The 24 elders in the throne room who sing praises to God show us that corporate worship is a distinctive feature of God’s people. Why is this important? What does this mean when corporate singing is uncommon outside of the church? Greg addresses these questions and provides practical guidance for ways that praising God can become a central part of our relationship with God.
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Singing to God
• Greg Boyd
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In chapter 5, John’s vision of the eternal throne room of God shows a scene of the elders each holding a harp and a bowl of incense. The harp symbolizes God’s people worshipping with song and the golden bowls of incense are their prayers. Singing worship to the Lord and praying are two ways we join in the out-pouring dance of God that Greg preached about last week. This sermon focuses on singing of God’s praises, and next week will address the importance of prayer.
A defining characteristic of God’s people is the singing of praises. However, many today don’t enjoy corporate singing like that which is done in church. In fact, a church service is one of the few places in modern culture where groups still sing together. Historically, this absence of corporate singing is a rather recent development. Music and singing was a staple of human society, going back at least to 40,000 B.C. Different cultures and societies have always sung songs that bound them together.
People hung out with their neighbors and sang songs. It was their entertainment and created strong social bonds. The near absence of public singing makes contemporary western culture an outlier. However, singing praises to God was apparently important enough to John that he made it one of the two distinctive activities that God’s people engage in within the heavenly throne room. This is reiterated throughout the Bible (See Psalm 150). Despite the fact that public singing has largely disappeared from our culture, it turns out that public as well as private singing to the Lord is an extremely important activity.
There are three practical points Greg shared about worshipping God in song. First, worshipping in song involves our whole self. We reflect what God is worth to us by the degree to which he is the sole focus of our attention. When we come together to worship, we are to put all such concerns aside to focus on the eternal one on the throne and on the Lamb who is in the center of the throne.
Secondly, integrate singing worship into your life. Singing to the Lord is not just a church thing. It is a great way of staying mindful of the fact that you are always in God’s presence. It is a way to foster the filling of the Spirit, whether we find ourselves in a good place or in a time of struggle.
Third, the quality of your singing is irrelevant. C.S. Lewis said, “All our offerings, whether of music or martyrdom, are like the intrinsically worthless present of a child, which a father values indeed, but values only for the intention.”
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Presence of God, Trinity, Worship
Sermon Series: Good Heavens!
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Focus Scripture:
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Revelation 5:6-9
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song...
2 thoughts on “Singing to God”
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I still think that singing is twice prayers
Hello Joann,
As a Shape Note Singer, also called Fasola and Sacred Harp singer I wholeheartedly agree.
If you have not heard of this kind of communal singing, see http://www.mnfasola.org and click on LISTEN, to hear a sampling of psalms and songs in that authentic American tradition, and also the schedule of local singings and events.