Articles
Does It Really Matter?
This article follows up the thoughts from page 1. There has been a huge shift in our society toward self-oriented thinking. Add in systemic ignorance of Bible knowledge and you have a recipe for believers abandoning Scripture as a guide and implementing “worship of the will.” That is, “I do what I will, not what God wills.”
Then when challenged to demonstrate Scriptural foundation for their practices, ad hominem slurs like “legalist” or “narrow-minded” or “judgmental” begin to fly. But underneath all the rhetoric is a basic premise: Many so-called Christians don’t see the Bible as a source of authority. “What does God want me to do?” is not part of their thinking process.
But regarding instrumental music, if the question is “What kind of worship music does the new testament specify?”, there aren’t that many passages to which one may appeal. There is no example in Acts of congregational music, only Paul and Silas singing in the Philippian jail (Ac 16:25). This is an example of individual action, but it does establish that purely vocal offerings are acceptable to God, no instrument necessary. And we might ask: under the circumstances, would a lyre or flute have made any difference whatsoever? Would it have added anything at all to Paul and Silas as they nursed their wounds and poured out their hearts to God? I seriously doubt it. What God desires was offered right then, at midnight, in a jail cell, without an instrument in sight.
Later, Paul mentions a flute, harp and trumpet but not in the context of worship (1 Cor 14:7-9). They merely present an analogy to the importance of speaking intelligibly in the assembly, not using languages no one is familiar with in the absence of an interpreter. When Paul does mention actions of worship he says: “I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding” (1 Cor 14:15). Again, no instrumental playing is mentioned.
Actually, we can keep reviewing the NT and citing passages like Eph 5:19-20 and Col 3:16. But no mention of instruments will be found. The latter is interesting because Paul follows up the verse with this admonition: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col 3:17). Doesn’t sound much like the attitude exhibited in the front page article, does it?
So upon further examination, there is no new testament authority for using instruments of music in examples, direct instruction, Greek words (such as psallo, a word that did include “plucking” in its etymology but had long since lost this connotation by the first century). But this doesn’t deter the pro-instrumentalist whose fallback defense is “it doesn’t really matter.” I guess that’s all there is to say when you have no sound Biblical rationale for your practice.
Let’s examine then the validity of “do what feels good” religion. It’s all about “what’s in your heart.” Think about that for a minute. What is in our hearts? Early in man’s history, after the flood, God observed: “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth …” (Gn 8:21). Jeremiah later makes the dark observation: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (17:9). Such deceit leads to doing things as offering worship which God did not command. We should not place our trust in our own heart especially when it comes to worshiping God.
And the instrumental music question is particularly deceiving because it involves a form of music that is so appealing to many of us. Let’s face it: instruments make beautiful sounds, sounds that stir the emotions without a lyric being uttered. Do people want to use instruments because they are unpleasant? Compared to our feeble voices, instruments sound wonderful.
Further, because music has secured such a place in our sentimental, romantic, patriotic and emotional consciousness it is only natural to want to incorporate it into worship. The only thing stopping that is Scriptural prohibition. The reason for the prohibition, though an important matter to consider, is irrelevant to our present discussion. The bottom line is: if we say “what the Bible says doesn’t really matter,” then we are left to the judgment of the heart which, as noted, isn’t very trustworthy.
To a faithful child of God, everything matters. Getting our words, thoughts, actions, marriages, children, expenditures, time, judgments, service, knowledge right – it all matters. But shall we then say what we present as worship to our glorious, eternal and sovereign heavenly Father doesn’t really matter? Just asking the question of worship “does it matter?” tells me something about the querist. It tells me he is bent on doing what he very well wants to do, and he doesn’t really care what God or anybody else says about it. “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked.”
