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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Make a Loud Noise

Psalm 100:1-2 – “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing.” Psalm 98:4-6 – “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King.” Psalm 98 speaks of the playing of instruments and singing “before the LORD, the King.” Verse 2 of Psalm 100 says to “come before His presence with singing.” We of Christ's church hope to be ever reforming in all areas of life and worship. This must certainly include our offering of music during our worship on the Lord’s Day. We believe Christ calls us to further mature in the way we sing for the Lord, to “make His praise glorious.”

So what if you show up to church some Sunday morning and one of the congregational song selections is a new one to you, one with which you are unfamiliar? Or what if, the opposite happens – you show up to church and one of the congregational song selections is an old one to you, one which we sang last week … and the week before that … and maybe even the week before that? What if you don’t enjoy singing too much? What if you can’t sing, at least according to your own observation and that of those around you? To all these questions, the Holy Spirit’s response is the same: “Make a joyful noise …, make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.” And we are to offer this “before the LORD, the King,” “before His presence.” If we are going to bring an offering before the LORD, including a musical one, we should do so with all our heart and with all our strength.

“Make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise” with all your strength. So if we’re singing a new song and you make a mistake, make it loudly. If we’re singing an old song … again …, sing it loudly. If you don’t enjoy singing, tough – you’re commanded to sing and do so loudly. If you can’t sing, then make a noise and make it loudly.

Sing before the Lord

When the priests of Malachi 1 ask the LORD how they have despised the LORD’s name and polluted Him, He answers by saying (v. 7-8), “Ye say, ‘The table of the LORD is contemptible.’ And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.” They were bringing offerings before the LORD which they would not have brought before the governor.

One has to occasionally wonder, or certainly ought to periodically wonder, “If I were preparing a musical presentation for a dinner at the governor’s mansion tomorrow, would I do it the same way that I prepare and present my musical offering at church on the Lord’s Day?” Would I sing such that neither my wife beside me nor the guy in front of me can hear me? Would I refrain from singing because this song just doesn’t excite me anymore? Would my moment of practicing and my moment of actually presenting be one and the same?

The Psalmist makes clear that our singing is “before the LORD, the King” (Ps. 98:6). “Come before His presence with singing” (Ps. 100:2). We are not just singing with one another; we are not just singing to one another about the Lord. We are singing before the LORD, in front of Him. He is the Audience. So “whatsoever ye do,” including singing at church, “do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23).

Not Impressing the Lord

Combining I John 4:19 with the first and greatest commandment (Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27), we might say, “We love [the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength,] because He first loved us” with His all. He initiated this covenant relationship. He loved us first.

Knowing that love is first and foremost an action before it’s an emotion, then loving God with all we’ve got means that our actions of obedience before the Lord is a response to His actions of grace toward us. So for corporate worship on the Lord’s Day, loving Him with all we’ve got means that we wear our “Sunday best,” present our tithes and offerings, and sing with all our might, not because we are trying to impress Him, as if we hope to present Him with something He’s never before seen or heard. He knows our thoughts afar off (Ps. 139:2), so how can we surprise or impress Him?

We are to “come before [the Lord’s] presence with thanksgiving” (Ps. 95:2); we are to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving” (Ps. 100:4); we are to “sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving” (Ps. 147:7). What are we giving thanks for? Well, what has the Lord done for you lately? We don’t have time to share all that God has done for even the youngest single covenant member here right now. But those things we have scheduled to do, the songs we have scheduled to sing, we can and must offer unto “the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength,” … not because we can impress God; but we responsively offer our best with hearts of thankfulness to Him for giving us His best. Psalm 103:1-2 – “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”