As a supporter of Watford Football Club, there haven’t been many occasions in the last few years (or the last many years) to sing joyfully at how well my team is doing. Thankfully, as an Englishman there have been other opportunities to celebrate recent sporting success, with our women’s teams winning the Euros (again!) and the Rugby World Cup just last month.
It’s good and instinctive to sing to celebrate success, yet it’s funny how often we rejoice at things that have almost nothing to do with us. You probably didn’t bat an eyelid about the personal pronoun in the previous paragraph – “my team” – because we’re used to the concept of aligning ourselves with others.
All of us have our identity bound up with our connections to other people or things, whether that’s by choice, geography, or by family lineage. Christian believers know the incredible news that, through faith, our identity is now bound up with Christ. We are not just followers or even worshippers of Jesus: we are united with him by the Holy Spirit. How then, as musicians, sound technicians and congregation members, should that glorious truth shape our singing as we gather on a Sunday?
Firstly, we sing with delight for Christ’s victories.
Jesus is our triumphant King, glorious Ruler and Holy God. He is the one for whom and through whom all things were created and have their being. Eternity will not be long enough to declare his worth or recount all of his victories, but our praise will find its focus at the cross. It is there that the ultimate, full and final triumph was secured against sin, the world and the devil.
As Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians;
“Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Col. 2:15)
As the perfect, divine Son of God, Jesus did everything, in accordance with His Father’s will, to rescue his people, redeem his fallen creation and renounce the claims of Satan. So it’s right that the core of the songs we sing on a Sunday should be focused on, or fuelled by, the truths of Christ crucified. What a joy to sing of our triumphant Saviour!
Secondly, we sing receiving Christ’s victories as our own.
All glory must go to Jesus – we have contributed nothing to his work and have done nothing to deserve his favour. Yet the gospel declares the scandalous exchange that happens when we put our trust in Christ – his righteousness becomes ours. Consequently, we are able to claim his victories as our own. We receive them by grace alone, yet we can sing of them with humble, confidence as if we earned them ourselves. See how the New Testament writers put it:
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 (NIV)
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus alone is worthy of our worship, yet we can truly sing his praises as people who have been gifted his victories through our unity with him. To quote a verse from my favourite hymn:
“No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine”
Incredibly, we’re not just supporters cheering our hero on from the sidelines, we are given “team Jesus” shirts to put on to sing for him and with him on the winners podium.
Finally, we sing with faith through our defeats.
Despite all we have been given in Jesus, our preoccupation with ourselves so often gets in the way of our worship, including how we sing. At a football match, fans of the team who are leading will often chant “You’re not singing any more,” to the quietenedsupporters of the losing side. Facing or feeling the effects of defeat will quite often shut our mouths and rob our gladness.
Yes, we are called to repentance and godly sorrow over sin, and yes, we surely must mourn the troubles in the world and lament the trials we face. Yet we must also bring our defeats to the cross and sing Jesus’ victory over them, because the light has overcome the darkness. Like Paul, we can say;
Romans 7:24-25
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Many of our hymns and congregational songs remind us that nothing in this world can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, so we bring our failings to him and find assurance in the gospel. Singing is one of the gifts God has given his people to express their emotions, yet also have their emotions affected by biblical truth. This is one of the blessings and privileges of music ministry – to help our church families find renewed hope and healing in the Word of God as the Holy Spirit does his work amongst us.
So as we gather with our church family this week, aware of our defeats and our troubles, let’s sing of the glory of Jesus as those united with him, rejoicing in the victories that he won for us out of the riches of his love.
