By Steve A. Hamilton

Ephesians 5:19-21

Introduction: Our Lord commands us to sing songs to Him from our hearts (Eph. 5:19-21).  Yet, how many times have we sung the same songs so often that the song is sung from the lips by rote rather than from the heart?  

I. We are to sing with the understanding (1 Cor. 14:14-15, 19).

          A. If I may take the liberty to make Paul’s comments applicable to our subject, Paul would rather sing 5 words with his own understanding than a whole song by rote.

          B. Rote means by routine with little thinking involved.  In other words, if we sing songs from rote we are not singing with the understanding.

          C. How many hymns can you sing from memory?  The danger is singing them without thinking of its meaning.

II. Why sing from the supplemental “Hymns for Worship?”

          A. The church has provided us song books with a good number of songs to sing.  Yet, a vast majority of those songs were written by non-Christians in past generations long ago.  That is not to say the songs are inappropriate.  They have served well for many decades and I’m sure for many more to come.  However, many new songs are being published that are just as inspiring as those in past generations but the majority of those found in the supplemental “Hymns for Worship” are written by present day Christians.

          B. What difference does it make if a song is written by a Christian? 

                   1. “When We All Get To Heaven” #194.  I pray that we all will get to heaven.  But will we all get to heaven?  If we are being presumptuous have we become the judge of the law (John 7:51).  “Sacred Selections” changed the words for that song to “When the Saved Get To Heaven” in order to correct the thought.

                   2. Many brethren have objected to “Just A Little Talk With Jesus” because the song makes Jesus sound like our good buddy and prayers can be uttered without respect.

                   3. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” #46. Though there is nothing said in the song that is false, the song itself is almost exclusively associated with Christmas. 

          C. What difference does it make when a song was written?

                   1. “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning” #237.  What are the lower lights?  Since lighthouses are rarely used anymore, the common knowledge of such lights will be lost as well as its meaning as more generations pass.

                   2. “The Pearly White City” has a phrase in it that says, “no crape on the doorknob is seen.”  Unless you know that it use to be a practice to put crape on doorknobs as a sign of someone passing you might be thinking you have never seen crape on a doorknob.  (Similar to gold stars on houses today.)

          D. This does not mean we will never find any problems in these new songs. However, it is less likely we will find such problems.

          E. Further, the new songs will force us to sing with an understanding.  It certainly won’t be from rote as none of us know the songs well enough.

III. We are blessed to have the means and the talent in this small group of Christians to make harmony that even sounds good to our ears.

          A. If the men are agreeable, I’ll provide a majority of the supplemental songbook from my expense account. By February we should have enough songbooks for us to have them permanently available in the pews for use during every service.

          B. Let’s take the rest of our time to learn a few songs from the supplemental “Hymns for Worship.” 

IV. “I Stand In Awe” #1 (Psm. 33:1, 3a, 4-9)

V. “Higher Ground” #2 (Phil. 3:13-16)  

VI. “The Battle Belongs To The Lord” #4 (Isa. 54:17; Prov. 21:31)

VII. “Hosanna” #7 (Matt. 21:6-16; Mark 11:9-10)

Conclusion: If there are no objections and the men are agreeable, I plan to use the second Sunday evening each month to learn new songs from the supplemental “Hymn for Worship.”

Last modified: 05/02/08