Christians Love to Sing

As we come to understand what God has done to redeem us, we’re instilled with the desire to sing our Savior’s praise. Today, Sinclair Ferguson begins to reflect on the significance of singing in the Christian life.

This week, I thought we might take up a slightly different kind of theme on the podcast. We could call it “Christians Love to Sing.” And we do, don’t we? But why is that?

Before I came to faith, I liked listening to music—largely popular music, I think—so it was mainly songs. But I actually didn’t like singing, and if I were to break out into song, you would understand why. Now, I wouldn’t argue that regeneration all on its own improved my voice, but it did make me want to sing—want to sing Christ’s praises. And I imagine the very fact that I wanted to make the effort to do that probably did help a little. It wasn’t that I now felt under an obligation to sing or that I’d worked it out theologically. I was only a young teenager. It was simply an inner urge, a new desire to express praise and admiration and gratitude for what I knew the Lord Jesus had done for me, and all that the Father had come to mean to me, and all that the Spirit was beginning to work into my life.

I remember a minister friend telling me about a young man who had no church background, but who started coming around their church and eventually said he would like to become a member. And when the elders met with him and asked him about his spiritual journey, he told them how dramatically their church had changed since he started coming to it. The services, he said, were much livelier than when he had first come, and the hymns were much better as well, and he enjoyed singing them much more than the ones they had sung when he first came. He even said to my friend, the minister, that his sermons had become much more interesting in recent weeks.

Well, you know what had happened to him, don’t you? And the elders were too kind to embarrass him by telling him they were still singing the same old hymns, and my friend was far too wise to get upset about the fact that his sermons apparently had dramatically improved. The real truth, of course, was, the young man had been born again. The old had passed away, and the new had arrived. The tunes were just the same. What had changed was that he now understood the words and realized they matched his own experience, and his experience matched what the hymn said. There was music now in his soul, and that music matched the music of the hymns of the church.

When you become a Christian, you want to sing. And as I said, this week we’re going to think about that. But today I have a couple of questions I want to ask because I think they’re more important than they might at first sight seem.

The first question is this: Do you sing hymns? I mean, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. I don’t just mean in church, but as you go through life. Or is there music in your soul only when others are present, and when there’s an organ, or perhaps a piano, or maybe a band, or even an orchestra in your church? If that’s the case, then something has gone out of your soul, and you need to get it back. You need to sing. Do you know what the remedy is for someone who has stopped singing? It’s simple. Start singing again. Don’t wait for inspiration. Sing. The singing will give you inspiration. Praising God is a command; it’s not an optional luxury in our Christian lives.

But here’s my second question, and I think it’s just as important: Do you own a hymn book? I suspect that next to a Bible, a good concordance, and a decent whole Bible commentary, the next most important book you should own is a good hymn book. That’s a strong statement, I know. I wonder if you agree with me. Why do I say that? Well, obviously because I think it’s important. But why is it important? Well, think about that until tomorrow, because I suspect we need to think about this a little more. I hope you’ll join me on the podcast tomorrow.