Life

The life God gives us is different to simply existing on earth. He gives abundant life (Jn 10:10), eternal life (Jn 11:25-26) and even supplies the power to live a new life! (Rom 6:14, 22) The Duracell advert reminds us of the ‘superiority’ of Duracell batteries because ‘no ordinary battery looks like it; no ordinary battery lasts like it.‘ The life God freely offers us is far superior to any Duracell battery!

Life is about more than existence; it’s about more than marking time on earth and then fading away into oblivion. Life is about more than biology or breathing; it’s about the vibrancy and creativity that God brings through His very presence.

Light

Life is described metaphorically as light in many parts of the Bible and is often contrasted with darkness to emphasise the purity of God in comparison to the evil in the world and of the enemy. John tells us ‘God is light; in him there is no darkness at all’ (1 Jn 1:5) and this inevitably must overflow into our relationships (see 1 Jn 1:6-7, 1 Jn 2:9-10). God is radiant with light (Ps 79:4); He ‘wraps himself in light as with a garment.’ (Ps 104:2) We have to be willing to open the doors of our hearts to allow God’s light access to every dark corner, transforming us from the inside out.

Light is about more than the absence of darkness; it’s more than the physicists can describe. Light is the brilliance of God, the dazzling sight of His presence which exposes our failings, shows us our shortcomings, welcomes us into His presence nonetheless, cleanses and guides us in our daily living.

Love

To be committed daily to loving others with the selflessness and kindness that Jesus demonstrates is a lot to ask. Nonetheless, this is the challenge that we face daily, a challenge that can only be met as we are rooted and established in God’s love (Eph 3:17-18) so that we can grasp how high and wide and long and deep is the love of God and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. (Eph 3:19-20) Love is the heart behind everything God is and does and needs to be the heart behind everything we are and do.

Tonight’s sermon continued the ‘A-Z of Christian Faith’ series, looking at essential ingredients in our faith journey. From Jn 1:1-14, we concluded that there are 3 essential Ls: life, light and love.

Life

Life is a theme which runs throughout the Bible, and especially in John’s writings. He calls Jesus not only the ‘Word’, but also the ‘Word of life’ (1 Jn 1:1) and reminds us that this word of life really did come to live on earth: ‘The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.’ (1 Jn 1:2) For us, all life has a beginning and an end, but for God, He has no beginning and no end. Jesus not only has life; He is eternal life and therefore has the authority to grant eternal life to all who believe in Him. (Jn 3:15-16); ‘For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.’ (John 5:21) The fact that Jesus has life in Himself is one of the proofs that He is God (see Jn 5:26) and He gives life to us too so that we may share in this life.

Light

Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn 8:12) and His light shines into us so that we too become the light of the world. (Matt 5:14) We don’t always appreciate light, for it exposes everything that is hidden and messy and unclean (see Jn 3:20), but God’s light shines into our hearts so that we can be drawn into His presence and receive forgiveness and cleansing. His light must influence how we live and gives guidance in all aspects of our behaviour and plans. The unfolding of God’s word gives light (Ps 119:130), enabling us to live a completely different kind of life that is characterised by light and not darkness (see 1 Thess 5:5, Eph 5:8).

Love

Just as life and light multiply, so God’s love multiplies as we are recipients of divine love and are then charged with passing that love on.

Love is the yardstick by which we will be judged and becomes the means by which our discipleship and love for God is measured (see Jn 13:34-35). Love is a verb, because God is love in action, demonstrating His love by sending His Son to save us (see Jn 3:16, 1 Jn 4:10) Love has to be sacrificial (Jn 15:13), the visible demonstration to the world of God’s character.

Today’s morning service was a dedication service. In our church, we don’t christen or baptise babies, believing that a personal decision to follow Jesus is the basis for baptism. In a dedication service, we give thanks to God for the life of a child and ask for His blessing and guidance on the whole family.

Garry spoke about how a parent’s love is sacrificial and giving, wanting the best for the child, often at great personal cost. Parents are involved in the special occasions, but are also there in the everyday and the mundane, changing dirty nappies, wiping snotty noses and caring for children through thick and thin. The love a family has for each family member is great through all generations, but no matter how strong our love, it is not enough. We are all human and fallible and need a love that is stronger than we are capable of giving. God is our heavenly Father, able to love unconditionally and through every circumstance of life.

God has promised us freedom (Jn 8:32) and fulness of life (Jn 10:10) and abundant hope (Rom 15:13), but these things are accepted by faith. Each one of us has to make that choice; our prayer is that each child that is dedicated to God will grow to know and love Him as they mature.

Praying for Oliver:

Enjoying food and fun after the service:

A special cake:

Apart from numerous references to singing, song and musical instruments in the Psalms (stringed instruments are mentioned in the titles of Ps 4, Ps 6, Ps 54, Ps 67, Ps 76 and a variety of instruments feature in other psalms (e.g. Ps 150)), there are a number of cryptic terms in the superscriptions or titles to Psalms which are thought to be musical terms. Nowadays, there are fixed ways of notating music and Italian has become the musical language used in many scores (using terms which have to be learned by any student of music, such as adagio meaning very slow or presto meaning fast – with alternative meanings offered in this tea towel for musicians!)

Presumably, some of these Hebrew words had similar meanings, not all of which are clear nowadays. Terms such as maskil, miktam, shiggaion, higgaion and alamoth feature in the titles of many psalms, and probably refer to the style or type of psalm.

The word ‘selah’ is found in a number of psalms (e.g. Ps 3:2, 4, 8; Ps 7:5; Ps 24:6, 10), with most versions of the Bible not attempting to translate the term but simply transliterating it. It is thought that the word refers to a technical term connected to musical accompaniment (because it occurs in psalms which have other musical terminology) and because it may have been connected to the Hebrew word for ‘pause’ is thought to refer to a musical pause, perhaps even to an instrumental interlude while there was no singing such as often happens in modern songs. The Amplified Bible adds “pause and calmly think about that” to each verse where selah appears. When we see the word selah in a psalm (or in Habakkuk 3, the only other place in the Old Testament to feature this word), we should pause to carefully weigh the meaning of what we have just read or heard, lifting up our hearts in praise to God for His great truths. “All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name. Selah!” (Psalm 66:4)

We do not need to understand musical terms in order to be able to appreciate the fact that the Psalms are songs, but it is interesting to note the history of music and song in the worship of God’s people. Instruments are mentioned as early as Gen 4:21 (His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes) and the many references to the ‘director of music’ in the Psalms (see Ps 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 31, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 75, 76, 77, 80, 81, 84, 85, 88, 109, 139, 140) give us insight into the use of song and music in collective worship. David appointed musicians and singers to lead temple worship (see 1 Chron 16:4-6; also Neh 12:27-47). Music and song are tools – tools for praising and worshipping God so that we can fulfil our chief aim. It is interesting to note that the last 5 psalms (Ps 146-150) all feature the word ‘Hallelujah’ (‘Praise the Lord’) so many times. To praise God is our chief aim and the songs we find in this book of praise (tehillim in Hebrew, psalmoi in Greek) give us tools for doing this.

Derek Walker says in the February edition of ‘Christianity’ magazine, ‘if we don’t give our minds tangible content to grab hold of, our thoughts will wander.’ Certainly, we need to ensure that our singing is comprised of Biblical truth, which is why it is so good to sing the Psalms (see The Psalms Project, which looks to put all the Psalms to music). He argues that many of our songs do not engage with the physical world enough, but the truth is that when we sing, primarily we need our attention focussed on God. We need to understand that there is no dichotomy between physical and spiritual realities, but we frequently need reminding of who God is and what He has done. Spiritual songs should connect these things with our everyday lives, which is why the Psalms remains one of the greatest sources of song material in the world, because this is what they do so skilfully all the time!

Bob Kauflin, whose book ‘Worship Matters’ looks at the importance of music and song in worship, says ‘It matters not only that we sing but also what we sing.’ Biblical truth is vital in song. We can’t go wrong if we sing about the things we find in the Bible! (There is a surprisingly wide range of topics to sing about there!)

The Psalms tell us that it is fitting and pleasant to praise God through music and song (Ps 147:1, Ps 33:1, Ps 135:3), but they also give us many reasons why we should sing and what we should sing about. Fundamentally, we sing of who God is, reflecting on:

• His love (Ps 59:16, Ps 89:1, Ps 90:14, Ps 92:1, Ps 101:1, Ps 136),
• His righteousness (Ps 7:17, Ps 119:162, Ps 145:7),
• His faithfulness (Ps 71:22, Ps 92:1-2),
• His glory (Ps 138:5)
• His power and strength (Ps 21:3, Ps 81:1, Ps 118:14).

• His saving acts, redemption and goodness to us (Ps 96:1, Ps 132:16, Ps 13:6, Ps 135:3, Ps 145:7)
• His protection (Ps 59:16)
• His mighty acts (Ps 105:1, Ps 98:1)

In the Psalms, we find a whole range of topics, emotions and categories for songs, including lament, complaint, anger and pain as well as joy, exuberance and thanksgiving. We will find something for every season of the soul.

Why do we sing? Singing seems to be a fundamental human response to different circumstances, something that is ‘wired into’ us by God. It doesn’t matter whether we are a nightingale or a crow; we tend to enjoy singing aloud, even if it’s only in the shower for our own benefit!

God is a God who gives gifts to us, and music is one of His greatest gifts. Berthold Auerbach said, ‘Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday life’, and certainly music and singing are one of the ways that truth and emotion are best combined. (Sadly, lies and emotion can also be combined in this way, which is why we have to be pretty ruthless in what we listen to; so much of popular music is filled with lyrics which do not honour God and which can easily distract and even pervert our thinking on a huge variety of subjects, especially love.)

Biblical reasons why we should sing and make music include:

1. Obedience (God commands us to sing (Ps 47:6-7; Ps 81:1-2; Ps 150), and therefore singing reflects our desire to obey God in every area of our lives.)
2. Digging Deep in the Word (When we sing truths from the Bible, we allow God’s word to dwell in us (Col 3:16) and build Biblical responses into our lives.)
3. Building up other people (singing is infectious; it helps other people to see God’s character in new ways and can even be used by God to reach unbelievers (Ps 105:1-2). The corporate nature of singing is powerful and reflects the solid truth that we are called to live for God as a community, a family, a body, not just as individuals.)
4. It is a form of spiritual warfare (see Ps 149:6-9, 2 Chron 20:20-23, Joshua 6:1-27). Lifting up God’s name in praise through music and singing has real power in the spiritual realms which breaks strongholds and brings victory. When we sing in church, we are not simply passing time, entertaining ourselves or enjoying ourselves through music; we are engaging in spiritual warfare by proclaiming who God is and using the sword of the Spirit so that ‘the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (Eph 6:12) may be defeated.
5. Singing builds us up so that we can face the trials of life with faith. Paul and Silas are unjustly imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel, and what do they do while they’re in prison? They sing! (Acts 16:25) Singing needs to be not just for the happy times when it’s easy to sing, but, like every area of our lives, something we do by faith. We can’t please God without faith (Heb 11:6); there is great power in singing in the hard times as well as the good times (‘Blessed Be Your Name’/ ‘I’m Still Yours’). The lament in Ps 137 that the Israelites felt they could not sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land shows us that singing in troubled times is not easy, but just because something is difficult is no reason to give up. As we engage our wills to sing, not relying merely on emotion but exercising faith, we find that God honours tear-stained songs. (‘When The Tears Fall’, Tim Hughes)
6. We sing because it’s God’s pathway to joy. Sometimes singing gives birth to joy and sometimes joy gives birth to singing, but persistently in Scripture, joy and singing are bound together. You can’t study one of those two biblical themes without encountering the other. (see here.)
7. We sing to glorify God. Singing brings our heart, soul, mind, and strength together to focus entirely and completely on God.  In an age of distraction, singing grabs the attention of all our senses and focuses us on God, uniting truth, emotions and will in ways that help us to live a congruent life.