And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:15–17
I was recently reading through Colossians 3. As I was meditating on a familiar part of the chapter, verses 15-16, which instruct us to sing to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the question came to mind, “Why don’t Christian’s sing?”
Some people may not be physically able to sing. This is a sorrowful effect of the fall upon our bodies. They do not always work as God designed. A disability, injury, or sickness can take away the ability to sing. However, the Bible’s commands to sing are less about the musical tones that come out of the mouth and more about the heart that motivates singing. You can have a heart that sings, even when your mouth cannot.
People often give excuses for why they do not sing: I don’t sing well. Music is not natural to me. Singing is not how I connect with God. I’m just not an emotional or expressive person. I don’t enjoy singing. These excuses are like armpits—everyone has them, and they all stink. Nowhere in the Bible is singing presented as an option or a disposition some are given to and others are not.
Perhaps some do not sing because they have not considered what it is—a command. Even if we do not understand why God has commanded us to sing, we are still not excused from singing. Like any other command of the Lord’s, we believe what he has said, and then, in faith, and by the power of the Spirit, obey the command. Scripture commands us to sing, and many of our excuses do not hold up under biblical scrutiny, so why don’t we sing? Colossians 3:15-16 gives us two main reasons Christians do not sing as they should: first, something other than Christ is the functional ruler of our hearts, and second, another gospel is dwelling in us.
Colossians 3 is Paul’s explanation of what a life transformed by the gospel should look like. “If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above” (3:1). Having been buried with Christ and raised with him (2:12-15), we are called and enabled to live in a manner consistent with our new birth. Therefore, we are instructed to put off certain behaviors and practices (3:5-11) and to put on new ways of living (3:12-17). The gospel changes our relationships (3:18-4:1): between husbands and wives, children and parents, and bosses and employees. Every area of our life is to be transformed, and that transformation will be seen in how we speak, behave, love, relate to others, and worship.
The admonition to sing in Colossians 3 is not a command without a foundation. Paul tells us that our songs arise from the transformation that has happened to us. This transformation is described as the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts and the word of Christ dwelling in us. The peace of Christ’s rule is not a reference to the experiential peace of the Christian life, but rather Christ’s ruling our hearts as Savior and Lord. Christ our Savior makes peace between God and man (Col. 1:20; 22; 1 Tim. 2:5). So Christians sing because they are saved and ruled by Christ, and are now at peace with God.
The second reason Christians sing is because of the Word of Christ dwelling in us. This refers to the gospel. The Gospel is the word of Christ which dwells within us by faith. Christians are to continually let this gospel, and no other, dwell in their hearts richly. This implies a continual study and meditation on the gospel, and as we do this, our hearts overflow in song.
When we gather as the church, there should be nothing more natural to us than to sing. We gather as those ruled by Christ, and as such, should be dwelling richly on the gospel. The scriptures we read, the truths we confess, the prayers we pray, the songs we sing, all remind us of Christ’s rule over our hearts and help the gospel word dwell in us more richly. We all succumb to temptations to make something other than Christ a functional savior. We are tempted by other gospels that promise joy and fulfillment. But God has given us a means whereby we remind one another of who our only Savior is, and of the only gospel message that is truly good news. That means, is “singing to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
So why don’t you sing? Perhaps you are not ruled by Christ. You may have spent your entire life in church, but you are not trusting Christ as Savior and Lord. If that is true of you, then turn from your sin and self and trust Christ. Many of us do not sing because we have allowed other things to functionally rule our lives, and those things are at odds with Christ’s rule. Perhaps the gospel is not as sweet to you as it was when you first trusted Christ. You may be like the people Peter describes who have become nearsighted, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their former sins (2 Pet. 1:9). Maybe you have been functionally trusting in another gospel. Some other “good news” has promised you happiness and peace, so you have pursued it, and have been led away from your first love (Rev. 2:4).
If you resonate with any of these kinds of people, then the answer is to turn from your sin and self to Jesus. A practical way you can do this is to sing. Take by faith that God has commanded you to sing. God commands what is for our spiritual good. Ask the Lord to help you obey the command to sing. Ask him to work in your heart as you sing to minister the gospel to your soul. Confess to God your sin of not singing, or singing with a wrong heart. Confess the ways you have trusted in other saviors and dwelt upon false gospels, then rejoice in the forgiveness you have received in Christ, and sing.
Has the Father’s love filled your longing heart
With grace for every need?
Come and lay your burdens at Jesus’ feet
And find new strength to sing, O sing
Has the Son of God died to take away
Your sin and set you free?
Has the Conqueror trampled over death?
Is Christ enthroned? Then sing, O sing!
Morning and evening! Everything breathing
Must sing, O sing!
All of creation rise up and praise
The King of kings and sing!
Sing, by David Zimmer and Nathan Stiff