Ep. 86 | To Sing or Not to Sing? | Louder Than Words

Listen in as Matt Pennington shares today’s daily devotional featuring the song "Over All I Know." Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Music has a unique way of touching the heart. A song can bring back a memory, lift our spirits, comfort us in a difficult season, or help us express what words alone cannot. That's one reason music has always been an important part of worship. Through the songs we sing, we celebrate God's goodness, declare his truth, and remind ourselves of his faithfulness. Over the past several weeks, we've been formed by God's Word as we've journeyed through Genesis. Over the next two weeks, while Pastor Eddie is away on a mission trip, several leaders from the Orchard Community Church will guide us through a special formed by the Word series called Louder Than Words. Together we'll explore the scriptures, truths, and personal stories behind some of the worship songs that have shaped our faith and encouraged our walk with Christ. Our prayer is that these devotions will help you listen more carefully to the songs you sing and deepen your appreciation for the God those songs celebrate. So wherever you're listening today, lean in and open your heart. The God who spoke in the beginning is still speaking today. Let's listen together.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

So I think it goes without saying that all of us have our favorite songs. Our favorite song may be because we prefer a type of genre more than other genres. Maybe it's because we have a favorite artist, and so we we pretty much love any song that that artist produces. Or sometimes our favorite song is because we have an emotional connection to a particular person or a moment. What I mean is that you may have a significant other and you guys share a song that, you know, was a song that you liked or you heard or you bonded over when you were dating or when you first got married or whatever the case may be. The reality is that all of us have favorite songs, and those favorite songs are influenced by a number of factors. What I want to talk about today is what do we do when our worship set, so the songs that we sing on a Sunday or during a service, what do we do when the worship set includes a song that we don't really like? I mean, all of us, we like the songs that we like. We like certain songs, we prefer them, and there's a number of reasons for that. But what do we do in church when it's like, ah, I'm not really crazy about this song? And the reason that I want to bring this up is because I think in the church world, this is an all-too familiar question. We've all heard the debates. Do you sing hymns or do you sing contemporary songs? Do you sing with a choir or do you sing being led by a worship team or a band? All of these debates have their rightful places, and there's some helpful things that can come from those discussions. But what do we do? How do we respond to these things that we don't necessarily prefer? It's easy to sing when we like the song. It's easy to sing when we like the artist or the genre. It's easy to sing when we have a preferred style, whether it be piano-led hymns or choir-led hymns or contemporary songs led by contemporary bands with modern instruments, whatever the case may be, it's easy to sing when we like and prefer all of those things. But the question is, what do we do when we don't? The song that I want to talk about today, I actually chose it because it's a song that, in all honesty, I don't particularly care for. Now, what I mean is that it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the song, certainly not theologically wrong, or we wouldn't sing it at all, but it's just a song that I don't actually all that much enjoy. I wouldn't add it to my Spotify playlist, let's say it that way. Or for some of you guys, I wouldn't spend money to select this as one of my songs that I have the option to select in a jukebox. It's a song that we've sang. There's nothing theologically wrong with it, but it's just not a song that I love, that I particularly care for if I had the ability to choose the song in that moment. But this song is important and it's a powerful song because the lyrics of the song describe a biblical truth known as sovereignty. The truth of this song is that God is sovereign. Now, when you hear that, you may not know exactly what that word means. So I want to give you a quick little definition. This definition comes from the Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, and here's how they define sovereign. Sovereign is the biblical concept of God's kingly, supreme rule and legal authority over the entire universe. In other words, that God created the universe and everything in it. And as such, he is higher. He has authority over all of which he has created. The biblical imagery that we read about when it comes to God's sovereignty is often referred to as the potter and the clay. That God is the potter who has shaped the universe and he has created everything in it. And by definition, everything that he has created is subject to his authority. And the song that I chose, I want to talk about today, is a song that we've sang several times at our location in Live Oak. We've sang it at nights of worship. But the song is titled, Over All I Know. I want to read these lyrics for us. And as I read these lyrics, you'll begin to see how this is a song that is describing the sovereignty, the supremely kingly rule of the creator of the universe. The song begins in verse one with these words You tell mountains they must fall and they fall. You tell oceans to be still and they're calm. You tell sickness it must leave and it's gone. In my weakness, God, I know you are strong. In verse two, you tell broken things be healed and they're whole. You tell fear it has no place it must go. You tell death it has no chance it won't win. And if you are for me, God, what can come against? And then the chorus of this song reads like this You are the one above it all. I stand in all. You're the God over all I know. No higher name, no greater throne. You stand alone, you're the God over all I know. Now, obviously, if you read those words, they're a very powerful reminder that God is the supreme ruler, the king of the created universe, because he is the creator. And because of that, when God says things, when he speaks, things happen. Mountains fall, if he says to fall, oceans are stilled when he says to be calm. There's a response to the authority of God. On January 29th, 2023, we sang this song at a night of worship. Some of you listening may have been there that night, but here's the thing and why I chose this song is because on that night, January 29th, 2023, as this song began to play, I find myself, or I found myself in that moment unable to utter the words of this song. And the reason is because 10 days prior to January 29th, we buried my dad. Now, in that moment, I was wrestling, but I wasn't wrestling with the melody of the song. I wasn't wrestling with the rhythm of the song. I wasn't wrestling with the style of the song, the contemporary side, or the is it a hymn or is it not? In that moment, what I was wrestling with was the character of God. The lyrics of this song were confronting the way that I felt. And I'm not saying the way that I felt was wrong. I think many of us who have walked through moments of heartache and grief, then we understand that those are very natural responses to the things that we walk through. But in that moment, this song that we had sang prior to these events ever transpiring, a song that I never really cared for just because of the factors that it just wasn't in my top selection that I would have chosen it on my Spotify playlist. And yet in this moment, in January of 2023, in the Brantford High School Auditorium, I found myself unable to physically utter the words. And it's because the lyrics of this song are true, and these lyrics are describing the very character of God. I wasn't wrestling that moment whether I liked the song or not. I was wrestling because the lyrics were describing a God who has sovereign control and authority over this universe and this created world. And yet what I felt in that moment through tears and heartache and grief was something radically different. I felt the emotional weight and pain of grief. And where I found myself was intellectually, I knew the words of this song were true, but physically and emotionally, it was as if my voice box was paralyzed. In a world in which the king of the universe, the sovereign king of the universe, had decided two weeks prior that my dad wasn't going to survive a major heart attack. I found myself on the front row of Brantford High School, unable to sing the lyrics of a song that was all about his sovereignty. But here's the thing, and here's why I wanted to choose this song. I wanted to choose this song because this was a reminder for me as I sat there, unable to sing, that worship is not primarily about us and our preferences. In this moment, it wasn't about whether I liked the song or I didn't. It wasn't about who was leading the song and how it was being led and the style of the song or the rhythm or the melody. It wasn't about any of that. In that moment on the front row, I was wrestling with the truth of who God is. And quite frankly, I needed to be reminded of those truths in spite of how I felt. This song was communicating the truth of scripture to me in that moment in ways that words alone cannot. And so as we remember this song and the lyrics of this song, I think it's helpful for us to be reminded that worship at its heart and at its core is based on the character of God and not the enjoyment of the listener. Now, don't get me wrong, I think there's times where we can enjoy and like and even love the songs that we sing. But what do we do when the set list includes a song that we don't necessarily prefer? I think in these moments we have the choice and the opportunity to humble ourselves and to be reminded that worship is not about us, that worship is not about our preferences. And quite frankly, it's not even about whether or not we would play this song if we had control of the Spotify playlist. That when we find ourselves in worship, we are confronted with biblical truths put to melody and put to lyrics and put to songs. And these lyrics that correspond with biblical truth have a way to impact us in ways that words alone cannot. We all have preferences, all of us do, and that's okay. But we need to set aside our preferences and allow our preferences to show up in our playlist. But when it comes to worship, especially in congregational, communal styles of worship, we have to be reminded that worship is not primarily about us. And the good news is that's because worship is based on the character of God. And when we worship, we have the ability to interact with biblical truths in ways that words alone cannot communicate to us and affect us on an emotional level. So here's the question: what do we do when we find ourselves looking at the words on a screen of a song that we don't necessarily care for? Here's what we do: we allow those lyrics to remind us of the God that we worship and we sing anyway, because our worship is not about us. It is about the character of God. I hope this encourages you. Let me pray for you. God, we thank you for the opportunity that we have to sing. God, we thank you for all of the worship songs that we sing. We thank you for the ones that we really love and enjoy. But God, especially, we thank you for the ones that we may not necessarily love, because these songs are reminders to us that worship is not about us, but worship is our response to a good and sovereign and holy ruler of the universe, the one who created the world and everything in it, and you are worthy of all that we can bring. So, God, whether we like the song or not, I pray that we would sing anyway and we would be reminded that worship is primarily about you and giving you what you deserve. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Thanks for joining us today. We are so glad that you chose to spend a few moments with us in God's Word. If this episode has encouraged you, we ask that you leave us a review or maybe share this episode with a friend. Also, would you consider sending us a note to let us know what God is doing in your life? Pastor Eddie would love to hear from you. You can find this email in the show notes. Until next time, stay in the scriptures, keep following Christ, and allow your life to be formed by the word.