1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,860 Hello everyone and welcome today to Trinity Sermons. 2 00:00:07,860 --> 00:00:12,700 Here at Trinity, we are learning together to love Jesus, live like Jesus, and lead others 3 00:00:12,700 --> 00:00:14,340 to Jesus. 4 00:00:14,340 --> 00:00:19,400 Today we start our Summer Sermon Series where we will be walking through, and even singing 5 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,140 through, the Book of Psalms. 6 00:00:22,140 --> 00:00:28,340 Today we read from Psalm 96, and Rob walks us through why we sing and why singing is 7 00:00:28,340 --> 00:00:32,240 so important when it comes to prayer, worship, and praise. 8 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:38,280 Enjoy the sermon, and God bless. 9 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:44,600 Our reading today is Psalm 96, verses 1 to 9. 10 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:46,840 Sing to the Lord a new song. 11 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,440 Sing to the Lord all the earth. 12 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:52,120 Sing to the Lord, praise His name. 13 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:55,640 Proclaim His salvation day after day. 14 00:00:55,640 --> 00:01:01,600 Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. 15 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,440 For great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise. 16 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:11,200 He is to be feared above all gods, for all the gods of the nations are idols, but the 17 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,000 Lord made the heavens. 18 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,880 Splendor and majesty are before Him. 19 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,160 Strength and glory are in His sanctuary. 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,240 Ascribe to the Lord, all ye families of nations. 21 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,720 Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 22 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,160 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. 23 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:34,840 Bring an offering and come into His courts. 24 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,920 Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. 25 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,040 Tremble before Him all the earth. 26 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:42,040 The word of the Lord. 27 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,280 Well, good morning, everybody. 28 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:46,280 It's great to see you. 29 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:54,240 According to CBC, the race is on for 2024's Song of the Summer. 30 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:55,240 What's your pick? 31 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,480 The article asks. 32 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:02,720 Some of the top candidates, the musical artists in that article say it could be Morgan Wallin, 33 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:07,760 could be Post Malone, could be Billie Eilish, could be Sabrina Carpenter. 34 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:12,500 You see, what seems to happen is every summer, people gravitate toward a certain song or 35 00:02:12,500 --> 00:02:18,960 they gravitate toward a certain album and that becomes like their go-to music for the 36 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:19,960 summer. 37 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:22,880 Or maybe if it's not like that for you, at least what a lot of people do is they create 38 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:29,120 a Spotify playlist with all their favorite kind of summer songs and they put that on 39 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:37,220 shuffle and then they hit repeat and it's just, there's just something about music and 40 00:02:37,220 --> 00:02:39,160 summer that goes together. 41 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:40,160 Are you guys with me? 42 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:41,160 Do you agree with that? 43 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:42,160 Yes. 44 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:43,160 We do. 45 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:44,160 Right? 46 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:45,160 Nod your heads. 47 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:46,160 Say yes, we agree. 48 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:47,160 We agree. 49 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:52,600 And there's actually also something about Christianity and music that also goes together. 50 00:02:52,600 --> 00:03:00,440 I actually remember when I was first as a young man starting to take my faith a little 51 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:06,240 seriously and actually not a little seriously, but it was actually, I decided, you know what, 52 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,120 I actually really want to follow this Jesus. 53 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,520 You know, I've been dragged to church for years by my parents. 54 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:18,440 It never really became real, but at one point when in my high school years, I was like, 55 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:22,760 I want to follow Jesus for myself. 56 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,640 And I don't know what it was, but as part of that journey of becoming serious about 57 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:29,600 my faith, I said, you know what I need to get? 58 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:31,160 I need to get a guitar. 59 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:32,560 I need to get a guitar. 60 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:34,880 I'd never played the guitar before. 61 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:39,520 And so I think I mentioned to my parents one Christmas, I said, I would really love a guitar. 62 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:43,080 And so my parents brought me, bought me this guitar. 63 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:48,360 And to this day, I am not great on a guitar, but there was just something about my Christian 64 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:50,260 faith and this music that went together. 65 00:03:50,260 --> 00:03:55,560 And I remember the very first song I ever learned on the guitar, the very first song, 66 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:01,720 G-C-D-C, G-C-D-C, was called Lord, I Lift Your Name On High. 67 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:04,280 Does anyone know this song, Lord, I Lift Your Name On High? 68 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:05,280 Yeah. 69 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:09,960 I lift your name on high, boop ba doop ba da ba doop. 70 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:10,960 Right? 71 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:16,520 You guys do do do do do do do do do do. 72 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:17,520 It was amazing. 73 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:24,200 All I can say is that it seemed like when I went deeper in my relationship to Jesus, 74 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:29,240 I realized I had to some, for some reason I had to start singing to Jesus. 75 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:36,040 My new relationship with God called forth some kind of new playlist, some new music 76 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:38,520 to go along with that relationship. 77 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,960 Well, today we're beginning this new teaching series. 78 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:43,680 We're calling it the Summer Playlist. 79 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,440 It's going to take us through the whole summer and we're going to be studying a different 80 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:48,700 kind of playlist. 81 00:04:48,700 --> 00:04:55,360 We are going to be looking at 150 tracks known as the Book of Psalms, right? 82 00:04:55,360 --> 00:05:01,080 The Book of Psalms is this ancient playlist located right in the middle of your Bibles. 83 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:06,520 It's songs that have been sung by God's people for thousands and thousands of years. 84 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,320 And every week what we're going to do is we're going to take a different one of the tracks, 85 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,480 a different one of those Psalms out of that playlist and we're going to hit play and we're 86 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:18,280 going to listen and say, what is this teaching us about life, about God, about me and all 87 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:19,280 that? 88 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:23,020 But the very first track that I want us to listen to is the one we just heard read by 89 00:05:23,020 --> 00:05:24,280 Al this morning. 90 00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:27,160 Psalm 96, track 96. 91 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:35,080 And not only is this an amazing song on its own, but it's ironically kind of a song about 92 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:36,680 singing songs. 93 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:38,400 It's a song about songs. 94 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,040 It really, it begins with these lyrics. 95 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,240 Sing to the Lord a new song. 96 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:46,960 Sing to the Lord all the earth. 97 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,400 Sing to the Lord and praise His name. 98 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:55,840 Now you can't talk about a summer playlist unless we first, this is why we have to start 99 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,560 here, we first talk about singing in general. 100 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,520 How do you feel about singing? 101 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:08,680 It's a strange thing these days for a group of people to gather in a building together 102 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:15,480 and stand up and all sing together the very same song. 103 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:16,480 That does not happen. 104 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,960 Any other places in your life besides here at Trinity Streetsville, does that kind of 105 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:21,960 stuff happen? 106 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:26,160 I mean, maybe if you went to a Taylor Swift concert, everybody's singing along with Taylor 107 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:27,160 Swift's song. 108 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:28,160 Okay. 109 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,240 Maybe you go to a Blue Jay game and during the seventh inning stretch, they play, take 110 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:35,720 me out to the ball game and everybody stands up and they're all singing along. 111 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:39,360 But that is different than what we are doing here. 112 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:44,640 We aren't just singing something this morning because we enjoy it. 113 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:51,640 We're singing to someone this morning, someone who we believe is actually present in our 114 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:54,920 midst right now. 115 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:56,240 So how do you feel about it? 116 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,600 How do you feel about singing? 117 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:02,440 We have to ask this question because my hunch is not everybody's 100% comfortable with this 118 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,320 whole idea of singing. 119 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:10,840 Some of you, you know, singing at church is hard and that's because life has been hard 120 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:13,320 or the past week has been hard. 121 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,480 And so when you come to church in the morning and there's a song up on the screen that says, 122 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,320 praise the Lord, you're like, I don't really feel like praising the Lord, right? 123 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,920 Because if you knew what was going on this past week, if you know what I've been struggling 124 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,520 with, my soul is heavy. 125 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,560 I can't sing to the Lord this morning. 126 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:32,920 I'm just not there. 127 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:38,840 Some of you might find it really hard to sing in church because actually you used to be 128 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:43,240 singing beside somebody else and that person's no longer here anymore. 129 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:46,240 And that hurts and there's pain associated with that. 130 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:50,280 And so when you get up to sing, sometimes your vocal cords just kind of tighten up and 131 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:55,920 the words don't come out quite right because it's kind of painful for you to sing. 132 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,480 Some of you, you don't sing because you're just pooped. 133 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,600 You're just tired out, you know, you spent the morning getting the kids all together, 134 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,320 dressing them up, getting them in the car, getting them to church. 135 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:10,360 And it was a late night last night and it was a long week and you're just exhausted. 136 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:16,960 And singing requires energy, requires strength in us and you just don't have any strength. 137 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:22,600 You showed up, you know, sleep deprived and over caffeinated, but you're just in this 138 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:24,200 place where I just need to rest. 139 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,120 I'd rather just listen than sing. 140 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,840 Some of you have a hard time singing and this is one of the things we say, we say, it's 141 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:35,040 not my type of music. 142 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:39,880 In churches there have always been these things we've nicknamed them the worship wars, right? 143 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:44,440 Like, oh, this is the only hymn book, but then the minister introduces a new hymn book 144 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,080 and you're like, I'm not singing anything out of the new hymn book. 145 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:49,240 Out of protest, I will not sing. 146 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,920 Or they add a drum kit and they're like, I will not sing anymore in church. 147 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:57,960 Out of protest, I disagree with that instrument or I disagree with that style or I disagree 148 00:08:57,960 --> 00:08:58,960 with that instrument. 149 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,400 And so that is why you don't sing. 150 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:04,160 You pick and choose how you want to sing. 151 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,280 And some of you, I think, also have a hard time singing because, we're going to come 152 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,560 back to this, you don't think you can sing? 153 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:12,520 We need to talk about that. 154 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:18,800 And the last thing I'll say is maybe some of us don't sing because we find that in our 155 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:24,040 increasingly complex world, with all the issues that are going on, the stuff that we're wrestling 156 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:31,040 with, we come in and for some reason it just feels like maybe the words aren't resonating 157 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:32,440 with life. 158 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:37,540 You're not connecting to where you are and what's going on in your world. 159 00:09:37,540 --> 00:09:42,880 And so for all these reasons, even though the Bible says we are to be a singing people, 160 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:49,000 more often than not, we turn out to be a mouthing along with the words kind of people. 161 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,600 We're not singing. 162 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:53,120 We're not singing. 163 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:55,880 So why is that? 164 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:57,560 And we made it say, you know what, it's great. 165 00:09:57,560 --> 00:09:58,560 We've got worship leaders. 166 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:00,040 We've got a great worship team. 167 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:01,040 I'll leave it up to them. 168 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:03,980 I'll let them make music for me. 169 00:10:03,980 --> 00:10:07,560 And I do have to hand it to our worship team. 170 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:14,400 It is not an easy job to lead a whole congregation of people with all those maybe different things 171 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,200 on their hearts as they come to church each and every morning. 172 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,360 Why bother singing if it's so hard, right? 173 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:22,200 Even for worship leaders, why sing? 174 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:25,960 It turns out there's a lot of really good reasons that we should be a singing people 175 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:29,000 because the Bible's not just concerned with how the worship leaders sing. 176 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,640 The Bible's actually highly concerned with how you sing. 177 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:37,160 So whether you're a singer or not, whether you're a soprano in the shower or you, you 178 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:43,560 know, you couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, we need to learn today why singing is do re 179 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:47,920 mi fa so important. 180 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:51,160 So let's begin with the first point, right? 181 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:54,120 The first thing we need to know is we're created for singing. 182 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:55,640 We are created for singing. 183 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,440 Singing is just how God designed us. 184 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:00,940 It's like it's written into our DNA. 185 00:11:00,940 --> 00:11:05,480 When you were a baby in the womb, sometime around the 12 week mark, these things started 186 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,520 to form in you vocal cords. 187 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:14,520 And it has been shown that those vocal cords were working long before you were even born. 188 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:20,640 So whether it was you or whether it was Bono or Pavarotti, we are designed with the ability 189 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:21,640 to sing. 190 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:28,520 The air rushes up from our lungs and blows over those vocal cords and they vibrate. 191 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:34,520 And then our mouth and our lips and our teeth and our tongue, they articulate and refine 192 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:38,360 that sound and create beautiful, beautiful music. 193 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:40,300 Singing is not like an accident. 194 00:11:40,300 --> 00:11:42,500 It's not accidental that we can do it. 195 00:11:42,500 --> 00:11:46,840 It was something that we were made to do, something we were designed to do and something 196 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,180 that human beings have always been doing. 197 00:11:50,180 --> 00:11:51,840 Human beings have always been singing. 198 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:56,280 They have always been creating instruments to accompany them in their singing. 199 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:00,720 This is, archeologists say, the oldest instrument that has ever been found. 200 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:09,280 It is 60,000 years old and it is a Neanderthal flute that was made from the hip bone of a 201 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:12,320 cave bear. 202 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,760 And there's actually online a guy who makes this thing up and he plays it. 203 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:21,560 It's just amazing that we have always been singing and music has always been part of 204 00:12:21,560 --> 00:12:22,560 who we are. 205 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:28,480 And that's probably because we're made in the image of God and God himself is a singing 206 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:29,640 God. 207 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:37,480 We read here in Zephaniah 3.17 that, that in his love, he will no longer rebuke you 208 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,160 but rejoice over you with singing. 209 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,840 Yes, the Lord rejoices over us with singing. 210 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:48,440 In fact, music is a gift that God gives to all creation. 211 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,880 Maybe the first sound you heard this morning when you woke up, if it wasn't like your alarm 212 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:58,440 going off or a 737 landing a person or if it wasn't, you know, a child calling your 213 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:03,080 name, maybe the first sound you heard was the birds singing, a dog barking. 214 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,720 It was the wind blowing through the trees. 215 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:08,640 Creation is musical. 216 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:10,000 Let the heavens rejoice. 217 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,040 Let the earth be glad. 218 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:12,200 The sea resound. 219 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:13,200 All that is in it. 220 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:14,600 Let the fields be jubilant. 221 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:16,080 Fields, yes. 222 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,920 Everything in them, let the trees of the forest sing for joy. 223 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,960 Let creation rejoice before the Lord. 224 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,720 So why is it so important that we sing? 225 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:27,880 It's because it's how God created us. 226 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:29,880 It's how God created everything. 227 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:32,600 We're created for singing. 228 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:37,720 But secondly, singing is important because we're connected through singing. 229 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:44,920 Singing is a fantastic community activity that just promotes that feeling of togetherness. 230 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:51,280 Studies have shown that after people sing together, they are able to bond more easily, 231 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:55,160 which means that because we sang this morning and we're singing, then when you go over to 232 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:59,880 coffee hour, you'll have an easier time, not a harder time, striking up a conversation 233 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:00,880 with someone. 234 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:07,560 It's because when we synchronize our voices, we somehow are able to synchronize our lives. 235 00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:12,960 And you know that researchers have shown that singing together not only eventually causes 236 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:21,400 everybody to breathe in sync, but even our hearts start to beat with the same synchronization 237 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:22,640 as we sing together. 238 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:24,520 You see, it brings us together. 239 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:30,200 By singing, we become like one gigantic lung all together. 240 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:35,600 Psalm 96 says, ascribe to the Lord all you families of the nations. 241 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,680 That's a way of saying there's a whole bunch of different families here, a whole bunch 242 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:43,680 of different backgrounds, a whole bunch of different tribes and people and nations, and 243 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:49,640 yet singing connects us all together as one family. 244 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:54,680 And that's perhaps where churches have got it wrong when it comes to the worship wars. 245 00:14:54,680 --> 00:15:00,560 Sometimes churches assume that the thing that unites us is this hymn book and not this hymn 246 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:02,620 book or this instrument. 247 00:15:02,620 --> 00:15:03,620 That's what unites us. 248 00:15:03,620 --> 00:15:05,360 Or this style of music. 249 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:06,360 That's what unites us. 250 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:10,920 But the thing that actually connects us and actually brings us together as a community 251 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,440 is just singing together, right? 252 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,760 The hymn book doesn't create community. 253 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:20,560 The guitars, the drums, the organ, that does not create community. 254 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:24,400 It is our joined voices that create community. 255 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:33,840 Plus, add to this, when we sing, it helps us see that we are not alone. 256 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,840 Singing in church isn't just about my voice. 257 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,600 It's about hearing the other voices around you, other voices of other people who are 258 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,880 living lives and going through struggles just like you are. 259 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:46,360 That's why Paul commands us. 260 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:48,860 He says, speak to one another how? 261 00:15:48,860 --> 00:15:54,000 With psalms, with hymns, and spiritual songs, right? 262 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:58,880 Sometimes we should just stop and we should just listen to all the voices around us because 263 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:04,040 when they sing, they're singing to God, but they're also singing to you. 264 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:09,200 Corporate singing is not just about ourselves, but it's also for the person on your right 265 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,960 and the person on your left and the person behind you and the person in front of you. 266 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:17,200 It's God's gift that we give to one another. 267 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:18,660 It's how we build each other up. 268 00:16:18,660 --> 00:16:20,580 It's how we encourage one another. 269 00:16:20,580 --> 00:16:22,880 So singing is important. 270 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:23,880 So important. 271 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,400 We're created for singing and we are connected through singing. 272 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:33,080 But thirdly, we have to say that singing is also one of the primary ways that God changes 273 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,040 us as human beings. 274 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:43,280 There are some things that music does to our soul that words cannot do. 275 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,160 Singing is a primary way that God changes us. 276 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:50,320 You know, some churches, they might say, oh, you know where the real change happens when 277 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:51,520 we gather? 278 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:53,720 It's supposed to be the preaching, right? 279 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:54,720 It's the preaching. 280 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:55,720 It's the sermon. 281 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:57,880 God does His transforming work. 282 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:01,080 But no, music changes us. 283 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:06,720 Libby, when David, when Brooklyn, when Hannah, when Rachel, when anyone gets up here and 284 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:13,000 leads us in singing, they are doing every bit as much work as the preacher is doing. 285 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:19,480 In fact, you could look at it as we're working together in this role of being doctors, heart 286 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:21,160 surgeons, right? 287 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:25,840 The musicians come and they open up the patient by opening up their heart. 288 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:30,200 And then the preacher comes and the preacher does some healing and transforming work on 289 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:31,480 the heart with God's Word. 290 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:36,880 And yet, before we leave this place, the band gets up again and they sing and they stitch 291 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:41,200 us up and they send us back out into the world. 292 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:45,880 Singing is an essential part of the healing and transforming and changing work that God 293 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:50,440 is doing in your lives this morning and every Sunday morning that we gather. 294 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:57,200 The thing about song lyrics is they penetrate deep inside of us in ways that my words are 295 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,080 just bouncing off your head right now, right? 296 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,880 We just finished, for example, a series on the fruit of the Spirit, right? 297 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:05,520 Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit. 298 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:09,120 Now, if I were to ask you, hey, what are the nine fruit of the Spirit? 299 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:13,680 Some of you might have a tricky time recalling it, unless, like me, when you were a kid, 300 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:18,560 you learned a little song that said, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, 301 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:23,560 goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 302 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,640 So that's how we remember it gets into us. 303 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:27,640 How about this one? 304 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:28,640 You think that's good? 305 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:29,640 Watch this. 306 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:36,640 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and the letter to the Romans, first and second Corinthians, 307 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:43,160 Galatians and Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, first and second Thessalonians, first and 308 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:52,440 second Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Hebrews, James, first and second Peter, first, second, 309 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:55,920 third, John, Jude, and Revelation. 310 00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:00,400 I just recited 27 books of the New Testament. 311 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:01,680 How? 312 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:10,280 It's because music has this weird way of getting inside of us that other ways just do not. 313 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:14,800 Small songs can teach us, profound and deep songs can teach us too. 314 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:19,800 Hymn writers wrote some of their hymns because they knew their audience was largely illiterate 315 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:23,640 and would never read a Bible for themselves, and so they jam-packed their hymns with so 316 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:29,960 much theological richness that they became teaching tools for people, right? 317 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:35,960 We know children learn better and faster through singing, and the same is true for adults. 318 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:42,360 In fact, studies even in hospice care have shown that dying patients who seem to have, 319 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:49,800 you know, no ability to communicate in their final days and final hours may still have 320 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,320 their minds awakened by songs. 321 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:57,000 One hospice worker says, we have a patient who barely speaks, but when our volunteer 322 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,600 comes and plays songs for her, she will sing every word. 323 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:02,600 How can that be? 324 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:09,640 It's because the word has been hidden in her heart through a song, and singing along with 325 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:14,720 Bible reading, along with preaching, and along with all that other stuff is a means by which 326 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:19,440 God hides His word in our heart, and once it's hidden there, it stays there, and it 327 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,240 changes us in lasting, lasting ways. 328 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,820 So we're created for singing, connected through singing. 329 00:20:26,820 --> 00:20:32,840 We are changed through singing, but we also communicate through singing. 330 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:35,760 When we sing in church, you know what we're doing? 331 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:42,720 We are telling the world the story of God's marvelous deeds and works. 332 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:50,120 Our songs become little messengers of truth that other people can hear and understand. 333 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:55,760 Some people come to church and they say, man, man, man, when I heard the church singing 334 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:57,600 together, I was so moved. 335 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:02,760 I was moved to tears when I heard that message, not preached by that preacher, when I heard 336 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,960 that message sung by those people. 337 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:11,680 In other words, our singing says something. 338 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:16,400 Psalm 96 says that when we sing, we declare His glory among the nations. 339 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:20,520 We declare His marvelous works among all people. 340 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:27,360 Our act of singing is such a powerful declaration to the world of who we are as a people, of 341 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:33,000 what we believe as a people, but also it declares to the world, to a world that is full of division, 342 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:38,960 that is full of conflict, that when the people of Trinity come together and they sing in 343 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,800 unison, man, oh man, maybe peace is possible. 344 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:44,420 Maybe joy is possible. 345 00:21:44,420 --> 00:21:45,980 Maybe God is real. 346 00:21:45,980 --> 00:21:48,200 Maybe the gospel is true. 347 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,920 Maybe unity is possible. 348 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:58,680 Some churches are really, really worried about what non-Christians might think if they walked 349 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:00,160 into the church and heard their music. 350 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,840 And so the music that they pick is usually kind of very safe and very tame because we 351 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:06,360 don't want to offend people of different faiths. 352 00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:09,200 We don't want to offend people of no faith. 353 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:16,960 But Psalm 96 says, no, singing is a declaration to the world of what we believe. 354 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:21,840 And the world, yes, the world does not believe, but that doesn't stop us from singing. 355 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:22,840 Listen to Psalm 96. 356 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:28,480 Psalmist says, for great is the Lord and most worthy of praise, He is to be feared above 357 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:30,960 all the other gods out there. 358 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:37,400 And for all the gods of the nations are but idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 359 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:44,440 Our praises proclaim God's name in the face of other gods, in the face of other idols 360 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:47,200 or other belief systems out there. 361 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,000 We mustn't be silent. 362 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:55,680 We mustn't stop singing because in singing we declare who God is. 363 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,760 And that's why I think so many new people are visitors who come to Trinity, many of 364 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,360 whom are not Christians. 365 00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:07,640 They say, Rob, you know, no offense, but it's not the sermon that touched me, it's the 366 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:08,640 music, right? 367 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,960 They say, you see, I go my whole week and there's nothing much beautiful that happens 368 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:12,960 in my week. 369 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,000 It's a kind of miserable experience, if I'm honest with you. 370 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:20,120 But then I come and I hear the beauty of that music and I hear the beauty of those words 371 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:22,000 and I tell you, it saved me. 372 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:23,160 It changed me. 373 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,080 It spoke to me. 374 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:31,480 Our words, our singing is an invitation to others to have faith. 375 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:33,880 Singing is itself always an act of faith. 376 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:37,680 You're singing to a God you cannot see, that requires faith. 377 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:45,280 But we are inviting people every week to join us in just that, faith and singing to the 378 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:46,960 same God. 379 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:51,360 That's why Marva Dawn, she says, it's a major flaw in present-day churches when we don't 380 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:58,720 realize that our primary evangelistic tool is the corporate life of the believing community. 381 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:00,320 In other words, you. 382 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,320 In other words, what we're doing right now. 383 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:03,760 In other words, our singing. 384 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,900 Our neighbors need to see that in order to believe. 385 00:24:07,900 --> 00:24:15,600 As we sing vertically to God, it reverberates horizontally into the world around us. 386 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:17,040 So why are we singing? 387 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:18,040 Why are we singing? 388 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:19,280 Oh yeah, we're created to sing. 389 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:20,440 It's how God designed us. 390 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:22,080 We're connected through singing. 391 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:27,400 Singing actually changes us and singing is how we communicate the gospel to the world 392 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:28,400 around us. 393 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:32,560 But there's one final one I want to end on here and that is to say this. 394 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,400 We're compelled to sing. 395 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:38,600 The reason we sing is that we have to. 396 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:45,240 You have to sing because once you come to know who this God is, once you come to realize 397 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:51,160 how much this God loves you, once you see what this God did for you and how Jesus laid 398 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:55,580 down his life for you out of love, right? 399 00:24:55,580 --> 00:25:03,360 When you find yourself in the presence of that God, what else can you do except G-C-D-C. 400 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:07,800 Lord, I lift your name on high. 401 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,960 Lord, I love to sing your praises. 402 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,420 We're compelled to sing. 403 00:25:14,420 --> 00:25:16,480 Worship isn't primarily about music. 404 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,620 It's not about techniques or songs. 405 00:25:18,620 --> 00:25:19,820 It's about our hearts. 406 00:25:19,820 --> 00:25:20,960 It's about love. 407 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:26,880 It's about God's love toward us that calls forth songs of love and songs of praise and 408 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:28,680 joy back toward him. 409 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:30,840 We're just compelled to do it. 410 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:35,800 Worship is like the natural response of a creature toward its creator. 411 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:41,480 The proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God is ascribing all honor and worth 412 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:49,040 to him precisely because he is worthy and delightfully so. 413 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:56,640 To get too picky about worship music or style is to miss the point. 414 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,640 The music's not for us. 415 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,880 It's for God. 416 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:08,280 And seeing God, we are compelled to sing. 417 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:10,880 And compelled might even be too soft of a word. 418 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,480 Commanded to sing. 419 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:14,480 Singing is not an option. 420 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:15,560 It's a command. 421 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:16,720 Look at this. 422 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:24,120 These words aren't written for worship leaders or musicians or people with musical ability. 423 00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:26,000 Sing, sing, sing. 424 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:30,040 It is a command to all people who know and love God. 425 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:34,440 The Bible doesn't say, let those who can sing, sing. 426 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:39,600 Let those who have natural talent for singing praise God. 427 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:41,320 Over and over again it just says sing. 428 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:48,000 In fact, the Bible command to sing is repeated more often than any other command except the 429 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,080 command to love. 430 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:56,480 Now some people don't sing because they say, Rob, if you heard me sing, you wouldn't want 431 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:57,480 me to sing. 432 00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,800 Guys, I just, you just heard me sing. 433 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,080 If I can do that. 434 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:08,160 No, but there's nowhere in the Bible that says sing to the Lord if you can. 435 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,800 Sing to the Lord if you have a good voice. 436 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:15,840 Because when God's listening to His church, He's not listening to the quality of your 437 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:17,120 voices. 438 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:21,540 He's listening to the depths of your heart. 439 00:27:21,540 --> 00:27:24,160 We don't have the right to remain silent. 440 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:25,480 Lift up your voice, right? 441 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:32,520 Jesus says, if you remain silent, even the rocks will cry out and burst forth in praise. 442 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,760 So as we embark on this whole summer playlist series, right, I mean, we're going to be talking 443 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,960 about songs of joy and songs of hope and songs of love. 444 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:43,880 We're going to talk about some sad songs, songs of lament. 445 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:48,880 We're going to talk about all those songs, but we had to start here with a reminder of 446 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:53,560 why we sing in the first place. 447 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:55,280 I'm going to say it again because I think it's so important. 448 00:27:55,280 --> 00:28:00,840 We sing because we're created to sing, because we're connected through singing, because we're 449 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:06,040 changed by singing, because we communicate the good news through singing. 450 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,200 And when we come to know who this God is, we can't help but sing. 451 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:12,320 We're compelled to sing. 452 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:16,480 So let's keep singing Trinity. 453 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,480 Thanks be to God. 454 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:20,480 Amen. 455 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,600 Thanks for listening, everyone, and make sure to come back again next week as we will have 456 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:29,640 a guest speaker with us to sing with us through another psalm. 457 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:34,400 Today's sermon was taken from the July 7th, 2024 service at Trinity Church, Streetsville 458 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,320 in Mississauga, Ontario.