Ephesians 5:17-20 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
We live in a musical world. We have music everywhere. We are exposed to it everywhere and it effects us in our lives, though sometimes we are not conscious to that fact. When music is discussed biblically, however, people get defensive and passionately fight for their own music. The one thing most people don’t realize is that music is very important to God.
Music is so important to God, that God makes mention of music 756 times in the Word of God. That is a huge emphasis in the Bible. God has a lot to say about music. Unfortunately even the average preacher is not able to take the Word of God and show what the Lord says about music. The Bible states music is very important to God and it has special benefits to man.
Notice this text in Ephesians. This passage links being filled with the Spirit to singing. This passage directly links God, the Holy Spirit, with music. If we are going to be filled with God, a result of this will be a song in our heart. The Bible goes further in attributing having a new song with being a new creature (being saved) then any other evidence attributed to being born again.
It is interesting to note that music is made up of three parts. Those parts are melody, harmony and rhythm. Melody is the truth of the song, the main message. Harmony corresponds to the style and the added effects to carry the song forth. You might say it is the emotion of the song. Rhythm is the beat and the timing of the song. All three of these elements are needed to make music.
Our bodies also are made up of three parts. Man is made up of spirit, soul and body. The spirit holds our conscious and it is what is quickened when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us after we personally accept Jesus as our Saviour for our sins. In our soul there is intellect, will and emotion. The body holds the five senses.
The three parts of music also directly tie into the three parts of man. The melody carries the truth to the spirit. Remember truth can only be expressed in words. When the words of the song are understandable and clearly heard the carry the message to the Spirit. This is why we use the old fashioned hymns, because of the doctrinal truth the contain feed and help our spirit. The harmony feeds directly to our soul, specifically our emotions. The harmony of the song effects our emotions, sometimes even controls the emotions. It can make your exited, scared, sad, and any other type of emotion. Sometimes the harmony of the song can outweigh the message of the song. This is how you can take a song service and turn into an emotion “experience” because of the over emphasis on the harmony. You can bypass the intellect and have some have an experience that most will attribute to having a “religious experience”. Then the beat affects the flesh. The world puts the emphasis upon this part of music. When an over emphasis is upon the beat, it feeds the flesh and gives the flesh what it craves. The beat can drown out the words and make the words of no effect, because the world is only interested primarily in the beat. Science has shown that the way the world plays the beat, it can invoke physical responses in the body causing more energy and even more aggression.
Now go back again to this text in Ephesians and look at verse 19. The emphasis God places is making melody (truth) and tying that to our heart. Instead of bypassing the intellect and going straight to the emotions, God wants the truth of the song, the words of the song, to be understood and allow us to think and meditate upon it with our heart, our intellect and emotions.
With this ground work in place, let us see what the Word of God says are some benefits of God honoring music.
Benefits to Us
Helping us focus on what is true
One of the first benefits to God honoring, god pleasing music is that it helps us to focus on what is true. 1 Corinthians 14:15-16 states “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. 16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?” Paul was reminding the Corinthian church that it is important to pray and sing so people can understand. The words of a song are important. God wants us to understand the message so we can think about it. The songs that we sing should have clear words with a clear message.
Reminds us of the goodness of God
Another benefit to us is told in Isaiah 12:4-5, “And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. 5 Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.” When we sing godly songs, it reminds us of how good God has been to us. God is the Creator God of the universe and God is sitting on the throne. God has everything well in hand. God cares for us and takes care of us all the time. We need to be reminded and encouraged by song that God is good.
Way to express thankfulness to God
Music also helps us tell God thank you as is mentioned in Hebrews 13:15 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” Music is a way God develop and made for us to tell God thank you what He has done in our lives. When we sing old fashioned hymns, they tell of what God has done for us in providing a Saviour to pay our price for the sins we have committed against God. We can tell God thank you for the daily provisions He has provided for us through these hymns. In these spiritual songs we can express gratitude for His watch care and love.
Guide for proper living
Exodus 15:1-2 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.
In this part of Exodus, God just delivered the children of Israel from the grips of Pharaoh by parting the Red Sea and allowing the children of Israel to cross safely, then drowning the Egyptian army. In thankfulness Moses led the children of Israel in this song recorded in Exodus 15. The children of Israel were often prone to murmur and complain as is recorded in the Word of God, but at this moment of time, they were not complaining. When we are sinning Christian music from our hearts, understanding and meditating on the words while we sing, you will find it will be hard to sin at that time. When our minds are focus on God and His goodness and holiness, we won’t have that desire to sin and go against God’s word. The more we sing to the Lord, the less we will desire to sin at those times.
Benefits to Others
Way to give a testimony
Not only is good godly music beneficial to us, but it is a benefit to others. Notice Romans 15:9, “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.” Why sing according to this verse? So we can glorify God to the unbelievers. It is a way to give a testimony of what God has done for you in your life, and let the whole world know there is a God in Heaven. If God has truly done something so wonderful in your life that you sing about it and brag on God and glorify His name, the unbelieving world will take note. Many of the old fashioned hymns are simply testimonies of God’s grace in their life. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see…”
Challenge to Others
Not only can good godly songs give a testimony but they can challenge others to see that God is good. Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. Think of Christians who need encouragement and hear how God has been good in another’s life. It will challenge them to look unto Jesus in faith.
Word of Instruction
The sister passage to Ephesians where we first started is Colossians. Colossians 3:16 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. This verse is similar to the one found in Ephesians. In Ephesians the verse ties music to being filled with the Holy Spirit. This passage ties music will being filled with God’s word. Notice what is to be done with music. Music is meant to teach people the word of God. How little is this practiced in today’s life.
During Martian Luther’s day, the Catholic Church tried hard to stop the teaching of Luther from being spread. They admitted they could not. The reason was because Luther wrote songs teaching doctrine and the people sang the songs spreading the doctrine. He followed the Biblical pattern showing how important music is to teach the word of God.
All music carries a message and all music teaches something. All music. Good godly music teaches us the word of God. That is why all music must be judged beside the Word of God. If a song does not line up with the Word of God, we should not sing it. Remember, you can not be spiritual if you are not scriptural.
Benefits to the Lord
Singing to God in our devotions
Not only is music a help to us personal, and a help to others, but music benefits God. Psalm 100:1-2 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. If there was a verse that most Independent Bible believing Baptists do not follow is this one. The Bible commands that we come into the presence of God with singing. How often do we rush into our private devotions, Bible reading and prayer, expecting to come and enter in the presence of God and forget this one thing! God wants us to enter into His presence with singing! Music is very important to God. I have been taught by my Pastor and I now teach others to bring a hymn book with you when you go to pray. Sing praises to God from that hymn book. It will soften your heart up and allow your to be more conscious of God’s presence.
Psalm 96:2 Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. Here is another command. We are to sing to the Lord, showing the salvation we receive from Him, day to day. We are to sing God’s praises every day. How convicting to think of how little we sing to Him. We usually only confine singing praises to God in a church building. But God want us to sing to Him daily. This is not only singing around the house while we clean up, but God want us to sing TO Him daily.
God deserves to be sung to
Probably the most important teaching about music is that God is worthy to be sung to. Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; This is a scene from heaven. They are singing to the Lord that He is worthy. God is worthy! God is the Creator God. He is the One who died for our sins and provided salvation to us. If there is any Being in the world worthy to be sung to, it is God. In the picture the Bible portrays of Heaven, this is the activity occurring up there. The angels, host of heaven and redeemed all singing to the Lamb, for He is worthy!
Why should we sing? Because God is worthy. How is the song in your heart? What is the song in your heart? How is the song being sung? Hopefully they will all line up with the Word of God and be pleasing to God, for He is worthy.
