by Matthew Bassford
Synopsis: Are we fulfilling the mandate, expressed initially in Psalm 22:22 and later quoted in Hebrews 2:12, that says, "I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE"?
Many things have changed between the covenant of Moses and the covenant of Christ, but one that has remained constant is the responsibility of God's people to praise Him. As the psalmist notes in Psalm 33:1, praise is becoming to the upright. Indeed, devotion to the praise of God is one of the marks of God's children. By contrast, Paul observes that the apostasy of the Gentiles began with their refusal to honor God or give thanks despite their knowledge of Him (Rom. 1:21).
Even today, our decision to praise God, or not, reveals a great deal about us. The heart that refuses to praise God is hardened and corrupt, while the heart that glorifies Him is submissive and grateful. In particular, the practice of praising God with singing shows that we belong to the church that belongs to Christ.
There are many reasons why such praise is appropriate. First, we praise God because He deserves it. He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He is our Maker. According to Matthew 5:45, God's compassion for humankind is such that He sends sunshine and rain even on the ungrateful and evil. James 1:17 reports that, without wavering, He provides every good thing given and every perfect gift. Most of all, God is worthy of praise because while we were helpless, He gave even His own Son to die in our place. Indeed, it would be easy to spend the rest of this article doing nothing but enumerating the reasons why God is worthy of praise!
Thus, even though we exalt God far above any other being, there is nothing of flattery or fulsomeness in our praise. It is a simple acknowledgment of the greatness of His nature and His works. When we recount the deeds of the Lord in song, we only are giving credit where credit is due.
Second, praise is important because it fixes in our minds the true relationship between God and us. In some ways, the monarchies and empires of the ancient world gave God's people in those times an advantage over us. Our brethren of old accepted that some others were intrinsically superior to them, so they had little trouble acknowledging God as the great King over the nations and embracing the implications of the statement.
For modern-day Americans, this is no longer true. We hold that all men are created equal and that no one is intrinsically superior to another. This conviction benefits us in many ways (not least by giving us the freedom to worship according to our conscience), but it also can keep us from seeing God clearly. In practice, it has proven far too easy to make the leap from accepting equality between people to asserting equality between man and God. "Nobody gets to tell me what to do!" millions cry out today, and they do not exclude God from their proud boast of autonomy. Sadly, in recent years, this arrogant spirit has become evident even among some brethren.
Praise for the King of heaven is an essential part of the cure for the disease. God is eternal; we are not. God has done wondrous things; we haven't. When our heart repeats these things, it shatters all illusions of equality. We are compelled to admit that God is as high above us as the heavens are above the earth, and that is a consequential admission! In the face of His awesome power and authority, who are we to insist upon having our own way? When we honestly praise God, it leaves us with no choice but to obey Him.
Worship, then, is something that God deserves, and that we need. Furthermore, the motivations for our worship imply the mode of our worship too. It doesn't make any sense to humble ourselves before His deity on the one hand while worshiping Him in the way that seems best to us on the other. Instead, the humility that worship should produce in us leads us to humble ourselves before His revealed word too.
Though there are several passages in the New Testament that define our song worship, one of the most important is Colossians 3:16, which reads in the NASB:
Let the word of Christ dwell richly within you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
In this single verse, there are at least three vital lessons about our praise for God in song.
The first is that it must be mindful. The passage tells us that our song worship must arise from a rich indwelling of the word in our hearts, that it must express spiritual wisdom, and that it is to teach and admonish.
We recognize that preachers should not preach on autopilot, nor should Bible class teachers teach on autopilot. That would show a lack of reverence for the Scriptures! The same is true, though, of singing on autopilot.
Even when we are singing a hymn we've known for decades; we owe it to our Creator to focus our minds upon His magnificence. Proper attention to the truth in our hymns will make our singing more powerful and more pleasing to God.
Second, our praises in song must be corporate. Though there are other passages in the New Testament, such as James 5:13, that speak of individual praise, Colossians 3:16 is not one of them. Instead, Paul describes song worship as a "one another" activity. At least part of the time, we must praise God when other Christians can hear us.
This serves several important functions. It expresses our faith to our hearers, it forces us to acknowledge our lowliness in a public manner, and it teaches others the truth we hold dear. It is probably true that our beliefs are shaped as much by the hymns we sing as they are by the Scriptures we study!
Finally, our song worship must consist of singing. God's will here is clear. In the Old Testament, in passages like 2 Chronicles 29:25, God clearly commanded the mode of worship that He wanted—instrumental music. So also today, throughout the New Testament, God clearly commands the mode of worship He wants—singing.
As the saying goes, "This ain't rocket science!" Either we are humble before God, and we offer Him the praise He has asked for, or we are arrogant, and we offer Him praise He hasn't asked for. The fact that such a simple doctrinal issue has caused so much controversy reveals much more about the deceitfulness of Satan and the hardness of human hearts than it does about the issue's difficulty. The Bible instructs us to sing praises, so we ought to. . . sing praises—End of Story.
The act of praising God, especially in song, is a vital part of our spiritual lives. Unless we are willing to praise Him, we cannot please Him. Conversely, when we are willing to give Him the glory He deserves, our worship will transform our lives. God is mindful of our frame; indeed, He is the one who crafted it. He made us particularly receptive to the truths that we sing together. The more we honor His will when it comes to praise, and the more we open our hearts to the things we sing, the more we equip ourselves to praise Him forever!
