Introduction

When we think of Christmas there’s a lot of images that come to mind. Snowcapped Christmas trees, presents, Santa dressed in the colours of Coca-Cola, scenes of the manger and the birth of Jesus – and of course, when we think of Christmas, you cannot not think about carols. Songs about Christmas. Christmas and carols – the two just go together.

But – what is it about Christmas and carols – and singing in particular? Why do they go together?

And when you take a step back from all that, it might be worth asking the question ‘Why do we sing at all?’

Think about the times and places people gather in groups to sing outside of church. If you’re drawing a blank, that’s understandable. It’s not really a normal thing to do in our world.

Maybe if you joined a choir – but very few people do that. Karaoke isn’t group singing – it’s usually a group listening to one person singing at a time (and most likely butchering a Backstreet Boys song). Maybe if you went to a football match – you might sing the anthem for that club.

Probably the most common occasion for group singing is simply ‘Happy Birthday’.

Singing together in a group isn’t the most common thing in our world – and yet it’s one of the most common things Christians do when they gather together.

But come back to that question – why do we sing at all?

In some ways, the answer to that question is found in answering another question: what happens to us when we sing?

Why does a lover sing about her loved one? Why does the crowd join together to sing their football club’s anthem? Why are Singaporeans required by Law and citizenship to sing the national anthem with tears in their eyes and love of country in their hearts?

It’s because our hearts are moved by song. Love songs move our hearts towards that special someone we’re imagining as we sing. Singing the anthem is meant to grow our love for football club or nation.

This is why words by themselves are not enough. Saying the words, ‘I love you’ is not as impactful as singing ‘I love you’. But why? What is it about setting those words to music that makes it more powerful?

“Words make you think thoughts. Music makes you feel a feeling. But a song makes you feel a thought.”

(I’d like to take credit for that – but they are from Yip Harburg, the author of the song ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’.)

This is why the Bible gives song to Christians. The Bible doesn’t just call us to know something about God. The Bible doesn’t just call us to do something for God. The Bible most often calls on our hearts to feel something about God.

Take the words of Moses in Deuteronomy:

“[4] “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
(Deuteronomy 6:4–5 – emphasis mine)

In order to do this the Bible calls on our hearts to feel something about God, the Bible teaches us about who God is, and what he has done in Jesus, and then gives us a song to bring that home to our hearts.

Let me explain by turning our attention to the Bible passage we just read.

1. Worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll

We are going to very simply dip our toes into the book of Revelation today. You’ll notice that we read from Chapter 5 – so let me briefly give us the background as to what is happening here.

There’s a man named John – he was one of the original 12 followers of Jesus, and decades after Jesus had died and resurrected – and after decades of preaching to people about the resurrection of Jesus – he found himself in exile on a little island in the Mediterranean. But this wasn’t retirement and his ministry wasn’t finished yet. In a very special moment, Jesus gives him an extraordinary vision – he’s transported into the throne room of God himself. It’s a spectacular vision, taking his breath away, and he’s astonished at the sights and the sounds.

In v8 he mentions a scroll – a piece of parchment paper that had writing on it, was rolled up, and sealed with wax seals. The scroll represents God’s plans. Everything that God has planned and desires is all written down inside of that scroll – and all we need is for someone to crack open the seals, open it, and read it out so that God’s plans can move forward.

But here’s the problem – in the verses just before our passage John sees the scroll… but no one can come forward to open it. This is a tragedy.

To get a sense of how tragic this is, imagine that your parents told you about your grandfather whom you have never met. But you heard that he sacrificed his life to save your parents. All you know is that he put your parents on a boat and made sure that the boat safely got away before he was arrested and put into jail – where your parents never heard from him again.

Now imagine that this grandfather of yours has left a safety box. He’s written a small letter and it says that contained inside this safety box are priceless family treasures – letters, photos, personal items that share the history of his life. To open it and read it is to understand and know the man who saved your parents and your life. But you don’t have the key to it. You don’t have any way to open it. All of that precious knowledge and love and the person of your grandfather is all there in the box waiting to be known… but it remains sealed. He remains unknown. That would be a tragedy.

But in comparison, the fact that no one can open this scroll is a deeper and more profound tragedy – not just for you, but for humanity in general. With no one to open the scroll then no one would know God or be in a relationship with him. And his plans would remain hidden.

John feels this tragedy deep in his bones – he begins to weep. But then he’s tapped on the shoulder, told to look around – and see that there is one who is worthy to take the scroll and open it. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah – the majestic beast, the king of the jungle! But when John turns to look he sees a Lamb. This isn’t meant to be a literal Lion and Lamb hybrid thing, what John is told is that the King of the universe is here, and he turns to see an innocent, spotless, gentle being.

And this Lamb is standing as though it has been slain. This innocent, spotless, gentle being had been killed but is now standing raised back to life.

John is seeing a dazzling image of the Lord Jesus. The powerful, majestic, risen from the dead King who is also perfectly innocent, unambiguously spotless, and astonishingly gentle in nature. The King who gave his life, dying the death that we deserve in our place, and is raised back to life victorious over the grave and raised to the highest throne – the king of the universe.

The Lamb walks forward and takes the scroll. He is the only one willing and able to open it up. And when this happens, the whole of heaven erupts into a song.

Notice that up until this point in the book of Revelation, everyone has been speaking. They have been saying things, and speaking things, and John has been hearing them talk.

But now, with the scroll in his hand, for the first time, the whole of heaven bursts into glorious harmonic chorus.

2. Worth is the Lamb of a new song

a. Because he opened the scroll

This is probably a good point to pause for a second and ask the question: what are most of our songs about? National anthems are about having pride in your country. Happy Birthday is a celebration of someone’s revolution around the sun. And love songs are about… well… love.

All songs are written about subjects we think are worthy of our attention. Nobody has, as far as I know, voluntarily written a song of praise of public transport. Nobody has written a song about their Dyson vacuum cleaner, or their frying pan, or the choice of the carpet in their home. And if they did, none of those songs have become popular enough that everyone is singing them.

No, we sing songs about subjects we think are worthy of our attention, our adoration, and our praise.

And this is why Christians sing about Jesus – because Christians believe that He is worthy of our song.

He is first worthy, because in v9 – he is the only one able to take the scroll and open it.

But notice in v9 that it’s not just that he’s able to take the scroll and open it – the reason why Jesus is able to is spelled out in the second half of v9:

…for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…

(Revelation 5:9b)

b. Because he was slain

See that first reason why Jesus is able to take the scroll – because he was slain.

He was killed. He died on the cross.

That’s why some of the most well-known Christmas carols prepare us for this moment.

In ‘Mary Did You Know’ the singers sing:

This Child that you delivered
Will soon deliver you.

In ‘What Child Is This’ the singers point forward from the manger to the cross:

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
The cross be borne for me, for you;
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

We just sang a new version of Oh Holy Night – and there we sang these powerful words:

In towering grace, He laid aside His glory
And in our place, was sacrificed for sin

Friends, this is the great news of Christmas. Jesus has come. And the primary reason Christmas is a season of joy is because of why Jesus has come. Christmas is a season of joy because of Easter. Because of Jesus’ blood shed on the cross.

See again in v9 what the death of Jesus and his blood accomplishes:

and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…

Jesus’ blood pays a ransom. Think of it like someone needing to pay a fine. Some crimes require a simple fine. $140 for a parking ticket. $1000 for a speeding fine. Then fine’s amount is calculated on the gravity of the offence. A bigger crime equals a bigger fine – tracking with me?

Each and every person has committed a crime against God – the Bible calls this sin. It’s an inward bent towards selfishness, pride, and rejection of God and his ways. And each person is captured and imprisoned by this – we are each under slavery to our sin. We are not only biased towards it, but we gleefully embrace it and gleefully give God the middle finger.

Now, what fine is worthy of this sort of crime? Remember, the bigger the crime the bigger the fine. And sometimes we increase the fine because we’re saying something about how serious the crime is and how much we value things. So over the Christmas holidays, they usually double the fine and penalty for speeding tickets.

What fine is worthy of rebelling against an infinitely good, infinitely perfect, infinitely holy, and infinitely valuable God? Imagine you were given a personal fine of $100 billion dollars. There’s no way you’d be able to repay that or work it off.

But this is what Jesus’ blood has done. It has ransomed us out of our slavery – his blood has paid the price. And his blood can do that because his blood has infinite value. And it is so valuable that it not only pays the fine for my sins but also yours. John says in Revelation that his blood has ransomed people from every tribe, language and people and nation… Jesus’ blood is for everyone in the world, past, present, and future. There is no ethnicity, disability, education level, age, mental health status, or ability that limits you from being ransomed.

And to receive this awesome privilege of having Jesus pay your fine – the way you get that is simply by trusting Jesus.

A Christian isn’t someone who has it all together. A Christian isn’t someone who always acts in good ways. A Christian is someone who simply trusts what Jesus has done for them. That his blood has paid for your sins.

This is why Christians sing – because they have been freed. Freed from slavery to sin, freed from judgement, freed from the despair of sins pull over your life. And we sing because we don’t just want to think about this and know this – but we want to feel this thought. We sing to move our hearts closer to the object of our song – to move closer to Jesus.

1. Because he transforms his people

But the blood of Jesus doesn’t stop there – it not only ransoms people, but it transforms people.

See how John puts it in v10:

[10] and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

(Revelation 5:10)

When you trust and follow Jesus he transforms your life. You join a new family and Jesus is your older brother.

You join a new community, and Jesus is the leader.

You join a kingdom with Jesus as your king.

And you become a priest!

But not like this, not a catholic priest with their robes and fancy hats – you’re more like an ambassador. You’re now God’s representative to the world. You get to live in a way that shows how being in God’s family, his community, and his kingdom is unlike this world – and is so much better.

You get to speak about how great your King is – and the wonders of what he has done. You’re not living a perfect life – and you’re not expected to.

An ambassador’s motto is simply this: I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who can save anybody.

Again, I’d like to take credit for that but I found that on the internet.

Being a part of his family, community, and kingdom is a privilege not just in this life – but for eternity. To trust Jesus is to find life, life here and now, and eternally. To reign with Jesus forever.

This is why we sing Christmas carols and celebrate the birth and coming of Jesus. This is why Christians sing about Jesus – because he is worthy. Truly worthy. Worthy of all of our adoration and praise and song. Worthy because his blood ransoms us and transforms us.

So, what?

So, will you join in the song? Some of us here today are not believers. We’re familiar with the Christmas carols, and we enjoy the atmosphere at this time of the year. But the invitation to you is to something even deeper and even more – an invitation to find out about this Jesus and to come and know why he’s worthy of our songs and our lives and devotion. To come and know the freedom it is to have his blood ransom you from sin and death.

And this is an invitation to all believers as well. Those who have named Jesus as their king, who have trusted his blood to pay the fine for them. This is an invitation to sing. To sing because that is how the thought of joy is felt. To sing not because we have to, but because we love to. Sing joyfully, and loudly, because your voice will move your heart towards God and encourage others around you. To prioritise singing together arrive early to church and not miss the songs! To not just sing when we gather together – but also to sing as a part of your daily devotion to God. Sing because the thoughts you think as you read the scriptures become feelings as you sing the same truths. And your heart and life are moved closer to Jesus, transforming your life, and helping you to grow as a believer.

And sing because every time we open our mouths in song, we don’t just proclaim the praises of Jesus today. Our hearts join in a song that has already begun – a song sung around the throne, a song of rejoicing to the Lamb who was slain. Our songs today connect us to eternity – and the joy of eternity spills over to the present. So sing!

 

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Some further thoughts:

To press into the question of why Christians are called to sing, consider this quote from Puritan preacher and American Theologian Jonathan Edwards:

“And the duty of singing praises to God seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned, why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music, but only, that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections.”

Edwards is putting his finger on the mark here. Music has a way of moving our affections. Any music can do this. If you’ve seen footage from a popular band or musician at one of their concerts then you can see Edward’s point in action. Music moves our affections: our emotions, thoughts, and desires.

Christian songs – be they ‘worship songs’ or general ‘Christian’ songs – can have a profound impact on our hearts to move our affection towards God.

The purpose of singing praises to God is to stir and show our religious feelings. There’s no other reason that we are called to offer to God poetry with music instead of just speaking in plain prose, except that music and verse naturally touch our emotions and move them towards greater and deeper faith in God.

This can mean a few things for our singing:

1. Singing with our whole selves

First, it is entirely appropriate during our singing to feel something! For some people that will embody itself in their physical movement – raised arms, eyes closed, open hands reaching out. For others, the emotions stir in their hearts but on the surface things may look calm. We should therefore be careful to judge each other. The person with their hands in their pockets may be worshipping just as deeply and profoundly as the person with their arms raised in the air (though something different could be said about the person holding a cup of coffee in their hands!).

The point of this is to say that the expression of our real, and gospel-centred, emotions should be embodied in the whole of ourselves as we sing.

2. Singing good songs

Second, it means that we need to sing good songs. More songs have been written about Jesus than any other person in human history. But not all songs are equal in their content and helpfulness. Some songs can often be me-centred (focusing on personal feelings and potentially developing a me-centred theology), some contain shallow truths, and others can even sneak in subtle heresies (I’m looking at you, second verse of ‘Away in a Manger’). Still, other songs can be difficult to sing congregationally because their tunes are too complex or outdated.

In some ways, this is a rather personal and subjective point – what I find personally edifying may not be someone else’s cup of tea, and vice versa. This makes the task of choosing songs for congregational singing one of the most difficult ministries in the church. Why? Because not everyone has an opinion about how the men’s and women’s ministries should operate – but everyone has an opinion about music! As an example that simply makes me laugh, on one weekend I received feedback from someone that our church didn’t sing enough hymns and older songs, and the very next minute I received feedback that none of our songs were written in the last two years (and hence we needed to sing more newer songs)!

I think I can conclude that in both cases the personal preferences of both were of higher priority than the congregation.

It reminded me of this quote I saw online:

“One of my favourite times in corporate worship is when we sing a song in a style I don’t prefer:

1. 1. It reminds me the gospel is bigger than me & my preferences;
   2. It allows me to count others as more significant than myself;
   3. It reminds me that the gospel is not trapped in any era.”

The songs we sing at SLE are carefully selected for our edification and encouragement. Nothing stops us individually from listening to and singing songs we like. But for our congregational time, the songs we sing are selected to help God’s Word be received and to move our collective hearts and minds’ affections towards God.

3. Sing loudly!

This brings me to the third point: we should sing loudly. The more our voices are raised, the more our affections are moved. Even those songs which are less familiar to us, we are still encouraged to raise our voices. The physical act of lifting our voices together, and hearing our voices and each other singing, in this distinctly Christian activity, engages our hearts in special ways. Music has the power to do that, and it is God’s gift to us.

Maybe you’re afraid that you can’t hold a tune to save your life. But be encouraged. It doesn’t matter.

One of the most encouraging times of gathered worship I have experienced was standing next to an elderly man whose voice hit all the notes, but just not in the same song! He didn’t just sing off-key, but it felt like he invented new keys.

But what made the experience entirely encouraging was that he belted out the song. His off-key singing spurred me to sing louder and in key. And it had the same effect on those around me as well. His off-key voice made me concentrate more on the words, and the richness of the lyrics came more alive than ever before.

One day in eternity his voice will be made sweeter than any pop-star on earth could rival. And I cannot wait to hear it!

Friends, it doesn’t matter if you can’t hold a tune. Lift the voice that reflects a heart that yearns to feel something towards God.

4. Show up on time

In order to do this, we need to be present. So, fourth, we need to prioritise our singing time together. I’m not going to single out any particular individuals or congregation, but I’ve noticed an alarming trend at church: people coming in late. Well, not just late, but feeling no qualms or loss at coming in late. Our services usually begin to a sparsely filled hall, but by the end of the third song we’re mostly full.

I’ve been wondering why this is, and what to do about it, until at a recent staff meeting we discussed this problem. It was noted that one of the potential reasons is because we have so elevated the Word and sermon in our gathering as the ‘most important’ part of our time. If the Word and sermon were the most important part, then it wouldn’t matter if you were late to the songs – because you still came in time to receive the good stuff.

I am increasingly convinced that while the Word and sermon are important, they are not in of themselves the most important part of the weekly gathering.

It is the exaltation of Jesus which is central.

In Hebrews 10:25 the writer encourages believers to not neglect to meet together for the purpose of encouraging each other until the return of Jesus. Encourage each other with what? The answer is spelled out in 10:19-24 – encourage each other with the assurance and confidence we have in Jesus, to draw near to him and hold fast to him.

In essence, to exalt Jesus in our lives.

Friends, the most important part of our gathering is to exalt Jesus. We do this as we actively listen to God’s Word, and we powerfully demonstrate our encouragement to each other with our raised voices in song together.

When we consistently arrive late to church we communicate to ourselves and to each other that we do not value the exaltation of Jesus in song and this unique ministry of encouragement to each other. Remember, corporate singing is a rare activity in our world. Do not let it be rare in your own Christian life!

5. Sing when you’re by yourself

I’ve written at length now about our corporate time of singing – but what about our individual personal time of singing?

How many of us use songs in our personal devotional time with the Lord? I suspect not many.

This has been one of the sweetest additions to my personal time with the Lord. I have tried to include songs to begin my time regularly before reading God’s Word. If singing together is a beautiful way to move our hearts, then singing alone still moves my heart towards God.

Why not spend some time in personal song as you go into your devotional time with God? Your heart may thank you for it later.

6. Sing because eternity matters

We will spend our eternity singing. I know this strikes some people as a dreadful thought – imagine an eternally long worship service. I’ve experienced some pretty bad services in my time… I wouldn’t want to spend an hour doing that let alone eternally!

But, when our faith becomes sight, and our love is freed from the limitations of our sin-stained tired and weary physical bodies – we will sing with such overflowing joy. We will sing not because we have to, but because we truly love to.

And our hearts will move closer and closer to the object which brings us joy forever: Jesus Christ.

In eternity we will be freed to see him face to face and to experience his true and utter beauty and wonder. That his glory is infinite in magnitude and scope means we will never grow tired of singing – because there will be more joys and more glories to experience and sing over even after 10,000 years.

Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.

So, sing today because it will help you feel what eternity is like.