What do you have to say today?
Here is what I know… worship is, in the words of John MacArthur, the Ultimate Priority of the church.
Piper said:
Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless
millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.[1]
Worship, of course, takes many forms. One of the best forms is singing. From the first ten
Psalms we find:
- Psalm 5:11 (NIV) But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
- Psalm 7:17 (NIV) I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.
- Psalm 9:2 (NIV) I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most
High.
- Psalm 9:11 (NIV) Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done.
There is nothing like loud, full-throated singing to bring worship to God. Keith and Kristyn Getty moved to America to teach the church in America to sing. Why?
Repeatedly and throughout Scripture, we are commanded to be a singing people. There are more than four hundred references to singing in the Bible and at
least fifty direct commands. We are not to disregard the command because we don’t like the music or the personnel or are not in the mood. The command in Psalm 149:1 contains no caveats or conditions. It should go without saying that the leadership of a church should be facilitating congregational singing so that we can all honor the Lord in this together. We are told to sing.[2]
One problem. People in our culture don’t sing anymore. When I was in High School and we sang the national anthem at football games, we sing the national anthem. Everyone sang. No more. People don’t sing in our world anymore. Daniel Levitin
observes:
Only relatively recently in our own culture, five hundred years or so ago, did a distinction arise that cut society in two, forming separate classes of music performers and music listeners. Throughout most of the world and for most of human history, music making was as natural an activity as breathing and walking, and everyone participated. Concert halls, dedicated to the performance of music, arose only in the last several centuries.[3]
Look at the opening clip of the old sit-com All in the Family. Edith and Archie Bunker are sitting at the piano singing together: “Oh, the way Glenn Miller played…” We are to understand that this was a slice of normal life back in the day. When is the
last time you and your wife or husband sang around the piano and sang?