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07302017WorshipOfferingUpTheBlendingOfOurVoicesDonRuhl
Worship: Offering Up the Blending of Our Voices
Let your singing be a form of sacrifice
Hebrews 13.15
Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • July 30, In the year of our Lord, 2017
Prelude:
An Israelite making a sacrifice
Picture the event
We worship God through sacrifice, because
He has blessed us, and
to show our adoration for Him,
we bless Him
by offering to Him from what He has given to us,
14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You” (1Ch 29.14).
16 “O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own” (1Ch 29.16).
He does not want animal sacrifices now, but
He wants to hear from us,
15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name (Heb 13.15).
Praise is a sacrifice, because
we no longer praise ourselves, but
we offer up our praise to Him.
We did not create ourselves, but
He created us.
Therefore, with His creation,
our bodies and our lips,
we praise Him and thank Him.
We do these things,
when we pray and
when we sing.
Persuasion:
We Offer to God the Blending of Our Voices
Ephesians 5.18–19
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord… (Eph 5.18–19).
Colossians 3.16
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Col 3.16).
Singing to the Lord, we also sing to one another.
Our singing is both vertical and horizontal.
Therefore, God wants us to gather together to blend our voices,
offering up that blend in song, and
He wants us to find a blessing in that experience.
God sees our singing as beautiful.
He does not say, Oh, That is just singing.
If we made a burnt offering of an animal to God,
we would watch the fire,
like we do when sitting around a campfire.
When we blend our voices in song,
we offer to God a sacrifice that He watches.
We watch too.
We note the words that we speak.
We note the music that we make.
We like to hear church services with joyful, robust singing.
Have you heard your children sing?
Revelation Shows Magnificent Lyrics
Picture yourself singing two songs in heaven before the face of God.
First, Revelation 5.
Someone searched heaven to find someone worthy
to take a scroll out of God’s hand,
to open the seals of the scroll, and
to read it contents.
They discovered that Jesus was worthy.
He went to the Father and took the scroll,
9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.”
(Rev 5.9–10)
Next, from Revelation 15, think on the words of this song.
John saw a sea of glass mingled with fire and
he saw people standing on fiery sea of glass.
Those Christians had been victorious over the Beast.
Picture yourself victorious from this earth,
3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:
“Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints!
4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been manifested.”
(Rev 15:3–4)
Did you hear those words?
We will sing of the great and marvelous works of God!
We will sing of God’s just and true ways!
We will sing, questioning who would not
fear the Lord and
glorify His name!
Because we will sing
that He alone is holy,
that all nations shall worship before, and
that His judgments have been seen!
Do you believe that when you sing those words before God
that you will do it halfheartedly?
Will we sing it like this…[Lead verse 1 of The New Song]?
Or will you sing it with a robustness beyond description?
We will sing it like this…[Lead verse 1 of The New Song]!
Why not sing now as a sacrifice?
Why not picture right now all of us blending our voices together and
they rise to the throne of God, and
why not see Him now as watching us singing together,
making Him happy that we are His?
The Book of Psalms
The Books of Ephesians and Colossians tell us to sing Psalms.
Psalm 47 says why we should sing,
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth;
Sing praises with understanding.
(Psa 47.6)
He is our King.
He is King of all the earth.
Psalm 92 speaks of the blessing,
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High
(Psa 92.1)
Does it harm you to offer up your voice to God in singing?
I have never heard of any reports of someone suffering for singing to God.
Psalm 105 gives us unlimited material,
2 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
(Psa 105.2)
Just read the Bible and you will engage in a limitless journey.
See anything in nature and you will be praising Him.
Now think on the wisdom of two other psalms,
3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
Sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant.
(Psa 135.3)
1 Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
And His praise in the assembly of saints.
(Psa 149.1)
Exhortation:
Shall we do as the Bible has instructed?
Should we not just want to do it automatically, that is,
offer up the blending of our voices?
Luke tells us of ten men that Jesus healed of leprosy.
They asked for mercy from Him, and
He gave it, telling them,
“Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
As they went to the priests,
they experienced the healing.
One of them saw his own healing and
went back to Jesus,
glorifying God with a loud voice, and
falling down on his face before Jesus,
the man gave thanks.
However, Jesus had not said anything about
glorifying God, or
falling down before the Lord, or
giving thanks to the Lord.
No one had to tell the man.
He saw his deliverance and he did those things automatically.
From what has the Lord delivered you?
What victories has He had in your life?
I know this,
that if you are a Christian,
that means He saved you from hell, and
now you are headed for heaven.
Is that something to sing about?