WHY BELIEVERS SING

Photo by B Smith from the Patio

395-1 WHY BELIEVERS SING

December 18, 1977

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

 

Colossians 3: 16, 17 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

This is a very important passage in the Bible, and it is very intimately linked with 

Ephesians 5: 18 - 20 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

In Ephesians 5 we are instructed to not be drunk with wine, but to be filled with the Spirit. 

Here in Colossians 3: 16 we are told we are to be filled with the Word of Christ.

1/  The Holy Spirit cannot control your life unless you are filled with the Word of Christ. Now the Word of Christ, I believe is a very special title—it does not appear anywhere else in the bible, and it means the Scripture that God gave to Paul—the special message that God gave to Paul—so if you do not know doctrine, you cannot be filled with the Sprit.

2/  We told you the words, LET DWELL—N-OY-KET-O and it means to DWELL INSIDE, TO INDWELL, TO INHABIT AS ONE WOULD IN A HOME. So the Word of Christ is to find a home in your mind. The word, RICHLY IS PLU-SEE’-OCE and it mans, SATURATION. So if the Holy Spirit is to control you, you must be saturated with the Word of God.

3/  The punctuation in the Authorized Version—the King James Version does not bring out the three parts clearly and distinctly. But there are three different, clear and distinct commandments here.

1)  First of all we are told that the Word of Christ must dwell in us richly.

2)  Thus equipped and controlled by the truth, we will be able to bless and help others. For He tells us in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. What we have been given is not for ourselves alone. We are to be ready to communicate.

3) Then in the third place, thus controlled by the Word of God and communicating this truth to others, our lives will be lyrical and our hearts will be filled with melody and we will be a singing believer.

4/  Christianity sings. The world sings because it has to keep up its happiness. The world has to have songs to help them forget their terrible plight, but not so with the believer. Our songs are natural. We don’t have to have songs to make us happy. We have songs to help us sing out our joy, and what would we do without them? It is hard to be down in the mouth when singing of His Grace.

5/  Let us look at the first part of that verse—that the Word of Christ may dwell in us to the point of saturation. We said there is a relationship between this Scripture and Ephesians 5: 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Most people have the wrong idea of what it means to be filled with the Spirit. They go back to the Pentecostal program where the Holy Spirit took over the believer, and that is why they were able to have all things common, sell everything they had, and the Scripture says they were of one heart and one soul and one mind. But that is not what we have today.

(Editor’s Note: What the early church had at Pentecost is a preview, a foretaste of the Millennial Reign of Christ on earth—living as one in perfect harmony. Satan imitates every program of God and his attempt to imitate Christ’s Reign on earth is Communism / Socialism which is a perversion of God’s plan. Satan is no match for God.)

6/  To Fill is a present, passive, imperative verb. Imperative means tense—we are to be constantly, continually filled. And then thirdly, it is a passive verb, followed by a dative action and it indicates the Filler. If it had been the passive verb, followed by the genitive case, it would mean possession. It would mean the Holy Spirit would fill you with Himself. That is not the case here. Rather, the Holy Spirit is the agent that fills you with something else, and what is that something else? 

Colossians 3: 16 tells us the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is the Teacher Who takes the Word of God as you learn it and memorize it and applies it to your life.

7/  Because you are filled by the Word and the Holy Spirit is the Agent that is teaching you, you now have a responsibility to communicate what you have learned—in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. We do need wisdom when we teach and admonish one another. 

8/  The Word, teach, is DID-DOSK-O it is used to mean to teach with authority—to teach a group with authority. it is never used for a one-on-one teaching. So as we gather together in the local assembly, we have a classroom, and we are to teach one another.

9/  The word, admonishing. TO INSTRUCT SO AS TO WARN. When we teach and understand the Bible we warn one another, teaching and admonishing go hand in hand. The words, ONE ANOTHER in the Greek should be, TO SELF AND OTHERS. We need to learn before we can teach.

10/  Now we come to the third part of that verse—songs and hymns and spiritual songs. We are to be a singing assembly. I am positive singing is not to be ritualistic—it is meaningless unless there is doctrine. You know, many hymns are not doctrinal. As a matter of fact, many of them are anti-doctrinal. Many of our song writers have never heard doctrine, and so they do not make good songs or hymns for the Christian church.

11/  Let me show you something about singing in the book of Psalms.

Psalm 13: 5, 6  But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

Here we have the Psalmist singing because of the providential dealings of God with him. His heart if filled with gratitude because of the abundant grace and mercy which has been manifested toward him. I have trusted I will sing. One who trusts God will be a singing individual. One who realizes that God has dealt with him far in excess of what he deserves, he will be a singing believer.

12/  Exodus 15: 1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Here we have Moses, when we think about him we think he was too busy to be bothered with singing. He carried the woes and worries fo a great nation upon his shoulders. How could he sing? Israel got into trouble and got into sin so often and rebelled against God and against Him. We read then sang Moses and the Children of Israel the song of the Lord. He and Israel could not help lifting their voices in song to God after they were delivered from the rider and his company.

13/  Matthew 26: 30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

Even in the shadow of the cross the Lord Jesus Christ sang. For it tells us in this verse, after they had sung a hymn they went out into the mount of Olives. In a very short time, He was to die the most terrible of all deaths, He was to be made sin for us, yet He sang a hymn and rejoiced in the hope of resurrection, and of Divine vindication.

14/  The believer sings not only when the sun shines brightly, but also in the darkest of nights. 

Acts 16: 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

What did he have to sing about? Here we have Paul and Silas locked in prison in Philippi. Their feet are fast in stocks but they are singing unto the Lord. They were in a terrible situation, yet they can’t help but sing. I am convinced that they didn’t sing in a real dignified, ritualistic way—they just lifted their hearts and literally boomed out concerning their God. 

(Editor’s note: Casting all their cares upon Him—the word casting means to slam it down before the Lord—maybe even saying, Lord, I can’t deal with this situation, please take it and You deal with it. Not in anger, but in complete submission and trust that He can deal with it.)

15/  There is another thought about singing that we had better get straight in our minds. Christians cannot sing when they are not motivated by the Spirit when they are not filled with the Word and they are out of fellowship with God.

Psalm 137: 3, 4 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

Here is a principle that is true in every age. Israel, because of their sin had been carried into battle and made captive. They were in a backslidden state. Their captives required of Israel a song, knowing that they were a singing nation, and the Babylonians wanted to be entertained, but they could not sing. They had no song—they had lost their song.

16/  Notice, we are to sing Psalms. The hymnbook of the Bible is the Psalms. I know there are churches where they think it is all right to sing Psalms only. They are wrong, for this verse goes beyond Psalms, hymns and songs.

17/  Psalm 59: 16, 17 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.

Notice this, because I will sing of Thy power, yea, I will sing aloud of Thy mercy in the morning. Do you know how to get started right in the morning? It is to sing unto the Lord, sing His praises. Sing of His goodness. I was always taught that when you get up in the morning, if you sing before breakfast you’ll cry before supper, but I don’t believe that. Here we are told to wake up singing. What better way to start the day!

18/  Zephaniah 3: 17

Do you realize the very God Who calls upon His people to sing, likewise sings? The Lord God Who was in the midst of Thee is mighty. He will save, He will rejoice over Thee with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over Thee with singing.

Listen, our God is a singing God. It thrills my heart to realize that fact. In this portion. 

Zephaniah 3: 14 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

Israel is commanded to sing. What are they to sing about? Israel’s day of deliverance, and here is the King of Israel in her midst. the Lord’s presence is there, and He is the source of all their blessedness, and as a Bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so the Lord rejoices over His people and He sings to them. Imagine what men and women and their ability to sing, but here we have God pictured as singing. Imagine what that will be like. 

19/  James 5: 13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any merry? Let him sing songs.

20/  We are to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. What is the difference? A hymn is usually addressed to God, something like HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY,” “I AM THINE, O LORD, I HAVE HEARD THY VOICE.” 

Then we come to Psalm—a Psalm is just a Psalm set to music, and as we said, the Psalms are just the songbook of Israel.

21/  Then we come to spiritual songs, SONGS OF PRAISE. For example, a song of testimony, what the Lord has done for you, LOVE LIFTED ME, WHEN NOTHING ELSE COULD HELP, LOVE LIFTED ME. Or, REDEEMED, HOW I LOVE TO PROCLAIM IT, REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB. Then also, ALAS, AND DID MY SAVIOUR BLEED, AND DID MY SOVEREIGN DIE, WOULD HE DEVOTE THAT SACRED HEAD FOR SUCH A WORM AS I?

22/  The one who is Spirit-filled with the Word of God, will be a singing believer. I am always leery of the one who does not love to sing. It has nothing to do with your ability to sing, or the quality of your voice. It is a matter of being filled with the Word of Christ.

AMEN

Ref: 12/18/1977 / 395-1 WHY BELIEVERS SING / 05/14/2022