Ministers of Praise (1 Chronicles 16:4-7)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:05.719 Well, let's hear God's word now. Remain standing if you are able. 2 00:00:07.190 --> 00:00:18.070 From first chronicles sixteen, four through seven, then he up, that is 3 00:00:18.070 --> 00:00:23.339 David. Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the Ark of 4 00:00:23.379 --> 00:00:27.940 Jehovah, to invoke, to thank and to Praise Jehovah, the God of 5 00:00:28.019 --> 00:00:34.700 Israel. Asaf was the chief and second to him, where Zechariah, Jel 6 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:43.289 Shemari, Shem Sheemery, moth Jehiel, Matahafia Eliab ben and IAH, Obed 7 00:00:43.369 --> 00:00:49.090 Edom and Jet Eel, who were to play Harps and liars. Asaf was 8 00:00:49.170 --> 00:00:53.439 to sound the symbols, and Ben and Iyah and Jahaziel, the priests, 9 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:59.320 were to blow trumpets regularly before the Ark of the Covenant of God. Then 10 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:03.989 on that day, David a first appointed that Thanksgiving be Sung to to Jehovah 11 00:01:04.430 --> 00:01:10.950 by ASF and his brothers. May God bless his word to us. Please 12 00:01:11.069 --> 00:01:21.379 be seated. As we have been going through these chapters and first chronicles, 13 00:01:21.659 --> 00:01:26.459 the chronicler has been recording for us this history, a history of God's people, 14 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:33.010 first beginning with a number of genealogies, then moving to the downfall of 15 00:01:33.170 --> 00:01:38.489 Saul and then contrasting Saul's great downfall as the king over Israel, with David's 16 00:01:38.489 --> 00:01:44.530 ascension as the king over Israel in large part of very happy ascension, a 17 00:01:44.810 --> 00:01:52.560 good a good thing, and in that we have been seeing how David points 18 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:59.519 US forward to our own king, King Jesus, who sits on his throne, 19 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:04.390 having ascended to the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, who 20 00:02:04.510 --> 00:02:09.990 rules and reigns over his people, who fills the sanctuary with his spirit, 21 00:02:10.629 --> 00:02:17.939 yes, even us. And as we have seen this happen in Chapter Sixteen 22 00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:23.539 in particular, we're seeing some of the particulars of what that means, what 23 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:30.650 it means to belong to a kingdom that is ruled by God and ruled by 24 00:02:30.770 --> 00:02:36.969 his anointed servant. In the first three verses of Chapter Sixteen we considered God's 25 00:02:37.009 --> 00:02:43.409 great provision for his people, the blessings that come from the king ascended on 26 00:02:43.530 --> 00:02:47.680 high. We considered it in various ways, in their communion with another, 27 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:53.280 with one another, the blessing that they received from the Lord, in the 28 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:58.710 ways in which he provides for them. Now, in Chap and now in 29 00:02:58.750 --> 00:03:04.270 Chapter Sixteen, in verses for through seven, we see another aspect of that 30 00:03:04.509 --> 00:03:08.870 kingdom, another aspect of what it means to belong to God, to be 31 00:03:09.069 --> 00:03:17.139 blessed by him under his anointed King. In particular, we see David appointing 32 00:03:17.939 --> 00:03:22.620 some of the Levites. You remember, the Levites are a particular tribe and 33 00:03:22.780 --> 00:03:30.009 Israel devoted to helping and serving before the Lord. He appoints some levites as 34 00:03:30.250 --> 00:03:37.250 ministers, as servants before the Ark of the Lord, the Ark of Jehovah, 35 00:03:37.289 --> 00:03:42.800 or Y'All way, he appoints these levites in particular to do a particular 36 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:49.879 thing, to serve in a particular way God. They're being represented and in 37 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:57.270 the Ark and connected to it by his promises calls. The calls David to 38 00:03:57.310 --> 00:04:01.870 appoint these Levites to Minister and serve in three particular ways, to invoke, 39 00:04:02.669 --> 00:04:09.469 to thank and to praise. This is their job. Now you can see 40 00:04:09.509 --> 00:04:13.939 why it's so great to be a minister. You get to invoke and praise 41 00:04:14.259 --> 00:04:19.420 and thank and service to the Lord. The Levites, in having no land 42 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:24.810 of their own, had nothing to complain about out they had a great and 43 00:04:25.009 --> 00:04:30.449 wonderful task. But you notice a very not only are they told to do 44 00:04:30.689 --> 00:04:35.170 these particular things, invoke, thank and praise, but there to do it 45 00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:43.879 in a very particular way. In music, Asath and his brothers, as 46 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:48.360 they're called in verse seven, are appointed to these particular tasks, singing and 47 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:55.949 playing, making music. Even some specific instruments are listed, Harps, liars, 48 00:04:56.350 --> 00:05:00.670 symbols and other portions of God's word. We read of even other instruments. 49 00:05:01.110 --> 00:05:05.990 Throughout the psalms there are commands to worship God and play to him, 50 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:13.819 to make music with these various instruments. This is how they were being called 51 00:05:13.899 --> 00:05:19.339 to serve, this is how they were called to minister, and it's important 52 00:05:19.379 --> 00:05:26.769 thing to observe for a number of reasons which will consider this evening, but 53 00:05:26.850 --> 00:05:33.329 I'll begin by just noting that music is something that is very important to the 54 00:05:33.569 --> 00:05:40.800 Lord. There's a reason that we don't just invoke and thank and praise with 55 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:46.560 speaking, but with singing, playing instruments. It's a part of who we 56 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:53.910 are. It's how we express our selves. That's how God desires us to 57 00:05:54.389 --> 00:06:00.910 express ourselves and even to move us in particular ways. From the Scriptures and 58 00:06:01.149 --> 00:06:04.740 outside of the Scriptures, we know that in the from the very earliest parts 59 00:06:04.779 --> 00:06:12.019 of human society, when humans were first establishing culture, they made music. 60 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:17.459 Now we see that, particularly in the first place among canes, line and 61 00:06:17.569 --> 00:06:20.769 his family. They are the ones that do that work and by and large, 62 00:06:20.810 --> 00:06:24.250 they are the ones that do the bulk of the cultural work. They're 63 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:29.930 at the beginning. But just because it begins and originates among those people doesn't 64 00:06:29.930 --> 00:06:32.680 mean that it doesn't belong to God's people as a part of who they are, 65 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:38.319 as a part of what they do and part of their lives. Throughout 66 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:43.600 the Scriptures we see God's people singing and playing instruments and various contexts, both 67 00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:46.870 in and out of worship. One of the first examples we see of this 68 00:06:46.990 --> 00:06:51.910 is an exodus fifteen, when we read that Miriam and all the women went 69 00:06:53.069 --> 00:07:00.230 out singing with T or dancing with tambourines. I suspect that all the women 70 00:07:00.459 --> 00:07:04.860 is not meant every single woman, but even if it's a lot of women, 71 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:11.339 that's a lot of Tambourines, a lot of tambourines that belong to Israel, 72 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:15.259 a part of who they were. In other places we have mentions of 73 00:07:15.379 --> 00:07:19.689 flutes and stringed instruments, all kinds of things. Now there are ways in 74 00:07:19.810 --> 00:07:25.689 which music in the life of Israel and other parts of the ancient world was 75 00:07:25.769 --> 00:07:30.759 different than it is today. Today, music is primarily a performance kind of 76 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:33.879 thing. It's something you go and watch. For most of human history, 77 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:39.920 music is something that you participated in. When I taught music lessons, every 78 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:45.629 now and then I would see someone would come in who had never there, 79 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:49.670 had never heard a Lullaby, had never been sung to by their mother or 80 00:07:49.870 --> 00:07:57.069 father. Their first experiences participating in music were there at ten, twelve years 81 00:07:57.069 --> 00:08:01.819 old, picking up a cello for the first time. Up till then it 82 00:08:01.899 --> 00:08:05.860 was very it's it was very much just watching kind of thing. In the 83 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:09.939 ancient world it was very different. Music was a part of worship, it 84 00:08:09.139 --> 00:08:13.689 was a part of work, it was a part of I'm telling stories, 85 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:18.689 a part of all woven in as a part of all of life. We 86 00:08:18.810 --> 00:08:24.730 read of various instruments particularly attached to the worst it worship of Israel. The 87 00:08:24.769 --> 00:08:30.360 high priest, for example, was to have bells, bells sewn around his 88 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:35.639 garment, his robe. We read that David made instruments, that he used 89 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:41.590 an instrument to soothe saul when he was a troubled and even in heaven. 90 00:08:41.710 --> 00:08:45.830 We read that there are twenty four elders. John has this vision of twenty 91 00:08:46.029 --> 00:08:50.710 for elders who have harps in one hand and bowls of incense, which are 92 00:08:50.750 --> 00:08:58.860 the prayers of saying at the saints in the other why music then? Why 93 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:03.779 not just invoke and thank and praise the Lord? Why does God want to 94 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:13.690 attach that to song and Melody? Well, there are reasons that scripture gives 95 00:09:13.730 --> 00:09:18.169 us for these things, reasons that are probably fairly obvious to you, but 96 00:09:18.370 --> 00:09:22.809 just to say them. Music is a powerful thing. It has a powerful 97 00:09:22.809 --> 00:09:28.120 effect on us. It does things one way. Music is used as simply 98 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:33.039 as a signaling kind of thing. In the psalms we read of horses being 99 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:39.509 signaled or people being signaled to come and do something with trumpets or other things. 100 00:09:39.389 --> 00:09:43.230 The trumpets in particular were used in Israel to call people to worship. 101 00:09:43.750 --> 00:09:52.429 I'm to announce victory over an enemy. But music also has an emotional power. 102 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:58.500 It moves us, affects us, and God's speaking to this musical aspect 103 00:09:58.539 --> 00:10:01.299 of our lives is one of the ways which we are reminded that we are 104 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:07.210 not just thinking creatures, but we are emotional creatures as well, and that 105 00:10:07.289 --> 00:10:11.970 when God works in us, he works on all of us. I'm not 106 00:10:11.009 --> 00:10:16.250 just one part of us. The power of music, I hope, is 107 00:10:16.409 --> 00:10:22.159 something that you've experienced in your own life, whether that's in worship or out 108 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:26.360 of it. Out of worship, I remember being at any use summer music 109 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:33.399 camp and hearing Samuel Barber's knoxville summer one thousand nine hundred and fifteen and being 110 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:39.870 however old a eighth grader is, I think I was crying. It was 111 00:10:39.950 --> 00:10:43.710 just so beautiful. Other pieces like that of hit me that way, Greky's 112 00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:50.220 third symphony and other things. Earlier this week someone was telling me about queuing 113 00:10:50.259 --> 00:10:56.820 up Aaron Copeland's fanfare for a common man as they came driving up into a 114 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:01.740 national park. That tune, by the way, Aaron Copeland's Fan for for 115 00:11:01.820 --> 00:11:07.450 a common man is purposefully meant to be very grand. He uses it to 116 00:11:07.490 --> 00:11:13.210 speak against the Nazism and they sort of Supermann that was being applauded in certain 117 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:18.169 parts of the world. Aaron Copeland, this American composer, says no, 118 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:22.799 I write a fan for for the common man. He wants to announce what 119 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:28.080 it means to just be human and it moves us, it affects us, 120 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:37.110 and these are just cultural examples, things that move us powerfully. Perhaps you've 121 00:11:37.149 --> 00:11:43.269 experienced this in worship as well. I'm chills going up and down your spine, 122 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:50.100 saying and can it be, or some other tune that speaks of God's 123 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:56.500 grace, of his glory, of the things that he has done. Music 124 00:11:56.580 --> 00:12:03.490 has a very powerful effect on us and it's an effect which some people have 125 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:11.129 capitalized on and abused and some people have feared. You remember Daniel, for 126 00:12:11.289 --> 00:12:18.879 example, in Babylon and and the people of Israel being called by Nebuchadnezzar two 127 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.799 at the sound of all the instruments, bow down and serve an idol. 128 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:28.799 Instruments are, of course, used in all kinds of terrible ways. They're 129 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:35.470 used to manipulate people and affect people and very powerful ways. But Abuse, 130 00:12:35.870 --> 00:12:43.350 we must remember, does not determine use and unfortunately many in the Christian church 131 00:12:43.549 --> 00:12:50.460 have felt that way have had this very negative reaction to instruments in general. 132 00:12:50.659 --> 00:12:56.539 This is true not only of really from all circles of the church. Thomas 133 00:12:56.580 --> 00:13:01.809 a Quinas, for example, which a many people quote, a speaks of 134 00:13:01.929 --> 00:13:07.330 instruments as being only good for pleasure, instruments not doing any good and creative 135 00:13:07.490 --> 00:13:13.879 increase, creating good dispositions within the soul. I'm braw a Dabney a southern 136 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:20.000 Presbyterian talks about instruments. Is Merely a dead, lifeless mechanical thing that can 137 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:28.590 do no good. But God speaks differently. God commands these servants of his 138 00:13:28.669 --> 00:13:33.789 to lift up their mouths and blow trumpets, to take their fingers and play 139 00:13:33.830 --> 00:13:39.710 the strings, to sound the symbols together, all in honor and glory and 140 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:43.779 him. This is one of the first places we see it. There was 141 00:13:43.940 --> 00:13:48.740 once more a little bit earlier in first chronicles. This is one of the 142 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:50.620 places we see it here and it's going to be a theme that comes up 143 00:13:50.659 --> 00:13:56.250 a few other times, even as David passes on the Kingdom to Solomon and 144 00:13:56.690 --> 00:14:01.090 the glory of the Lord descends on the temple, as the people are playing 145 00:14:01.809 --> 00:14:07.450 and making and music and singing, these things remind us that, yes, 146 00:14:07.490 --> 00:14:15.679 music is very powerful and it has been abused and it has a been used 147 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:20.320 for great evil, but it is a tool which, in the hands of 148 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:26.350 the Lord and his people, can do good, and God intends it to 149 00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:31.110 do good here, as he institutes his kingdom, as he brings his king 150 00:14:31.230 --> 00:14:37.070 to the throne, as he establishes himself, as the ARC is placed there 151 00:14:37.230 --> 00:14:43.899 in Jerusalem, He commands that music, this powerful aspect and thing that has 152 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:50.940 an effect on our emotions would be attached to his worship, and he commands 153 00:14:52.019 --> 00:14:58.289 it in these various ways. So you can see why God is pleased with 154 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:03.090 the music of our mouths, of our fingers. It's in this passage and 155 00:15:03.169 --> 00:15:11.759 similar passages like this, that Bach stood himself firm against various Lutheran pietists and 156 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:18.200 stood with the Orthodox, finding his calling and service to God. But this 157 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:24.429 passage is more than God's Amen to music and music and worship. As we 158 00:15:24.549 --> 00:15:31.110 began with, you remember that David prefigures Jesus, and so this kingdom looks 159 00:15:31.149 --> 00:15:37.059 ahead to the kingdom to come. When you think about that, I hope 160 00:15:37.139 --> 00:15:43.779 that sparks a little bit of thrill, a little bit of anticipation and excitement 161 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:50.610 to know that one day you will hear the heavenly angels, the choires of 162 00:15:50.730 --> 00:15:56.889 Heaven, your own voice resounding with them in praise and glory of God. 163 00:15:58.409 --> 00:16:04.080 These harps and perhaps other instruments of being played, worship and music pointing together, 164 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:11.759 we see that God is concerned not only with words being rightly spoken, 165 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:18.909 but our hearts being rightly moved. I'm going back to Psalm Ninety six, 166 00:16:18.029 --> 00:16:23.789 which we heard earlier, begins. Oh, sing to the Lord, a 167 00:16:23.950 --> 00:16:27.590 new song, sing to him all the earth. And then it gives this 168 00:16:27.789 --> 00:16:33.700 reason. Splendor and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his 169 00:16:33.860 --> 00:16:41.700 sanctuary. These things are connected. Because of God's splendor, because of his 170 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:52.850 beauty. Song, music, has a right place before God. It should 171 00:16:52.850 --> 00:17:00.370 affect us in this way. The songs that we've Sung, songs that I've 172 00:17:00.409 --> 00:17:03.680 chosen, all of them thus far, have spoken in one way or another 173 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:07.480 of this kind of thing, either a command to sing and make music or 174 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:12.799 a call about making music. And, unsurprising to me, in the three 175 00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:18.789 hymns you chose before worship also all spoke to that in some way or another. 176 00:17:18.829 --> 00:17:26.869 Oh for a thousand tongues to sing right, or Psalm one, which 177 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:33.900 called about called us to make to sing to the Lord with a cheerful voice, 178 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:40.819 or the hymns that are anticipated with the Kingdom of God. You See, 179 00:17:40.859 --> 00:17:44.849 this is a natural and wrapped up part of our lives as Christians. 180 00:17:45.410 --> 00:17:52.009 My point is it's not an accident that we sing, it's not an accident 181 00:17:52.089 --> 00:17:56.369 that we make music and it's not an accident that we attach to the things 182 00:17:56.450 --> 00:18:06.960 that we do tunes and melodies. It's because God is glorious, because he 183 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:11.960 is full of splendor and majesty. And if that's true of David and his 184 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:15.910 temple, how much more true is that with Jesus, in the kingdom that 185 00:18:15.990 --> 00:18:23.589 has come in him? Now? There are times in which that Kingdom of 186 00:18:23.750 --> 00:18:30.420 God, this Kingdom which Christ has now rules and reigns over, is hidden. 187 00:18:32.539 --> 00:18:36.940 Many of the outward manifestations of his glory and his beauty that we see 188 00:18:37.059 --> 00:18:42.289 there externally in the Old Testament are in many ways hidden today. But that 189 00:18:42.410 --> 00:18:47.529 doesn't mean we ought to bury them. It doesn't mean that we ought to 190 00:18:47.650 --> 00:18:52.809 just become thinking people and not emotional people either. And as music is very 191 00:18:52.849 --> 00:18:56.640 much attached to this, we are right to lift our hearts not just in 192 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:03.960 poetry but in song. There are some things that pass away with the new 193 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:10.589 covenant, the sacrifices in particular, and many, many other things, but 194 00:19:10.710 --> 00:19:14.670 there are other things that belong to the old covenant that also belong to the 195 00:19:14.829 --> 00:19:21.349 new, and music is most certainly a part of that. Even in this 196 00:19:21.549 --> 00:19:25.220 passage here, think of the number of things we have mentioned in verses four 197 00:19:25.299 --> 00:19:29.740 through seven. We have the ARC, we have the Levites, we have 198 00:19:29.940 --> 00:19:37.259 people, we have we have the worship of the Lord. Some of these 199 00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:41.289 things are indeed, for us, fulfilled in Christ and we no longer return 200 00:19:41.490 --> 00:19:48.490 to but there are other things and which continue to continue on is both a 201 00:19:48.650 --> 00:19:56.559 necessary and important part of worship. Are Singing is like that. It while 202 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:00.599 we should still sing with reverence and awe, we should still play in a 203 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:06.200 skillful way. We no longer play in connection with the sacrifices, and just 204 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:10.710 as the buildings we worship in are no longer connected to the Ark. Buildings 205 00:20:10.750 --> 00:20:15.069 are not prohibited and are a good and necessary part of worship. We still 206 00:20:15.109 --> 00:20:21.390 sing. Two songs are a way in which we lift our hearts up to 207 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:26.900 the Lord, in which our hearts are tuned to Sing His grace. And 208 00:20:27.059 --> 00:20:32.940 so when we think about our worship, we don't do it as a performance, 209 00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:37.890 we don't do it is just a emotional exercise. We do it in 210 00:20:37.049 --> 00:20:45.130 particular response, in direct response to the glory and splendor and majesty of Jesus 211 00:20:47.049 --> 00:20:51.279 and what he has done for us. We may not always have a building 212 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:55.599 to worship him, we may not always have instruments to play or voices that 213 00:20:55.799 --> 00:21:00.640 work, but when we do it is right and good to use them and 214 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:06.750 to use them for the Lord. And when we consider our emotions, when 215 00:21:06.750 --> 00:21:11.150 we consider our hearts, let us not fear that either, but, by 216 00:21:11.269 --> 00:21:15.509 God's grace, ask that he would move our feelings, move our emotions towards 217 00:21:15.589 --> 00:21:23.460 holiness, to reverence, to joy and awe, wonder, dependence comfort. 218 00:21:25.779 --> 00:21:30.259 We ought not to fear our emotions and the expressions of them that we make 219 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:36.250 through music, but use them in service to God, with thankfulness for the 220 00:21:36.289 --> 00:21:41.170 kingdom that we have received and anticipation of the kingdom that is to be revealed. 221 00:21:42.730 --> 00:21:47.559 May God help us to understand him as he ought, as we ought, 222 00:21:48.279 --> 00:21:52.359 and help us to worship him as he as pleases him. Let us 223 00:21:52.400 --> pray