Songs for Sunday, January 21, 2024 @ Christ Community Church

Why “Songs for Sundays”?

I am immensely thankful that God brought my family to Christ Community Church, and I count it a joy and a privilege to get to be one of the pastors. “Songs for Sunday” is part of that pastoral work.

Worship is not isolated to Sunday mornings. Yes, that is when we gather together to worship corporately, but our worship is not limited to an hour or so on Sunday mornings. “Songs for Sunday” is an effort to help you and yours prepare. It is an effort to help you and yours deepen that time of corporate worship — to help lift our hearts and minds to the Lord rather than going through the motions.

So, here are three reasons why I believe “Songs for Sunday” can be good for us:

  1. It matters what we sing. If you look below each song, you will find the Scriptures that are either sung verbatim or that have inspired the lyrics of the songs we sing. The apostle Paul told a young pastor named Timothy that he and his church should “devote [themselves] to the public reading of Scripture” (1 Timothy 4:13). We do that. It is one of the aspects of our worship gatherings at Christ Community I love the most. That extends to what we sing as well. Paul told Epaphras, the pastor of the church at Colossae, the important elements of worship; the first is to let “the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). Well, what we sing is a part of that.

    The songs we sing are sources of our theology. They stick in our minds better than other sources of information — the lyrics “dwell in you”. If we sing unbiblical songs, our theology is unbiblical. If we sing unbiblical songs, we have something other than the Word dwelling in us richly. Every song we sing at Christ Community is vetted Scripturally. The verses that inspired the lyrics — new song or old — are listed so that you can check it for yourself (which you should do).
  2. It really matters what we sing. The passage Paul wrote to the church at Colossae is important for Christian worship practice. Colossians 3:16 (see #1 above) tells us the importance of the Word in our worship. Colossians 3:17 applies that truth to the types of songs that we sing. Paul gives three types of songs that should be sung in our churches, which are ones he gave to the church at Ephesus, too (Ephesians 5:19): psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Here’s a simple breakdown of those three types of songs.

    Psalms are singing Scripture. Think about how important this must be if the longest book of the Bible is devoted to this category. We have 150 songs that God’s people sang. This also shows the importance of singing songs of the faith that are older, like in Psalm 137, to remember what God did and that our faith is historical with roots deeper than changing trends. It also shows the importance of continually being inspired to write and sing new songs, like in Psalm 150, to remind us that God is bigger than a musical movement in our favorite era.

    Hymns in this context are songs that sing doctrine — songs that teach us about the faith. Hymns, modern or older, are means by which we learn how to voice what we believe. Like I wrote above, the songs we sing stick with us. We want to sing songs that teach deep and beautiful biblical doctrines like salvation, atonement, redemption, justification, and many more. This puts these truths deep within us. Philippians 2:5-11 and Colossians 1:15-20 are examples of the earliest hymns of the Church. We should follow in that example.

    Spiritual songs are songs of testimony. These songs show what it is to have been saved by Jesus and follow Him. Those sung in our corporate worship gatherings share the aspects of faith that everyone who has been saved has experienced. When we hear the voices of our brothers and sisters singing this testimony along with us, it reminds us of what Jesus has done and is doing in our lives. We need to be reminded because we too easily forget.

    These three categories are not isolated but most likely blended in and through our songs. As you look through the songs below, think about how they sing the Scripture that inspired the lyrics (psalm), what they teach us about the faith (hymn), and how they testify to the work of the Lord in our lives (spiritual song).
  3. It can remove distractions and deepen our worship. If you were to be planning to go hunting, you would prepare. If you have something you need to bring to work, you lay it out. If you have something important, you carve out time and preparation specially because it’s important. Our worship is no different.

    You may have found yourself fumbling along with a new (or new-to-you) song that you don’t know yet. With “Songs for Sunday”, you can prepare ahead so that the new song is an asset to worship the Lord rather than a distraction. This can help you worry less about singing along to lyrics and focus more on Christ. Your brothers and sisters are needing to hear your voice proclaim these Scriptures and doctrines and testimonies to them.

Take some time and check it out below!

Here are our Scriptures and songs:

  • Scripture | Psalm 30 —

1I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

4Sing praises to the LORD, O you His saints, and give thanks to His holy name. 5For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

6As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” 7By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face; I was dismayed.

8To You, O LORD, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: 9“What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it tell of Your faithfulness? 10Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!”

11You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

  • Scripture | Colossians 2:11-15 —

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

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Published by justkeithharris

3 Comments

  1. JC Provine's avatar JC Provine says:
    January 19, 2024 at 8:53 pm

    Outstanding apologetic of sincere, Scriptural worship. You could be the successor to Clive Staples Lewis. If I had known you were going to grow up to be so awesome, I would have let you b

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    1. Johnny Holman's avatar Johnny Holman says:
      January 20, 2024 at 11:25 am

      If that doesn’t get you ready for praise…..you need a checkup from the heart up!
      Hallelujah!

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  2. SV's avatar SV says:
    January 20, 2024 at 11:45 pm

    Thank you for all the ways you minister to us!

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