In 2016, I was at a pastors’ conference where everyone was given a recently released hymnal called Hymns of Grace. This hymnal was put out by Master’s Seminary, where John MacArthur serves as president. He was speaking at the conference, so in one of the sessions they interviewed him about it. One of his statements deeply resonating with me. He noted how grateful he is for song writers who are able to express the deep truths of our faith in song. they gave substance to his worship. He is not gifted in that way, so he is deeply indebted to those whom God has used to give the church rich songs of praise.

There was a time in the English-speaking world when every Christian owned two books: a Bible and a hymnal. The Bible informed their beliefs, while the hymnal gave expressing to their praise. Worship has a two-beat rhythm of revelation and response. We begin with truth about God as He has revealed Himself in His word (revelation); then we respond to who God is with appropriate worship. One form of worship is song. This is where the hymnal came into use.

Times have changed. We rarely use hymnals today, as the words are projected onto screens. Many of the ancient hymns have been replaced with modern ‘praise’ songs. Neither of those things are bad. The New Testament talks about variety in worship. The church is to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16). I am thankful for several modern-day hymn writers who are giving fresh expressions to the ancient truths of our faith. Yet I also believe that hymnals still have a valuable place in corporate and private worship. There are three reasons why.

First, they allow you to see the entire song at once. Technology is a wonderful thing. By projecting the song onto the screen, it eliminates the pause between songs as people find the next page. This allows worship to flow uninterrupted. Yet it has its limitations. We never see the entire song at once. This makes it harder to trace its flow of thought or fully engage its theology. This presents a danger. this makes it hard to notice if a song has disjointed thoughts or contains suspect theology. Some modern church music contains both those problems. Hymnals do not eliminate all of this. There are songs in some hymnals I would not include in a worship service due to their bad theology; yet having it in print form makes it easier to identify.

Second, hymnals provide a wonderful reference. Many times, I have found myself reaching for a hymnal during a worship service. Sometimes a song comes to mind during communion, or the pastoral prayer prompts a thought, or a comment in a sermon brings a line from a song to mind. I find myself reaching for the hymnal. In that moment, the words of the hymn writer became my expression of praise. The longer I preach, the more I find myself quoting hymns to help connect a principle in the bible to its usefulness in life. Like John MacArthur, I do not have the capacity to put deep truths from God’s word into poetic expression. A hymnal does this for me. 

Finally, and I would say most importantly, a good hymnal is a collection of the best songs produced by the church throughout the ages. Every generation has songs that do not last. I thoroughly enjoyed singing Shout to the Lord last Sunday. It brought back good memories of spiritual growth during my teenage years when it was at its height of popularity. It is a great song, which I had not sung in a long time. Yet my grandchildren will not sing it.

Contrast this with the hymn Be Thou My Vision. I have a lot of favorite hymns, but this one truly tops the list. We sang it at our wedding, and it will be sung at my funeral. The song is from an ancient Irish hymn. It has been giving expression to people’s worship for centuries. When we sing it, we are praying with the saints through the ages that God be our all in all (Col. 3:11). My grandchildren may not sing Shout to the Lord, but they probably will sing Be Thou My Vision.

Hymnals preserve the best songs produced by every generation. I have greatly benefited from Keith and Krystin Getty’s music. Yet most of their songs will pass away. But I am pretty sure their hymn In Christ Alone will still be song in the generations to come.

The fact that many good songs pass away should not surprise us. I have read that Isaac Watts wrote over 1800 hymns. You will find 18 of them in Hymns of Grace. What happened to the rest of them? They disappeared. But the best remained. A hymnal is a treasure chest of the best songs the church has written through the ages. Although we need not limit ourselves to the songs found in our hymnals, we do not want to lose the treasures it preserves for us either.

Hymnals are useful for corporate worship and private devotion. It is good for Christians to use two books. The Bible alone is our authority and source of truth, upon which we should feed daily; yet a hymnal can help us express worship to the amazing God we find in the Bible. If you have never used a hymnal, I would encourage you to give it a try. It will expand your worship of God.

Easter is early this year, coming on the last day of March. As we begin to prepare our hearts and minds to remember the sacrifice of Christ on Good Friday and to celebrate His victory over the grave on Resurrection Sunday, I thought it would be good to recommend some reading on this subject.

For this book recommendation, I will highlight two volumes. Both address the subject of penal substitution. Although that is not a term we use often, it is the central message of the cross.

Jesus’ death was penal, meaning that on the cross He paid the penalty for sin. The penalty was more than physical death. He also experienced the curse of sin, bearing in His body God’s just wrath aroused by sin.

Jesus did this as our substitute. His did not die for sins He committed, and He did not earn the wrath He bore. He acted as our substitute. He hung on the cross in our place, taking our punishment and bearing our sin so that we could be reconciled to God.

This is the central message, not just of the cross but of the entire Bible. It is what we remember (the sacrifice) and celebrate (the victory) during the Easter season.

The two books I am recommending this month focus on this subject. The first is called In My Place Condemned He Stood. This is the easier to read of the two. It functions like a beginner’s primer on the doctrine of penal substitution. In the back of the book is a list of further reading you can do on the subject if something within the volume piques your interest.

The second book is a little more academic. It is called Pierced for our Transgressions. I was introduced to this book while in seminary. It was one of my favorite books I read during that season of life. This title handles the subject of penal substitution much more thoroughly than In My Place Condemned He Stood. It traces the case of this doctrine from the Old Testament, through the Gospels, and into the Epistles, presenting a full biblical picture. Although it is a much more detailed presentation, it is still readable and understandable.

Whether you make use of one of these books or do something else to draw your mind to Christ this Easter season, my prayer is that God would impress upon us afresh the horror of the cross and the glory of the empty tomb. More than that, I pray that we would be drawn into deeper love for the One who was pierced for our transgressions, and that this love would increase our zeal to make Him known to a lost world all around us.

In God’s wisdom and goodness, He takes individual sinners, saves them, and places them in the church. From people with diverse backgrounds, gifts, interests, personalities, and passions, He builds a body of believers. Our unity in Christ despite our individual diversity displays the beauty of the gospel to a watching world.

Paul describes the phenomenon of the church in this way:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of one another. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

The beauty of the gospel is displayed when diverse people work together for the glory of Christ. That beauty was on display tonight. As I observed it, I was reminded how the logic of the gospel runs counter to the world’s thinking,

I cannot count how many times I have heard Christians say that they do not feel like they belong in the church. This always breaks my heart, because every believer should feel like they belong to the church. Yet many Christians struggle to experience this. Sometimes, this creates a critical spirit towards the church for failing to meet their needs. Since the church is failing to meet their needs, they are unwilling to commit to the church. It is normal to think, “Why should I commit if I do not belong? Why should I serve if no one cares for me?” This makes perfect sense, until our minds are renewed by the gospel.

The Scriptures teach that in committing to Christ, we commit to His people. That commitment precedes and produces the sense of belonging. If we fail to commit, we will never sense that we belong.

This gospel logic contradicts our culture in many ways. Our culture teaches us to expect service, yet the gospel calls us to sacrificially serve others at the expense of ourselves. Our culture teaches us to demand our preferences, but the gospel tells us to sacrifice our preferences for the sake of others. Our culture achieves greatness by climbing a social, political, and/or economic ladder; but in the church, greatness comes by descending into greater acts of humble service. This logic does not make sense to the worldly mind. But to the mind that is being renewed by God’s grace, it starts to make sense.

As I watched my church family serving Christ tonight, I saw the beauty and power of God on display. He takes broken and corrupt people, unites them with Christ through faith, places them in local churches, and turns them into something useful and beautiful in His hands.

There is real joy in serving Christ. Unity is found, not in everyone thinking the same thing, but in everyone serving the same King. Belonging is known, not when we are served by the church, but when we serve alongside other Christians for God’s glory.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! Romans 11:33

More than a Story is a two-volume set, with one volume for each Testament. I have worked through quite a few children’s resources during our family devotions over the years. There are several aspects to this one that I really like.

First, it is a comprehensive resource. By necessity, children’s Bibles cannot include every Bible story. This one does not either; yet as I worked through the Old Testament Volume (we are about to start the NT volume), there are several stories included that we have not covered in some of the simpler resources I used. Other stories are more detailed. This has added another layer to my sons’ Bible knowledge.

Second, Sally Michaels does a good job of using Scripture. Children’s Bibles tell the story in children’s language. Yet, I really want my sons to be familiar, not just with the stories of the Bible, but of the language. This resource does a good job of weaving Scripture into the daily lessons. The key parts of the story are usually quoted directly from the Bible. Furthermore, other scriptures are quoted when making applications or teaching a big principle.

Finally, I have really appreciated the emphasis on key theological principles and the helpful applications made that are relevant to children. It is not just telling stories. It helps children understand who God is and how He works. Furthermore, it also lays an important foundation for the gospel. This helps hchildren understand who they are as sinners and how God has provided salvation through Jesus. It calls them to first believe and then to obey.

This resource is not best suited for young children. There is a little older audience in mind. It would also be helpful to a new believer who has had minimal exposure to the Bible. It would help them learn the big picture of God’s character and how He has worked through the ages to bring salvation to mankind.