“Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” (Psalm 33:1-3 NIV).
The Contemporary English Version reads, “You are the Lord’s people. Obey him and celebrate! He deserves your praise. Praise the Lord with harps! Use harps with ten strings to make music for him. Sing a new song. Shout! Play beautiful music.”
Nothing attracts attention like joy. Nothing disperses a crowd like sadness. Christians should be the most joyful people on the face of the earth! Our sins are forgiven, our futures are secure, and God promises His Holy presence with us in the present! We have a lot to be thankful for! Yet, many who profess Christ live life looking like they’ve been sucking on a lemon! Please do not take offense at that–I too have been (and at times will continue to be) guilty as charged. The people who have the most reason for joy seem at times to be the least joyful. At least that is how we act. We go to baseball games (or whatever sport we happen to enjoy) and shout our heads off. We go to parties and have a wonderful time. But then we go to church . . . . and Lord forbid that as we go through the motions of worship we show any emotion whatsoever. What’s wrong with that picture?
Let me make a number of quick observations from our text. First, God’s people should be a joyful people and worship is our celebration time. Is that how you view worship? Notice that the CEV puts the early part of verse one, “You are the Lord’s people. Obey him and celebrate!” If celebration in worship is a response of obedience then I can only conclude that those who want to throw cold water on celebrants are being disobedient. Think about it.
Second, notice that the Psalmist specifically refers to the latest instruments of the day being used in that celebration. Where some ever got the idea that there should be no instruments in church is beyond me. Where we ever got the idea that only certain instruments are appropriate for worship is also beyond me. The Bible refers to every conceivable kind of instrument being utilized in the worship of the Lord.
Finally verse 3 says, “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” This tells us three things about worship. First, worship is to be creative, “Sing to him a new song.” Too many people today despise creativity in the church. We want only the “tried of true” which too often becomes tired and blue. The great hymns of the faith are sung in almost dirge-like fashion. Don’t misunderstand, we need those hymns, but let’s remember that when they were written, they were the contemporary music of the day and let’s not despise today’s music while longing for something we have no real understanding of.
Second, “play skillfully,” or as the CEV puts it “Play beautiful music.” God deserves our very best. Personally I think it is sinful when I hear someone say, “Oh, it doesn’t really matter how they sounded, they did it for the Lord and God does say, ‘Make a joyful noise.’” I use to buy that; I don’t any more. Such thinking is often a mere excuse for laziness on the performers part (“It’s only for the church”). Think for a minute back into history. The church was on the forefront of music. Many of the great masters (Beethoven, Handel, Bach) wrote music for the glory of God. When we write or perform for God it deserves to be the very best; half-efforts or “best efforts,” are out of place. I love to sing, I wish I could sing, and I do a decent job most of the time when I do sing, but I would never offer to sing a solo in church (even though I have had vocal lessons) because I know that my voice is too unpredictable. Frankly, I think Stuart Briscoe had it right when one Sunday he stood an announced, “We will now be favored with some mediocre music by . . . .”
Finally, verse 3 tells us that our celebration should be loud. The text says “shout for joy.” We want to sing softly for Jesus I guess so we won’t wake up those who have fallen asleep spiritually.
Bottom line: We need to re-evaluate our “style” of worship not against the back-drop of history but against the backdrop of Scripture.
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