Tune My Heart To Sing Thy Grace
Opening Song:
Psalm 13 Song
Call to Worship:
Pastor Andrew Loginow
Colossians 3.12-17
Historical Reading:
Pastor Zachary McGuire
Westminster Confession of Faith 21.1-3; 5
Song:
Come thou fount
Confession & Pardon:
Pastor Michael Champoux
Song:
Doxology
Song:
All I have is Christ
Sermon:
Dr. Alex Loginow
Tune My Heart To Sing Thy Grace
Exod 15.1-21
Introduction
In April 1992 the Los Angeles Times published an op-ed entitled, “The Human Condition/Why We Like To Sing.” The article suggests that there’s a unique power in singing:
“Long before Madonna, people recognized the power of singing. Worshipers in the ancient temples of India, China and Tibet chanted to awaken chakras, thought to be the body’s energy center. And the Greek philosopher Pythagoras encouraged his students to sing each day to overcome fear and anger, worry and sorrow. According to the experts, singing has the power to alter our moods and conjure up memories and feelings. Singing also provides an emotional release, a way to express our thoughts and feelings, says Margaret Schaper, a USC professor of voice. “We sing because something inside us needs to express something beyond words…everyone can do this to some extent. The human voice is the most perfect of all instruments.””
The article also says “singing is the only thing that we have that transcends age, race and gender.” And that “singing also builds our confidence beyond music.” The conclusion of the article is “Forget what your kid brother might have said about how awful you sounded…Singing is the cheapest therapy you can find.”
To some degree the Christian tradition has always taught something similar. St. Augustine said, “To sing is to pray twice.” The Medieval scholastic Thomas Aquinas said, “Music is the exaltation of the mind derived from things eternal, bursting forth in sound.” The reformer Martin Luther said, “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” John Calvin said, “Now among the other things which are proper for recreating man and giving him pleasure, music is either the first, or one of the principal; and it is necessary for us to think that it is a gift of God deputed for that use.”
From the dawn of time God’s people have always been a singing people. Scripture is fit to burst with examples both of believers singing to God and God commanding believers to sing. Our text is one example of God’s people worshipping him by singing in response to salvation. We will use this occasion to see what Scripture says about singing. First, we will survey a brief biblical theology of singing, and then we will look at Exodus 15.1-21 drawing points of application for Christ Community Church today.
Biblical Theology of Singing
We begin with a brief biblical theology of singing. There’s a sense in which Scripture and creation itself begins with a song. The Bible opens with the creation account in Genesis 1-2. The literary form of Genesis 1 is undeniably poetic and Genesis 2 is a more literal recapitulation of Genesis 1. To put it another way – Genesis 1 is like a poem or song about creation and Genesis 2 is like a history book. Genesis 1 and 2 are both teaching the truth that God is the creator of everyone and everything but are doing so in two different ways.
The symmetry and repetition of Genesis 1 paint the picture almost as if God is singing the creation into existence. C.S. Lewis allegorizes this beautifully when the great Lion Aslan sings Narnia into existence in The Magician’s Nephew. Listen to this short excerpt:
Polly was finding the song more and more interesting because she thought she was beginning to see the connection between the music and the things that were happening. When a line of dark firs sprang up on a ridge about a hundred yards away she felt that they were connected with a series of deep, prolonged notes which the Lion had sung a second before. And when he burst into a rapid series of lighter notes she was not surprised to see primroses suddenly appearing in every direction. Thus, with an unspeakable thrill, she felt quite certain that all the things were coming (as she said) “out of the Lion’s head.” When you listened to his song you heard the things he was making up: when you looked round you, you saw them. This was so exciting that she had no time to be afraid.
The Lion opened his mouth, but no sound came from it; he was breathing out, a long, warm breath; it seemed to sway all the beasts as the wind sways a line of trees. Far overhead from beyond the veil of blue sky which hid them the stars sang again; a pure, cold, difficult music. Then there came a swift flash like fire (but it burnt nobody) either from the sky or from the Lion itself, and every drop of blood tingled in the children’s bodies, and the deepest, wildest voice they had ever heard was saying: “Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters.” The beasts and birds, by contrasts, cry out a reply in harmonic unity. “Hail, Aslan. We hear and obey. We are awake. We love. We think. We speak. We know.”
Lewis gives a beautiful and warranted interpretation of Genesis 1. The Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write Genesis 1 in poetic form to teach us that not only is God the great engineer of creation, He is also a great artist. He is the source of the good, the true, and the beautiful. The climax of the creation hymn comes in Genesis 1.27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Notice that the ESV structures this verse poetically as well. The eternal love song between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit gives birth to creation and ultimately humanity in God’s image.
And because humanity bears God’s image we can’t help but sing. The first recorded human words in history are a song! After God creates Eve from Adam, Adam sings: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen 2.23). Notice also the poetic structure of this verse in the ESV. Upon meeting Eve, Adam sings a love song in worship to God for creating a helper fit for him.
Like Adam Israel also sang. We’ll look in a moment at this particular song in response to YHWH’s salvation at the Red Sea but it is not unique. Deborah and Barak sang a song of victory in Judges. Hannah sang a song of praise at the birth of Samuel. The Song of Songs is a love song between the king and his bride foreshadowing Christ and his church.
But the majority of singing in Scripture concerns the Psalter. The Psalms were the hymnbook of Israel. For hundreds of years God’s old covenant people sang the Psalms in gathered worship. They sang Psalms in their homes. Their children memorized Scripture by singing it. God’s people trained their hearts to anticipate the fulfillment of God’s promises by singing of those promises together.
And when the time was right God did fulfill his promises and as a result people sang! In the first century God the Father sent his Son to be conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary. When Mary was pregnant and visited Elizabeth who was pregnant with John, Mary sang a song in worship (Luke 1.46-55). When angels announced to the shepherds that Jesus Christ was born there was a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased (Luke 2.14). This Jesus lived a truly human life and never sin (Heb 4.15). He followed God’s law perfectly in thought, word, and deed. One part of his covenant keeping was singing the Psalms.
For example, on the night that Jesus was betrayed Mark tells us that after the last supper Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn (Mark 14.26). On that weekend all of the promises that God’s people sung about for centuries were fulfilled when Jesus Christ died on the cross bearing God’s wrath for the sins of his people. Jesus the righteous took the just penalty for the sins of his people.
Jesus was buried. And then on the third day the snow of sin and death began to melt. Aslan was on the move. The spring of new creation began to dawn. The sun of eternal life started to rise. It was the beginning of the reversal of the curse. Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead – He is risen indeed!
And now everyone who repents of sin and places his or her faith in Jesus will be saved. All who take this knowledge of who Jesus is and what Jesus did, ascent to its validity, and transfer their trust to Jesus alone will receive the forgiveness of sins and the hope of resurrection. And those who do can’t help but sing about it. Paul modeled this for us in Acts 16.25 when he was imprisoned and with Silas sang hymns to God. In our Call to Worship Pastor Andrew read from Colossians 3.16 where Paul commands us to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We read similar commands in Ephesians 5.19 and James 5.13.
We sing in thankfulness for what God has done for us in Jesus Christ but we also sing in anticipation for when Jesus returns to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. In that day everything sad will be untrue. Revelation 5.9-14 paints a picture of that future when all of creation sings in adoration to the Lamb who was slain for the sins of his people. Scripture begins with a song and it ends with a song.
Implications For Singing In Response To Salvation
And in Exodus 15 after the most important event in the Old Testament Moses and Israel sing. The Exodus is the great archetype of salvation as YHWH leads his people out of slavery through his prophet Moses. This awesome event is pointing us to when God will lead his people out of the slavery of sin and death through his final prophet, priest, and king Jesus Christ. And the biblical response to salvation is to sing.
Our brief biblical theology underscores the prevalence of singing in Scripture – the Psalter in particular. Dr. Jim Hamilton says that Exodus 15.1-21 is the very first Psalm. Based on its content and structure along with date of composition and placement in the Canon, it is indeed the first Psalm. And Hamilton argues that Moses gives us “instructional worship that looks back in order to look foreword.” Moses is intentionally teaching us how to worship God by looking back in order to look foreword.
Like many of the Psalms, the literary structure of Exodus 15.1-21 is chiastic. It’s like a pyramid building to the middle on both sides. The song begins and ends in verses 1 and 21 saying, sing to YHWH for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. In verse 2 Moses sings that God is the place where he found his salvation. In verses 17-18, salvation is in the place where YHWH will take them. Verses 3-10 recount how YHWH delivered them from Egypt. Verses 12-16 preview how YHWH will deliver them from the nations in front of them.
Both sides build to the climax in verse 11:
Who is like you, O YHWH, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
The center of this song is the uniqueness of God. There is none like him. His majesty is in his holiness – his other-ness. His glorious deeds inspire awe. Moses is teaching us to sing to God based on who he is and what he has done – what he has done in the past and what he will do in the future. We wont recount all of the details of the Red Sea deliverance because we did that two weeks ago. If you missed the sermon on Exodus 14, check that out on our Facebook or YouTube channel. What we will do is draw out some implications about singing from Exodus 15.1-21.
God Commands Us To Sing
Along with Ephesians 5.19; Colossians 3.16; and James 5.13, Exodus 15.21 gives an explicit command to sing. The Hebrew verb שִׁיר is an imperative. It is a command to the community to sing. Simply put, if you do not sing you are in disobedience to God. There are more reasons to sing than the fact that God commands it but if God’s explicit command were all we had, it would be enough. We must sing because God explicitly commands us to sing.
God Is The Audience Of Our Singing
Notice also Exodus 15.1 says, Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to YHWH. In worship we sing to God, no one else. Whether you’re part of the band that leads us every week or you’re sitting in the congregation, do not sing to impress anyone else. If you’ve been doing so then repent, crucify your pride and sing to the Lord alone. We’re not here to worship you; we’re here to worship the crucified and risen Jesus.
On the flip side if your pride is keeping you from singing, repent, crucify your pride and sing. Are you self-conscious that you’re not a good singer? Neither am I and I have the loudest mouth here. Pastor Kevin has told me that he has watched our service back on Facebook or YouTube and he can hear me singing from my seat. So if you’re worried that someone might judge your inability to carry a tune, don’t worry, if they’re judging anyone, it’s probably me.
And even if they are judging, who cares? We’re not here to worship them; we’re here to worship Jesus. I feel like some of the fellas need to hear this. I’m not saying this is exclusively a problem with men; I’m sure there are women out there, maybe even in our church, who struggle with pride and wont sing, but in my 13 years of ministry I have seen that this is primarily a sin issue with men. The irony is some of you will tear up at the national anthem or you’ll enthusiastically sing along to “Forward Down the Field” on those rare occasions that the Lions score a touchdown, or you’ll sing the Michigan fight song but when the church gathers to worship the God of creation you’re silent and deadpan.
That’s shameful! If you think you’re too cool or too manly to sing then repent, crucify your pride and sing. There is no man who has ever lived who is manlier than Jesus of Nazareth. He never sinned so he is literally the truest human who ever lived since Adam and Eve before the fall. Jesus is the truest man who ever lived and Jesus sang. Sing to the Lord and to him alone!
God Is Worthy Of Our Singing
Third, God is worthy of our singing. We noted that Moses’ song is about who God is and what he did in saving his people through judging his enemies. A majority of the songs in Scripture – the entire Psalter and others – merely contain objective truth about who God is and what God did in salvation. That’s not to say there aren’t parts of the Psalms that are subjective, speaking to our feelings, but they are never severed from the objective truth of who God is and what God did in salvation.
For example, take notice of verse 13:
You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;
you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode (Exod 15.13).
What a superb summary of salvation! Moses declares that God redeems his people from slavery and into his presence. And the most important point is that God leads his people by his steadfast love. This might be the most important word in the Old Testament. The Psalter is filled with the term steadfast love, as the ESV translates it. We sang it to open our service when we sang Psalm 13.5-6: I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD because he has dealt bountifully with me.
The Hebrew word translated a steadfast love is חֶ֫סֶד and the best translation for this word is, “covenant faithfulness.” It is by YHWH’s covenant faithfulness that he leads his people out of redemption from slavery and into his presence. Ultimately God redeems us from the slave market of sin and death and into his presence by Jesus, who is Emmanuel – God with us. God does this through Jesus’ covenant faithfulness. The LXX translates חֶ֫סֶד as δικαιοσύνῃ, which means, “righteousness.” Jesus is righteous because he kept covenant with God; he never broke God’s law and it is through the righteousness of Jesus alone that we can be right with God. God has only ever had relationship with humans through covenant and it is through the new covenant of Jesus Christ alone that we can have a relationship with God today. It is for this great salvation that God is worthy of our singing.
God Sanctifies Us Through Singing
But singing isn’t for God alone it’s also for your own individual benefit. It’s not only for God’s glory; it’s also for your good. Congregational singing is a means of grace that makes us more like Jesus. That’s because, as that LA Times article rightly noted, singing does something that speaking, reading, writing, listening, or thinking cannot do. Singing uniquely works out spiritual and emotional muscles in your heart and soul.
That’s why congregational singing is commanded in Scripture. Ephesians 5.19 says that congregational singing is a mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Colossians 3.16 says that the Word of Christ dwells in us by means of congregational singing. James 5.13 commands Christians to sing praise as a result of being cheerful. These commands are given because God does not merely want us to renew our minds but he also wants us to refresh our hearts. Christianity is not merely pragmatic or intellectual but it is also emotional. God doesn’t merely want worship from our head and hands he also wants worship from our hearts and singing uniquely engages your heart.
God Unifies The Church Through Singing
Congregational singing is for God’s glory and for your individual good but it is also for the good of the entire church. Singing at church is not an individual issue; it is a community issue. Congregational singing isn’t just about you or me it’s about us. The imperative in Exodus 15.21 is a 2nd person plural. God’s people are collectively commanded to sing.
The verb from Ephesians 5.19 – addressing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs – addressing one another is a plural verb. It is not a singular verb but a plural verb. So Paul is not saying, “you sing,” like you as an individual, but he is saying, “y’all sing.” The same is true for Colossians 3.16. The imperative is let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly by singing psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. The pronoun– let the Word of Christ dwell in YOU richly – the pronoun you is the second person plural (ὑμῖν). It is not singular but plural. Scripture does not say let the Word of Christ dwell in you [as an individual] richly by singing (though that is certainly true) but the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write let the Word of Christ dwell in y’all richly by singing. The imperative to sing is congregational.
God unifies the church through singing. We may all have different gifts but like coming to the Lord’s Supper every week, we sing together every week. Regardless of talent, we sing. We are all on a level playing field when we lift our voices up in worship to God in song. Singing not only strengthens your heart individually but it knits our hearts together as a church.
Conclusion
Earlier we sang the hymn “Come Thou Fount.” I love that hymn and I love the line, “Come thou fount of every blessing; tune my heart to sing thy grace.” That’s what happens as we sing. In response to the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we sing together and it tunes our hearts to sing the grace of Jesus. Because that’s true, singing is more than the cheapest therapy you can find. It is a means of grace for God’s glory and for your good as an individual and our good as a church. So church, sing to the Lord because in Christ he has dealt bountifully with us.