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Jubilee Choir
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Singing Is To Be An Overflow of the Word of Christ
In Colossians 3:16 singing in the church is a manifestation of the word of Christ being “abundantly poured into your memories, and coming out largely into your language.”
In chapter three the Colossians are admonished to make radical changes in their attitudes and life patterns that correspond to the radical changes that God had accomplished in them when He raised them up with Christ. The change that Paul now demands of them is pictured as a stripping off of an old garment and the putting on of a new. The language reminds one of the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead. When Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus and gave the order, “Remove the stone,” Martha protested, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days” ( John 11:39). Because Martha loved her brother she wanted to shield from the sight of others the corrupting effects of death on his lifeless body. Jesus calmed her with the assurance that what she was about to see was not the desecration of her brother’s body but the glory of God. When Jesus shouted his command, “Lazarus, come forth,” Lazarus did not hesitate. John describes it very simply, “He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go’” ( John 11:44). Although the text does not give us the details we can safely assume that they not only removed the grave clothes but replaced them with an appropriate garment. In the next chapter we encounter Lazarus again and he is reclining at table with Jesus. Now he is wearing a garment fit for a dinner with his Lord and his friends. How inappropriate it would have been for Lazarus to show up at the dinner table in his grave clothes!
Like Lazarus, the Colossians had been raised up with Christ and now Paul wants them to know that the old grave clothes that carry the smell of spiritual death must be replaced by new garments which are fitting for us to “celebrate the feast.” For that is what life and worship in the church really is (1 Cor. 5:8). The old garments are the attitudes and life patterns of the old self and they are totally out of place in the new situation. So Paul insists that they strip off the clothing of the old man and put on the clothing of the new man. This means two things: First, they must put away the old attitudes and pattern of living that characterized the old self that was in the process of personal (3:5-7) and relational (3:7-9) corruption; and secondly, they must put on a new set of attitudes and pattern of living that are fitting for the new self which is being renewed to a true knowledge of God (3:10-14).
It is in this context that Paul exhorts the Colossian believers regarding the atmosphere in the church. Singing is a fitting and necessary part of a healthy church atmosphere. Christ designed the local church to be the place where His people, who have been raised from spiritual death, could experience spiritual health and growth. The three imperatives found in verses 15, 16 and 17 reveal the characteristics of a healthy spiritual atmosphere. The atmosphere of the church must be ruled by the peace of Christ (verse 15), filled with the word of Christ (verse 16) and motivated in all it does by the name of Christ (i.e., doing everything they do for the glory, honor and reputation of Christ) (verse 17).
The role and importance of singing in the church flows directly from the second imperative: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” Paul uses this unique title for the Word of God to emphasize the fact that the source and subject of the word we believe is Christ. In a sermon on this passage Spurgeon appeals to his people,
Remember, dear friends, that Christ himself is the Word of God, and recollect also that the Scriptures are the word of the Word. They are “the word of Christ.” I think that they will be all the sweeter to you if you realize that they speak to you of Christ, that he is the sum and substance of them, that they direct you to Christ, in fact, as John says of his Gospel, that they were “written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
Remember, also, that the Scriptures do, in effect, come to us from Christ. Every promise of this blessed Book is a promise of Christ, “for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us;” they all come to us through Christ, God speaks them to us through him as the Mediator. Indeed, we may regard the whole of Sacred Scriptures, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, as being “the word of Christ.”
But Paul’s main point here is to tell the Colossians how to treat the word of Christ and how to profit by it. Paul exhorts, “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
One day I noticed a neighbor moving out of his home. I had been talking with him for several months about his need of Christ and he hadn’t mentioned to me that he was moving. He had been very troubled about many things but especially the situation in his home. He and his brother had purchased the house together. He was a bachelor and his brother was going through a divorce. For two single men the house they had purchased together was quite spacious. But recently there had been a reconciliation and the brother’s wife and two children had moved in. Now after a couple of months of attempting to “make things work” my friend was moving out. As I talked with him he began to pour out his bitter feelings toward his sister-in-law and brother. “They have squeezed me out of my own house. There just isn’t any room for me anymore.”
Paul’s appeal is to let the word of Christ “inhabit you as if you were the house and home of this Word, let it do this in a rich way by filling every nook and corner of your being with its blessed, spiritual wisdom.” Earlier in this letter Paul confessed, “we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:9-10). Now Paul is exhorting them to let the word be deeply implanted within them so that it controls their thinking. This would happen when “they paid heed to what they heard, bowed to its authority, assimilated its lessons and translated them into daily living.”
The prerequisite for singing that truly edifies the church and glorifies the Lord is the rich dwelling of the word of Christ in the hearts of His people. Jesus said, “the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matt. 12:34). When it is the word of Christ that fills the heart the mouth will not only speak, it will also sing.
Author: Unknown
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