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sometimes the influence of the church on the culture is a trickle, other times a
flood. But even in a fully discipled Christian culture, I think worship music
would be its own genre.

The Psalms are the church’s inspired book of praise and prayer. Any foray into
church music must begin and end with the psalter. We could turn to any number
of psalms to develop an overarching theology and philosophy of the ministry of
sacred song. But we will focus on the climax of the psalter, the conclusion of
Book 5 and entire corpus: Psalms 149-150. I will not deal with the overall
structure of the Psalter, or with the musical qualities of the Psalter as whole (See
Jim Jordan’s work for a good introduction to those aspects of the Psalter).
Instead, we will exegete these two psalms and apply them to our present cultural
context.

Psalm 149:

1 Praise the LORD!

Sing to the LORD a new song,
And His praise in the assembly of saints.

2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise His name with the dance;
Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the humble with salvation.

5 Let the saints be joyful in glory;
Let them sing aloud on their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
7 To execute vengeance on the nations,
And punishments on the peoples;
8 To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute on them the written judgment—
This honor have all His saints.

Praise the LORD!

V. 1-5 describe the worship of God’s people. V. 6-9 describe the warfare of God’s
people. Worship is basic training; it prepares us for the battles God calls us to

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