In the sermon 'Singing' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on the significance of congregational singing within the Christian church. Dohm begins by highlighting that the church is a 'singing family,' with numerous biblical commands and references to singing, illustrating its importance. He outlines three principal points: the church as a singing family, the variety of songs and their purposes in the Bible, and the biblical teachings on how to sing. Drawing from scriptures like Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5, Dohm emphasizes that singing is an intentional and relational activity that teaches doctrine, unifies believers, and prepares them for spiritual battles. Singing is also presented as a means to engage emotionally and intellectually, acting as a form of spiritual warfare and evangelism. The sermon encourages believers to sing with intentionality, understanding, and joy, acknowledging the dual role of singing to God and to fellow believers. Additionally, it details how singing can transform lives, provide comfort, and serve as a testament to the gospel.

Colossians chapter 3 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, Where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory therefore put to death your members which are on the earth fornication and cleanness passion evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked When you lived in them but now You yourselves are to put off all of these anger wrath malice blasphemy Filthy language out of your mouth do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Where there is neither Greek, nor Jew, circumcised, nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, you also must do.

But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another, in psalms, in hymns, in spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your own husbands as is fitting in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. Bon Sermons, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.

But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he does for what he has done and there is no partiality please be seated. Well it really is a joy to be here do I put this do I put this down or that what I do okay it really is a joy to be here. Do I put this down or is that what I do? Okay. It really is a joy to be here.

You probably don't grasp this, but your church is a model to us at Hope. We look through the windows and we're really grateful for what happens here. We feel like we have a lot to learn from this church, and we're just so thankful for you. We're grateful for the people that are here. We rejoice in you.

We really do. So it really is so nice to be here. Now I'm going to talk about something I was asked to talk about. And I love to talk about this subject. It's very practical.

It's something that you do all the time. I pray that it has a lot of value in the sense that you're going to do this over and over and over and over again when you gather together. Because when you get together you sing. And so that's the subject I want to engage in. And you know we're churches that have embraced the idea that scripture is sufficient for everything.

And also scripture is sufficient to teach us how to sing. This is a singing lesson. When we get to the end of this, you'll find out that the Apostle Paul is going to be your song teacher. He's going to teach you how to sing. But I wanted to focus on what the Bible says about congregational singing so that we'll do what David spoke of in Psalm 66 when he said, sing out the honor of his name.

Sing praises for his name is glorious. That would be what we would do when we sing. And there are three things that I want you to know if you're taking notes this morning. The first thing I want to demonstrate is that the church is a singing family. And the second thing is that the Bible presents many different kinds of songs and singing.

And I want to walk through the Bible with you to make stops on particular songs. And when we do that, I want you to think about your own life and ask, am I here? Am I there? Because there are all kinds of songs throughout Scripture to meet us in every condition that we experience in our lives. And then the third thing that I want to do is I want to focus in on two passages of scripture particularly Ephesians chapter 5 and Colossians chapter 3 verse 16 because The Bible teaches us there how to sing.

And the apostle Paul is the singing teacher in those passages of Scripture. So I want to bring those to us to help us think rightly about singing. And what you find when you engage in scripture on this whole matter is that to sing christianly is to sing with great intentionality, with understanding and feeling it's self-conscious, it's intentional. That's what Paul teaches us to do. It's emotionally rich, it's intellectually deep, it's theologically sound, it's very relationally connected, and it's actually evangelistically self-conscious.

We should sing that way. And so let's begin and I just want to walk you through how to think through this whole matter of singing together. We spend a lot of time singing together. Well the reason we do is that we are a singing family and that's the first point that I want to make. You know congregational singing, it's a sacred event and all Christians do it.

You know Other groups don't do this by the way. They don't get together and sing in fact when you become a Christian you realize You know you came into this church and people are singing you don't even know how to sing and It's very awkward when you first come into the church when you haven't sung before But the church is a singing family and that's why you know there are there 50 direct commands in the Bible to sing and there are over 400 references to singing in the Bible so it's a really important subject And this is all part of the way that God has prioritized corporate gatherings to change people's lives. And He has given us singing to change our lives, to move us from one place to another. Maybe it's mentally, maybe it's emotionally, maybe it's relationally. And God uses the singing to move us in directions that are a blessing to us and everybody else around us in the congregation.

You know Psalm 96 was read earlier in the service, oh sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth, sing to the Lord, bless his name, and then it speaks of all the families of the earth singing together. Well that's what happens in the church, families come and they sing together And one of the most delightful things to my heart is when I hear children singing in the church. It's such a blessing. But, you know, what are we doing when we sing? When we sing together, we're making very clear declarations.

You know, our singing says something. You know, You might go into a church and the singing is half-hearted, or the singing is just offhand, or maybe it's very intentional and very passionate. But when we sing, we're declaring what kind of God we worship. When we sing, we're declaring what kind of gospel we believe in, and what kind of gospel we're proclaiming. The gospel is in these songs that we sing every Sunday.

When we sing, we declare what's the basis of our unity. It's Jesus Christ and his truth. When we sing, we're declaring what kind of people we want to be. We're declaring what kind of feelings we have, but also what kind of feelings we want to have. Because sometimes you sing about feelings that you don't have, but you want to have.

And it's not hypocritical to sing about a feeling that you don't have, because it's actually designed to take you there, where you actually need to be and really want to be. It declares what kind of messages that we have for one another. Because when we get to Colossians 3, 16 in particular, we'll learn that our singing is a way that we teach one another. We're saying things to one another when we sing. And it really, it speaks of what kind of church we want to be.

That's what our singing does. And we're also, by the way, we're declaring what kind of people we want to be when we depart from here. What kind of families we want to be when we depart from here. And God uses singing to sort of recalibrate it, so that when we go out of this place, we're singing a new song. He's put a new song in our hearts, because he wants to send us out often in a different way than we walked in.

And you know what it's like. You walk in and you just feel dead spiritually. You know, you need help. And songs are designed to give you help that you need to take you out of. Maybe it's your pity party.

You know, maybe whatever. Maybe it's your bitterness. And you came and you sang with the congregation and there was somebody you were bitter toward and you changed. You quit singing that way. And maybe God convicted you in the middle of the song that you were having bad thoughts about someone else and that song took you out of that.

That's actually happened to me more than one time. And so singing is a great help to us. And I really think that singing is one of the great battle lines for the defense of the church and for the defense of sound doctrine and for the preservation of the unity of the church because we mingle all of our voices together. We're really battling against the disunity that would desire to creep in to destroy us. And it's really one of the cleansing agents of our emotions, which often need cleansing because of the things that we've thought.

And so we sing for these purposes. And you know, singing, we're a singing family for a number of reasons, but it's so beneficial that we are. Because the singing that we do in the church, it not only affects us here, but it transforms our hearts. And it refocuses even our families. And our singing this morning can have a long life.

And what we sing in the church, we start humming in our hearts. And what we hum in our hearts, we start singing in our homes. And what we sing in our homes, a lot of times we belt it out in our cars. And what we belt out in our cars, We come back and we start humming it in our home. And when we hum it at home, others start humming it too.

That happened this morning. Somebody was in my house humming a song, and I couldn't get it out of my mind for the rest of the morning. You know, my daughter Claudia was famous for this unintentionally when she was younger. She would be humming a song, and then I would find myself singing it. It was so helpful to my soul.

But we affect each other that way. So we are a singing family. And before we move on to the next point, something's happened to me over the last few years. And it's that the sweetest sound to my ears in the last couple, three, four years has become the sounds of singing, the singing of the saints. And a lot of that happened, I think, as a result from some really severe trials our church went through.

And God sent us a song leader and he led us, he led us to living waters, he led us into the comforts of God like nobody ever had and those songs really began to define the whole emotional fabric of our church. But during those times particularly, I remember it occurred to me one time when we were singing on a Sunday night and I thought, this is the sweetest sound to my ears. Because often he would back off on his piano and just have us sing without any accompaniment and it was so helpful to me but I love that sound I paw I quit singing this morning just for a few seconds. I'm always fairly self-conscious when I do that. It makes me feel uncomfortable when I stop singing, you know.

But when I do, it really is a sweetness to me. But the church is a singing family. Now, I'm going to give you 12 things that singing does in the church. And first of all, singing teaches us truth. It teaches us sound doctrine.

Second, singing is a means of self-conscious unity, that we are living stones being built together as a body. Thirdly, singing puts us in a disposition of praise. Fourthly, singing casts us into a sea of hope. Number five, singing helps us deal with our hurts and our cares number six God speaks tenderly to his people when they say number seven the songs and the hymns and the spiritual songs act as markers in our lives. I can think back through various phases of my life, and there were songs that carried me through.

I mean, from the time when I was in my teens. I can sing a song and it takes me back 35 years, 10 years, 15 years, three years, this year. And songs carry you through. You know, one of the questions I have for you is, what songs are carrying you through right now? Is it in your mind, is there a particular song that's carrying you through this particular season in your life?

It's critical that you have those kinds of songs. And sometimes a whole church has songs like that. Our church has had songs like that too, songs that have just carried us through the particular joys and trials of that year. But they're markers in your life. Number eight, they teach us to be a thankful people.

Number nine, they lead us into prayer. Number 10, they engage us in discipleship. Number 11, they engage us in proclamation. And number 12, it teaches us that we're not alone when we sing. I want you to open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2.

I want you to find verse 10. There's a remarkable moment in this chapter where The writer of Hebrews speaks of what is happening invisibly when we use sing as a church. Not only is the Lord Jesus Christ walking among the lampstands of his church, Jesus is always present when his church gathers. But there's also something going on, and Hebrews chapter 2 verses 10 through 13 tells us that something is happening and that Jesus Christ himself is singing in the church with his people. Verse 10, for it was fitting for him for whom all things, who are all things, and by whom all things are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

So the scene is God is bringing many sons to glory. That's the subject matter. But, verse 11, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren. So then we read, and he is saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you and Again, I will put my trust in him and again here I Here am I and the children whom God has given me." So this is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in the church. He's bringing many sons to glory and he's standing in the congregation and he's doing something.

He's singing to his father and He's also singing to His people. And He's singing with His people. To His Father, with His people, and to His people. The Lord Jesus Christ is always there. And then He says, here am I and the children whom you've given Me.

Can you picture that? It says that the Lord Jesus is standing there. He's saying, here I am. Here I am. I'm here with my people.

And I'm singing with them. And I'm bringing them to glory. That's the picture that you get here. And singing as a congregation teaches us that we're not alone. But not only are we not alone, his mercies are being poured out.

I mean he's with his sinful people and he's delighting in them as he's with them. When we sing we should sense the delight of Jesus Christ. He is bringing many sons to glory. You know Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17 says, sing O daughter of Zion, shout O Israel and be glad and rejoice with all your heart. The Lord your God is in your midst.

The mighty one will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing." So that's what the Lord Jesus is doing. You know we're gonna sing some songs soon in this gathering, but recognize what's really happening.

We often get disconnected from what's really happening in the invisible world, which is a real world. And so we sing together and the Lord Jesus Christ is walking Among us and he has his arms out and he's saying here. I am I'm with my people and my mercies are new I and I I'm delighting in them and I'm singing over them with rejoicing and So there you have the Lord Jesus with you He's he's rejoicing over you and all of these things are happening when you're singing. So all this to say that the church is a singing family. And God has called us together to sing.

We should sing clearly and carefully and with intentionality, self-consciously, and to experience the emotions, the theologies, the relationships that exist among us while we sing. We should do it very self-consciously. If I have one objective this morning, it's that somehow we would have a greater sense of joyful intentionality. I really want to bring us into higher levels of joy, if the Holy Spirit would do that among us. You know, I'm sure it's no accident that there are all these children being born here in the first quarter with the name Joy in this church.

So that's what I'm talking about today. I'm talking about the Lord Jesus and his joyful singing over his church and our singing joyfully to one another because much of singing is to one another. We'll get to that later. Now I want to sort of give you a biblical theology of singing and songs. And I want to start back at the beginning, and I want to move us all the way to Revelation quickly.

And my objective here is to just help us to see the contours of the richness of singing. And also while I bring us to these various songs and appeals to singing and things like that, here's what I want you to do. I want you to think about your life. I want you to sort of maybe listen to what I'm saying, but turn it around as quickly as you can to your own life. How does this fit my life, you know?

How, and maybe there's just one thing, If there's just one thing in this biblical theology of singing that grabs you by the heart, I hope, and I hope it does, then that would be enough. But, okay, so let's begin at the beginning. The very first song in the Bible is found in Exodus chapter 14, and it's a song of rescue. And it's a song of rescue from the armies of Pharaoh. God is delivering his people from the abusive treatment of Pharaoh, and he's delivering his own people into his own hand.

And they sing, the Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. That's the first song in the Bible. That sets the stage for every other song in the Bible, that God is a great deliverer and he cares for his people. In Numbers chapter 21 verses 16 through 18 is the next song.

It's the song of the well. They were thirsty, they had no water, and they were being attacked by King Sihon, by Sihon the king of the Amorites, and they sang the song of the well. Then Israel sang this song, spring up oh well. That's what they were crying out for. Singing should be that kind of thing.

Spring up, oh well, in the midst of this threatening, terrible situation where this big, big, bad king, Sihon, is running you down. Spring up, oh well, in the midst of the attack. Then there's the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. And it's a long song. Deuteronomy 32 is a song that Moses wrote in one day.

God commanded him to write this song and then teach it to the children of Israel. It might have been on the last day of his life or the last couple of days of his life, and he wrote a song and taught it to Israel because God told him to do that. And it's a long song. Deuteronomy 32, verse 30, then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended. Moses sang that song.

Moses, by the way, Moses is a singer, Isaiah is a singer, There are lots of singers in the Bible. Psalm 92, the song for the Sabbath day. Moses wrote this Psalm. A Psalm, a song for the Sabbath day. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night, to declare that the Lord is upright.

He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him." That's the song for the Sabbath day that Moses wrote. And then in Joshua chapter 10 there's the song when the sun stood still singing when something astonishing happens in your life. Has that ever happened to you? And you sang and you got in your car and you belted it out like never before. Well, that's what was happening.

It was the song when the sun stood still. And then there's a song of victory in Judges. This is a song of Deborah and the commander of the army. They sang a song of deliverance. They were, they'd been delivered after 20 years of oppression by the Canaanites.

And it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful song that's there. And then they're singing after a time of disobedience in 1 Chronicles 15. The ark was brought back into Jerusalem, and they sang after they had disobeyed. And the text reads, sanctify yourselves and your brethren, that you may bring up the Ark of the Lord of Israel to the place where I have prepared it." And so then David spoke to them, all of them, the leaders and everyone, And he said, appoint singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harp, cymbals, by raising the voice of resounding joy. After a time of disobedience, God is so kind, He takes you out of a time of disobedience.

And he doesn't just let you sing, he makes you sing. Because his mercies are new every morning. Then there's the singing and trumpets sounding in 2 Chronicles 29 verse 28. In 2 Chronicles 20 verses 18 through 21, We learn that singing is really a matter of spiritual warfare. It's praise, it's thanksgiving, it's all kinds of things, but it's also a matter of spiritual warfare.

What you have here, the Moabites and the Amorites had attacked Judah. And the whole chapter speaks of this, particularly verses 18 to 21. But in verse 22, we read this. Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah. And they were defeated.

Their singing was a precursor to their victory. It's spiritual warfare. In First Samuel 2 verses 1 through 10, there's the song of Hannah when God gave her a son out of her barrenness. Maybe that's happened to some of you. There's a song of joy at the return of the ark.

There's the song of Solomon. We won't talk about that too much, but it's a song, okay, about, I think it's about two things. I think it's about human marital love, and I also think it's about, there's a double meaning in it as well, of Christ's love for the church. There is singing when you are with the saints in the gathered church in Psalm 100. Make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands.

There's singing your whole life long in Psalm 104 verse 33. David said, I'll sing unto the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him will be sweet. I will sing praise to the Lord." He said, as long as I live I'm going to sing.

You know sometimes people sing on their deathbed and they sing their whole life long all the way to the very end. If you read quotes of people who died, sometimes you encounter their last words being words of songs that they sang since they were little. Singing while you're in a horrible pit that's Psalm 40 I waited patiently for the Lord he incline and heard my cry he brought me up out of a myri pit out of the myri clay and he put a new song in my heart and he set my feet upon a rock. That's Psalm 40. You know, when you sing, when you're in a horrible pit, it's the most helpful thing that you can do.

And There are times, many times, when singing is better than counselors, it's more than money, it does more than friends, it does more than books on counseling. Singing is the best antidote for hurt, for pride, and for failings. It's the best antidote for all those things there. You know, John Newton wrote a hymn called, Why Should I Fear in the Darkest Hour? Isaiah 26, the Psalm of the Messiah and his captives set free.

There are so many songs in Isaiah. I preached through Isaiah a few years ago, and I was stunned at how many songs there are in Isaiah. You know in Psalm 35, you know the lame walk and the dumb sing. The wilderness becomes a wasteland, or the wilderness and the wasteland becomes a place of growth and fruitfulness. And it's all celebrated with songs.

The lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. You know, when God saves you, you start singing. You can't help it because he's so good. It's a mark of salvation when you never sang like that before. You know, you become converted.

Maybe you grow up in the church, and then you find out the songs are sweeter than they ever were before, when your heart has changed. And Even though you sang songs since you were a kid, they're not like the same anymore. They're very different. They're the servant songs in Isaiah. These are the prophecies of the Messiah.

There are four of them. There are just so many songs in the Bible. There's the song of restoration for what was lost. In Ezra, when the people finally finished the foundation of the temple, they sang. In Nehemiah chapter 12, they sang when the wall was finished and they deployed two choirs that walked around the city.

Ezra led one choir and Nehemiah led the other and they sang, walking all the way around the walls And then they finally met in the temple, and there they were. And it says the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. It was loud singing, because the walls had been finished. And so there are many, many places. You get to the New Testament, and you find in Matthew 26, Jesus sings at the beginning of the greatest trial that anyone ever experienced.

They sang a hymn and he went into the garden of Gethsemane, which was disciples. You know Singing before your darkest hour and in your darkest hour is very, very important. It's interesting, In Chronicles, there's a, or I'm sorry, in Isaiah, it's a song that is taught to prepare people for the coming captivity. And he teaches them the song so they'll be prepared when they go into captivity. So they sing this song and then they go into captivity.

It's very helpful that you know songs before you go into a trial, before you go into captivity. Set the songs in your heart so that you can sing them when you're in jail, which the apostles did as well. The song of the prisoners in Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas are in jail, and it's midnight. And what are they doing? Well, they're singing.

They have a song in their heart. It should have been their darkest hour, but their songs made it different. And it wasn't their darkest hour. There's a song when you're full of joy in James 5.13. Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing. There's the song of deliverance from the devil and the song of Moses and the song of the lamb, which really catches up all these songs in Revelation 15. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb, saying great and marvelous are your works Lord God Almighty just and true are your ways Oh Lord Oh King of Saints so you know the Bible takes us from a song of deliverance in Exodus all the way to the very end. You're still singing a song of deliverance when you're in heaven. And it's the song of Moses and the song of the lamb being sung in heaven.

So that's kind of a flyover of these things. Now, one more thing before we leave the New Testament. A singing is actually meant to proclaim the promises of God to unbelievers. Your singing isn't just for you as blood-bought saints. Your singing is also for the unbelievers who are among you.

And Romans 15 makes that very clear. Romans 15, 9, particularly, for this reason, I will confess you among the Gentiles and sing to your name." So that's singing that's happening in local churches, particularly in the Church of Rome. When they got together they were singing to the Gentiles. Now when you're singing together in this church, sing to the Gentiles. You sing to one another, you sing to God, and you sing about God, and you teach one another, and you admonish one another, but don't forget to sing to the unbelievers how good God is.

Sing it out. Don't let your singing be dispassionate. You know, the unbelievers can hear that you think he's marvelous. If you don't think he's marvelous, you're just gonna mumble the words. Let there be no mumbling in this church.

But let the singing be genuine and from the heart. I don't really like it when song leaders say, I don't hear you. I don't really like that at all. In fact, I've instructed song leaders, don't do that. There are different ways to do that.

But I do want to hear it loud singing. I want the roof to fly off the building every time I gather people. I really do. But that really is a matter of the spiritual condition of the people in the church. So it's one thing to say, let me hear it louder.

Let's do that again. I can't hear you well If that stimulates your heart To love Jesus more and proclaim his goodness to one another then that's good But if not, it's just lip service So okay, so let me just try to summarize this section here of, you know, the songs of the Bible. Singing teaches you, it corrects you, It comforts you, it mobilizes you, it prepares you for trials. It carries you through the ups and downs of life. It carries you through the various seasons of life, through happy times, through sad times, you're gonna have sad times.

You need songs in the midst of that time. And God gives you a singing church to help you through all those times. When you're going to have a baby, when you lost a baby, When someone died or someone was saved, you have a song for everything. And the Bible gives you a song for everything. Okay, now, the Bible teaches us how to sing.

I want to talk about that here finally. The Bible teaches us every valuable thing and God doesn't leave us alone to teach us how to sing. Now these references I just went went through have tremendous instruction on how to sing So we're not left just with the New Testament, but in the New Testament there are two particular passages of scripture that are explicitly didactic. They are designed to teach the church how to sing. And Paul is the singing teacher.

And he's teaching both the Colossian church and the Ephesian church how to sing. So we've already seen Paul was a singing pastor. He was in prison singing and now he's teaching a church how to sing. Now there are two passages I want us to go to. I want to go briefly to Ephesians chapter 5, find verse 17, Ephesians 5 verse 17.

I'd like you to look at it. And what we read there in verse 17 is, Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." Now that's the subject. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit and what does it look like? And Paul is going to talk about lots of things that are manifestations of the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. And the first thing he talks about is how you speak to one another and how you sing to one another.

Then he talks about how you submit to one another and then he talks about how husbands love their wives, how wives submit to their husbands, how children obey their parents and the Lord, and how workers submit to their masters. So he's starting a chain of logic here, but the subject here is being filled with the Spirit. Speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." So He's involved in this discussion of what it looks like to be filled with the spirit. So there's a picture here of singing to one another in the spirit. He's Speaking about this matter of fellowship that singing brings us into.

This word fellowship or koinonia, it speaks of a complex relationship of us with one another and with God. Our relationships with one another are both horizontal and they're vertical, and they're all happening at one time. And so that's why he says you're singing and giving thanks for all things to God the Father. You're making melody in your heart to the Lord and you're also singing to one another it's happening at the same time and so now Paul is I think dispelling what is a common misunderstanding about singing. And that is that there's this idea that when you come to sing, you're singing to an audience of one.

You come into your own little personal individualistic inner sanctum, and you're just singing to an audience of one. And People often think of their singing that way, but God's more complex than that. He doesn't just leave it to you personally. He broadens it and makes it a matter of fellowship. And so that's, I think that's one of the critical things in Ephesians chapter 5.

Now go to Colossians chapter 3. This is the central instructional text in the New Testament in addition to Ephesians 5. And Colossians 3 here really sets a foundation of singing. Colossians 3 is all about the relational fabric that exists in the church and how people treat one another, how they speak to one another, how they feel about one another, what they do in behalf of one another, how they forgive one another, how they're tender-hearted toward one another. There's this whole picture of fellowship that's spoken of here.

But when you get to verse 16, which is the heart of what I want to focus on, you read these words, 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. So these verses really set a foundation for singing. And we learn a number of things here. And the first is that the Word of God is the foundation of our singing. That's why he says, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Now this is obviously a corporate setting to the saints in Colossae. It's a corporate gathering and he begins with the command, the word let. In other words, the word of Christ must dwell richly in the midst of our singing. It's really the foundation of what we sing. It's the Word of Christ.

And he's speaking of the entire testimony of the Word of God that should be reflected in the songs that we sing. You know, God spoke in time past through the prophets. Every word of the Bible is a word of Jesus Christ. And we are singing the things that bear witness to his word. And here's a reality.

The more that the word of Christ dwells in your heart, the better the singing will be in the church and it's a helpful barometer. So sing the word of God. Now very few of the songs we sing are exact quotes of the Bible. Some of my favorite songs are the ones that are exact quotes of the Psalms, if they can be put to a favorable tune that I like. But I love those the most.

But songs are typically representations of sound doctrine. And there's nothing wrong with that. Mark Jones says this. Hymn singing has the benefit of the church of being able to corporately express the truth of God's Word set forth positively, our theology of what is true. He says Hymn singing is really no different than confessing the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed.

They are essentially the same thing. We are able to look at truth that has stood the test of time and confess it before God. We're not confessing and are singing the words of man but the truth of God. So when you sing, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, you are singing the words of scripture, but the rest of that song are not quotations from scripture. They are representations of sound doctrine about God who is holy.

So let the word of Christ dwell. Now, to dwell means to inhabit, to govern the house. The word of Christ should be the governing factor, and the song should create elements of that governing factor. It's the thing that sets us in unity. The word of Christ dwells, and it dwells richly, so it should be saturated with the Word of God.

Now our singing is either a direct reflection of the richness or the poverty of our theology so we should pay very careful attention to the words of the songs. They should contain rich theology. If they don't, they probably shouldn't be sung. And to let it dwell richly, to let it take root, The Puritans used an illustration from cows. And they said, chew the cud.

Chew the cud. And chew it over. Cows chew the cud, and then they bring it back up and they chew it again. And you know, take it in, receive it, you know, drink in the riches of the glory of God in the song. Drink in the doctrine when you sing.

Let it dwell richly. But then the apostle teaching us how to sing makes it very clear that we sing to God and to one another. So that's why we read, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So there's teaching, that's one thing that we do. We're teaching one another when we sing.

In a few minutes we're going to sing some songs, we are going to be teaching one another when you sing. And I think we should be very intentional and self-conscious that when we sing, we're teaching one another. We're actually instructing one another as we sing the words of the song. And we're reminding one another. Our souls need reminding.

Our thinking needs to be modified. Our emotions need to be shifted. Our attitudes need to change. And we teach one another to think and feel differently about life. And so what singing does is that it adds another element to the church being a teaching church.

Our churches should be teaching churches. We teach sound doctrine. And our teaching doesn't just come through our preaching, it also comes through our singing. And when you find a church that loves the teaching and preaching, you almost always find a church that loves to sing it out. Almost always.

And it's right to love the preaching of the Word of God. And it's right to sing the preached Word of God in these songs. So The church is a place where people believe the word of God, they love the word of God, and they want to sing about it. And that's the picture that you have here. And so, you know, we're singing the wisdom of God in all these things.

Now I was sent some of the songs that you're singing, that we're singing here this morning. Now, we sang, Oh Happy Day, right? By the way, that's My dad loves that song. We almost, we sing it over and over again at our dinner table. And, and all my grandchildren love this song.

They went through a period where, for probably three years, every grandchildren, every grandchild I had, if I asked them what song to sing, they'd say, oh happy day. That's what they wanted to say. But oh, happy day that fixed my choice on me, my Savior, and my God. This is a song. You should think of the song in terms of the perspective of the song.

Well, this is a personal testimony. It's a person saying, this was the happiest day of my life. And you're saying that to one another. Oh, happy day when you sing that song. You're not just singing that to God.

You're saying to this song is directed to one another in the congregation. And then it's, tis done, the great transaction is done. I'm my Lord's and he is mine. That's what you're saying to your brethren. I'm his.

He's mine. And of course, the Lord is saying, here I am. I'm with mine as well. Lead on, O King eternal. This is a song directed to God.

Very different than O Happy day. Lead on, O King eternal. It's a prayer to God directly. The day of March has come. A person acknowledging, now is the time for me to be serious about this walk with God.

But that's a personal song. So we started out here with a sort of a corporate testimony. And then there was a more personal song, lead on, O King Eternal. And then, I will glory in my Redeemer. That was personal as well.

But there's a part of this song, I Will Glory My Redeemer, that shifts from the personal to a personal testimony and corporate work. He says, I will glory my Redeemer who carries me on eagle's wings. Now the person has shifted. Now he's talking to the congregation. He carries me on eagle's wings.

Moses said that God carries his children like a father carries his son. Well, that's what this song is saying. He carries me. And then before the throne of God, that is a song to God. And it's a little bit of a mix.

And then rock of ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee." That's a personal song to God. So songs have different perspectives. They teach one another, they're about God, they're to God, they're to one another, they're various contours. Here's my admonition.

When you come in here to sing, get ready to sing with the right voice. Sing intentionally to whoever the song is asking you to sing. And you guys who are choosing songs, Think about it. Take the congregation through the various contours. Help them to sing personally.

Help them to praise Him. Help them to sing to one another. Help them to teach one another. Help them to Teach about God. Help them to give their personal testimony in the congregation.

It's helpful. And the songs help us do that. And then admonishing one another. Teaching one another and then admonishing one another. The word admonishing is a word that means counseling.

It's the Greek word, the biblical counseling movement, stole this term and they called it Newthetic counseling. So Newthetic counseling is when you use the Bible to counsel people. It's a wonderful thing. It's the best thing. But to admonish is to warn, to advise of danger, and it's even too correct.

And our songs, we should be admonishing one another when we sing. We're counseling one another. Remember, singing is sometimes better than paying somebody for counseling. Now a lot of times we sing songs that we don't listen to the council, and so we go to a counselor. We didn't embrace the song, so we call up our pastor and say, I need to talk to you about something, I'm really bothered.

Well, you didn't listen to the song. And sometimes it's because they didn't listen to the preaching either. They just wanted to hear something else. Now, I'm not saying it's bad or wrong for you to call up your pastor and say, I need to talk to you. Please do that.

But sometimes people do that because they didn't listen to the song that the pastor's brought to them. And they just didn't want to accept it. They want to continue in their pity party. And then singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And you know, I believe this is just singing with joyful gladness to the Lord, with a sense of grace.

Grace and joy are connected, I think, in this passage of scripture. So Christian singing, it is self-conscious. It's intentional. It's emotionally rich. You got that?

It is intellectually deep. It's theologically sound and It's relationally connected And it's also evangelistically self-conscious. I mean singing is, you know, when God called us to sing, he actually called us to a very rich experience. And it isn't just about you and God, it is about that, but it isn't just about that. And so let the apostle Paul teach us how to sing.

And God wants to grip your heart in singing. He wants you to know that you're not alone. He wants you to know that he's bringing many sons to glory, and he's with you. And he's identifying with you. And he's saying, here I am.

And the sons I'm bringing to glory. And he wants you to teach one another. And he wants you to admonish one another. And he wants you to speak to God personally. He wants you to give your testimony when you sing.

And he wants you to sing to the unconverted who are among you. Because the church is a singing family. And so I pray that what the Apostle Paul has taught us here might help us to sing more intentionally and to experience the joy of Jesus Christ in a maybe in a heightened way as we engage our hearts toward him. Would you pray with me? Lord, Lord we thank you for your kindness in leading us into experiences that are so good for our souls and singing is one of those experiences.

Thank you for singing, thank you for sustaining us through songs, thank you for unifying us in singing, teaching us, admonishing us Lord. And I pray that all of us together when we get together and sing we would think so carefully and intentionally and happily about what we're doing. In Jesus' name, amen.