The Saved Who Sing

There are two things that I hold near and dear to my heart; two things the Lord has allowed me to be passionate about. One is the gospel, and the other is music.

These two things come together in my new little project called "The Saved Who Sing"

I was listening to John MacArthur speaking at a concert I attended just recently, held at his church in Grace Community. He mentioned that Christianity is unique in a way that it is the only religion that produces believers who sing. And it's true. When we come to terms with our sin, and the grace that paved the way for us to be reconciled with God, we cannot help BUT sing.  As Kevin de Young once pointed out, "There is a familiar pattern in the Bible: God saves, and his people sing. “The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing” (Isa. 51:11)." We will see this sprawled out across the entire Bible: in the Old Testament, whenever the Lord would deliver His people, they would rejoice with singing. The book of Psalms is literally a book of songs that commands its readers time and time again to sing praises to the Lord, sing to Him a new song that we may bless His name. And even in the New Testament, there are a couple of exhortations made by the apostles to admonish and encourage one another through singing. 

One of my strongest convictions as a believer on why we should sing is because the One Who Saved us sings over us. (Zeph 3:17) Therefore, if the God we worship and serve is a singing God, then shouldn't we, His people - who bear His image and strive to become more like Him; shouldn't we be singing too?

Of course, it should be made clear that worship is definitely more than a song. We cannot cut up Sunday mornings into segments and say that worship only happens at the beginning and end of the service. Even studying God's word is worship; songs cannot and must not take the place of the Truth of Scripture in our lives. I could go on, but there is something marvelous that worship through singing does in the heart of every believer that I want to point out. Singing helps us remember - anyone who loves music will immediately understand this. When we listen to some of our favorite songs, there comes a wave of memories and emotions attached to it. We remember every line, and in every lyric sung, there is a story. I find it amazing how the creator God fashioned our hearts in this way: that in singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, we can be reminded of the gospel, and even remind those around us! Through the gift of music, we are able to look at our moments of weakness and pain, or joy and success through the lens of His Truth, and we are able to align our emotions with our theology. "Worship involves a rhythm of revelation and response" as David Platt said, and so singing helps us remember the gospel because it helps us feel the gospel. Now, we must be careful not to get too caught up in feeling, because we will only end up with superficial worship - which isn't worship at all. Instead, I encourage you to consider that the way we feel the Gospel is the way our hearts echo its truth. Singing is a response to the Truth being revealed. It stirs our affections for Christ when we think about Him, sing about Him and proclaim His attributes.

Colossians 3:16 sums it all up nicely, and is really the whole thesis behind why I started this little ministry: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." And so via my new medium, @thesavedwhosing - I only wish to introduce the gospel, line by line, verse by verse, stanza by stanza to anyone who might come across this page. That in the end, it might lead them to studying the reason behind why we sing, the message behind our songs, and ultimately introduce them to who we're singing about -- Jesus Christ, the One who sings with us and over us.