In the midst of a world of division, bitterness, and war, the Church of Jesus Christ has the reply for us to search out unity and harmony. But sadly, many churches and plenty of Christians ignore it.
In Ephesians 5, Paul teaches on the subject of unity and harmony within the local church body – a subject that he looked as if it would touch on quite often, a minimum of in his letters to the churches. If you were to go read through this particular chapter, you’ll see that unity and harmony are really just byproducts of being Spirit-filled and living a Spirit-filled life.
For example, in the primary verse of Ephesians 5, Paul sets up his mini-sermon with this thesis in verses 1-2:
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (ESV)
Then, after explaining a number of ways of living that distract from Christian unity (mainly sin), he hits home with this instruction in verses 15-21:
“Look fastidiously then the way you walk, not as unwise but as sensible, making the perfect use of the time since the days are evil. Therefore, don’t be silly, but understand what the desire of the Lord is. And don’t get drunk with wine, for that’s debauchery, but be full of the Spirit… submitting to 1 one other out of reverence for Christ.” (ESV)
Paul’s claim is that if we, full of the Holy Spirit, strive to live our life after the pattern of affection set by Jesus Christ when he was on the earth, then it’ll lead to wisdom, discipline, understanding, submission to others, and reverence for Christ. These are critical outcomes of the Christian life.
But when you were to go read the entire passage yourself, you would possibly notice that I unnoticed verses 19 and 20. I did that not because I don’t like them but simply to drive home a selected point by highlighting them now. Paul wrote that in the course of our Spirit-filled life, we are going to:
“addressing each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord together with your heart, giving thanks all the time and for every thing to God the Father within the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Did you catch that? One primary results of living a life that’s in-dwelt and motivated by the Holy Spirit is that we sing. And this singing just isn’t simply to God in our own private time of worship (although that is sweet, too), it’s with and even to “each other.” That signifies that it’s corporate singing with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Sure, there are other necessary fruits of the Spirit that may grow in our life, but so far as an activity that may come out of it, we are going to sing with others.
While that could seem misplaced or odd to some people, it makes total sense. After reflecting by myself life in addition to watching the lives of my children, it’s abundantly clear that we humans are singing people. We sing on a regular basis! From the smallest child to the oldest adult, we sing consistently (unless we decide to not sing anymore, as I even have known some people to do – which is unhappy). We sing nursery rhymes, Scripture, the alphabet song, “Happy Birthday,” and commercials and jingles. We sing within the automobile, within the shower, at concert events and parties, and (after all) in church services. We sing once we are in love, once we are sad once we are blissful, and (if we’re a fan of heavy metal) even once we are indignant!
There is a reason that radios or some form of music player (8-track, tape, CD, mp3, etc.) have change into standard in vehicles for the reason that mid-1900s. Because humans like music and we sing! Most parties or other events (even sports events) that I even have been to incorporate someone somewhere with a radio, speaker, or instrument playing music for everybody to enjoy. Music has been an integral a part of our human nature throughout history, and (unless we fight against it and refuse it), it can all the time be that way. Some people appear to sing on a regular basis as if life was a musical. On the opposite extreme, I even have seen probably the most introverted, closed-off, unemotional, and expressionless people come alive and begin singing if you play their song.
Since it’s so tied to our human nature, music affects us, too. God gave us music as a tool to worship him and provides thanks back to him. He also gave us music as a way for us to specific our emotions. But music may even influence or drive our emotions (think concerning the musical rating behind a movie scene). Lyrics which are set to music and rhythm stay in our memory quicker and longer, especially after they rhyme. Music can trigger memories from our past and even bring back the sentiments that were at one time connected to that memory. Music can bring people together that may appear to don’t have anything else in common (take into consideration singing at a sporting event or at a celebration).
In a way, music is a language of its own that may be cross-cultural and cross-generational. And the excellent news is – every one in every of us can “speak” that language (some persons are higher than others, after all). This is why God lists it amongst the outcomes of a Spirit-filled life and one in every of the first aspects involved in our Christian unity and harmony. Because when the church body sings together in worship to God, they’re unified a minimum of in that moment.
However, because music is so tied to our human nature and emotions (and irrespective of what we do, we cannot separate them), everyone knows that music can be a tool that our enemy uses to drive us apart. When we decide our personal preferences over the enjoyment of others and the unity of our church body, music now not serves its God-given purpose. We have seen this occur in churches across our world for a minimum of the last century (and I might assume all the way in which back to the start of music when humans strummed their first string or sang their first note).
This is why Paul gives us several key reminders on this passage to be certain that we use music as a tool for unity and never division in our church congregations. For example, he’s reminding us to live in and follow the Holy Spirit, to hunt to mimic the life and character of Jesus Christ, to walk in love and wisdom, to not waste our time on frivolous things, to not be motivated by anything apart from the Spirit in us, to specific our thanksgiving to God in our singing (as a substitute of complaining), and to recollect to handle “each other” through our singing (as a substitute of just specializing in ourself).
And lastly, Paul gives us the three categories of worship music that cover all of it: “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”
If you desire to have unity in your church over music, then follow God’s Word on this passage to make use of it because the tool of unity that it was designed for and find ways to submit to 1 one other by putting your personal preferences and opinions below there’s.
Church, let’s sing together!
Photo Courtesy: ©Pexels/Ketut Subiyanto
