In John Bunyan’s allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian and his companion, Faithful, must travel through the town of Vanity on their Way to the Celestial City. The town represents the conceit and craftiness of the world in its opposition against God as it dresses up sin to appear desirable and appealing. The merchants at Vanity Fair cry out in an attempt to entice the pilgrims to set their affections on the things of the world. But Christian and Faithful have found something more valuable and more precious than anything this world can offer. When they are asked what they would buy, they respond, “We buy the truth.”
Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. (Proverbs 23:23)
The truth we hold dear is the Word of God.
The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. (Psalm 119:160)
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth (John 17:17).
If we are to find the way to life and peace and joy, we must tune out the noise of this world and listen intently to God in His Word. Christ alone is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Only He has “the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
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Two Voices Cry Out to Be Heard
“My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent” (Proverbs 1:10).
“Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares” (Proverbs 1:20).
Two voices cry out to be heard; Take heed, my soul, and listen well. For only one voice leads to life, The other down to death and hell.
The voice of sinners fills the streets, There on the innocent they prey. Take heed, my soul, do not consent, Lest you with them be cast away.
The voice of wisdom cries aloud Above the din of sin’s deceit. “How long, you simple, will you choose The evil way, the scoffer’s seat?”
It’s wisdom’s voice I long to hear To guide my steps which way to go. Her words of warning, I would heed; Her wealth of knowledge, I would know.
Lord, help me find the righteous way; Guide me in ev’ry thought and choice. For You alone have words of life, Atune my heart to love Your voice.
Let me hear clearly wisdom’s call; Tune out the noise of sin’s allure. Listen intently to God’s Word And there in Christ find rest secure.
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How Dear and Treasured Is the Church
“If I delay, [I write so that] you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).
How dear and treasured is the church, With voices joined in praise and prayers, For God has made us one in Christ, To share our sorrows, joys and cares.
Entrusted with the truth of God, Called out to make the gospel known, We boldly as His church proclaim: There’s grace and hope in Christ alone!
God fashions us as living stones; Assembled as His dwelling place. Though we were dead, He gives us life, Each soul a miracle of grace.
Built as a buttress of the truth, A pillar rising to the sky, God sets His church before the world, His Word and name to magnify.
To all the world we testify, Our lives display in word and deed The matchless worth of knowing Christ, The boundless depth of our great need.
Brought near to God by Christ’s shed blood, Loved and adopted as His own, A household built upon the Word, With Christ Himself the Cornerstone.
Built on this Rock, the church will stand, The gates of hell shall not prevail, All who are Christ’s shall be raised up, The Word of God will never fail.
Excerpt from: “Reforming Church Music” A Paper presented at the 2001 Founders Conference
Ken Puls
God has purpose and intent in including music as an element of worship. The Bible has much to say about music and its role in worship. The following list summarizes seven roles that will help us define the purpose of music in worship.
1. Music is a primary means of praising God. The majority of references to music in the Bible, including verses that teach about music, as well as Psalms and other passages that are the texts to songs, are in the context of praising God. Through music we exalt, glorify, honor, bless, and adore God. We marvel at the perfection of His character, attributes, gifts, names, and works, ascribing to Him in song all that He is! The Psalter itself culminates in praise:
Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! (Psalm 150:1–2)
Music exists first and foremost to the glory and praise of God and Scripture convincingly bears this out.
2. Music is a primary means of giving thanks to God. Thanksgiving is a grateful acknowledgment or public confession of the goodness of God manifest in what He has done for His people. It is a grateful response to God for His deliverance, healing, forgiveness, salvation, and other blessings that He brings to us. Music accompanies thanksgiving in worship:
Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart In the company of the upright and in the convocation. (Psalm 111:1)
Thanksgiving is also sung in the context of evangelism:
I will give thanks to You among the peoples, O Lord; I will sing praises to You among the nations. (Psalm 57:9)
As with praise, references in Scripture to giving thanks most often occur in song.
3. Music serves as a means of prayer. Many of the songs and psalms of Scripture are addressed directly to God. David, for example, in Psalms 4 and 5 pours out his heart to God, brings petitions and asks for help and mercy. Throughout the Psalter, psalmists lament over sorrows, anguish over difficulties, confess their sinfulness, rejoice over God’s kindness, celebrate His goodness, and express numerous other emotions as they pour out their hearts before Him. Music can serve as invocation, petition, supplication, intercession, repentance, lamentation, and other forms of prayer, lifting our concerns before God.
4. Music serves as a means to proclaim truth. As we sing praise, thanksgiving, and prayer we voice our words to God, but music can also bring God’s Word to us. We can sing the words of Scripture, Psalms and other passages set to music. We can also teach and admonish one another in song with the truths of Scripture. Psalm 1, for example, is a didactic song that teaches us the difference between the blessed and the ungodly. Music helps us to remember and meditate on the truths of Scripture. It serves alongside preaching as a means of proclamation, edifying the church and evangelizing the lost, as it provides an emotional context in which we can interpret, understand, and express the truths of God’s Word.
5. Music serves as a means of exhortation. Music lifts our words to God in prayer and brings God’s Word to us in proclamation, but it can also voice our words to one another. Psalm 95, for example, is a call to worship. We exhort one another with the words:
Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. (Psalm 95:1–2)
Through music God’s people speak to one another, stirring up one another to good works. Music can call us to worship, exhort us to love and serve one another, encourage us to live in obedience to God’s Word, admonish us to flee from sin and pursue holiness, and enjoin us to go out and witness and share the gospel.
6. Music serves as a means to confess our faith. With music God’s people can express common beliefs and doctrines as one voice. In the Old Testament Israel rehearsed their faith and history through music. Psalm 118, for example, is a public confession of the goodness and enduring mercy of God. The New Testament contains several confessional statements such as 2 Timothy 2:11 that many scholars believe are fragments of early hymns. Music provides an effective way to unite in declaring our confessions of faith.
Perhaps the most notable example of this in church history is the “Doxology,” written by Thomas Ken in 1709, a musical affirmation of the doctrine of the Trinity:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
7. Finally, music serves as a means of enriching worship with beauty. According to Scripture, singing praise to God is pleasant and beautiful. Psalm 147:1 reads:
Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.
It is good when we unite our voices together in singing to God. Music provides a beautiful garb in which we dress our words and actions in worship. It is a pleasant means of joining together to express our love and devotion to God in worship.These are seven roles or functions of music that God affirms in His Word. God has commanded us to make music and included it in His design for worship. It is not the purpose of music to amuse, manipulate, or entertain us in worship. God has given us music that we might beautifully lift our praise, thanksgiving, and prayers to Him; that we might proclaim the truth of His Word, confess our faith, and exhort one another to good works as we gather in corporate worship.
Ken Puls, “Reforming Church Music,” in Reclaiming the Gospel and Reforming Churches: The Southern Baptist Founders Conference, 1982–2002, ed. Tom Ascol (Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2003), 438–442.
The book Reclaiming the Gospel and Reforming Churches is a compilation of papers presented over the first 25 years of the Founders Conference and is available for purchase from Founders Press.
Open your Bibles this evening to Psalm 43. Tonight, we return to our study of Psalm 42 and 43. These two psalms are two halves of a single psalm. Together they form a lament with 3 stanzas and 3 refrains.
In this psalm, the psalmist expresses sorrow. He is afflicted and oppressed. He is separated from the people of God. And he is providentially hindered from being in Jerusalem at a time when the nation is gathering to worship God. His heart longs to “go with the throng” and join with the “multitude observing the pilgrim festival.”
In this study we are specifically interested in what we can learn about worship. What are the joys that come from corporate worship? What are the blessings that the psalmist longs for and desires to experience again?
The Psalmist longed to be in God’s presence in the midst of God’s people. His chief joy in worship was seeking God and delighting in God with the people of God.
When God brought Israel out of bondage and established them as a people, He promised to be their God, to be near them, to tabernacle among them. This great truth—God dwells with His people—fills the Old Testament and finds its fulfillment in the coming of Christ, the Messiah, who is Immanuel, “God with us.”
The presence of God with His people was the psalmist’s greatest joy in worship.
The psalmist remembered the times and places where God had brought deliverance to His people. He was encouraged and drew strength when he saw and heard about God working in the lives of His people.
He also longed to return to worship so he himself could testify of God’s goodness in delivering him from his trial. He desired that his own suffering be turned to praise and thanksgiving. He looked forward to the time when he could bring a peace offering of thanksgiving and testify to the gathered congregation that God had heard and answered his prayer. All the people of God would rejoice and give thanks when they saw him—his joy and thanksgiving to God would be multiplied many times over in the context of corporate worship! His experience would bring encouragement and strength to others who were facing difficulty.
This evening we are going to consider the third joy of corporate worship. It is found in the third stanza (Psalm 43:1–4) and the final refrain (43:5): The Joy of Walking Together in Light and Truth.