In the summer of 2000 I had the opportunity to attend the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Dresden, Germany. One evening I had supper at an open-air café across the street from the massive Protestant Cathedral called The Church of Our Lady. (Show PIC) The church was built in the 1700’s and until 1945 graced the skyline of the city. On February 13, 1945 British bombers dropped 650,000 incendiary bombs, devastating the city, its population and this beautiful church. In the early 1990’s groups began to raise the funds to rebuild the church just as it had originally stood for over 200 years. It was fascinating to me to see the effort, skill and passion demonstrated to rebuild this one house of worship.

What interested me most was a bronze statue of the Protestant reformer Martin Luther that stood in front of the massive church. Luther had preached on the site of the church in the 1500’s and amazingly his statue survived, unscathed, the horrendous bombing. As I looked at his statue, holding a massive Bible, I thought of his majestic hymn, "A mighty fortress is our God. A bulwark never failing; our helper he, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing…." While human designs had destroyed a place of worship, the God who is to be worshipped still prevailed! Luther would say, "Next to the word of God, music deserves highest praise…Whether you wish to comfort the sad…to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to oppose those full of hate…what more effective means than music could you find?" (Glimpses of Christian History #65)

This truth is expressed in our focal text for this morning as the nation of Israel gathered to celebrate the completion of Solomon’s Temple it says, "The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: ‘He is good; his love endures foreve.’ Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud…" (II Chron. 5:13 NIV) I love that phrase, "The trumpeter and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord…." The music they expressed as one voice contained a message, "He is good, his love endures forever."

The music we have shared in today is a reflection of those ancient musicians and singers. For the message has been one of praise to God the Father, Jesus the Son and God, the Holy Spirit. Yet the purpose of the music is not just that we hear appealing sounds but that we are connected to the One about whom the music proclaims. The artistry of the music of the church of Jesus Christ can never be separated from the connection with Almighty God that music seeks to secure.

I. What is the message that the music of the church of Christ must seek to speak? I believe music must first connect us with the majesty of God, the Father (Psalm 33:1, 3). The greatest biblical hymn writer, David, said in Psalm 33:1, 3: " Let the godly sing with joy to the Lord, for it is fitting to praise him…Sing new songs of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp and sing with joy." Without apology, we are commanded in Scripture to sing, to make music, to sing to him a new song with skill and to do that with exuberant joy! The content of our song is found in verses 4-6 as David speaks of the majesty of God’s word, his character and his nature. The music we offer to God is meant to connect us spiritually, mentally and emotionally with the sheer majesty of God the Father.

So much of my life can be marked by music. The very first conscious memory I have is being with my mother in Grand Avenue Methodist Church in Hot Springs and hearing the chimes of the organ. My spiritual journey is navigated by music, all kinds of music. In the early 1990’s I joined over 40,000 other people for a conference in Atlanta, Georgia. While I remember little of the messages, I will never forget the music. I was moved to tears as 40,000 voices joined together "in unison, as with one voice" and sang "Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore Thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea, cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, who wert and art and ever more shalt be." I felt that in that moment my voice, though one voice, was joined with all the other voices that day giving praise, unrestricted praise, to the majesty of God our Father.

I am so grateful that the desire of all those who serve us in the music ministry here is to connect us with the majesty of God. You may prefer one style of music over another but the message is there for you to hear and to connect you with the majesty of God. Have you ever stopped to realize how disobedient we are when we sing without passion and connection when we gather? God is waiting for each of us to proclaim the message of his majesty through our music. That’s why we gather. That’s why we sing—to allow the music to connect us with the awesome majesty of God the Father.

II. Not only does our music connect us with the majesty of God, the Father, but also music has the power to connect us with the mission of Jesus, the Son (Rev. 5:9). In John’s Revelation he tells of an event in heaven where he sees Jesus Christ taking the scroll depicting God’s plan for history and humanity from the hand of God. At that moment all the occupants of heaven "…sang a new song with these words: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were killed, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. (Rev. 5:9) The song declared the worth of Jesus to fulfill God’s entire plan because he had accomplished the mission of redemption of all humanity. He did it by his death and his blood on the cross and "ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."

The music of heaven proclaims the mission of redemption of Jesus the Son. The music we sing today has that very purpose as its heart and foundation. I don’t remember the song that was sung when I gave my life to Christ at age 7 but I remember the song that was sung when I renewed my commitment to him at age 19. It was the gospel hymn, "Saved by his power divine, saved to new life sublime, life now is sweet and my joy is complete for I’m saved, saved, saved." As a prodigal I had returned and it was a song of redemption that gripped my soul. My head was full of everything from Hank to Hendrix but my soul longed for the story of salvation. I shall never forget the first time I heard the Wesleyan hymn "And Can It Be" and its astounding chorus, "Amazing Love how can it be that thou my God should die for me?" It’s message of redemption, deliverance and freedom in Christ move me like no other hymn. Maybe it was the time and maybe it was the place but its message connected me with the mission of Jesus the Son fulfilled in my own personal salvation.

It was another song that compelled me to fulfill the Great Commission by serving three years as a church planter with the then Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. The song was "People Need the Lord" and the words, "People need the Lord…at the end of broken dreams, he’s the open door…People need the Lord…when will we realize people need the Lord." I could not hear that song without weeping and seeing that one reality in the faces of people all round me.

It was a song called "You Said." The lyrics are, "You said, ‘Ask and I'll give the nations to you." O Lord, that's the cry of my heart. Distant shores and the islands will see Your light as it rises on us. O Lord, I ask for the nations. O Lord, I ask for the nations.’" that God used to compel our own Jason and Amanda McCall to choose to follow the call of Christ to Northern Africa. There in that place thousands of miles from home and family they take the mission of Christ to people of a different language and nation. Oh, do you see that when we sing we join our voices "in unison as with one voice" we declare once again the mission of redemption of Jesus the Son? If the words to a song can so connect with two human hearts to leave all that was familiar, can’t a song so connect us to reach out here with the mission of salvation and redemption? The message of music connects us with the mission of Jesus, the Son.

III. Music connects us with the majesty of God the Father and with the mission of Jesus the Son but it also has the power to connect us with the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18-19). As Paul wrote to the community of believers at the church of Ephesus he knew the power that God’s Holy Spirit had to energize their worship. That is why he told them, " …let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts." (Eph. 5:18-19) He knew that as God’s Spirit worked among them that they would experience his ministry expressed in "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts." The ministry of God’s Spirit would be realized in music, music that brought God’s people together so that "in unison, as with one voice" they would declare to God their unending gratitude and love.

We have every reason to be certain that our music has a vertical direction that connects us with the majesty of God. We have every reason to expect that our music compels us outward to others to fulfill the mission of Christ. Yet we also have every reason to believe that our music touches us in our hearts for it is in our hearts that God’s Spirit abides and it is there that we "feel" his presence. That doesn’t mean that we manufacture some sort of emotional experience. That "feeling " of the ministry of the Holy Spirit for me has come at times when the first notes of "Holy, Holy, Holy" have been played. It has come from the lyric of a new hymn "In Christ Alone," "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied; for every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live." The music of people filled with God’s Spirit connects us with the ministry of God’s Spirit among us.

You see it is the music from the heart of God’s Spirit that comforts us, encourages us, gives us life, hope, endurance, strength and courage. It is the music from the heart of God’s Spirit that lifts us like nothing else ever could do. Encouraging words like, "Be still my soul; the Lord is on thy side; bear patiently the cross of grief or pain…." (Be Still My Soul). Convicting words like, "No more my God. I boast no more of all the duties I have done. I quit the hopes I held before, to trust the merits of they Son." (I Boast No More). Enduring words like, "I just can’t give up now, I’ve come too far from when I started from. Nobody told me the road would be easy and I don’t believe he brought me this far to leave me" (Can’t Give Up Now). That is the ministry of God’s Holy Spirit using music to comfort us and come alongside of us.

There is not time this morning to weave all the ways that the music of Christ’s church connects us with the Father’s majesty, the Son’s mission and the Spirit’s ministry. Yet let me close with this one story of the power of music from a conversation I had this week. One of our church family has recently learned they have cancer. I talked with them in their home about the diagnosis and tests that are coming in the weeks ahead. They apologized for not attending worship due to the pain but mentioned that they were served at home by various televised ministries, including ours. As we talked, they commented on the music and how much the music, "the worship" they called it, brought them comfort and strength. I thought, "Once again here is music, God-focused, Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered music doing what it intended: connecting a human heart with His!" Yes, we all have our musical preferences, our own heart music, through which God plugs into our souls. Yet it all is ours so that "joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise to God." The message of music is that it connects us with God the Father, Jesus the Son and God the Holy Spirit. If that message is not connecting with you, could it be that you are "disconnected"? Today may the message of the music all around you reconnect you so that your voice may be joined with others to once again say, "He is good! His faithful love endures forever!" That is the message of music!

Sunday, April 27, 2008 a.m.

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org