Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs

transcript

C O M M U N I C AT I O N W I T H M U S I C

F R A N C I S M A D O J E M U

G O D ' S S U P R E M E R E V E L AT I O N

• Hebrews 1:1-2 (NKJV)

• 1 God, who at various times and in various

ways spoke in time past to the fathers by

the prophets, 2 has in these last days

spoken to us by His Son, whom He has

appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

T H E O L D T E S TA M E N T I S A S T O R Y O F G O D ' S C O M M U N I C AT I O N W I T H H U M A N I T Y.

• There are two powerful images in the Old Testament that reflect a breakdown in dialogue.

• After the exodus from the Garden of Eden, communication between God and human beings was damaged;

T H E O L D T E S TA M E N T I S A S T O R Y O F G O D ' S C O M M U N I C AT I O N W I T H H U M A N I T Y.

• While the story of the Tower of Babel shows what chaos and confusion follow from humanity's wish to be independent of God.

• It can be a metaphor for modern life.

S A LVAT I O N :

• Salvation: Re-establishing communication with God and between ourselves In becoming flesh the word re-established communication, community and communion with humankind

S A LVAT I O N :

• The Word became human, died of love for all and became Emmanuel:

• God with us.

• All are called to the Kingdom

S O N G S F O R T E A C H I N G

Deuteronomy 31:19-22

19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.

20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.

21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed:

for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. 22 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.

- A R E Y O U L I S T E N I N G ?

A R E Y O U L I S T E N I N G ?

● Or do you just want God to speak to you on your own terms.

● Everyday we have opportunities to hear from God learn from the things he surrounds us with.

● Today’s hymns have demonstrated that God can and will use every thing to help us

A R E Y O U L I S T E N I N G ?

● 1Corinthians 9:22 ● To the weak I became as

weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.

P S A L M S H Y M N S & S P I R I T U A L S O N G S

A L L O W G O D T O S P E A K T O Y O U A N Y H O W H E W A N T S T O

• Psa 19:1-4

• (1) The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. (2) Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

A L L O W G O D T O S P E A K T O Y O U A N Y H O W H E W A N T S T O

• Psalms 19:1-4

• (3) There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. (4) Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

W A L K I N W I S D O M

• Ephesians 5:15-17 (KJV)

• 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

• 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

• 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

W A L K I N T H E W O R D

• Colossians 3:16 (NKJV)

• 16 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.

B E F O R E W E G E T I N T O T H E S P E C I F I C S O F P S A L M S , H Y M N S A N D S P I R I T U A L S O N G S L E T ' S TA K E A L O O K AT A N I M P O R TA N T D Y N A M I C T H AT TA K E S P L A C E D U R I N G C O R P O R AT E W O R S H I P — K E N P U L S

S P E A K , T E A C H & A D M O N I S H

• In the verses mentioned above Paul wrote that we should speak to, teach and admonish one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

S P E A K , T E A C H & A D M O N I S H

• Wait a minute! I thought worship is for God alone.

• Well it is.

G O D I S A LW AY S T H E R E C I P I E N T

• Paul did say in both scriptures that the recipient of our singing and making melody is the Lord.

• However, as we worship the Father we learn about him and we edify one another.

S O N G S A F F E C T O U R FA I T H

• Though we should never get our theology from a song many of the songs we sing are soaked in doctrinal truths.

• Singing these songs to the Lord in a corporate setting re-affirms our faith not only to him but also to each other

F R O M O N E A N O T H E R

• We also draw strength from one another as we approach the throne of God together.

• We realize that we are not alone in our quest for his presence.

P O W E R O F C O P O R AT E W O R S H I P

• In my opinion this concept solidifies the necessity of corporate worship.

• This is why the writer of Hebrews exhorts us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

D E F I N I T I O N S

S O W H AT A R E P S A L M S , H Y M N S A N D S P I R I T U A L S O N G S ?

• What comes into your mind—or into your ear—when you read those verses?

• Was Paul just stacking up terms as synonyms for music? Was he using terms that were only limited to the 150 psalms in the Psalter?

• Scholars and theologians have debated the precise meanings.

W E T E N D T O D E F I N E T H E T E R M S B A S E D O N W H AT S O U N D S FA M I L I A R :

• When we see psalm we may think of music like All People That on Earth Do Dwell, Psalm 100 set to the familiar tune of the Doxology.

• Or we might call to mind the beautiful metrical psalmody of the Reformation.

• When we see hymn we may think of older music of the church that has survived the test of time, cherished hymns like Amazing Grace (John Newton) or When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (Isaac Watts).

• And when we see spiritual songs we may think of some of the newer, uplifting worship songs of our day that wouldn’t fit the more traditional labels of hymn or psalm, songs like Let Creation Sing (Hillsong) or All I Have Is Christ (Jordan Kauflin).

T H E S E A R E A L L L E G I T I M AT E F O R M S O F M U S I C F O R W O R S H I P.

• But there is a problem with thinking only in terms of what sounds familiar to us—and imposing these definitions on the words of Paul.

• All of these musical forms were still in the future when Paul was writing his letters.

• Paul could not have imagined the metrical psalmody of the Reformation, as beautiful as it was.

T H E S E A R E A L L L E G I T I M AT E F O R M S O F M U S I C F O R W O R S H I P.

• He could not have envisioned the wonderful hymns of Watts and Newton from the 18th century or the worship songs of today.

• They were all future expressions, future forms of music that God purposed for the church that would one day fill out the paradigm that Paul provides.

S O W H AT W O U L D PA U L H AV E H E A R D ?

• Paul was writing his letters to instruct and encourage the church.

• He spoke using familiar terms that he readers would understand.

• He wasn’t simply stacking up synonyms for music or using technical vocabulary that only musicians could decipher

L I T E R A L LY A P S A L M I S A P O E M W R I T T E N T O B E S U N G

T O T H E A C C O M PA N I M E N T O F S T R I N G E D I N S T R U M E N T S .

• It was a term that would have been especially familiar to the Jews.

• Psalms were the established music of God’s people, sung since the days of the Old Testament in the tabernacle and Temple.

• By the time of the New Testament the word psalm referred especially, though not exclusively, to the 150 psalms of the Psalter.

• Paul points us to psalms first, exhorting us to sing the words of Scripture and take them as our pattern.

• The psalms anticipated the coming of Christ and set a precedent for praising God through music.

• Jesus said that the psalms spoke of Him (Luke 24:44). We must value the psalms and not neglect this wellspring of praise in our day.

J E S U S S A N G H Y M N S

Matthew 26:26-30

26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

J E S U S S A N G H Y M N S

Matthew 26:26-30

28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. 30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

H Y M N W A S A T E R M T H AT W O U L D H AV E B E E N

E S P E C I A L LY FA M I L I A R T O T H E G E N T I L E S .

• In the Greek and Roman empires leading up to the time of the New Testament, hymns were sung in praise of heroes and gods.

• People would celebrate the military victories of great generals and exalt the false gods of mythology in hymns.

• But as the gospel swept across the known world, the church transformed the hymn into a song in praise to the one true God.

• Its transformation astounded the Romans.

• In 112 when Pliny, a governor in Bythinia, wrote to Emperor Trajan, asking for advise on how to handle the rising number of Christians in the realm, he commented that the Christians were observed singing “a hymn to Christ as to a god.”

• In his mind hymns were songs for heroes and champions, not for one shamefully crucified on a cross!

• When Paul spoke of singing hymns, he wasn’t thinking “traditional” or reminding the church to include or revive some of the old songs from the past.

• He had something more radical in mind.

• Paul encouraged the church to claim the music of the culture and sing it to God’s glory.

• The hymn is the first example in church history of a secular form of music being captured and claimed for the sake of the gospel—its transformation so complete that today a hymn is most commonly recognized as belonging to the church.

PA U L C O N C L U D E S H I S L I S T W I T H S P I R I T U A L S O N G S

• The term song is a generic term in Greek meaning all kinds of songs.

• Paul added the descriptive adjective spiritual to narrow its meaning.

• Not all music is composed for worship or should be used for worship.

• We are to sing music that is the result of the Spirit God working in hearts and cultures and peoples—music that is sanctified for (set apart for and intended for) God’s glory in corporate praise—music that helps us speak truth to one another, teaching, exhorting and encouraging one another

• What we typically envision and hear when we think of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs is likely not what Paul envisioned and heard.

• We don’t know exactly what the music of Paul’s day sounded like, but his paradigm in Scripture laid the foundation for a rich tapestry of praise.

• Down through history and around the world church music has included many musical forms composed, conquered and claimed to God’s glory.

• And by God’s grace, as the gospel continues to go out in the power of Spirit, and more nations and new generations add their new songs, we have not seen the last.

L E T S U N D E R S TA N D H O W T H I S I S A C C O M P L I S H E D

W O R S H I P I S I N S P I R E D B Y T H E S P I R I T A N D B Y T R U T H

• John 4:23-24 (KJV)

• 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

W O R S H I P I S I N S P I R E D B Y T H E S P I R I T A N D B Y T R U T H

• True worship is inspired by the revelation of God to our spirit by His Spirit and by the truth of His Word.

B E F I L L E D W I T H T H E S P I R I T

• Ephesians 5:18–21

• 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; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

• In writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul encouraged the believers to “. . . be filled with the Spirit.”

• We see in Acts chapter 19 that the believers in the church at Ephesus had already been filled with Spirit.

• Why, then, would Paul encourage them to be filled with the Spirit in the fifth chapter of Ephesians?

• The answer lies in the Greek word for filled. Greek scholars tell us the word translated filled in Ephesians chapter 5 means “a continuous action.”

• So Paul was telling the believers at Ephesus, “. . . BE BEING FILLED with the Spirit.”

• You see, there is one initial infilling with the Holy Ghost. That’s what we call the baptism in the Holy Ghost.

• But there are many refillings throughout your life.

• Being filled with the Spirit is not simply a one-time event with a beginning and an end. It is a continuous, lifelong experience.

• One characteristic of the Spirit-filled life is that you’ll have a song in your heart.

• Let’s look again at a verse from Ephesians chapter 5.

• EPHESIANS 5:19

• 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

I F Y O U A R E F I L L E D W I T H T H E S P I R I T, I T W I L L B E R E C O G N I Z A B L E .

• People should be able to see a difference between you and somebody who isn’t filled with the Spirit.

• How will they know?

• Because if you are full of the Holy Ghost, you will have a song in your heart. What does it mean to have a song in your heart? It means you’ve got joy

N O W, R E A D W H AT PA U L W R O T E T O T H E C H U R C H AT C O L O S S E

• COLOSSIANS 3:16

• 16 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.

Y O U R S E L F & O N E A N O T H E R !

• In Ephesians 5:19, Paul wrote that you ought to be “speaking to YOURSELVES . . . .” In that verse, he’s talking about something you do in your own private prayer life.

• But here in Colossians, Paul says we can be “. . . teaching and admonishing ONE ANOTHER . . .,” or in other words, speaking to one another.

A L O N E , O N E A N O T H E R O R I N P U B L I C AT A N Y T I M E

• That means we can speak in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs at all times.

• We can do it when we’re praying alone.

• We can speak these songs to another individual.

• Or we can do it in a public assembly.

T H E C O N D I T I O N S O R C R I T E R I A

• But notice the criteria God expects us to meet before we speak! The Word of Christ is to first of all dwell in you “. . . richly in all wisdom.”

• Sometimes the Word of Christ dwells in people, but not in wisdom. Paul admonishes you to make sure it dwells in you in wisdom.

T H E P U R P O S E O F P S A L M S , H Y M N S , A N D S P I R I T U A L S O N G S

• Notice that Colossians 3:16, goes on to say, “. . . teaching and admonishing one another.” How do we teach and admonish others?

• The rest of the verse tells us we do it “. . . in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

• Paul was saying that those psalms would teach and encourage believers.

• If the Christians in Colosse were facing a test or trial, the psalms they received from the Holy Ghost would teach them or encourage them in what they were going through.

• This benefit isn’t something that belonged just to them.

• This belongs to every believer!

• Paul was not writing to one or two people in those two churches.

• He was writing to the whole church at Ephesus and Colosse.

• He was writing to the whole group.

• And if he was writing to them, then he was writing to us

• As the Spirit of God dwells within us, we also have songs in our hearts!

• Let that same Spirit rise up within you in psalms and hymns, ministering to yourself and those around you. Glory to God!

P S A L M S 2 2 , 2 3 , & 2 4

J E S U S S A I D T H AT T H E P S A L M S S P O K E O F H I M .

• Luke 24:44 (NKJV)

• 44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

J E S U S S A I D T H AT T H E P S A L M S S P O K E O F H I M .

• The psalms anticipated the coming of Christ and set a precedent for praising God through music.

• We must value the psalms and not neglect this wellspring of praise in our day.

L E T ’ S G E T I N T O T H E B I B L E A N D U N D E R S TA N D M O R E F U L LY W H AT P S A L M S 2 2 - 2 4 R E V E A L S .

T H E P R O P H E T I C P S A L M 2 2

• Psalms 22:1 & 16 (KJV)

• 1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? ... (KJV) 16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

I A M G O I N G T O S TA R T W H E R E I T A L L B E G A N , AT T H E C R U C I F I X I O N O F O U R L O R D A N D S AV I O R .

• In Mathew 27:46 it states,

• “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

T H I S I S T H E V E R Y F I R S T S E N T E N C E AT T H E B E G I N N I N G O F P S A L M 2 2 : 1 - 3 1 .

• Psalm 22 was written 1000 years before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ happened. Jesus was saying, “This is me”.

• The Psalm describes to perfectly how Jesus’ crucifixion happened. (Scofield states), “Psalm 22 is a graphic picture of death by crucifixion.

T H E A C C O M PA N Y I N G C I R C U M S TA N C E S A R E P R E C I S E LY T H O S E F U L F I L L E D I N T H E C R U C I F I X I O N O F C H R I S T.

• The bones (of hands, arms, shoulders, and pelvis) out of joint (v. 14); the profuse perspiration caused by intense suffering (v.14); the action of the heart affected (v. 14) strength exhausted, and extreme thirst (v. 15); the hands and feet pierced (v. 16); partial nudity with the hurt to modest (v. 17), are all incidental to that mode of death”.

T H E A C C O M PA N Y I N G C I R C U M S TA N C E S A R E P R E C I S E LY T H O S E F U L F I L L E D I N T H E C R U C I F I X I O N O F C H R I S T.

• The desolate cry of verse 1 and (Mathew 27:46) the periods of light and darkness of verse 2 and (Mathew 27:45), all were literally fulfilled.

• That’s why in his last breathe of life He pointed to the prophecy about him to show He was the Savior that Psalm 22 predicted.

P R O P H E T I C P S A L M 2 3

• Psalms 23 (KJV)

• 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:

• Psalms 23 (KJV)

• for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

T H E G R E AT S H E P H E R D ( H E B R . 1 3 : 2 0 )

• Psalm 23 describes our Lord’s role today as the Great Shepherd who tends His flock.

• It’s by far the most popular among believers and is quoted even by those who couldn’t give you another passage from Scripture if their lives depended upon it.

• It begins with His promise to be with us always and everywhere we go, and ends with the Rapture of the Church as He takes us to dwell in the house of the Lord forever (John 14:1-3).

• Psalm 23 promises that we are beyond the reach of our enemy while here on Earth, and have no cause to fear even though we find ourselves in his proximity.

• It is the basis for Paul’s admonition to rejoice in the Lord always (lit. without ceasing) regardless of circumstance, and thereby receive the peace that transcends human understanding (Phil. 4:4-7) as well as the goodness and mercy that are the rewards of the faithful, for “when a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies live at peace with him” (Prov.16:7).

• Psalms 24:1-5 (KJV)

• 1 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. 3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

• Psalms 24:6-10 (KJV)

• 6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. 7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

S O O N & C O M I N G K I N G

• In Psalm 24 the Chief Shepherd rewards His Flock. It begins with a reminder that the Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, and ends with the Messiah in Jerusalem as King of the whole Earth (Zech. 14:9).

• The Lord created the Earth, He redeemed it, and He has come to take possession of it.

• Those with clean hands and pure hearts may now ascend to His Holy place and receive vindication and the blessing of the King of Glory.

• Clean hands and a pure heart are traits unknown to the human condition (Jer. 17:9).

• Nothing less than a complete re-creation can qualify us, but if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

• For God made Him who had no sin to become sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:17-21).

I N S U M M A R Y

• There you have it. In His first visit to Earth, our Lord came to die for His people, to take away all our sins.

• His resurrection is proof that accomplished His mission.

I N S U M M A R Y

• During the time since His ascension He is keeping His people spiritually secure even though we wander in the valley of the shadow of death, until He takes us to be with Him forever.

I N S U M M A R Y

• After that He will return to Earth as the King of Glory to establish His Kingdom and vindicate and reward His people for their faith.

O U R A P P L I C AT I O N

• The firsts psalm is for the past

• Next to deal with the present

• The last secures the future

• Psalm 22 contains a prophecy of Jesus' death;

• Psalm 23 is a prophecy of Him as the Good Shepherd.

• In Psalm 24, we have a prophecy concerning the fact that Jesus is the coming King of kings and Lord of lords.

Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs

Spiritual