Two weeks ago, the Gospel text had Jesus talking about His voice and how His sheep would know Him and follow Him. This Sunday’s theme as you can see on the top of our worship insert is “Cantate”. It comes from the Latin translation of our Introit which tells us “sing” in fact it says “sing y’all”. Sing a new song! What do we have to sing about? Why do we sing? We sing in response to the voice of our Good Shepherd. We sing in response to the Holy Spirit which He sends speaking through the voice of His Word which convicts and leads us into all truth: away from error, away from temptation, away from the voice of the devil, the flesh, the world, and death.
Many of you do not think that you can sing. I have observed that some of you do not always open your mouths to sing the words of the hymns. Perhaps you are shy or you have been told that you have a weak voice, a poor voice, or a terrible voice. Maybe you don’t have a “great voice”. Maybe you can’t sing the notes right on, or very loudly, maybe your voice is growly or airy or wheezy. Do you think God cares? Do you think He will hold the quality of your voice against you when you respond to His voice with faith and gratitude? No way! He loves your voice even as much as you love His! No In fact He loves your voice even more.
There is a deep psychological, physical, and spiritual dimension to singing. Singing is actually very good for you. The very act of singing releases chemicals called endorphins which help you to relax and cope with stress, fear, anguish, “the blues” if you will. Singing helps your body become better at breathing and the more you do it, the better your body responds to it. The physical act of singing can also help the body to become less rigid even as it works the breath and muscles of the body together for the action of making music.
The problem arises if a person is afraid of singing, afraid of being ridiculed, afraid that they won’t hit the right notes, that they don’t know that song, or won’t be able to follow the rhythm or melody. This attitude has been recognized by the medical community as a “road block” to singing and can actually make a person feel more lonely when others around them are singing when they believe that they cannot.
Do you know who also doesn’t want you singing? You guessed it. The devil. He knows that singing is a gift from the Lord, that it is something that God has given to His creation to add variety for the ears, and for the health of those who sing. The devil knows that the singing of music along with words of truth based in Scripture will keep people from feeling as miserable as the Devil wants them to feel. So, he as the father of lies and father of misery, will lie to people, he will distort the truth. This is what he does with everything. The devil will lie about your voice and about singing and the gift of music and song. He will disparage it as unimportant, as something to take for granted, or as something for someone else. He will try to limit you, make you feel silly, embarrassed, self conscious, and reluctant to sing in the same way, that he will encourage negativity, sadness, anger, depression, self-hatred, or conversely, self-centered pride, and the pursuit of things that not healthy for the mind, body, or spirit.
Any gift of God that He has given, Satan will try to cause people to abuse it and misuse it toward sin, degradation, and spiritual slavery. Whether it is the gifts of food, drink, family, friendship, house, home, health, sexual relations which are to be for a man and woman in marriage, music, or any other 1st article created gift, Satan will by virtue of the world and our flesh, adulterate it with his malice and the fallenness of our flesh and try to ruin it.
What is even worse is that he does this also with the Word of God. He will take people who read the Word of God and whisper in their ears to interpret it in ways that God did not say. They will emphasize the Law of God in an effort to earn salvation instead of understanding that we can only be saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. He will whisper in our ears to err on the side of the Gospel and not address sin with the Law when pride in sin needs to be rebuked. He will make God’s Word seem to contradict itself by confusing people by emphasizing their reason, instead of starting from the place of faith. He will try to convince those who have been humbled by the Law that they cannot ever do enough, and he will try to convince those in need of repentance that they don’t need to repent.
It seems very bleak when we look at how effective Satan seems to be in the world and even in our own hearts and minds. When we realize that we have allowed him to lead us astray into sin, away from joy, away from God’s Word, away from faith, away from Christ into our own self; into our own sin, misery, and self justification.
But what does our Gospel text say from the mouth of Jesus? The Helper will come to His church. Jesus sends the Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement. The Spirit of God sent from Jesus and the Father speaks through the Word of God the truth of how to understand the work of Jesus, the plan for our salvation. He speaks to convict the world of sin where it is needed, but then to point the repentant to the righteousness won by Jesus, the Son of God, who as perfect man fulfilled the Law in our stead, died upon the cross, and risen again, so that by faith, people who would receive His grace and live under His righteousness; to live in joy in the midst of a fallen world. To see in the midst of a world that seems to be under the devil’s influence, that that ruler of this world, Satan is judged. He is defeated in Christ’s death.
As you have been baptized into Christ. As you have repented and been forgiven, you a new creation in Him, set free from the threat of eternal death, set free from the lies of the devil who is constantly trying to magnify and enlarge your shortcomings when you are humbled, and enlarge your pride when you need to repent. But the Holy Spirit bursts through those lies, by His Word, by the faith that He created in you and continues to nurture in you. He uses, the pastor, your fellow Christians in this fellowship, He uses the hymns as you sing them, hear them, and learn them, to heal you and strengthen you. As St. Paul advised the church in Ephesus chapter 5: “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Singing and making melody to the Lord. That is what we do here. And it is a song that you can sing daily.
Our old song without Christ is one of sadness, a blues melody, a deep wailing and dirge of grief. But now as our Introit sang out: “Sing to the Lord, Alleluia, for He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. Alleluia! His right hand and His Holy arm has worked salvation!”
He has worked your salvation through Jesus Christ who has been crucified for you and your sins, who has been raised to show the victory of the cross and to show your new life and resurrection by faith in Him and His power.
He gives you the gift of song and singing. He joins us with our various voices, abilities, and callings into the body of Christ as we sing together making a beautiful noise and melody.
Straining together in joy, hastening on the day of Jesus triumphant return. But even now we see a foretaste of the joy and unity that shall be fulfilled as we listen to His Word, and respond to it together, as we confess Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to each other in our creeds and songs, and then as we approach the Altar…. Guess what? We can through the ears of faith hear the singing of the rest of the body of Christ on the other side of the veil. The song of the Church triumphant. They sing with us. The angels sing with us. Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Indeed, the earth shows forth the glory of the Lord. How can we not sing? But there at the altar is the glory that truly fills the world with true joy. The glory of Christ’s body and blood crucified in victory in the bread and the wine, for us to eat and to drink. Lord have mercy! Thanks be to God!
As we eat and drink, the Lord makes the minds of His people of one will; to love what He has commanded and desire what He promised so that in the changes and chances of this world, our hearts may be fixed upon Christ where true joys are found! The Lord is our strength and our song. Cantate, my brothers and sisters! Sing to the Lord a new song! Alleluia! Amen!
Pr. Aaron Kangas