{"id":3548,"date":"2012-07-05T15:57:18","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T21:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/?p=3548"},"modified":"2012-07-05T18:12:17","modified_gmt":"2012-07-06T00:12:17","slug":"god-praise-and-the-nature-of-christian-singing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/god-praise-and-the-nature-of-christian-singing\/","title":{"rendered":"God, Praise, and the Nature of Christian Singing"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Sunday’s sermon, “A Both\/And Kind of Praise: The Ingredients<\/a>“, Ryan included a number of insightful and memorable quotes.<\/p>\n

\n

D.A. Carson on how to find excellent corporate worship, from\u00c2\u00a0Worship By the Book<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

Although there are things that can be done to enhance corporate worship, there is a profound sense in which excellent worship cannot be attained merely by pursuing excellent worship. In the same way that, according to Jesus, you cannot find yourself until you lose yourself, so also you cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset.\u00c2\u00a0This point is acknowledged in a praise chorus like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s forget about ourselves, and magnify the Lord, and worship him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The trouble is that after you have sung this repetitious chorus three of four times, you are no farther ahead. The way you forget about yourself is by focusing on God\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnot by singing about doing it, but by doing it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jonathan Edwards on the relationship of truth, affections, and expresion:<\/p>\n

God glorifies Himself toward the creatures also in two ways: 1. By appearing\u00c2\u00a0to. . .their understanding. 2. In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and\u00c2\u00a0enjoying, the manifestations which He makes of Himself.<\/p>\n

. . .God is glorified not only by His glory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being seen, but\u00c2\u00a0by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory\u00c2\u00a0is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart.<\/p>\n

. . .I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think ministers are to be blamed for raising the affections of their hearers too high, if that which\u00c2\u00a0they are affected with be only that which is worthy of affection, and their affections are not raised\u00c2\u00a0beyond a proportion to their importance, or worthiness of affection. I should think [it is] my duty to raise\u00c2\u00a0the affections of my hearers as high as possibly I can, provided that they are affected with nothing but\u00c2\u00a0truth, and with affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

C.S. Lewis on the nature of praise, from\u00c2\u00a0Reflections on the Psalms<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

When I first began to draw near to belief in God. . .I found a stumbling block in the demand so clamorously made\u00c2\u00a0by all religious people that we should \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcpraise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 God; still more in the suggestion that God Himself demanded it.\u00c2\u00a0We all despise the man who demands continued assurance of his own virtue, intelligence or delightfulness.<\/p>\n

. . .I did not see that it is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to\u00c2\u00a0men. It is not of course the only way. But for many people at many times the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfair beauty of the Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is revealed\u00c2\u00a0chiefly or only while they worship Him together.\u00c2\u00a0But the most obvious fact about praise. . .strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment,\u00c2\u00a0approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into\u00c2\u00a0praise. . .The world rings with praise \u00e2\u20ac\u201d lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers\u00c2\u00a0praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game \u00e2\u20ac\u201d praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors,\u00c2\u00a0motors, horses, colleges, countries, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes\u00c2\u00a0politicians or scholars.<\/p>\n

. . .I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they\u00c2\u00a0spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcIsn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she lovely? Wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it glorious? Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you think that\u00c2\u00a0magnificent?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of\u00c2\u00a0what they care about.<\/p>\n

. . .I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes\u00c2\u00a0the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one\u00c2\u00a0another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered\u00c2\u00a0a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon\u00c2\u00a0some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care\u00c2\u00a0for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

John Wesley on how we should sing together, from “Directions for Singing”, in\u00c2\u00a0Select Hymns<\/em>, 1761:<\/p>\n

Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.<\/p>\n

Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.<\/p>\n

Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.<\/p>\n

Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.<\/p>\n

Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For an excellent sermon on the subject of singing in worship, listen to Ryan’s sermon, “Spirit-Filled Singing<\/a>,” from Ephesians 5:14-20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Sunday’s sermon, “A Both\/And Kind of Praise: The Ingredients“, Ryan included a number of insightful and memorable… Continue Reading ›<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3548"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3553,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548\/revisions\/3553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}