Hymns4Him

The doctrine of election is one of the most wonderful, foundational, and widespread teachings in all of the Bible.  There are several words commonly found throughout the scriptures which express the concept. When translated into English, these include not only elect/election, but also predestined/predestination, foreordained/foreordination, called, and chosen. A quick search in any concordance will show numerous passages where these terms are found in God’s Word.  Even the word grace, when understood properly, points to this truth.  That is reflected in the way we often speak not merely of grace, but more particularly of sovereign grace.

Even when any of these words are absent, the twin central truths of human depravity and divine sovereignty in salvation permeate all portions of the Word of God.  Because we are dead in our sins and enslaved to our old nature (as Paul taught in the opening verses of Ephesians 1), our  only hope is that God would change our unwilling and undeserving hearts to enable and motivate us to reach out to Him.  We need to be born again, as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3.  But as human beings cannot cause themselves to be born physically, neither could any of us cause ourselves to be born again spiritually.  We read in 1 Peter 1:3, “according to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again.”

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Fear was not part of God’s creation as first established in the Garden of Eden.  Harmony existed between every part of the created order, each with the other and also with the Divine Designer.  There were no storms in nature to cause fear.  Since death only came after the fall, we assume there was no fear among animals, terrified at the possibility of being eaten by predators (who were apparently all initially vegetarians).  And there was no fear on the part of animals toward Adam, as he named them.  There was no fear between the initial human couple toward one another. And there was no fear (other than the healthy attitude of reverence, sometimes called “fearing the Lord”) in the hearts of Adam and Eve toward the Lord.

But, oh how sin has changed all that!  Ever since the fall, there has been fear throughout creation: fear about the destructive powers of nature’s floods, earthquakes, volcanos, and tornados; fear between the large predators and small prey in the animal kingdom; wild animals fearing the approach of human beings; fear of residents about criminal elements threatening them and their families; people fearing the potential harm from diseases like cancers and strokes; as well as fear caused by the ravages of war, from bombings and starvation and tyrannical dictatorships.  Fear is an inevitable result of the terrible effect of sin on God’s perfect creation. 

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Most hymnals today have a topical section called “morning” and also the next called “evening.”  This includes hymns like “All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night,” “Abide with Me, Fast Falls the Eventide,” “Savior, Breathe an Evening Blessing,” “Now the Day Is Over,” “The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended,” “Day is Dying in the West,” and “Softly Now the Light of Day.”  These were familiar to those of us who grew up in a day when most evangelical churches had a worship service on Sunday evenings.  This was usually a more informal service, sometimes called a “vesper service,” with more hymns being sung (often as people requested “favorites”), prayer requests fielded and offered, perhaps a testimony, and always Scripture and sermon.

How ironic that this section continues to be included in hymnals today, when it has become rare to find a church that still has a service on Sunday evening.  For some, this loss is regarded as a sad sign of the times when “the Lord’s Day” has become merely “the Lord’s morning.”  Historically, Sunday evening services were an emotional and psychological as well as spiritual joy for the covenant people of God, as the day began and ended in the Lord’s house.   Some noted that it is significant that after the first and second Psalms (the first describing Jesus as that blessed man who sought the Lord whole-heartedly, and the second celebrating Jesus’ sovereign power over the rebellious kings of the earth as the begotten one anointed by the Father), the next two point to the beginning and ending of a day in worship.  Psalm 3:5 reads, “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me,” a Psalm for the morning.  And the next one is a Psalm for the evening, as we read in Psalm 4:8, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”

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When we read or sing any of the Psalms, one of the things people most often fail to see is their theological and historical and redemptive connection to the Lord Jesus.  There are three things about Jesus that people ought to recall before they begin to speak or sing the words of any Psalm.  First, Jesus is the “scribe” who authored each of these inspired biblical texts.  As the second person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus is the source of the truths and the words.  He speaks to us through the work of the Holy Spirit who inspired the human authors, including David. Second, Jesus is the “subject” of each of these biblical Psalms.  In some they, they all reveal something about Him, His character and work, and how His redemptive work benefits those who place their trust in Him.  And third, Jesus is the “singer” in each of these Old Testament songs.  During His earthly ministry, growing up in a Jewish home and educated (almost certainly) in a local synagogue where He learned to sing the Psalms, vocalizing each of them numerous times during His thirty-three years on earth.  To sing a Psalm today, thinking about what it meant to Jesus as He sang it, opens up a huge new perspective to the mind and heart of a contemporary worshiper.

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When our culture celebrates Father’s Day each year in June, we who know the Lord are happy to join in expressions of gratitude to our earthly fathers for all they have done for us.  This is certainly one way in which we keep the fifth commandment: “Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother.”  In addition to giving pleasure to our parents, such honor pleases the Lord when we show our gratitude for the love they have shown to us, the care they have given to us, the guidance they have offered to us, not to mention the material provisions that we have enjoyed from their sacrificial generosity, whether from food and clothing over the years or the financial help for schooling and in the early years of our careers and marriages.

But what a great opportunity to renew our gratitude, and indeed our joyful praise, toward our heavenly Father.  In the sixth chapter of Matthew’s gospel (in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount), the word Father is used of God ten times!  In the Old Testament, God was known as the father of Israel, of His chosen people.  But when we come to the New Testament, there is a change.  We find that believers are taught to address God in a more individual and personal way, we could even say in a more intimate way.  This has become the normal manner of private prayer, as each of us begins by addressing Him with the affectionate title, “Father …”

The title “Father” is used of God in every New Testament book with the exception of the tiny epistle of Third John. In nearly every one of his letters, Paul’s opening salutation refers to “God our Father.” The name represents both His authority over His children (exercised in disciplining them), and His loving care and guidance of them. There is a limited sense in which God is the Father (i.e. the Progenitor) of all, in that He is the Creator of all. But our particular and personal relationship to Him as our Father comes when we are born again into the family of God, through faith in Christ. It’s then, as His blood-bought children, that the indwelling Spirit of God awakens in us a sense of that new relationship and we cry, “Abba, Father” (an affectionate expression meaning something like “dearest Father”).

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When we come to the Lord’s Table, our pastors encourage us to give careful thought ahead of time about the seriousness and magnificence of all that is represented in this sacrament. Our colonial ancestors typically held a communion preparatory service before communion Sunday.  It was a service devoted to a rehearsal of what Jesus accomplished by His atoning sacrifice and the need for self-examination to make sure those who approach the table do so with renewed repentance and faith, and a fresh commitment to obedience.  At that preparatory service, it was customary to distribute pewter “tokens” to each adult.  On communion Sunday, when the elements were served, often at tables set up in the church yard, one needed that token, like a ticket, in order to be allowed a seat at the table.

While we no longer see such valuable services and practices today, the need is still there to examine one’s self before partaking of the elements.  This is evident in Paul’s instructions about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:28-29.  “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”  This is why in Reformed churches there is the mandatory “fencing of the table,” when the pastor reminds attendees that the table is open to all, and only, who have repented of their sins and placed their trust in Christ, and whose profession of faith has been deemed credible by virtue of their being members in good standing of an evangelical church.

As part of the liturgy in coming to the Lord’s Table, it is typical in our churches to sing a hymn that prepares our hearts for this wonderful blessing of communion with the Lord, when our souls are nourished by feeding on Jesus’ body and blood by faith.  Among the hymns that help us do that is Isaac Watts’ hymn, “How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place.”  Written in 1707, its lyrics give eloquent expression to the attitudes and understanding that should dominate our thinking as we come to the Table.  It is a much-appreciated and often-used hymn at communion services.

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During the summer months, most denominations hold their annual national meetings.  These can be times of great joy and celebration as reports are shared about the progress of the gospel through their church planting, foreign missions, and discipleship ministries. In addition to the “business” of the church that is conducted, these are also pleasant times of renewing friendships with colleagues and former school classmates, almost like a homecoming school reunion.  And for some, a highlight are worship services as thousands join their voices in singing great hymns of the faith, and hear sermons from some of the finest preaches of our day.

Sadly, in some denominations, these are painful times where liberal theology and unbelief increase their influence, leading denominations further and further away from their historical and biblical roots. Increasingly such denominations follow the “progressive” views and priorities of our culture, not only in rejection of foundational doctrines (such as biblical inerrancy, Jesus’ virgin birth, and substitutionary atonement), but also in opposition to long-standing principles of morality (such as the homosexual agendas, abortion support, and gender identity), with a shift away from the mission of evangelism and church planting to the early 20^th century substitute of social justice.

When the focus remains on the gospel, people can rejoice in a fresh commitment to the church as the bride of Christ, seeking to renew a commitment to Him and to the work to which He has called us, aiming at making His bride more and more beautiful, adorned with the fruit of the Spirit, and leading lost souls to the giver of eternal life.  We have a rich treasury of hymns about the church which we can sing at such meetings, and in our local churches as we pray for God’s blessing on His church, the body of Christ as well as the bride of Christ.

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One of the major holidays for the Christian Year is Pentecost Sunday, marking the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostolic church.  Luke’s record of that event in Acts 2 describes what happened that day as people had gathered from many nations for the Jewish Pentecost festival in Jerusalem.  Jesus’ followers were meeting together in an upper room, waiting for the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise.  With the sound like a rushing wind and the appearance of what looked like tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit was poured out on those disciples.  The commotion attracted a crowd who then heard the gospel being preaching in their own language, occurring as a supernatural gift from the Holy Spirit. 

In all of those events, the common theme was power, the power in the wind, the flames, and the tongues.  But the greatest demonstration of power was in the incredible change of hearts in hearers that took place while Peter was preaching.  Three thousand people who were spiritually dead were transformed by the Holy Spirit, producing in them conviction of sin and faith in Christ, as they interrupted Peter’s preaching to cry out, “Brothers, what must we do?”  Such total reversal of thinking could only have happened by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He did what Jesus told Nicodemus needed to happen: “You must be born again.”

Musical reflections about Pentecost abound in the church’s repertoire, especially from the time of the Reformation.  Some are instrumental works, frequently for organ.  Others are choral compositions, including cantatas.  But almost all of them are based on hymns about the Holy Spirit and His coming at Pentecost.   Today, every hymnal will have, in its topical structure, hymns about God the Father, hymns about God the Son, and also hymns about God the Holy Spirit.  Many of these are actually addressed to the Spirit Himself. Quite a few composers have written works based on the ancient (9^th century) hymn, “Veni Creator Spiritus” (“Come, Creator Spirit”).

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Note: Dr. Roff has released an update to this hymn study, enjoy! — ed.

Singing the Psalms has long been a distinguishing mark of biblical faith.  It dates from the time of David, the author of half of the Psalms, about 1000 BC.  One of the Psalms, number 90, goes back even further, since that one was probably written by Moses four hundred years before David.  The divinely inspired collection of the 150 Psalms in the middle of our Bibles was the songbook of Israel throughout the rest of the Old Testament period, and continued into the New Testament era.  As a boy and as a man, Jesus sang the Psalms.  Growing up in Nazareth, He would have known them all very well, perhaps even by memory.

When we review the history of the Christian church, we find Psalms to be the heart of medieval worship in churches and monasteries as they were sung in monophonic chants (melody only, as in Gregorian plainsong).  When Calvin overcame the millennia-long ban on congregational song imposed by the Roman Church in the fifth century, it was to the Psalms that he turned.  He provided music and texts for all 150 Psalms for the churches in Reformation Geneva, employing the finest musician and finest poet in France to compose the 1551 Genevan Psalter.  In Reformed churches on the continent, in the British Isles, and in the American colonies, believers sang the Psalms exclusively in corporate and family worship.  And that is still the practice in the Covenanter denomination, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA).

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The Bible makes it clear that what the Lord most wants from us is neither slavish obedience to His laws (though a rightly-motivated embracing of His laws is an essential part of biblical religion) nor casual engagement with worship rituals (though He has made plain in His Word those elements of worship – like reading Scripture, preaching, singing, praying, etc. – which He desires).  Jesus was very direct in His criticism of the Pharisees for following details of the law as proud works of self-righteousness (Matthew 23:23), and He called out the people of His time for their failure by thinking they were worshiping God when their hearts were “far from Him” (Matthew 15:7-9).

When Jesus was asked about the first and greatest commandment, He didn’t respond with something new and previously unknown.  No, He quoted from what was in His day one of the best-known verses from the Old Testament, a virtual Jewish John 3:16! Known as “The Great Shema” (because of the opening words in Hebrew: “Shema, Israel”), it was Deuteronomy 6:5. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

When Paul wrote his second letter to the church at Corinth, he addressed the issue of their progress toward spiritual maturity.  In 2 Corinthians 12:14, he identified what he most wanted from them.  It is the same thing the Lord desires of us in our daily lives as well as in our worship. The Apostle wrote, “for I seek not what is yours but you.”  There it is; what God wants from us is … us! Our whole selves!  It is the same theme about which Paul wrote in Romans 12:1-2, where we read, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

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