IntroductionAll throughout the Bible, God’s people sang. (the Israelites victory over the Egyptians

and worship in the temple, Jesus and the apostles sang a hymn, Paul and Silas sang in

jail, the saints before the throne in the book of Revelation, etc).

Normally this is the point in the sermon we would focus on why we aren’t authorized to use mechanical instruments in worship to God (Eph.

5:19).

But that’s not the direction I want to take this morning.

What directions do we have in the Scriptures on how we sing?

I want to talk about three directions of our singing in worship.

Our Singing Must be Upward Our directions come from heaven therefore our

singing must be upward in praising our God (Rev. 15:3-4).

In the song of Moses, they praised God for giving them victory over being in bondage to

sin and we praise the Lamb for giving us victory over being in bondage to sin (Exodus 15:1ff;

John 1:29; Heb. 2:14-15).

We praise God and His Son for their mighty works. [Redemption, Salvation] (Rev. 5:9; 7:9-

10)

We praise God and His Son for their faithfulness to all generations (Psalm 89:1).

We praise God and His Son for their holiness. (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8).

Our Singing Must be OutwardGod told Moses to write a song and teach it to the Israelites which would remind them of His

word and testify to their future rebellion (Deuteronomy 31:19ff).

We must teach and admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Colossians

3:16).

We not only need the songs that will inspire us to greater service but also warnings of

Judgment. (Hebrews 2:1-3; 3:12-13; 4:12-13; 10:23ff).

We sing songs like “Prepare to Meet thy God”; “At Calvary”; “Almost Persuaded”; “There’s a

Great Day Coming”; and others to admonish us.

If you are able to sing but don’t or are singing to receive the praise of men, God is not pleased.

Our Singing Must be InwardNot only must we have our minds engaged in

singing but also our emotions.

What do these songs do for your soul?

How can we sing songs like “I’m Happy Today”; “Sing and Be Happy Today”; “Count Your

Blessings”; or all the songs about heaven and be sad?

We are to sing and make melody with our heart to the Lord which should stimulate us to be

imitators of God as His children [being holy and faithful in service to our Lord] (Eph. 2:10; 5:1-

19).

If we honor the Lord with our lips in song but our heart is not engaged, our worship is in vain

(Matt. 15:7-9).

ConclusionWe must follow the Lord’s directions in order to please Him in worship (upward, outward, and

inward).

Are we truly praising God as we realize that we were redeemed from being in bondage to sin

through Christ, and look forward to singing hymns for all of eternity?

Are we heeding the warnings from Scripture as we sing songs that would admonish us to repent

of our sins or are we neglecting them?

Do the songs that we sing bring us joy or grief, pleasure or boredom, make us happy or sad?

Prepare to meet your God (Amos 4:12)!