[Dan Preston] Over the years you’ve probably heard lots of different proofs of God's existence or say of the Bible itself — one that comes to mind is the acronym MAPS which stands for Manuscripts, Archaeology, Prophecy and Statistics. Statistics being that basically all the things that are written in the Bible as far as the prophecies as far as the fact of all the manuscripts all the archaeological records coming together statistically would be impossible to have made it up, that's one. Other proofs that you might have in your own life, they are just a solid but maybe harder to prove maybe some sort of a personal miracle you have experienced in your life.

I had a friend that shared one with me once upon a time. It went something like this. He based it off of Isaiah 61:1-3 and actually we can go ahead and turn there. Isaiah 61 starting in verse 1. I remember seeing another proof of God's existence when I was in college it was on a t-shirt. It was a quote. It was allegedly attributed to Ben Franklin that said, "Beer is proof that God exists and wants us to be happy." I don't know how much I buy that as a proof, but that just stuck in my mind.

Isaiah 61:1, it says, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." This is the scripture that Christ quoted in Luke 4 when he began his public ministry. It says, "To comfort all who mourn,” this is what I want to notice here in the first part of verse 3. It says, "to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” 

A friend of mine looked at this verse and he said, "When I look at that verse," he said, "I see music as a proof of God's existence." He said, "It seems that oftentimes the most beautiful, the most heartfelt songs often come from a place of personal ashes." What does music do for you? I love music. I love to listen to it. I love to play music or play at it. I've enjoyed hearing my children learn to play the piano and now the clarinet. We've taught a little bit on guitar. So I love music. I grew up with music in the house I grew up in. To borrow a line from a part of the movie, “We had both kinds. Country and Western.” To be more precise it was Country and Bluegrass, but I love music. And when I was about five or six years old, my brother and I shared a room. He got a Boombox and I discovered Rock and Roll and was kind of downhill from there, but I love music.

I thought maybe perhaps with the growth of our choir and with the efforts of organizing and growing in our ensemble might maybe a good time to talk a little bit about music today. I’d like to talk about it, not necessary as a proof of God's existence, although I think that's an interesting proof to consider. But more about maybe, how does God view music? What's the power behind music? How should it be and why should it be important to us? How can we use it properly in church and where does it have a place in our future? In short, I would like to talk about the role of music in a Christian's life, the role of music in a Christian's life.

Let's start with seeing what God has to say about music. Let's go back towards the beginning, Genesis 4:19. Genesis 4, then we'll pick up the story in verse 19. We begin seeing the lineage here. It says, "Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock." Verse 21, "His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute."

And there's not really any context here. We're just kind of being given some lineage, but it's told that he is a father of those who play the harp and the flute. And it goes on to talk about the various different craftsmen and the different skills that they had. United Church of God has a very interesting study paper. It's on the members website. It's called "Music in the Bible." From this, we have ascertained that Jubal basically was the forerunner of those who would have invented the string instrument as well. So contrary to my understanding of that being somebody like Les Paul or C.F. Martin or somebody like that, it appears that maybe Jubal was who was one of the forefather basically in creating string instruments. That study guide by the way has a great appendix in the back that goes through all the basic modern instruments and kind of attributes who probably created them. So it's very interesting, I do recommend that.

Some instruments weren't necessarily used for music but were used as an alarm for sound. Over Numbers 10, Numbers 10:1, we see God giving some instructions to Moses. It says, "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'Make two silver trumpets for yourself; and you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.'" And it goes on, gives more specific description on the sequence of how they would be blown and when and how many. It's pretty detailed and pretty interesting.

But we see that before the days of cellphones and emails, in order to communicate to the congregation as whole musical instruments were used. Flipping back to Exodus, let's notice something about the first recorded incidents of singing and that's in Exodus 15 starting in verse 1. Exodus 15, and this was after Israel had fled Egypt. Exodus 15:1, it said, "Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: ‘I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider, He has thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and song, He has become my salvation; He is my God, I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him."

This is the song of Moses as it's known. It's perhaps not the first song that Moses would have ever sang, but it is the first recorded one that we read in the Bible. Not unlike today, with their music, they like to do a little dancing. Later on in Exodus 15:20, we read about Moses' sister, Miriam. It says, "Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them:” it says, “Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea." So she's singing part of the song that Moses had written.

Both of these are very clearly good, appropriate proper ways to worship God. Now, while these are the first mentions of singing and dancing in the Bible, it's not necessarily the first instance of music in existence. Job 38:7, you don't need to turn there but you might recall that when God was talking to Job and saying, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth," we're told that the angels sang out at the creation. So we see music goes back a long, long way. There's quite a few different accounts where music has played a critical part and has been present throughout God’s... or throughout man's history.

God must have thought music was pretty important. He gave some very specific instructions or inspired David on the role of musicians in 1 Chronicles. Let's turn there and pick that up 1 Chronicles 6. 1 Chronicles 6 and we'll start in verse 31. The heading in my Bible is actually: "Musicians in the House of the Lord." So 1 Chronicles 6:31, it says, "Now, these are the men whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the ark came to rest. They were ministering with music before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they served in their office according to their order."

A little later, we'll see how important this is in chapter 9, turn over a page or two, chapter 9 verse 33, 1 Chronicles 9:33. It says, "These are the singers, head of the fathers' houses of the Levites, who lodged in the chambers, and were free from other duties; for they were employed in that work day and night." Music was so critical. God inspired David to have singers, that was their exclusive job, to sing praises. So music obviously was very important.

One addition here thing we'll look at, in Ezra 2:64. Ezra 2 starting in verse 64 and this is of course is talking about after the restoration of Jerusalem in Ezra's time. Ezra 2:64, it says, "The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, besides their male and female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred men and women singers." So among the first to return for the restoration of Jerusalem were the singers. What's interesting to me then is the kind of music or the kind of emotion rather that music can stir up in folks. And we actually read that a little further on in Ezra 3, Ezra 3 picking it up in verse 8.

This is talking about the restoration of the temple. We don't necessary have to go through this whole section. We'll pick it up actually at verse 10, so the temple is being restored. It says, verse 10 says, "When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: 'For He is good, for His mercy endures forever towards Israel.' Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid."

So they are singing they are shouting in praise very excited we hear at the rebuilding of the temple. We see music playing a key critical part in that. And notice what we read in verse 12. It says, "Many of the priests and Levites and the head of the fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy." So you had many shouting for joy at the rebuilding of the temple. We had many weeping out of sadness and the memory of the former temple. It said, "So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout and the sound was heard afar off." Music has a very strong emotional connection doesn't it? We see that right here, people were happy, people were sad, but it was a strong emotional connection. 

I have to tell you a few years ago, I gained a whole new appreciation for those who do special music, I mean, you know, music of any kind whether it's a rock and rhythm a blues tune or maybe an old ballad that you grew up listening to. It helps us have some sort of emotional connection, but I developed a new appreciation a few years ago when a friend of mine asked if I could help for special music during Winter Family Weekend and play bass. It made me a little nervous for two reasons: one, when you play a bass guitar because of the low frequency and the power, those notes carry a long way and if you make a mistake, everybody knows who did it.

If you're playing rhythm, you can kind of, you know, look over at the other guitar guy and maybe it was him, maybe it was you but with bass, everybody knows who did it. So that was part of it but, you now, the other thing that really got my… the butterflies in my stomach going was the fact that, I had played a lot of music in a variety of shows and having fun with people and I've always enjoyed doing that, but this was the first time I ever played music to worship God and it struck me as very different. You know, when we speak, sometimes we have some anxiety and things like that but I will tell you I was never so nervous in all my life as I was in playing special music. And so, I really developed an appreciation for those who do that. After we did the special music that day, I'll be honest with you, I was so overcome with emotion I went on the hallway and I cried. It had the powerful emotional attachment.

So music has a very, very powerful emotional attachment for all of us. Again, it's used in many different places in the Bible. We read when the walls of Jericho fell, there was of course music involved there with the trumpets. And while music is very, very powerful and has a great emotional attachment and it can be very powerful and a great way for us to learn and praise and worship God, we're are also reminded that it's not the be all and all of praising and worship God. And even just in life in general, music is not the be all end all of our existence.

Solomon wrote about this is in Ecclesiastes 2. Ecclesiastes 2 and we'll pick it up in verse 8. At this point, Solomon is of course kind of taking stock of his life, basically looking at everything and talking about all the vanities of the various things he had done in life and seen and heard. Ecclesiastes 2:8, he says, "I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and other provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds." This guy had a great guitar collection. Verse 9, it says, "So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. And also my wisdom remained with me." So while at this point, that music and then he is talking about and the musical instruments aren't necessary tied directly to the praise of God, perhaps more to the music and entertainment. We see that he's pointing to, you know, these are the things that I had and they really weren't the be all and end all of my existence. 

In verse 11, he said, "I looked at all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed it was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun." So we have to be balanced in our approach towards music. Although he is not saying that, singers and the music and the instruments, he is not saying that they were bad in anyway. He's saying you know what it's not all about wine, women and song, all those kinds of things. Like nearly everything God has given man, man has found a way to corrupt it.

Let's go back to Exodus 32:17. This is a very familiar story. After receiving the Ten Commandments, Moses comes back down to the mountain to talk to the children of Israel. But what's he find there? Exodus 32 starting in verse 17, he said, "And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, 'There is a noise of war in the camp.'" In verse 18, Moses answers and “But he said: ‘It is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear.’" So in other words, he's saying, "That's no war going on. Something else is happening." Verse 19, we know the story, it says, "So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses' anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain." So the Israelite's took something good that God had blessed them with, music, dancing, and they turned it into a tool of debauchery of worshiping false gods.

I don't know how many of you remember the movie Footloose, but I think it's actually this specific scripture that the person who plays the preacher in that movie uses to try to condemn all song and dancing. And of course, we don't want to do that but we can see, however, that music can be turned into something very perverted from what God intended it. So we see that men created this creation of gods. This problem never really went away for Israel the problem of idolatry and debauchery. I'll pick up a note here in Amos 5 and we'll start in verse 21.

We read the account where Israel was corrupting God's Feast Days. Amos 5:21, he says, "I hate, I despise your feast days," what they had done to God's feasts. He said, "I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments." God is not condemning music in anyway at this point but he is condemning the attitude that went along with corrupting and perverting it. Because they would not listen to God, God would not listen to them, and so he calls the music at that point just noise. 

Archaeological records show that in southern Mesopotamia, music was very much a part of pagan practices. This is an excerpt from the New Oxford History of Music. The New Oxford History of Music it says, this it says: “All cities in this region had their temples which worshiped Ishtar and Tammuz. The priest intoned a liturgical cantillation,” That's a fancy way of saying singing, “that was developed and formalized with astrologers and mathematicians of the day. This is the origin of the ‘weeping for Tammuz' ritual that is mentioned in Ezekiel 8:14. This fixed liturgical chant or singing was endorsed by ‘Ishtar, the patronesses of litanies’” or songs, “who understand[s] the measures of the psalming.” So they were giving Ishtar credit for basically being the chief musician. It says “It was the ‘greatest system of musical ritual in any ancient religion’ which has influenced religious musical practice down to the present day.“

The corruption of music and worshiping God started long ago and it continues today. There are many, many wonderful pieces of music out there. There's a lot of garbage too. In about two or three months, you are going to be walking through the store and you're going to hear music over the loud speakers. And if we're not careful, we're going to be humming along with Christmas songs. Or maybe, you've had this experience that I've had. You've been driving down the road, you know, and listening to the radio and maybe, if you're like me, I listened to the radio a lot when I was a teenager. And I'm just singing along with the song and bee-bopping along and I'm singing out loud in my car because nobody can hear me there.

And I realize, "Wait, what did he just say? What's this song all about?” Sometimes that happens. We have to be very careful about music. We have to be very careful not only the music that we sing, but the music that we listen to and allow in our lives. Of course, we must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, not all music that is something other strictly praising God is bad.

Luke 15 starting in verse 24, we’ll just kind of break in here to the middle of the story about the prodigal son. Luke 15, we'll just kind of go right into the middle of the story. Verse 24, it says, “'For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found’ And they began to be merry." So this is after the prodigal son returns and the father, they killed the fatted calf they begin to have a celebration.

Verse 25 it says, "Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.'" So the brother comes in from the field and he hears this party going on. Christ is telling this parable. Christ takes the time to mention that there was song and dance. Now, was the song and dance done of praising God? Well, perhaps it was, but we really don't know. Maybe this was song and dance just for the sake of song and dance. There's not anything wrong with that and it's basics, you know. Sometimes, it's just nice to listen to music for fun.

Before we get into maybe some of the other uses of music and the proper use of music, let's look at some of the examples of the variety. I think it's very clear, when we look around in creation, God loves variety. I think we can actually see that about music too. The book of Psalms of course is entirely music. So let's just notice a few quick examples out of Psalms of some of the different types of music that God inspired David and the others who wrote, to write right here.

Let's start in Psalms 8:1. It says, "O Lord," or he says… excuse me, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens!” So here, we see an example of a song that's glorifying God. Skipping ahead here and I'll try to go in order so we don't have to flip back and forth too much, Psalms 21:1. Psalms 21:1, it says, "The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!” Here, David's sharing joy over salvation, another theme. Psalms 51, we won't read but of course we know that's one of repentance, the one we often read over just before the Passover.

Psalm 56 is one of my favorites. Psalm 56:1, it says, "Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; fighting all day he oppresses me. My enemies would hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me, O Most High." Now, as Mr. Rangel mentioned, probably not too many of us have to deal with physical threats of violence but, you know, we all have challenges. They might be in the workplace, on the road, in the grocery store wherever they might be. And here, we're given some reassurance. Verse 5, it says, "All day they twist my words and their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather together. They hide. They mark my steps and they lie and wait for my life."

Sometimes people out there are just waiting for us to mess up. They want to twist our words or they want to say, "Aha, got you. You you said this or you said that." And Psalms 56 is a wonderful reassurance that, you know what? We're not the first ones to have to endure that. David certainly endured that. Many who went before us endured that. You know, and this is a Psalm of reassurance that we can look to in those difficult times. Psalms 60:1, we read about a plea for restoration. It says, "O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again!” Well, we all make mistakes. We all slip up. We all sin from time to time. This is a beautiful song, a reminder that, you know, God does want to, God intends to. It's His earnest desire to restore us to Him.

Just a couple more here. Psalms 116 starting in verse 3, Psalm 116:3, it says, "The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: 'O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!’ Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me." Now, this is David writing a psalm talking about the salvation that God gave him in those physical instances, so it's a reminder, it's a reassurance there as well.

One more in Psalms 119:165. Psalms 119:165, this is probably a memory scripture. Here's a heads up to those of ABC students who are here early. I promise you this will be a memory scripture this year. Remember this is I think one of the early ones that Dr. Dunkle puts down under the memory scriptures. Psalms 119:165, he said, "Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. Lord, I hope for Your salvation, and I do Your commandments." Here, we see a Psalm given about understanding. So we can look through Psalms and we can probably find a Psalm to fits just about any occasion, anything, any trial, any joy, any situation we might find ourselves in. And these aren't just random listings of a variety of psalms, but they're really a listing of God's benefits that we have. And again, there's that emotional connection I feel through Psalms through music, that makes them seem so much more special to us, don't they?

We won't go through there but the Song of Solomon is probably what you would compare today to basically a power ballad or a love ballad. From the music in the Bible study paper, it describes it as this, it says “The title of this book is superlative: the ‘song of songs’ are ‘greatest of all songs.’ Comparable expressions include the ‘Holy of Hollies,’ or the ‘Lord of Lords’ or ‘King of Kings.’ This book contains a collection of lyrics celebrating love without any reference to music except for the title.” 

But clearly, it's a sort of a song there and it's got a very powerful message and language about love as we know. By contrast, you might consider the book of Lamentations. Now, while the book of Lamentations isn't necessarily music, perhaps more poetry, it is written in very similar style to match music and what's called an acrostic style. You may have done this when you were in school where maybe you write down something on the left hand column of our page, maybe MOTHER and then for mother's day, you write out a little poem. And each new line starts with an M and then an O and T, H, then. Anyway, that's what Lamentations apparently was originally written in.

So let's notice something in Lamentations. Lamentations 1:1, we'll start at the beginning. Jeremiah where it says… it says, "How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow is she, who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces has become a slave!” When I read Lamentations, this is kind of like the blues, you know. Jeremiah is weeping over the downfall of people. Chapter 2 verse 13, he says, "How shall I console you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you…” It's bad, it ain't getting no better. This is kind of the blues. So clearly, we see a variety of music in the Bible.

Having established then the significance of music, talking a little bit about its emotional power and the variety that God gave us, let's move on to why music should be important to you and I. Why should music be important to you and I? Aside from the fact that if it's important to God, it should be important to us. I've come up with a list of like seven reasons or benefits. You could probably come up with more and I would love to hear any that you might come up with. But I've come up with seven benefits of music. The first one would be encouragement. We can read in Acts 16:25.

And by the way, it was complete coincidence that it was seven. People often think that people write messages and they try to come up with seven. I know it's the number of perfection. Honestly, when I first did this, I had seven points and I realized that two of them are the same so I had six. I thought, "Okay, that's fine," and then when I was reviewing the message, I came up with one more, so I wound up at seven anyway. But rest assured, it was just coincidence.

Let's talk about encouragement, Acts 16, and let's read starting in verse 25. It says, "But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them." So they had been in imprisoned. It's the middle of the night. They're chained to a wall and what are they doing? They're singing. Now, that's probably not what I would be doing if I was chained to a wall in prison.

Notice though, the very awesome fruit that comes next. It says, "Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep," so he had fallen asleep on guard duty which is punishable enough. It says, "Seeing the prison doors were open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself." So basically, falling asleep on duty was bad enough, but if you're a prison guard and you let everybody out, you were done. That was a death sentence.

"He drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice saying, 'Do yourself no harm, for we are here.'" And of course, this guard goes on to ask Paul what do I need to do be saved and Paul explains to him. And verse 33, he says, "He took them the same hour of the night and he washed their stripes. And immediately, he and all his family were baptized." This is the prison guard. Verse 34, "Now, when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household."

This is a real swing of events for Paul's day. It started off in the middle of the night he was in prison. What's he doing? He's singing a hymn, a song of praise to God. As we heard in the sermonette, sometimes we neglect to ask God for help in the little things. Well, this was certainly no little thing. This was a big thing. No, but they were asking God for help. They were praising God through song, and look what comes out of it? This is amazing turn of events. He goes from being in prison to having the guard dress his wounds, take him back, care for him and this man asking Paul for guidance to help understand Jesus Christ.

And the end there, it says, verse 34, it says, "He set food before him and he rejoiced." It doesn't say here but I think there's a pretty good bet that part of that rejoicing was the guard and his family singing a few hymns too. I would be almost willing to bet about that. Notice back in verse 25, something else. It says that other prisoners were listening to them. Now, understand that prison then versus prison now is much different. Being in as Roman prison in the 1st century was really a fate far worse than death, it truly was. And it doesn't say what happened to these other prisoners, but do you think seeing this miracle, do you think hearing those songs and hymns, do you think that encouraged those other prisoners? I bet it did. I bet it did.

Reason number one then, that music should be important to us is that: it can encourage us and it can be used to encourage others. Let's go forward here. Look at another example from the New Testament Church. As a matter of fact, all these reasons, we'll be looking at it from the New Testament Church at 1st century church of today. Ephesians 5 and starting in verse 17. Ephesians 5:17. It says, "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” You know that high from alcohol, it only lasts so long. Verse 19, "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, submitting to one another in the fear of God."

This is a section of the scripture that talks about wisdom and talks about spiritual growth. And it talks about singing songs and singing hymns and spiritual songs can be a key critical part of that. Reason number two then music should be important to us is that: when used appropriately, songs music can be a part of our spiritual growth and maturity. Songs and music can be a part of our spiritual growth and maturity. Reason number three, let's move over to Colossians 3:16 and read the section we know of course is putting on the character of the new man. Colossians 3:16, it says, "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."

Very similar to what we just read in Ephesians. But one key critical thing I would like to point out here is he talks about using songs to help teach. How many of you taught your children the books of the Bible using a little help from a guy named Jelly and Mr. Mark Graham? Or how many of us relearned it? Okay. I'm the only one here. All right, okay, I see a few other hands go up. Yeah, songs can be very helpful in helping us memorize things. And it doesn't just have to be memorizing the names of the planets or the periodic table. I've heard songs for all those things as well. But music can be used as a spiritual tool to teach as well.

So reason number three: music can be used as a tool to teach. Perhaps a similar vein, music can be used to help us communicate. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 14 and start in verse 14. This section of scripture specifically talks about speaking in tongues and an issue that Paul's addressing there in Corinth but we see music is mentioned as well. 1 Corinthians 14:14 says, "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful." So if someone is speaking in a tongue and we can't understand it, there's nothing fruitful that comes from that for us. It says, "What's the conclusion? I will pray with the spirit. I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit and I will also sing with the understanding.”

Paul seems to indicate that singing was kind of sort of a language of universal communication back then even then. Many have been watching the Olympics this past week and each time someone takes the podium, they play the national anthem of the country that that person is from. And that music, at least all that I've heard, you know, to me, it's very enjoyable. It's very beautiful and it creates a sense of harmony and unity even though, you know, I don't understand the words that might be in Greek or Russian or Spanish or whatever they might be in. So music is used as a form of universal communication.

Reason number four then, the reason why that music should be important to us is that: music can help us communicate with one another. Music helps us communicate with one another. A little later on in this same chapter, we see that music was used actually as a part of church services. Skipping on down, verse 26, it says, "How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." And again, Paul was speaking specifically to the issue of people maybe not understanding what one person was saying or another. But we see here in an occasion that songs were used in the early 1st century church. Verse 40 then, it concludes, it says, "Let all things be done decently and in order." 

We see hymns then seem to be a part of an orderly church service. Hymns seem to be a part of an orderly church service. We see this example over in the book of Mark as well on the night that Christ died. Mark 14:26, we're all very familiar with each year, we conclude Passover services not with a prayer but with a hymn. And this is the scripture that we get that from. Mark 14:26, it says, "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." You know kind of a sidebar that's interesting to me is that at this point in time, Judas would not have been with Jesus Christ and the disciples. He wasn't in on the privilege of being able to praise God in song at that time.

Reason number five then, that music should be important to us is that: music can help provide order to our worship service. Music can help provide order to our worship services. I always get a kick out of visiting various church congregations here locally and there's one that typically gets me just about every time when we go to Portsmouth. They like to have two hymns after the sermonette. So you know, they have the traditional three hymns at the beginning of services, opening prayer, sermonette. And then, the song leader gets up and does another hymn. And after that first hymn, inevitably, I try to sit down and everybody else is still standing and they sing a second hymn, but still we still get the principle that hymns can help provide an order to church services. 

Let's notice another reason for music in the book of James. James 5:13, it says, "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing songs." You know, this isn't just encouragement as we read about earlier, but it's a way to share joy. If you have the gift of being able to sing, please share it. Music is a way to share our joy with one another. It's a way to give thanks. I remember once upon a time, I was working on an old rusty pickup truck with my dad. And there was a bolt that would not come off and we worked and worked and worked and I know that he prayed about it and eventually it came off. And dad sang a little song giving thanks to God that that bolt came off. You know what? At the time, I thought, "Well, that could seem kind of silly." But you know, when I look back at it now, when I run across a tough situation something like that, I'll often thank God in song, especially if I'm by myself, if I'm in the car, in the basement or underneath the car as the case maybe. I'll thank God in song.

So the reason number six then: music is a way to share our joy and thanksgiving with one another. I couldn't help but laugh when Mr. Rangel  was talking about working on the car. I thought about all the things... I can't tell you how many sockets, wrenches and stuff that I have lost in cars over the years and have never been able to find that are still floating out there somewhere.

Seventh reason that music is important to us, we can read about in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. 1 Thessalonians 4:16, it says, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God." Now, while not necessary music per se, we're not given a full description here, this musical instrument is going to be used as a way of getting people's attention. When Christ returns, you can bet that this trumpet blast is going to gather a lot of attention. So reason number seven goes back to what we read about ancient Israel: Music again someday will be used as a call to assembly. Music will again someday be used as a call to assembly.

With these reasons as our backdrop, let's talk a little bit about how then we can use music to properly praise God. This aren't my principles. I'm going to give again seven principles but these aren't mine. These are actually the ones from the music in the Bible study paper that UCG produces. And again, I do highly recommend that paper. They give seven reasons. The first one is this, when offering special music or music of any kind in church, what's the fruit? What's the point and purpose? What's the reason?

I think back… I didn't intend to make this a message filled with pop culture references but it turned out I thought of another one. I remember the Indiana Jones movie when he's looking for the cup of Christ and the guy asked him and he said, “Whose glory are you doing this for? Are you doing it for God's are you doing it for your own?" So principle number one when you are using music to worship God is what's the fruit? Who is the glory for? Principle number, two godly music will reflect godly character. How many Pop songs or Country songs about cheating, lying and stealing are going to be reflective of God's character? Well, they're not, they're not. So point number two then is godly music will reflect godly character.

Point number three is similar to that. God's law judge's right and wrong. God's law judges right and wrong. It shouldn't be a song that leads us to thoughts of immorality. Point number four, it can be a new song. Now, this isn't talking about a new song or Revelation although we'll talk about that a little bit later on. But it's referring to the fact that, you know what? We don't have to have just all the old classics all the time. I love hearing "Starry, Starry Night," the "Hallelujah Chorus." But you know, if those were the only two songs that were ever offered here at church for special music, it would get kind of unspecial quickly, so there's a need for a variety.

Principle number five is this, it says there needs to be a balance of quality music. So while it's good to have new things, you know, we don't have to throw away the old classics. We can have a wide variety of music use to praise and worship God. Number six is the principle for the need to consider offence versus tolerance… or offense versus tolerance. I'll share my own thoughts on this just a little bit. If I don't like a particular piece of music, that doesn't make it wrong, that doesn't make it ungodly. Some people probably don't like to hear electric bass or hear drums being played special music.

Some people don't get excited when they have a soloist sing to taped accompaniment. Many, they're very excited about a very intricate violin solo. We need to be very careful that we let the Bible not our own personal taste in music be the guide for the type of music we use to praise and worship God. I'll say that again. We need to be very careful to let the Bible and not our own personal taste in music be the guide to how we worship and praise God. 

Number seven principle then is education. We talked a little bit about learning the books of the Bible with Jelly and certainly that's a great example. But you know, how many godly themes do we hear about music, the plan of God's Holy Days? That's very helpful to somebody who maybe has just walked in the door and maybe they hear one sermon or two sermons or something like that, and they start to get an idea what we believe. But then, when they hear a song and they hear a hymn about a New Jerusalem or about thirsting after God's knowledge, you know, that it really helps convey the idea of who we are and what we believe, our desire is to be more Christ-like. So one of the principles used then is education.

The paper summarizes the principles this way. It says appropriately… excuse me. “Appropriate godly music can be discerned when we apply this biblical principles. By establishing a comprehensive program of musical education in the Church, we should teach from the word of God how to worship and praise God with singing and music. Through the process of education, we can defuse many controversies that could arise and see support for the vast majority. Music in the Church of God should express our praise and thanksgiving to God in a spirit of joy and truth that is edifying both to old and young. The Bible does allow for diverse styles and types of music and for a variety of musical instruments when worshiping God.” 

“Certainly, all music use and services must produce the proper results of peace, pleasure and inspiration through lyrics that are doctrinally correct.” What's appropriate for church could be the subject of debate. But using these principles, we can keep that from being a source of division. There are a wide variety of musical taste out there, here in this room even, and we must understand we must let the Bible guide us in principle how do we use music to worship God. At this point, you must think, "Okay, that's all well and good. Now, what am I supposed to do?"

I had a good friend of mine tell me that when he was a teenager in church, it wasn't part of the Church of God. It was another organization. He said, "I was really excited about going to church." He said, "I went to the choir," and he said they were having choir practice on Wednesday night and he said, "I was singing my heart out and I was just having a blast. I felt very moved, very emotional." He said, "Afterwards, the pastor pulled me aside, the choir director pulled me aside. And he said, 'Son I want to tell you I have never seen anybody more excited, more on fire to serve and honor and glorify God than you and God wants you to do that but it's not in this choir.'"

Not all of us have the ability to sing. When we do the webcast, just so that song leaders aren't doing solo, we often turn down the lectern mic during song services. When I'm leading songs, I ask the guys on the soundboard, don't just turn it down, turn it off, mute it and unplug it. I am not a soloist. I don't sing, but I enjoy music. How many of you do too? So how can we help? Well, maybe it's by getting that instrument out of our closet, dusting it off. Maybe it's by helping out on the sound system itself, maybe it's through song leading, maybe it's by joining the choir.

There are lots of different ways to serve God through music. One very important way is to thank those who do have those gifts and abilities, those who offer special music and it's not easy. It is very difficult and we can thank not only them, but we can thank God for the talents that he gave them and that we are able to enjoy. Let's notice something back in Colossians 3. Colossians 3:12, notice how this attitude of thanks fits into the character of the new man. Colossians 3:12, it says, "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do."

You know, maybe your style in music isn't my style of music and vice verse, but if that music meets the appropriate guidelines for being used to worship God, that's okay. Maybe it's not your favorite thing. Christ forgave us for the sins that we committed that led directly to His death. Can we let it pass if one style of music isn't our favorite? I think we can. I think we can. Verse 14, it says, "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 and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." That music is a very, very powerful way and part of how we worship and praise God. Let's never forget that. It will play a key critical role in all of our futures. We talked a little bit about the new songs. Let's go ahead and be… as we begin to conclude, look at Revelation 14. There's a new song coming that we will all one day sing together.

I think it's important to look at this now and recognize that every time we sing a hymn together, we are joining in praise of our Creator. It doesn't have to wait to this new song. Every time we sing together, we are praising God. Revelation 14 starting in verse 1, it says, "Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him, one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their forehead. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps." So we hear the musical accompaniment. "They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth."

I earnestly desire for the day when I have a new body that of spirit being and I have a new voice, one that I can join in singing this song. We all look and yearn for that day. I can't tell you how much I look forward to them. In conclusion, brethren, our Creator created music and He loves it. He loves a wide variety of it. And although man has corrupted it over time, music is still a very appropriate way to worship God. Music outside of praising God? That's okay too but we must be very careful about what we let into our minds out of our mouths.

Music has great importance to us today. It serves a wide variety of needs praising God: encouraging others, as a teaching tool, providing order to church services, sharing joy and thanksgiving. We must use godly wisdom when choosing the music we praise God with and recognize that not everyone's taste are the same and that's okay. And that someday we will all be singing in the same choir with new mind, new body, new song and new voice.