Our Protestant roots were birthed in 1517 and since then we have been a people of 2 books: the bible and the hymn book…..
Why is this? Why are singing and music so important?

1) It’s Biblical
The Bible is full of music and song from the beginning right to the very end.
We are told:
in Job 38 that the morning stars sang and Angels shouted for joy as the earth’s foundations were laid.
In Genesis 4:21 we are told that Jubal ‘was the father of all who play the harp and flute’.
Moses sang a song of praise after the Exodus.
Deborah sang after the victory over Sisera.
King David played the harp, and wrote many of the Psalms.
Paul and Silas sang a hymn of praise to God in jail.
The Hosts of heaven themselves never stop singing to the One who is worthy.
There are around 500 references (depending on translation) about singing and 50 of them are direct commands to ‘sing to the Lord’.

Here are a few examples
– ‘Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praise to our King, sing praises’ (Ps. 47:6)
- ‘Come let us sing for joy to the Lord’ (Ps. 95:1)
‘Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvellous things’ ?(Ps. 98:1)
- ‘Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord’ (Eph. 5:19)
‘Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day’ (1 Ch. 16:23).
Perhaps even more mind blowing is that the three members of the Trinity sing or inspire song within us,
Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that the Father rejoices over us with singing
Matthew 26:30 tells us Jesus sang a hymn with the disciples at the last supper
And in Ephesians 5:18-19 we find that the Spirit inspires song

2) It’s Effective
Songs are a great way to remember things! Just think about annoying jingles and songs that do your head in but you know all the words and can’t help but sing along. Well God was on to this well before any music producer…We read in Deuteronomy 31 that before the Israelites entered the promised land God gave Moses a song to write down and teach it to them (v19) so that they and their descendants would remember God’s commands when they turned away and worshipped foreign idols and gods. You can just imagine that song popping in to their heads calling them to repent when they strayed! Think about today. I bet you can recite more songs than you could sermons. Singing is a great way to remember scripture which encourages and challenges us. Collosians 3:16 says we are to “let the word of Christ Dwell in us richly, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” What a great way of allowing the word of God to live in us and shape us.This again puts a great responsibility on songwriters to use more direct scripture in our songs and not just ‘poetic licence’.

3) It’s Emotive
Music is a powerful tool that stirs emotions like no other. I like the way that Bob Kauflin explains this. He says that ‘singing to music is a great way to balance doctrine and devotion’. God is not only interested in getting His word into our heads but also into our hearts (Eph 5:19).
I love this quote from John Piper “we sing because there are depths and heights and intensities and kinds of emotions that will not be satisfactorily expressed by mere prosaic forms, or even poetic readings” It’s far more emotive and powerful to sing songs like ‘Great in power’ (praise him you heavens) than it is just to recite the words (which are from Psalm 148) Or the chorus of How great thou art – ‘then sings my soul….how great thou art’.

4) It’s Powerful
We read in Acts 16:23 Paul and Silus, in chains in prison, worshipped the Lord. The doors blew off and the shackles fell off….. check this out….. not just Paul and Silus’ shackles but everyone’s in the jail!
I think this a beautiful picture of Jesus, by His Spirit, inhabiting His people’s praises, and we know that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor 3:18)
I have been to many churches where people have been healed just during the musical worship, without direct prayers for healing etc….
How I long to see people at St. George’s to simply see Jesus.
And just a few verses later in Acts 16 we see that the prison warden becomes a Christian! When we see genuine Christ Centered, Spirit Led worship we will see signs of the Kingdom advancing.

5) It’s Eternal
Singing is a pattern and model of what is to come. We see in John’s incredible vision in Revelation 4 and 5 that heaven itself is filled non stop with songs (some even spontaneous!) that all point to and glorify the ‘lamb who was slain’. What an amazing thought to know that when when we sing we are joining in with the worship of heaven.