to our Lord Jesus Christ because he ransomed our captivity to give us eternal life that is sealed with the Holy Spirit. God created you to worship and when sin corrupted our souls we were so spiritually bankrupt that we had nothing to offer for our redemption. Therefore, God came as Jesus our Lord and Savior to redeem us and purchase our salvation. One day, we will stand in heaven together, and do you know what we are going to do? Sing.
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation 5:13–14)
But I want to tell you something else. When all is done and this is all complete, God is going to sing you a song: The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)
Will you come to him today?
