Sermon: The Divine Liturgy Pt. 4 - A Theology of Singing (Colossians 3:16)

The Divine Liturgy Pt. 4 – A Theology of Singing Sunday, April 20th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Colossians 3:16

Prayer

O Father, we thank You for the new life you have given us in Christ. Teach us to put off the old man with his sinful ways and put on the new, as elect of God, holy and beloved. We ask for your merciful Spirit to be among us now, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction

Every Lord’s Day we sing ten songs in our worship service. Ten. And I think, that’s a lot of singing because my voice is usually tired by the end (or depending on the songs sometimes halfway through). But then add to those ten songs our monthly Psalm Sing. On the first Sunday of every month, we sing ten songs here in the service, and then we go over to the Fellowship Hall and Joe teaches us to sing some new songs, we sing old favorites, and sometimes we even try to learn parts (emphasis on the try)!

• Recently the teenagers and the children have decided that all this singing is not enough, and so they have requested (and been given permission) to have another Psalm Sing of their own. And so these Psalty Youngbloods, as they are called, meet in the sanctuary after service and sing some more.
• Add to that also the CKA school choir, their morning Capella, the men’s Reformation Roundtable, and even our Ladies Fellowship has some singing at it. When the elders gather every Tuesday morning for our elder meeting we begin with a song.
• Why all this singing? Why so much of it? The answer is: Because we are Christians. And Christians are the people who have resurrection hope. We were dead and now we are alive. And so really the question ought to be: How can we not sing given all that God in Christ has done for us?!
  • It says in 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
  • It says in Psalm 30:11-12, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end [for the purpose] that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.”
• And so, when God’s mercy grabbed hold of you in your pitiful miserable state, His mercy begot you again to a living hope. And so for the Christian, the question is not Why all this singing?, the question is, How can we not sing given all that God has done for us in the past, is doing for us in the present, and has promised to do for us in the future?
  • It says in 2 Peter 1:3, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.”
  • Paul says in Romans 8:32, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
  • So when you have been given and promised everything good in the whole universe, and when you have the Supreme Good in whom all other goods live and move and have their being, you cannot help but sing to the Lord with joy and thanksgiving and praise.
  • And so, because singing is such an essential element of our worship, and an essential quality of the Christian life, it is most fitting that on this Resurrection Easter Sunday, as we are in the middle of our series on worship and liturgy, I give to you A Theology of Singing. The what, the why, and t