Christians Sing Differently

Christians certainly aren’t the only people who sing, but we do sing in a truly unique way. Today, Sinclair Ferguson discusses the God-centered direction of our songs, no matter what it is we’re singing about.

This week, we’ve been reflecting on singing. I think it’s a remarkable fact that the average Christian probably sings many more times in the week than the average person who isn’t a Christian. Yes, I know some non-Christians sing a great deal, and some Christians don’t sing nearly enough, but I’m talking in general terms.

I wonder if you’ve thought about something that’s even more significant: Christians sing differently. The teenager enjoying the latest rap song, the would-be operatic tenor singing “Nessun Dorma” in the shower, or for that matter, the seventy-something-year-old pensioner humming Beatles or Beach Boys tunes from the sixties and seventies—none of them sings the way Christians sing.

Let me try to express it this way: non-Christians always sing on a horizontal plane. Yes, the songs they sing are often about me, or about you, or about them, or about it. Now, Christians also sing horizontally. Think about some of the Psalms. You’re singing horizontally when you sing, “O thou my soul, bless God the Lord; and all that in me is be stirred up,” or if you prefer contemporary, when you sing, “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” You’re talking first to yourself when you sing these words. And we are also singing horizontally when we sing, “Come, we that love the Lord, and let our joys be known,” or, if you want contemporary, “Come, people of the risen King.” Now, you’re talking to others, to your fellow believers, and you’re saying to them, “Come on now, let’s sing together.” But that too is on the horizontal plane. Is that wrong? No, not at all. But it’s not the same way as non-Christians sing on a horizontal plane. Because when Christians sing on a horizontal plane, we don’t actually stay on that horizontal plane. We sing to ourselves, and we sing to others, but we do so to encourage both ourselves and others to sing vertically, to sing in the presence of the Lord and upwards to the Lord.

Yes, many of the spiritual songs we sing begin in a horizontal direction, singing to myself or to you or to others, perhaps even about our own lives—and secular songs do that too. But while secular songs end that way, Christians are always singing upwards to God, for in the songs that begin singing about ourselves and others, we actually end up singing about God and singing to Him and praising Him for His goodness and grace or seeking His help. And in addition, no matter what we are singing about, we know we are singing in His presence.

Come to think about it, even if we find ourselves singing exactly the same songs as non-Christians, we never sing them in exactly the same way. Here’s a simple personal example. When I think back to my first conversation with the fellow student who became my wife, I often think of a song made famous, I think, by Roberta Flack: “The first time ever I saw your face, I thought the sun rose in your eyes.” Now, my point is not that I’m secretly the great romantic. It’s this: those words have a vertical God-centered meaning to me, not simply a horizontal one. I was a Christian, and yes, I certainly liked her face, but I couldn’t think, “I want to spend my life with you,” without knowing that the real reason I felt this was because of her trust in and her love for the Lord. So, even what began on a horizontal plane was taking place on a vertical plane.

You see, when you become a Christian, you live, as we often say, coram Deo, before the face of God, in His presence. And when you do that, everything changes. And that includes the way you sing. Well, more about this tomorrow, and I hope you’ll join us then.