WEEK 3: We Sing Because We’re Free

by Paul Tautges | April 20, 2020 9:30 pm

I’m sorry this post is three days late. Last week, I had a number of migraines, which set back several of my projects. Thanks for your patience.

This one sentence summarizes chapter three: “God’s love for us inspires our response of love for Him and calls forth songs of joy from our lips.” In other words, the Gettys convincingly argue[1] that believers in Jesus Christ are so moved by the grace of God in the gospel that they are compelled to sing. We never tire to sing of God’s salvation, which is a pattern found in the Scriptures.

Songs of God’s Salvation

1. The First Song – The song of Moses in Exodus 15 is the first stated song in Scripture. “Mirrored in this story is the gospel story of our rescue through Christ.”
2. The Songs of Battle – Songs declaring glory to God for military victories include Deborah’s song (Judges 5) and the song of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20). “We sing because it is part of our armor for battle in this life and the means of celebrating our victories–ad in Christ, we always have the victory.”
3. Songs of David – “The Psalms are songs that call us to sing….Throughout the main songbook of the Bible, the Psalms, there is a regular pattern of revelation and response.”
4. Songs of the Prophets – “The prophets sang because of the salvation that they had seen, but more than that because of the salvation that they had foreseen.”
5. The Song that Sustains the Prisoners – “Salvation enables joy and compels singing even when circumstances are set dead against us. This is the wonder of gospel singing–since nothing can separate us from the love of god in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:38-39).

Our Eternal Song

The song of salvation will be the song we sing for all eternity: “We will spend our eternity singing, for the gospel compels us to sing….We don’t sing because we have to. We sing because we love to.”

What made an impression on you in last week’s reading? Leave a comment blow.

*If you would like to join in with the reading, get yourself a copy of SING! How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church[2].

Source URL: https://counselingoneanother.com/2020/04/20/week-3-we-sing-because-were-free/

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