Alive to praise!

We can all recall situations where we have met new people and awkwardly hobbled through those first conversations. What’s your name? Where did you grow up? What do you do? And quite often, ‘What sort of music do you like?’ Of all the churches around the globe, regardless of denomination or belief, there are few that don’t include music and song in their services. Why is it that singing and music is so important to us? In this month’s On That Note, we observe that the gospel and singing praise are inseparable!

In his letter to the Romans, Paul exhorted the people to ‘consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus’. Rom 6:11. Paul understood the simple truth: the gospel of Jesus gives us power to find and live the life God planned. However, until we hear His word and heed His voice, we are dead in sin. And King David wrote, ‘The dead do not praise the LORD, Nor do any who go down into silence.’ Psa 115:17. The silence refers to an ultimate separation from God where there is neither communication nor praise. Of course, the corollary of this verse is that the ‘living’ do indeed give Him praise. David said, ‘As for us, we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forever. Praise the Lord!’ Psa 115:18. David had found the Lord and discovered a new life, overcoming sin and abounding with mercy and grace. He was alive to praise! This life is available to us in Jesus Christ today. We know we have found eternal life, here and now, when our hearts are filled with praise ‘from this time forth’.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus healed the blind, lame and sick. And many of those who witnessed these miracles gave praise to God. We read in the gospel of Luke where Jesus restored the sight of a blind man. ‘Immediately he regained his sight… and when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.’ Luk 18:43. However, these observers were not rejoicing in the healing or miracle alone. They understood that God was doing far more than restoring his natural sight. They perceived in their hearts the amazing capacity of God to restore a man, bringing him from darkness to light. He was restoring this man from the blindness and death of sin. He was alive, seeing the kingdom of God. This is our hope today, that we may see and enter the kingdom of God. The psalmist said, ‘I will enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.’ Psa 100:4. We know that we have gone from ‘death to life’ when we respond with the lifting of our voices to sing praises. As we meet in our various congregations, Sunday to Sunday, our church services are the practical context for us to joyfully express our thanksgiving. David wrote, ‘I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being’. Psa 146:2.

Lachlan Perrin

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Feature Articles
June 2008

Sleepless nights

Alive to praise

How are we sent

Wonders for the dead

Faith for our children

The way of wisdom

Light from darkness

Giving to the end

Gathering all Israel