Singing the Word / Colossians 3:15-16
Introduction: The Gathering and Why We Sing
Welcome to The Well. I am so glad you are hanging out with us this week. We are going to be in several different passages today, so if you want to get a head start, go ahead and turn to Exodus chapter 3, and we will bounce to a couple of different scriptures from there.
We are in the middle of a series called The Gathering. The whole purpose of this series is to reframe theologically what it means for us to assemble together. If you have been with us over the last couple of weeks, we started by looking at what it means to read, preach, and teach the Word of God as we gather. Last week, Shay talked about what it means to pray the Word of God as we gather. Today, we are diving into our third installment: what it means for us to sing the Word of God as we gather.
Let me set this up a bit. In our teaching team meeting this week—we have a lot of fun together as a staff—Shay showed us a picture of a T-shirt he was thinking about buying. It had a classic picture of Jesus on it. It is probably not what Christ actually looked like, because usually in those paintings he looks like he is from Michigan, but on the shirt, the quote underneath just said, “I didn’t say that.” I thought that was pretty funny. It reminded me of another shirt I saw once that showed a piece of fruit with a bite taken out of it, and underneath it read, “My bad. —Eve.”
Talk about the greatest understatement in human history. “My bad—I’ve now plunged all of humanity into sin.” But what is fascinating about that moment in Genesis 3 is that when Eve and Adam sinned, human depravity entered the world, and a profound separation occurred between God and mankind. Before Genesis 3, man was walking in the garden with God in the cool of the day. There was absolute oneness, sweet fellowship, and unbroken communion. When sin entered, that communion was shattered.
As you trace the rest of the Bible, it is the story of God pursuing fallen humanity, reaching out to redeem us and bring us back into relationship. Between Genesis 3 and the cross of Jesus Christ—where the Second Adam fully redeems us—you see God continually reaching out to re-establish a relationship of true worship.
Delivered to Worship: The Biblical Story of Song
Look for a moment at Exodus chapter 3, verse 12. We talk a lot about Moses and the burning bush. It was a transformational moment where God called Moses out of obscurity to deliver His people. Typically, in our minds, we picture a Charlton Heston figure marching before Pharaoh and demanding, “Let my people go!” But we rarely finish the sentence: let my people go so that they might do what?
Notice what God tells Moses in Exodus 3:12.
Exodus 3:12 (NASB)
And He said, ‘Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.’
God says, “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” Some translations say “serve.” Worship and service here carry the idea of offering, presenting, and giving yourself to God. The very essence of the Exodus—God delivering His people out of 430 years of slavery, oppression, and surrounding paganism—was to bring them out so they could assemble corporately and worship Him.
They had lost what it meant to commune with the living God. They had forgotten who He was. So God gave them His law so they could know Him, and He delivered them so they could worship Him. God is a God who longs for His creation to worship Him.
Fast-forward to Exodus chapter 15. The plagues have fallen, Pharaoh’s heart has hardened and broken, and God has miraculously parted the Red Sea. Israel walks through on dry ground, and Pharaoh’s army is swallowed up. What is Moses’ immediate response to the power and deliverance of God?
Exodus 15:1 (NASB)
Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said, ’I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.
Moses and the sons of Israel sang. Out of the joy of their overflowing hearts, they sang to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted!” The knowledge of the power, awesomeness, and salvation of God moved them to respond in song.
Psalm 98 puts it this way:
Psalms 98:4-6 (NASB)
Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, With the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn Shout joyfully before the King, the LORD.
When the people of God gain an understanding of who He is, their natural response is song. First Chronicles 16:8–9 echoes this: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wondrous works!”
1 Chronicles 16:8-9 (NASB)
Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.
When the tabernacle and temple were being established, God gave incredibly specific instructions. You almost have to be an architect or an engineer to read through those blueprints. But God was not just specific about the curtains and the gold; He was specific about the singing. First Chronicles 25 tells us that 288 trained musicians and singers were appointed to minister before the Lord. When the exiles returned from Babylon under Ezra to rebuild the temple, among the inventory of horses, camels, and mules, Ezra specifically counts 200 trained singing men and women. You cannot escape the biblical reality that God desires His people to ascribe worth to Him through song.
A People Marked by Singing
The Old Testament people of God were distinctly marked as a vocal, verbal, melodic people who communicated praise to Yahweh in song.
Even in Babylonian captivity, their captors recognized this. Psalm 137 tells us that the Israelites sat down by the rivers of Babylon and wept, hanging their harps upon the willows. Their captors demanded of them, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” And they cried out, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”
Psalms 137:1-4 (NASB)
By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our harps. For there our captors demanded of us songs, And our tormentors mirth, [saying], ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’ How can we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land?
Even in exile, they were known as a people who sang to their God. Why did they sing? They sang because of who God is. They sang because of what God had done. They sang because of God’s steadfast, covenant love for them.
When you read through the Psalms, this command is everywhere:
Psalms 33:1-3 (NASB)
Sing for joy in the LORD, O you righteous ones; Praise is becoming to the upright. Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
Psalms 40:3 (NASB)
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD.
Over and over again, the scriptures say: “I will sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion” (Psalm 9:11); “Sing praises to the Lord, O you His saints” (Psalm 30:4); “Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth” (Psalm 68:32). When God’s people were filled with the joy, awe, and magnificence of God, song poured out of them. And it delighted the heart of God.
Jewish tradition recorded in the Mishnah notes that ancient believers would spend extended time in praise before they even began to pray. They would sing Psalm after Psalm, filling the room with praise to prepare their hearts for prayer.
This pattern does not stop in the Old Testament; it carries straight into the New Testament. When Zechariah learns he will father John the Baptist, he bursts into song. When Mary is told she will carry the Messiah, she breaks into song. When aged Simeon holds the infant Jesus in the temple, he bursts into song. In the Upper Room, after instituting the Lord’s Supper, Matthew tells us that Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn together before heading out to the Mount of Olives. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are beaten and locked in the deepest dungeon in Philippi, and at midnight, what are they doing? They are praying and singing hymns of praise to God while the other prisoners listen.
Acts 16:25 (NASB)
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
Even in prison, their hearts were so full of the glory of God that songs rose to their lips.
Singing the Word: Colossians 3
What does the Bible teach about us, as the corporate church, singing the Word together? Turn with me to Colossians 3, beginning in verse 14.
Colossians 3:14-16 (NASB)
Beyond all these things [put on] love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms [and] hymns [and] spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Paul tells us that as the Word of Christ dwells in us richly, we are to teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Martin Luther once said:
“Music is a vehicle for proclaiming the Word of God. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was only given to man to let him know that he should praise God with both word and music, namely by proclaiming God’s Word through music and by providing sweet melodies with words.”
Notice the three categories Paul mentions:
- Psalms: Directly setting scripture to music, quoting the Psalms and the Word of God back to Him.
- Hymns: Songs that unpack rich theological truths, recounting the biblical narrative and the grand story of redemption.
- Spiritual Songs: Prayers and personal expressions of praise from the heart.
Paul says we are to sing these with thankfulness and joy in our hearts to God. When we assemble, our singing should be full of delight.
John Wesley famously gave these directions for singing to his congregations:
“Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.”
Think about that. How do you act when you are alone in your car and your favorite song comes on the radio? You crank the volume and you belt it out. I am an old soul musically; if James Taylor comes on, I am singing at the top of my lungs. If Public Enemy comes on, I might go for that too—I have a weird musical taste. But when that song hits, you light up without shame. Wesley is saying: why would we sing songs to the Lord of glory with less passion than we sing secular songs in our cars or in the shower?
Filled with the Spirit: Ephesians 5
Is singing to the Lord merely a cold, disciplined obligation? Or is it an organic overflow of the heart? Look at Ephesians 5:18–19.
Ephesians 5:18-19 (NASB)
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
We frequently quote verse 18 to say, “Do not get drunk with wine.” That is absolutely true and biblical. But do not miss Paul’s broader point. He is contrasting two driving forces. When a person is under the influence of alcohol, it controls them, leading to dissipation and sin. Paul says: do not let substances control your life. Instead, be filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit.
What is the natural evidence and overflow of being filled with the Spirit? Keep reading verse 19: “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.”
When the Holy Spirit fills and influences your life, the natural byproduct is corporate praise. Spirit-filled believers speak the truth to one another in song, making melody in their hearts to the Lord.
Worship with Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength
In our church culture, we often treat gathering as a purely intellectual exercise. We love to study, learn, take notes, and analyze the text. It becomes about the head and the hands: learn truth, do truth. But that is an incomplete picture of biblical discipleship.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He did not merely say, “Learn the scriptures with your mind.” He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” God wants your intellect, but He also wants your soul, your affections, and your emotive worship.
Singing is not the opening act for the sermon. Some people treat the gathering like a concert where you endure the warm-up band just to hear the headliner speak. That mindset produces a “come late, leave early” church culture. You have seen it: the pastor says, “In Jesus’ name, Amen,” and people bolt for their cars. We are not even finished yet—we are about to respond in song—and people are running out the door because they think they got the podcast they came for.
If all you want is a sermon, you can listen to a podcast at home. But we gather as the body of Christ to worship God together with our whole being. Music engages our souls in a way that mere lecture cannot.
Martin Luther wrote:
“Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. She is a mistress and governess of those human emotions which control men or more often overwhelm them… What more effective means than music could you find?”
There is something uniquely powerful about the assembled body of Christ lifting its voice together. You can listen to great worship music on Spotify with your headphones on the treadmill, or sing loudly in your car, but you cannot replicate the gathered church. There is nothing like the redeemed people of God singing the truths of the gospel over one another with joy and freedom.
This is not a morgue, and it is not a funeral. We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! When the Olympics are on and a gymnast sticks the landing or a swimmer touches the wall first, we jump out of our seats and scream. We express unchecked emotion. Yet so often, we walk into the presence of the living Creator of the universe, stand with our hands jammed in our pockets, and look bored.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We do not need to be terrified of showing emotion. In this church, because we are so deeply committed to the scriptures, we are not at risk of becoming wildly emotionally driven. But we do run the risk of becoming so intellectual that we lose the joy, awe, and mystery of the Holy Spirit. We risk having great theology in our heads with zero delight in our hearts.
Last week, while Shay was preaching at the 5:00 service, I was sitting toward the back. Usually, I sit in the front, but this time I was in the back, singing and worshiping freely. A young man sitting four rows in front of me kept turning around to look at me. I do not know if he recognized my voice or was just surprised to see the pastor in the back, but I just kept going. And it hit me: as I was singing the gospel, he was hearing it, and it was encouraging him.
That is why we assemble. I sing the gospel, you hear it, and your soul says, Amen. You sing the gospel, I hear it, and my soul says, Amen. When the body sings, the whole church is edified.
It is okay to sing here. It is okay to clap. If you can manage to clap and sing on beat at the same time, go for it! If you want to lift your hands in surrender to the Lord, do it. Respond to God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Dress Rehearsal for Glory
We ought to get used to singing, because when we step into eternity, things will look different. There will not be a printed Bible in heaven because we will be standing in the direct presence of the Living Word. We will not pray in the same way because all things will be made new and redemption will be complete. But you know what we will do for all eternity? We will sing and we will worship.
Revelation 7:11-12 (NASB)
And all the angels were standing around the throne and [around] the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, [be] to our God forever and ever. Amen.’
Revelation 22:3 (NASB)
There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;
What we do here every Sunday is simply a dress rehearsal for glory. If you are someone who says, “I’m not really a music person,” you might want to ask the Lord to develop that appetite, because you are going to spend eternity singing praise to the Lamb.
Jonathan Edwards put it beautifully:
“So far, therefore, as we sing this song on earth, so much shall we have the prelibations [foretastes] of heaven. And this will make our public assembly some image of heaven, and will make our Sabbath days and Thanksgiving days some resemblance of the eternal Sabbath and Thanksgiving that is solemnized by the innumerable company of angels and spirits of just men made perfect.”
Responding Together
When we gather, we read and preach the Word. We pray the Word. And we sing the Word.
When we sing, we throw personal inhibition aside. It does not matter if you are perfectly on pitch. It does not matter if the person next to you thinks you have a great voice. We do not sing to perform; we sing to build up the body and glorify our King. Worship is not an isolated, individualistic experience where we close our eyes and retreat inward. It is a corporate reality where we declare to one another: This is who God is. This is what Jesus has done. This is the glory of the gospel.
My prayer for our church is that the deep theological knowledge we hold in our heads would sink down into our affections. I pray that our hearts would be genuinely moved by the beauty of the gospel, and that out of a heart submitted to the Holy Spirit, we would find the freedom to lift our voices and sing.
Let’s pray together.
Father, as we consider what it means to sing Your Word, we ask that You would move deeply in our hearts. Help us to love You with all that we are—heart, soul, mind, and strength. Keep us firmly tethered to the truth of Your Word, but ignite our affections so that our response is filled with genuine joy, awe, and delight.
Thank You for pursuing us, for redeeming us, and for putting a new song in our mouths. As we assemble together, may our corporate song be a powerful testimony. When guests walk through our doors, may they be struck by the joy and life they hear in this room, and may they be drawn to the Savior who gives us a reason to sing. We love You, and we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.