Pastor Jon Burgess
December 1, 2019 - W1948

“Make Room for Song”

Making Room

Pastor Jon Burgess

November 30 & December 1, 2019

Welcome, New Hope!  

Our guest artist today, Jody McBrayer of Avalon, sang about the cross of Jesus Christ—the story of Christmas.  Jesus was born to die! In dying he saved us from the deepest darkest nights of the soul and freed us from sin to adoption, as sons and heirs.  Is Christmas a merry time?  Is it a time of song and celebration? Absolutely.  

Today, we’re speaking about singing whether you feel like it or not, and whether you lost your song a long time ago—God wants us to make room for Him and bring back that song and have a heart and a soul that’s responding to Him!  Maybe you don’t see the reason for singing; but it’s interesting that the Bible contains over 400 references to singing and 50 direct commands to sing. So, obviously, God thinks it’s important that you and I would sing praises to Him!  When we sing praises, a connection is made of our soul to the spirit of God that causes our eyes to turn from our circumstances up towards Him! In the New Testament (Ephesians 5:19), we’re commanded not once, but twice to sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs. In the Christmas Story, we see numerous times when song is the only appropriate response to the fact that Jesus has arrived!  

Galatians 4:4-5 KJV says, “⁴ But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, ⁵ To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” 

Maybe, you're thinking, “I just don't see the reason for singing.”  God doesn’t say, “If you feel like it, sing a song or two.”  No, He commands: “I want you to praise me.” 

Here are three ways to make room for the songs of the Lord: 

1. MAKE ROOM FOR SPONTANEOUS SONGS = Embrace The Changes

Spontaneous is something that we’re not expecting—something that just erupts. How do we learn the spontaneous song?  Spontaneity comes from refinement, from accepting change. None of us like change. In fact, most of us avoid it at all cost, and when it comes, we grit our teeth until we can get things back to some semblance of normalcy.  

Consider the birth of Jesus:  His arrival changed everything that everyone was planning to do—Jesus caused chaos!  His arrival messed everybody’s plans, and if Jesus’ arrival messed everyone’s plans then, why do you and I think that somehow, we can get through the Christmas season (after inviting Jesus to be in the middle of it) without Him messing up our plans, too? It could be that the spontaneous song will erupt right in the middle of everything that you had planned for this season, that has gone wrong!  Think about Mary: She was engaged to Joseph, a good man. She had wedding details on her mind, when the angel Gabriel showed up in her room and wrecked her plans!  

Luke 1:30-35 NKJV says, “³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” ³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” ³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the son of God.’”

Mary’s response, in the middle of that absolute change is Luke 1:38 NIV: “’I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered, ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’  Then the angel left her.”

This is part of the Magnificat (The song of Mary).  I would encourage you to take time to savor the goodness of the spontaneous song that come from the moment when nothing has gone the way you’ve planned. I think God will give you a new song in the middle of a seeming chaos, and a new song of praise with a fresh dependency on Him!

When we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous joyful uncertainty and expectancy.  I like to have things planned out, to know what will happen the next couple of moments, next couple of days, and the next couple of weeks. I don’t like to give up on my plans and let them go, and I don’t like it when change happens. But, it’s not in the place of self-dependency that you and I will experience a new song. 

Sometimes, God teaches us through the slow songs to:

2. MAKE ROOM FOR SLOW SONGS = Embrace The Waiting

How many of you enjoy waiting? Oh, good, I’m not alone.  Some of you may feel that God had given you a promise, that is yet to come.  If we grow tired and weary of waiting, we might give up right before the promise comes to pass, and we might say, “I’m done waiting for God to make this happen. I’m going to make it happen on my own!”

Jesus is now saying, “The fullness of that promise will come to pass, but don’t miss what I’m saying to you in the waiting!” Some of us are in that waiting place, and Jesus is giving you a song. Don’t skip past it. Don’t skip past the waiting or you’ll miss the moment. Simeon waited a long time after hearing the promise of the coming of the Messiah.

Luke 2:25-32 NLT says: “²⁵ At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him ²⁶ and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, ²⁸ Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, ²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. ³⁰ I have seen your salvation, ³¹ which you have prepared for all people. ³² He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

If Simeon did not have faith and had not listened to The Holy Spirit, he would have missed seeing prophecy fulfilled. He was filled with joy to see God’s promise come to life. This is the spontaneous song that comes after a very slow song.  Wherever you spend the majority of your time doing is where God wants to give you a song. That’s where He wants to speak into your life and say, “Hey, I know you’re waiting, but it’s coming to pass. Don’t give up hope.  Be patient.  I’m going to give you a slow song—a stanza, a refrain, and everything that you need—so that when Jesus arrives, you’re there to meet Him!” 

3. MAKE ROOM FOR SAD SONGS = Embrace The Healing

Luke 1:76-79 NLT says: ⁷⁶ “And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High because you will prepare the way for the Lord. ⁷⁷ You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. ⁷⁸ Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, ⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”

CS Lewis said, “Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.” I would love it if I could stand here and say that all of us can just be joyful and merry; but that is a denial of the actual Christmas narrative! In the middle of Emmanuel coming (Jesus the Light of the world), there is an increase in darkness, death, sorrow, and a sad song rises to the heavens.  This is the tension in the middle of the Christmas story:  We sing of the coming of Christ, knowing that He will be crucified for our sins.  Jesus won’t keep us from sadness, but He will walk us through the darkness and pain!

Maybe there was someone missing at your Thanksgiving table that was here last year; there’s an ache in your soul, and you’re not sure what to do with it. Well, I want to make room for this song. If you’ll just listen to the beauty of “O come, O come, Emmanuel,” and as you do, I want you to make room for Him to just come into that place of darkness. Invite Him into that place of sadness and grief. 

It was last year that our hanai son Jake lost his life in a car accident in Hawaii Kai, and out of that loss my son Elijah wrote a song for him and recorded it.  And Justice, one of my twins, came to me a month later and said, "Dad, I was listening to that song, and it just made me cry."  He didn't know what to do with it.  I said, "That's okay, Justice.  That's a part of grieving for someone that you love.  Crying is good."  

Jaxon heard my conversation and said, "Dad, I kept myself from crying at Jake's funeral.  You didn't want to cry.  I didn't want to feel that."  

And I said, "Jaxon, you can let yourself cry.  It's actually important.  Sad feelings are good."  "What?  Why is that okay?"  "Because it means that we really loved and cared for Jake, and that we believe that even as we're sad, because of Jesus we will see him again.  So let the tears flow, boys.  It's okay.  It's okay to be in that tension."

It was Christmastime and they knew they were supposed to feel happy and they were confused at these conflicting emotions of happiness of Christmastime and the loss of their friend.  And I'm wondering if my twins aren't the only one who are feeling that this time of year, that maybe, there was someone missing at your Thanksgiving table that was here last year.  Maybe there's an ache in your soul, and you're not sure what to do with it.  

Well, I want you to make room for this song.  If you'll just listen to the beauty of “O come, O come, Emmanuel,” and as you do, I want you to make room for Him to just come into that place of darkness and invite Him into that place of sadness and grief.   

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STUDY QUESTIONS:

1.      How are you helping others to make room for song?
2.      What challenges are you trying to overcome to sing songs in your life?
3.      How are you embracing the healing, the waiting and the changes?
4.      What examples can you give to show how you have been waiting for God’s word?
5.      What does singing a song mean to you?