Teaching Each Other In Song
WORSHIP ARTICLE | Keith Sharp | Mountain Home, Arkansas
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).
I remember an old couple from over forty years ago. Neither could read a note of music. They sat about halfway back on the far left side in a congregation of over 200 members. He sang like a bull frog and as loud as one and added a unique little lift at the end of a note. She was shrill. A music teacher would shudder. I miss them. They were a godly, dedicated old couple who could teach and praise in song. I hope we can sing together in heaven.
One way all Christians regardless of education or talent can both teach each other and praise the Lord is in our congregational singing. Yes, we praise God in our singing. A hymn is “a song of praise to God” (Mounce. 1297). But the apostle specifically calls our worship in song “teaching.”
Surely we understand we are to teach the truth rather than error. The Lord plainly, forcefully condemns false teachers (2 Peter 2:1-2). We must speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). It is just as important that we teach the truth in our songs as it is in our sermons and classes.
Often songs become popular among brethren, not because they teach the truth, but because gifted, trained singers enjoy the music. They do little, if any, teaching of the truth.
It’s been years since I was in an audience which attempted “The New Song.” The congregation must have gifted singers for all four parts, it’s usually sung fast, and there are repetitions which require expert musical skill. My memory is getting thrown off the carousel and trying to get back on when it came back around. Those who couldn’t read music were just left out. I don’t know that the song teaches any error; I don’t know that it teaches most people anything!
Some songs teach outright falsehood. “Jesus Is Coming Soon” teaches that the imminent
appearance of the Lord is certain and even implies we have signs of that coming. Not even Jesus Himself knows the time of His coming (Mark 13:31-33), and the so-called “signs of the times” were fulfilled in the generation to which the Master spoke (Matthew 24:29-34).
I believe it was 1973 when I heard the late David Watts debate a premillenialist. The false teacher affirmed “Jesus will return in this generation.” Brother Watts masterfully answered his false doctrine.
When we sing “Jesus Is Coming Soon” we teach the very same error the false teacher defended in debate. False doctrine is false whether preached or sung.
On the other hand, we can be too picky about the wording of songs. Some people argue for poetic license. I prefer to say that poetry – and the wording of songs and hymns is poetic – is filled with figures of speech. The hymn “I Know Whom I Have Believed” states in the last line, “Nor if I’ll walk the vale with Him or ‘meet Him in the air.’” The editors of the old song book Sacred Selections, changed this to “Nor will I walk the vale with Him.” Certainly we won’t literally walk a valley on earth with the Lord, but he’ll bring the departed saints with Him when He comes, and saints alive at the time will be changed and caught up to meet Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). But almost assuredly the writer of the hymn figuratively referenced going through the valley of death with the Lord (cf. Psalm 23:4).
But to be edified by such poetry in song, we must understand the figures. The song “Night with Ebon Pinion” has particularly complex figures.
“Night with ebon pinion,
Brooded o’er the vale.”
What in the world does that mean? “Ebon” abbreviates “ebony,” jet black. A “pinion” is a wing. Black winged night. Of course “vale” is valley.” So was it a dark night when the Master was betrayed? I don’t know physically, but spiritually it was the darkest of all nights! Was he in a valley? No, he was on the Mount of Olives. But he went through the valley of sorrow.
Brother Lowell Blasingame taught a series of classes in Grenada, Mississippi on the meaning of the songs we sing. Not a bad idea. Knowing Lowell, I’m sure the class was filled with Scripture.
Some of the old hymns we’ve known since childhood beautifully express divine truth and poignantly touch the hearts of those of us who have grown old. It’s been years since I joined with a congregation in singing “O Why Not Tonight.” That song brings back the pleasant memories of worshiping in little white frame meeting houses on gravel roads in rural Arkansas.
But there are also excellent newer songs that we would do well to learn, since they too express profound, scriptural truths. “Thank You, Lord, For Homes” is an excellent sermon in song on the family as God ordained it. “Abiding Things” touchingly teaches the essence of First Corinthians 13:13. The lyrics of both songs were written by the late Huey Hartsell, and the music of both was by the late R.J. Stevens, two men who served their generation well all the way to the end.
Our song service when we assemble to worship is of sufficient importance that the last thing the Master did before He went to the garden to be betrayed was to sing a hymn with His disciples (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26).
“Do All in the Name of the Lord” was written in 1916 by Austin Taylor of Uvalde, Texas (my mother’s birth place and birth year). Of course it’s based on Colossians 3:17. Brother Taylor was leading singing for Foy E. Wallace, Sr., who preached a sermon based on Colossians 3:17. There was no song at the time to express the fundamental truth of that passage. Brother Wallace asked Brother Taylor to write such a song, and thus we have “Do All in the Name of the Lord.”
When my dad passed away in 1987, we had congregational singing at his funeral. The only request I made was that we sing, “Do All in the Name of the Lord.” It captured the essence of my dad’s life as a preacher and defender of truth, and it faithfully, poetically expounds Colossians 3:17.
Teach one another in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Teach each other the truth.
Work Cited
Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.
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January 2025 | GROW Magazine
