Park Cities Presbyterian Church (PCA)

Who's singing in the choir?

By Colin Howland

Published July 11, 2009 in This Week

Psalm 148 is a call for all of God’s creation to praise Him. Resembling the order of creation as given in Genesis 1, it crescendos in adoration of the Creator as it moves from the heavens to the earth, to the animal kingdom, and finally, to His most beloved creation: men and women, boys and girls.

The psalm makes it clear that God is worthy of all praise because He is altogether different and above His creation: “Let them praise the name of the Lord! For He commanded and they were created…Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven” (vv. 5, 13). Everything in God’s creation, without exception, is intended to give Him glory. But does everything and everyone actually do this?

Then, almost as an afterthought, these words are given in verse 14: “He has raised up a horn for His people, praise for all His saints, for the people of Israel who are near to Him. Praise the Lord!” There is a people near to Him. For them God has caused something to happen which would elicit praise from all those He loves.

The reference to a horn in verse 14 is a reference to strength. What is this strength? The Bible teaches over and over that strength comes from the saving arm of the Lord. To quote the song of Moses and the people of Israel after God rescued them from the armies of Pharaoh, “The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.” So, verse 14 focuses attention on the fact that while all of creation owes the Creator praise, true praise is marked by God bringing people knowingly into a saving relationship with Him.

Ultimately, it is not salvation or rescue from political enemies that the scriptures teach about. The saving acts of God throughout the Old Testament all point to the one and only lasting saving act—the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners. In other words, true praise comes from the lips of those who know they have been rescued by God from their sin through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Singing is closely associated with praise in the scriptures. In fact, following the flow of Psalm 148, the Bible contains songs of praise to the Lord in both heaven and earth, from angels and people who are already in heaven (see Job 38:7, Revelation 5:9–10), to people living on earth. One gets the idea from the scriptures that music has a heavenly pattern, whose significance lies in the fact that God will be praised forever in song.

From ancient times, God’s people have been a singing community. The songs in the Bible record the sung prayers and praises of men and women, boys and girls. These songs take many different shapes, whether they are of adoration, lamentation, confession, supplication, thanksgiving, or a recounting of historical events.

The songs take place within the contexts of corporate worship (e.g. Exodus 15), family worship (Matthew 26:30), and individual worship (e.g. Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 2). In every case, the songs of scripture record the reliance upon God’s saving arm and point ultimately to the person of Jesus Christ. These songs culminate in the great songs of the book of Revelation such as “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb [referring to Jesus] has come, and His Bride [referring to the Church] has made herself ready” (Revelation 19:6–7).

What about choirs? In the simplest sense, a choir is a group of people who sing together. It has already been noted that the Bible speaks of choirs in heaven and on earth, and that singing happens in large worship gatherings, in the home, and individually.

The smallest choirs are families who worship together. Then there is what some churches refer to as the “big choir,” or the whole gathering of people in the worship service. Finally, there is another kind of choir referred to in the scripture: a specific group of people from within the large worshipping community, which has a special calling and gifting for singing and which sings together to the praise of God and the edification of the church. The prominent example of this in scripture is David appointing a portion of the Levites to the ministry of music: “David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy” (1 Chronicles 15:16).

In today’s churches, many of these “appointed” choirs are made up of volunteers (like the PCPC Chancel Choir!), and others by paid professionals, and some in between. Again, the unifying purpose of all of these choral ensembles is to lift prayers and music up to the one God who saves through Jesus Christ His only Son.

Do you love to sing? Do you wish you could sing? The Bible has one other important thing to teach about singing together: it doesn’t matter how well you sing; what is of greater importance is who sings with you. Any good choir director will tell you that the presence of one good voice among several with lesser voices can have a great unifying effect.

There is a Great Voice who sings in the scripture, bringing all of the other lesser voices into focus. The book of Hebrews puts these words from Psalm 22 into the mouth of Jesus when it says, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise” (Hebrews 2:12).

Jesus, God the Son, sings in the presence of His brothers and sisters the praise of God the Father! It is through His merit and work that any choir sounds pleasing to the ears of the Father.

Who are Christ’s brothers and sisters? Jesus Himself said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me (John 10:27).”

Do you hear His voice?

[All scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]