Dt. 32 The Song of Moses

In order to teach the Israelites more clearly, Moses teaches them a song.

What should we sing?

Some have said that we should only sing Psalms.

Others have argued that we shouldn't sing contemporary music.

Both, seem to me to be mistaken.

The Song of Moses, after all, is not in the book of Psalms;

and in its day it was contemporary.

So let's not waste our time with those debates.

Instead,

let's ask what the Song of Moses teaches us about what we SHOULD sing!

The Song of Moses is a story:

it is the story of God's faithfulness

it is the story of salvation

So while there are other things that we can sing,

we should certainly sing the story of God's faithfulness in saving us!

First, Why do we sing?

And particularly, why do we sing in worship?

Have you ever thought about that?

What's the point in singing?

We could just read out loud together.

We could have a book of Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs

which we simply read in unison.

And for that matter, why do we have the whole congregation sing?

Why don't we just have the pastor sing?

Or why not just have a choir that does all the singing?

Why do we sing?

And why does the whole congregation sing?

Well,

Why did God tell Moses to teach this song to Israel?

At the end of ch 31, God explains his reasons:

1) to remind them of what God has done for them

2) and to remind them of the obedience that they owe to God

This is summarized in vv19-21:

this song will testify against the Israelites when they sin.

But why a song?

After all, the Law would testify against them!

The blessings and the curses of the Law were enough, right?

The Law was to be taught to all the people--they were to know the Word of God--

--why did they need this song?

Why is singing so important to God?

We see this throughout Scripture--

David the Psalmist sings songs to God

the prophets are also poets--most of the prophet writings are poetry--meant for singing

Mary and Zechariah, and others in the New Testament sing songs to God

And the book of Revelation has several songs to the Lamb.

Why is singing so important to God?

Song--or poetry--is easier to remember--you can memorize it quicker

When you are teaching your children,

don't you find that they memorize quicker if you sing it?

Or for that matter,

how many of you can sing the first stanzas of your favorite hymns?

okay, now how many of you can repeat even the main ideas of your favorite sermons?

Songs stick in the memory longer.

The repetition helps you to think about it.

And that is one really good reason to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs

with your family.

As you sing together, and talk together about the meaning of what you sing,

then it will sink deeper into your heart.

That's also why I pay careful attention to what we sing as a congregation.

I know that sometimes I have picked too many new hymns;

and I'm trying to be careful not to do that anymore!

Why do we sing?

because songs help us to remember what God has done for us,

and how we should respond to his grace.

But, Second, What should we sing?

What we sing is important!

Because our theology

--what we really believe about God and about our need for salvation

is best reflected in what we sing.

Let's look at the Song of Moses and ask about the theology of the song:

The Song opens with the singer calling all of creation to hear what he is about to say!

The singer's words are to be life-giving:

notice the imagery of rain--the Middle East was a fairly dry place:

rain was really important

So the singer is pouring forth life-giving water to those who listen.

How?

By proclaiming the Name of Yahweh

And in v3-4 he sings the greatness of our God

But immediately after proclaiming the righteousness and majesty of God,

he turns to our sinfulness:

"they have corrupted themselves..". v5-6

Moses sets forth the contrast between the holiness of God

and the sinfulness of his people

He sings of what God has done for Israel--of the great blessings which they have received.

He sings of the redemption from Egypt (10-12)

He sings of the blessings they received in the Promised Land (13-14)

But the people rebelled--they forgot Yahweh--their God--and turned to idols (15-18)

Therefore God will send destruction (19-27)

Israel is judged because they have no understanding (28-35)

God will rescue his people--but those who trust in idols will hope in vain--for their idols cannot save them (36-42).

This is what we are to sing.

We are to sing of God's greatness

We are to sing of our own unworthiness

We are to sing of God's judgment against his foes,

and his blessing for his servants.

Now there are other sorts of songs we can sing too--

and the Psalms give us examples of all sorts of songs that we can sing.

But how often do we sing the story of redemption?

I've been looking through the hymnal this week,

and realizing that very few songs really do this!

Part of it is that our hymns and choruses tend to be really short.

They only have time to tell part of the story.

The first song we sang this morning--"Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven"--from Psalm 103

--focused on the first part of the story:

God's greatness--and how all creation praises him.

The second song--"O Christ, Our King, Creator, Lord"--

focused on the second part of the story:

Our need for a Savior who would conquer our enemies

and redeem us from our sins

It spoke of Christ and his saving work

--his incarnation, his death, his resurrection and ascension, and his reign in glory.

And the last song we'll sing--"Lead On O King Eternal"--

focused on the last part of the story:

Our need for Christ to go before us and continue to defeat all our foes,

until he returns for us.

And that is fitting,

because what we are doing here in worship is remembering what Christ has done;

we are renewing the covenant.

When we enter God's presence,

we see his majesty and his glory,

and we repent of our sinfulness.

And then just like the Song of Moses,

we turn to the story of salvation.

We look back to Christ and what he has done for us.

In the reading of the Word,

in the praise songs that we sing,

in the second hymn there,

in the sermon,

we sing and hear of who Christ is and what he has done for us.

And yet like the song of Moses,

we don't stop with the story of salvation:

there is a call to rejoice

there is a response that is demanded from God's people.

And this comes in the sermon--particularly in the application.

And then in the hymn after the sermon,

I try to choose hymns that focus on going forth and living the Christian life.

And in the Lord's Supper,

we are nourished and fed with the body and blood of Christ

to sustain us spiritually.

And finally, in the blessing--in the benediction--

we receive God's blessing

--his promise that he will be with us throughout the week.

As I reflected on this,

it made sense to me why the early church and the Reformers

put the pastoral prayer and the offering AFTER the sermon.

So starting next week,

we'll start doing that too.

Because our prayers and intercessions are really a response to God's Word:

God has spoken to us,

He has fed us with his Word,

and our response is to give him praise for answering prayer,

and to ask for his blessing in our lives.

Every Sunday we remember what Christ has done for us.

Every Sunday our worship retells the story of salvation.

And our songs are intended to help us remember how God has redeemed us,

and what God has promised for those who trust in him.

But there's another aspect to song:

The songs in Scripture are full of imagery--full of pictures.

Look at v2-3--the imagery of rain--the life-giving water.

Can any of you think of any songs that talk about living water?

"Jesus, Keep Me near the Cross ,there a precious fountain..."

or "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, tune my hear to sing thy grace;

streams of mercy, never ceasing..."

And then there is the picture of the Rock in v3, v13, v15, v18, v30, v37

"Rock of Ages Cleft for Me"

or "My God is a Rock in a weary land..."

or "On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand..."

The imagery of the desert--and the eagle who carried Israel on its wings (v10-13)

--that God protects his people and shelters them from their enemies.

The picture of Israel as a fat cow who forgot God because of his wealth (v14-15)

(I can't think of any hymns that use the imagery of us as fat cows...)

Our hymns often focus just on the positive:

they focus so much on the love and the kindness of God,

that sometimes they can ignore the more destructive imagery in the Bible.

Have you ever thought about that?

The hymns of the OT--and those in the NT--do sing about the wrath of God

think about Mary's song

it speaks of God scattering the proud and sending away the rich empty

Or the songs in Revelation which speak of God's coming judgment against his enemies

How many hymns and choruses can you think of

that speak of God's wrath against his enemies?

How often do we sing them?

They do exist.

And we even have some in the Trinity Hymnal.

#37 says "the wicked thou wilt surely slay; from me let sinners turn away. They speak against the name divine; I count God's enemies as mine."

#564 is based on Psalm 1 and says that the "ungodly will not stand upon the judgment day"

#257 is powerful: "You who think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly, here its guilty may estimate"

We haven't sung any of those!

We often sing about Christ, and what he has done for us

--and we often sing songs asking Christ to come quickly and lead us home;

But how often do we sing asking Christ to come and destroy his enemies?

Yet that is exactly what the martyrs say in Revelation 6:10

"How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood?"

Or Revelation 16:6 where the angels rejoice because God has brought judgment against his foes

Everyone who believed in God--who trusted in Christ for his salvation--

sang songs of judgment from the time of Moses through the time of Christ,

and through the time of the apostles.

OT, NT, the Scripture is full of them.

Do we want our worship to be biblical?

or do want our worship to conform to our culture?

Will we become like Israel--a bunch of fat cows who forget our God?

Will we turn aside from the Rock of our salvation,

and sink deeper and deeper in to the sinking sand of our culture?

Or will we cling to the Rock--holding fast to Christ--singing his praises, and asking him to destroy our enemies?

Let me be clear:

I'm not saying that all our singing needs to be focused on judgment!

I'm not even saying that we should sing about it every week.

But I am suggesting that if our worship is going to be biblical,

then we should take some of these neglected pictures,

these images of judgment,

and sing them.

Why should we sing?

because it helps us to remember what God has done,

and what God has said.

What should we sing?

we should sing about the story of salvation,

and we should sing about the WHOLE story of salvation:

not just the happy parts!

And now let me conclude with this thought:

if all we do is sing about the happy parts of salvation,

then will we really be prepared to live the Christian life?

Your lives aren't easy!

The struggles you go through at work,

at home, at school,

You face trials; you face temptations.

If our worship on Sunday morning is only designed to make you feel good,

it won't last til Monday night!

But if our worship is designed to refocus our whole lives on Christ and what HE has done:

then our worship can give you something to build on for the rest of the week.

That means that we need to think about what we're doing!

We need to approach worship with the confidence that Christ is going to feed us;

Christ is going to speak to us

Christ is going to HEAR us

and indeed, Christ will bless us and go before us to defeat our enemies!

As Moses concludes his song,

he says this to all the people:

v46-47

If you heed the words the song

--if you listen to what God is saying to you in this hymn,

then you will live--then you will be blessed.

And in the same way,

if you listen to what God says to you in worship:

in the hymns that we sing,

in the Word that I read and preach

in the blessing that I proclaim,

if you listen to what God is saying,

then your life will be blessed.

then God will be with you.