– Pastor Robbie Cheuvront
On Monday I posted a little bit about worship. If you missed it, you can check it out Here. Just something for all of us to think about. I hope you found some encouragement for why we sing in Church. Today, I want to focus a little bit more on the whole “Singing” thing, and tailor it toward you men.
Now, before you even read this, I can already hear the grumblings and hem-hawing from you men. But if you would just humor me for a few minutes, I’d like to share with you something that I believe is vital to the spiritual well being of both the church, and our families.
We often talk about how men are the spiritual head of the family. No one (at least not in Journey circles, but certainly outside of them) argues with this. If you do, then we should have a conversation. Please come and find me or feel free to comment below and we can engage in that conversation as well. So let me ask you a question, men. If you are the spiritual head of your house, and it’s your charge to lead your family in all matters spiritually, why would we, as men, think it’s okay to “not” sing on Sunday mornings. Are we not to set the example to our families in worshiping the LORD? Are we not supposed to set an example for our children that says, “You know what, maybe God didn’t gift me with a beautiful voice like Pavarotti, or Keith Urban, or Adam Levine,” or… fill in the blank depending on your music preference, “but God DID create me to worship Him and it’s important that I show my family that I’m not too worried about what Joe or Bob think about my singing voice. And I’m going to sing with my off-pitch voice, as loud as I can. Because Jesus Christ died for me, that I may live!” John Piper wrote, just this week, about how Praising is Prizing. This means that our praise erupts out of our Prizing of the Gospel and Christ, and His greatness and gloriousness.
Should we not ask ourselves that question, men? What example are we setting for our families when we stand next to our wives (who by the way are singing to beat the band!) and as Alistair Begg, a well known pastor and theologian, says, “… stick our hands in our pockets and become change janglers.”
Fellas, I’m just going to go out on a limb here and propose that we are hindering our family’s ability to worship when we choose not to sing. 1 Peter 3:7 tells us that when we don’t love our families (our wives in particular) the way God has instructed us, it hinders our prayers. We are showing our wives, our kids, and other Christians that we think it’s okay “not” to worship God.
Now, I know that many of you may be saying, “Well, I’m singing on the inside.” That’s good! I’m not knocking anyone for that. I sing on the inside all day long. We as human beings do this. I mean, we all have a thousand things running around in those little brains of ours, and usually there are about two or three songs going on in there along side all the chaos. But this is about setting an example, as well as worshiping. What if God just said, “Hey, I hear your prayers. And I’m loving you on the inside. But I’m not going to show you.” Ah…. that changes the game a little doesn’t it?
This past week, Pastor Erik gave a sermon called “Paying What We Owe.” If you haven’t heard it yet, I strongly urge you to go do so. I’ll even make it easy for you. Click here. Erik got into this a little bit (not singing specifically, but living as examples to our families). Men, we “Owe” God our worship. And this is not just specifically on Sunday mornings. But it’s a great start. Let’s be men who aren’t afraid to belt it out from the depths of our lungs to the top of the roof that Christ has redeemed us. Can you imagine the deep resonating sound of men’s voices leading the charge of our singing on Sunday mornings? What a thought! Oh, that we would make that happen! Let’s let our wives and children see, not just assume, that Jesus Christ is the object of our affection. Let’s sing!
If you’d like to check out the short bit that Pastor Begg got into about this, you can watch below. If the video doesn’t start at the proper place, you can just skip ahead to the 5:00 minute mark and you’ll be there.