Thank you for being here tonight Thank you for
coming out to support the gospel meeting at North
Warren Your presence here tonight your participation
in the service through song and prayer helps
make this gospel meeting a success and It's very
uplifting to us to have you here if you consider
yourself a guest a visitor We want to give you
a warm welcome. We're especially glad you're
here. We hope you can come back and continue
to be a part of this gospel meeting as it goes
forward the rest of the week. This week we've
been talking about a topic that we feel like
is very important. We've been talking about restoring
New Testament Christianity. We see a desperate
need in the religious world around us to restore
the church that Jesus built, and we have a strong
desire to do our part in restoring Christ's church.
And we are convinced and convicted that the only
true way to go about accomplishing that goal
and mission is to simply go back to the Bible
so that we can find our faith, we can find our
doctrine, and we can find our practice. Tonight
we're going to go ahead in our series of studies
and we're going to talk about restoring the type
of music that God wants in the church. What kind
of music has God asked us for? Whatever kind
of music God has asked us to offer him in the
church That's what we want to discover from the
scriptures and whatever that music is. That's
the kind of music we want to give to God now
before we go any further in this lesson, I want
us to be I Want it I want it to be clear. I don't
want it to be misunderstood I want us to have
a laser like focus on Exactly what we're trying
to discover from the scriptures concerning music
And just to reiterate, we want to restore the
type of music God wants in the church. We are
not interested in restoring the type of music
that God may have asked the Jews for in centuries
gone by during that old covenant law that they
lived under and worshipped according to. We're
not interested in restoring Old Testament worship
or the music that the Jews gave to God under
the old covenant. You know, in 2 Chronicles 29
-25 the Bible tells us in the days of King Hezekiah
that he the king set the Levites, that was the
priests, in the house of the Lord with cymbals,
with psalteries, and with harps. And this was
done according to the commandment of David the
king, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan
the prophet, for so was the commandment of the
Lord by his prophets. It's easy for us to see
from this verse that under that old covenant
law, during the days of King Hezekiah, God asked
his people, the Jews, to worship him with instruments
of music. He commanded it through the king, through
the seers, through the prophets. The Bible says
it was the commandment of the Lord. God wanted
that type of music at that time from his people,
the Jews, and so he asked them to worship him
with instruments. But you know, we don't live
under that old covenant law today. We don't worship
according to the practices of the Old Testament
Paul tells us in Galatians 3 24 wherefore the
law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ
that we might be justified by faith But after
that faith has come he says we are no longer
under a schoolmaster We understand Christ came
and brought a new and better covenant And that's
the covenant that we live under today as Christians,
and that's the covenant we worship according
to. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 6 talks about that
covenant, where it says, But now hath he that's
Jesus obtained a more excellent ministry, by
how much also he that's Christ is the mediator
of a better covenant, which was established upon
better promises. We have a new and better covenant
today that Christ has brought us. And so we don't
turn back to the shadows of that old covenant
law for guidance on how to worship God. Not when
Jesus came and took that law out of the way and
brought a new better covenant for Christians
today. Here's something else I want you to understand.
We do not wish to try to restore the type of
music which may or may not be in heaven. You
know in Revelation chapter five verses eight
to nine, the book of Revelation describes a vision
that the apostle John had. John had many visions
and they're recorded in Revelation. And in one
of those visions, John sees twenty four elders
surrounding the throne of God. And these elders
have golden vials and they have harps and they're
playing their harps and they're singing to God.
Now we don't try to deny the fact that John had
this vision of 24 elders playing harps around
the throne of God in Revelation chapter 5. However,
we do have to remember something about the book
of Revelation. In Revelation 1 .1 the Bible says
that it was a revelation given to John by Jesus
through his angel and the message was sent and
signified or it was revealed in signs and symbols
to the Apostle John who wrote Revelation. And
as it is with many things in the book of Revelation,
a lot of the language is figurative and symbolic
in nature. Just as those golden vials in Revelation
5, 8, and 9 are symbolic of the prayers of the
saints, it is most likely that those harps are
not literal harps, but more symbolic of the praise
that the saints offer to God. So we're not interested
in an inquiry into whether or not there's going
to be literal harps or literal instruments of
music in heaven. I think that's probably another
lesson for another time and that's a controversial
question. But we're really not interested in
what kind of music may or may not be in heaven.
We're also not interested or we don't wish to
restore whatever type of music might be the most
popular. or the most preferred in Christianity
or even in our own congregations. It's not about
what's trendy, it's not about what's popular,
it's not about the kind of music that we like.
Again, our focus is on this, restoring the type
of music that God asks us to give him when we
come together in the assemblies of the church.
I will, before we move on past this introduction,
I will make a few points though. I want to draw
a few points from some of the things I've shared
with you tonight. If there are literal instruments
of music in heaven, if that's true, then we know
that God is quite familiar with instrumental
music, isn't he? And you know, if God commanded
the Jews to worship Him with instruments under
the law, and He did in 2 Chronicles 29 -25, that
tells us that God is very capable. He is quite
capable of communicating to His people what He
wants for worship. And all that being said, it
leads us to two very important questions. And
the questions are these. What kind of music does
God want from us as Christians today? when we
discover that type of music that God wants us
to give him as Christians will we be satisfied
to give the word give God the worship the music
that he has asked for that he desires regardless
of what we might want to do for music or what
we might desire to give God for worship those
are the two questions we're going to concern
ourselves with tonight as we go through this
lesson As we've done tonight in the course of
this meeting, we're gonna take a very careful
methodical approach to considering this practice.
We're gonna follow a four -step approach when
it comes to restoring God's plan for music in
the church. The first step is this. We're gonna
go to the New Testament. and find God's plan
for music as it was originally revealed to the
New Testament church. And when we do that, we
find a pattern of singing music. God's original
plan and pattern for music in the church was
a pattern of singing music. We'll look at some
verses which illustrate this. Ephesians chapter
5 verses 18 to 20. It tells us there to be not
drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled
with the Spirit. It says speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
giving thanks always for all things unto God
and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Bible tells us here to speak to one another
and to give thanks to God by singing psalms,
hymns, and spiritual songs. Almost identical
to what he told the Colossians. He told the church
at Colossi and Colossians 3 16 He said let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom
Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs Singing he says
with grace in your hearts to the Lord Now he
told the Colossians here that they were to teach
and they were to admonish one another Through
the same exercise through singing Psalms hymns
spiritual songs. Also in the book of James, James
5 13. Book of James 5 13 says, is any among you
afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him
sing psalms. The message is clear. During the
hard times, what do God's people do? We pray.
During the happy times, what do we do? Tells
us to sing, sing psalms. First Corinthians 14
verse 15. 1st Corinthians 14 is a very interesting
chapter. It gives us a lot of guidance and instruction
on how to conduct ourselves in the assemblies
of the church. If you're interested in that,
come back Saturday night. We're gonna do an in
-depth dive into 1st Corinthians 14 and look
at what it teaches us about the proper teaching
that needs to take place when the church assembles.
But there's a verse in 1st Corinthians 14 that
also speaks to singing. OK, in the greater context
of this passage is the assembly. First Corinthians
14, 15, Paul tells the Corinthians, What is it
then? I will pray with the spirit and I will
pray with the understanding also. He says, I
will sing with the spirit and I will sing with
the understanding also. Here, the Bible mentions
Paul, he references singing in the assembly and
doing so both with the spirit and with the understanding.
So the pattern that we see in these New Testament
scriptures, the pattern for music is very clear.
It's consistent. It's a pattern for singing music
to God. We also find in these verses that God
tells us to sing this music and offer it up from
our hearts. We sing from the heart we saw that
in Ephesians 5 19 where it says speaking to yourselves
and Psalms hymns and spiritual songs singing
and Making melody where he says make melody in
your heart to the Lord notice where the melody
is made Notice where the music comes from that
we offer up to God the Bible says that we make
that melody in our heart It doesn't mean mention
making that melody in a piano. It doesn't mention
making that melody in a guitar It doesn't mention
making that melody in a trumpet. It tells us
to sing to God and make the melody. The music
comes from our hearts. We also saw this in Colossians
3, 16, where he says, Teach and admonish one
another in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Again, the music, the praise comes forth from
our hearts in the form of singing and Giving
praise to God through song We also find in the
New Testament pattern for music the idea that
God wants us to give him a sacrifice of praise
and That praise is to come forth in the form
of the fruit of our lips or the words that we
sing to God This is in Hebrews chapter 13 verse
15 where it says by him. That's Jesus Therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise God wants
us to give him a sacrifice of praise. He wants
us to give it to him continually, and then he
goes on to describe here what that is. He says
that is the fruit of our lips. The fruit of our
lips, the words that we sing, the praise that
we offer up with our voices, the fruit of our
lips giving thanks to his name. That's the sacrifice
of praise God is looking for when we come together
in the assembly. We praise him with the fruit
of our lips. Now something that we do notice
as we're looking at all these New Testament scriptures
which speak to God's plan for music We see a
pattern for singing singing that music from the
heart Offering God a sacrifice of praise as being
the fruit of our lips But we don't find any mention
of any kind of mechanical instruments of music
being involved God's plan or pattern for music
for the New Testament Church every scripture
to my knowledge in the New Testament which speaks
to the type of music God wants us to give him
in the church it always mentioned singing of
music did you notice that that that was the consistent
theme in all of these verses it was always about
singing speaking teaching words coming forth
in Psalms hymns and spiritual long Psalms, hymns
and spiritual songs coming from our heart, coming
forth as the fruit of our lips. The common thread
and theme is God has just asked us to sing the
music. None of the scriptures in the New Testament
which speak to the type of music God wants in
the church mention the playing of any instruments
whatsoever. Now when God wanted instrumental
music as we mentioned in second Chronicles 29
25 when he wanted the Jews to play musical instruments
as part of their worship God asked for that type
of worship and his people obeyed the commandment
of God But the commandment of God for new covenant
Christians today is not that we play instruments
of music The type of music God wants from Christians
today under the New Testament, He wants us to
sing music apparently without the use of instruments.
Otherwise, He would have mentioned instrumental
music in the New Testament. But since He's just
asked us to sing, we hear His command and we
try to respond in obedience. That's why when
we come together at North Warren Church of Christ,
we don't have a guitar, we don't have drums,
we don't have a piano, we just give God the type
of music He's asked for, we just sing. Now before
we move on I just want to answer a few commonly
offered objections To some of the things that
we're teaching tonight Some have said that the
Greek word for Psalms as we read it in Ephesians
5 19 that that Greek word for Psalms implies
singing music with instruments You know, some
have claimed this and some have brought this
to our attention, that the word Psalms implies
or infers that God wants us to use instruments.
Okay, as it is with every statement, we need
to honestly consider it. So let's consider this
idea. Let's look at the Greek word for Psalms
and let's see if this is true. The Greek word
for Psalms in Ephesians 5 .19 is the Greek noun,
psalmos. If you go to a Greek lexicon and study
the Greek word psalmos, here's the definition
of the word. Psalmos simply refers to a set piece
of music that is a sacred ode. That's a Greek
definition for psalmos. A psalmos is just a set
piece of music. Now, if you study psalmos a little
bit deeper, here's a fact that you will find.
This Greek noun, psalmos, can in fact refer to
both vocal music and it can refer to instrumental
music. Why? Because psalmos is just a piece of
music. It doesn't really tell us whether or not
the music is being sung or the music is being
played. It's just talking about a piece of music.
So in Ephesians 5 19 the question then becomes,
which is it? Is it vocal music when it says psalmos
or is it instrumental music when it says psalmos
in Ephesians 5 19? Here's what we got to do.
If we will look carefully at the context of that
passage, It'll tell us what type of music is
under consideration. So let's go back and do
that. Let's look at Ephesians 5 19 It says speaking
to yourselves in Psalms Greek word psalmos Speaking
to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs singing it says These psalms were psalms
for speaking these psalms were psalms for singing
So the context here is telling us that psalmos,
meaning a set piece of music, is talking about
a piece of music that's to be sung. There's no
reference to playing music. There's no reference
to any musical instrument in this verse. So the
context is telling us that the psalmos, the piece
of music, is being sung. It's not being played.
One more objection that's commonly offered before
we move on is the idea that the Greek word another
Greek word in the same verse Ephesians 5 19 the
Greek word for making melody Implies that we
should play instruments. Well, let's let's give
that some consideration for just a moment Let's
look at the Greek word for making melody in Ephesians
5 19 the Greek word for making melody in that
verse is a Greek verb an action word, solo, P
-S -A -L -L -O, solo. You know what solo means?
Here's the definition of solo. Remember it's
an action, it's a verb. It means to pluck, to
twang, or to cause to vibrate. That's what the
Greek word solo means. It's translated making
melody in Ephesians 5 .19. Now it is true, it
is also very true that yes, a stringed musical
instrument can be soloed. It can be plucked,
it can be twanged, you can make its strings vibrate.
That is true. You could take a guitar and solo
it. When you play it, you vibrate its strings.
But let me tell you, there are so many other
objects that can be soloed just as well as a
guitar. And if you study ancient Greek literature,
here's just a few examples from ancient Greek
literature. Ancient Greek literature talks about
The plucking of hair, plucking or pulling of
hair and it uses the Greek verb solo, same action.
The literature talks about the twanging of a
bow string and it uses the Greek word solo. Greek
literature talks about the snapping of a carpenter's
line and it uses that same Greek word solo or
it can be vibrating the strings of a harp, the
Greek word is solo. The point I'm trying to make
is this, when we find the Greek word solo, that
verb, meaning to pluck, vibrate, or twang. The
object being plucked, twanged, or vibrated is
never automatically built into that word, solo.
The object receiving the action, the object being
plucked, being twanged, being vibrated is never
automatically built in or baked into the word.
What you got to do is you got to look carefully
at the context. Again, you got to go back and
look at the context to discover what object is
being plucked, twanged, or vibrated. So let's
go and do that in Ephesians 519. You know, it
tells us here again that we're to speak to ourselves
in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. It says
we're to sing and we're to make melody in our
heart to the Lord. There's no guitar. There's
no stringed instrument to be plucked, to be twanged.
It only mentions singing and speaking and making
melody in our heart. Think it's clear that it's
the vibration of our vocal cords that's associated
with singing from the heart. That's how we make
melody That's how we solo according to the context
of the passage So we can try to read these words
and read these passages and study these Greek
verbs and these Greek nouns and say that they
imply instruments Well, we the instruments are
not there The instruments are not there And so
these objections fall short of proving that God
wants us to worship Him with instruments. Let's
move on in our lesson now. Now that we've considered
the original New Testament pattern for music,
we're going to do a brief survey and study of
church history to see how error slowly evolved
in the church concerning God's plan for music.
Here are some facts we want to establish. The
church worshiped with acapella music for the
first 600 years of its history. For 600 years,
all of God's people came together and they just
sang, just like we did tonight. And that testimony
of early church history is very, very clear.
600 years of a cappella singing. In fact, the
word a cappella comes from a Latin word, which
means in the church chapel. When you hear people
talk about a cappella singing, it's talking about
the singing of the church or the singing of the
chapel, which for 600 years of church history.
was singing without the use of instrumental music.
Now I want to just briefly show you some proof
of this as I go back and refer to some of the
early church fathers and different teachers in
the church through history which spoke to the
type of music that they had in their time in
the churches. This is Clement of Alexandria in
202 AD. He wrote this. He said, Leave the pipe
to the shepherd, the flute to the superstitious
men who are engrossed in idol worship. Such instruments
must be excluded, he said. We make use of one
instrument alone, the word of peace by which
we honor God. So there's an early third century
church leader saying, we don't worship with instruments
of music. We just use our voice that God gave
us to worship Him. Eusebius of Caesarea around
the year 300 A .D. Eusebius was a historian.
He recorded a lot of history the first 400 years
of the church. He did that on behalf. He was
a devout Christian, but he recorded that history
for the Roman Empire and its leaders. And this
is what Eusebius said about music in the church
in his time. He says, of old among the Jews,
it was not inappropriate to send up hymns to
God with the psaltery and the sithera. It's an
ancient guitar -like musical instrument. He says,
but we render our hymn with a living psaltery
and a living sithera with spiritual songs. This
is Eusebius saying, you know, the Jews used to
worship God with instruments, but we as Christians
don't do that. We just sing to God. John Chrysostom
in 397 AD, he wrote this, David formerly sang
songs. Also we sing today with him. He had a
lyre with lifeless strings or a harp with lifeless
strings. The church has a lyre or a harp with
living strings. Our tongues are the strings of
this lyre. Again, all the way to about 400 AD,
the testimony of early church history is that
they just sang songs to God and didn't use instruments
of music. But eventually we come to a point in
church history where instruments became slowly
added into the worship of God in the church.
Around the year about 650, middle of the seventh
century, some of the very first pipe organs were
introduced into some Roman Catholic churches.
However, history tells us that their use was
somewhat rare, it was very controversial, and
it was not widely accepted when it first began
to be introduced in 650 AD. It would take about
another 600 years, another 600 years before the
organ was commonly used and accepted in most
churches by about 1300 AD. It's interesting to
note, however, that the Eastern Greek Orthodox
churches resisted the change to instrumental
music in the church, and they never adopted instrumental
music at all in their churches. I believe to
this day, the Greek Eastern Orthodox Church still
sings a cappella. So, slowly over a period of
1 ,300 years, primarily from 650 AD to 1300 AD,
instruments were slowly added into the worship
of God. However, like I mentioned, it was very
controversial and many people in the church opposed
this change, this departure, this deviation away
from God's original plan for singing. They oppose
the addition of these instruments of music. Now,
I'm just going to give you a sampling of a few
of their disputes and their opposition to this
practice. John of Salisbury around the year 1159
A .D. He wrote this. He said, When you hear the
organs and the voices, you might think yourself
in a theater rather than a church. He didn't
think very highly of the instruments at all.
He said it was almost like being in a theater
rather in a church. Thomas Aquinas probably the
foremost Catholic theologian of the Middle Ages
in 1270 AD. Now this is coming to around the
year 1300 when the organs were becoming very
very common in Catholic churches. But yet look
at what Thomas Aquinas wrote. He said in the
old law God was praised both with musical instruments
and human voices. He said but the church does
not use musical instruments to praise God. Even
as Thomas Aquinas sees all the churches slowly
bringing in pipe organs. He still writes That
the church doesn't use instruments of music or
shouldn't use instruments of music to praise
God John Calvin the founder of reformed theology
and the doctrine of Calvinism A lot of modern
-day churches such as Presbyterian Church have
their roots back to the teaching and doctrine
of Calvin Calvin wrote this musical instruments
and celebrating the praises of God would be no
more suitable than the burning of incense, the
lighting of lamps and the restoration of other
shadows of the law. So even Calvin himself was
opposed to Christians worshiping God with instruments.
Yet a lot of the churches that were founded on
Calvin's doctrine and theology worship God with
instruments today. John Wesley. in the 1750s.
He's quoted by Clark as saying, I have no objection
to instruments of music in our chapels provided
they are neither heard nor seen. He said, I don't
have any problem with instruments of music in
the church as long as we don't have to see them
or hear them. John Wesley and his brother Charles
are considered the founders of modern -day Methodism.
The Methodist church has its roots back to the
Wesley brothers. To my knowledge, the Methodist
Church today worships God with instruments, although
their founders have this to say about it. Charles
Spurgeon, a prolific preacher of the 19th century,
considered one of the maybe the greatest Baptist
preachers who ever lived. Here's what he said.
He said, When Jesus gives us spiritual food,
one can make melody without strings and pipes.
We do not need them. He says, Sing unto him.
This is the sweetest and best music. No instrument
like the human voice. Most Baptist churches today
worship God with instruments of music, despite
the fact that Spurgeon said, you know, we don't
need them. Just sing unto him. That's the best
music of all. So, this is just the testimony
of men. And again, I don't want you to misunderstand
me. Our authority does not come from men. Our
authority comes from the Word of God. But I'm
just showing you this to help you see. That down
through history what we see today is so common
that many many churches worship God with instruments
of music It has not always been that way in fact
It wasn't that way for 1300 years and even after
instruments came into the church many notable
theologians and teachers and even the founders
of denominational churches Opposed the practice
that is so common today Now let's move forward
to our modern -day practice As we look and consider
music in Christianity today, as it's offered
in many different churches, what things do we
see? Well, unfortunately and sadly, we see many
churches today who offer entertainment, but they
market it as worship to God. When at its core,
it's really nothing more than entertainment.
You know, we need to be reminded about worship
and what it really is. Worship is us giving to
God that which pleases Him. Worship is us giving
to God that which pleases him Entertainment is
different than worship Entertainment is us giving
to us what pleases us and I'm not against entertainment
There's a time and a place for good godly wholesome
entertainment But listen, we need to be careful.
We don't confuse worship with entertainment because
there's a big difference Worship is us giving
to God what he wants entertainment is us giving
us what we want It might be hard for you to see
that image, but that was from a recent church
assembly in a mega church in Plano, Texas, where
as part of this concert -like performance, they
had drummers that rappelled like 100 feet from
the ceiling of this church to play their drums
suspended over the audience when the lights and
the smoke and... That's what we're talking about
when we talk about entertainment many churches
today market this and They say this is worship
when it's easy for us to see at its core. It's
nothing more than carnal entertainment Let's
go to second Samuel 6 5 second Samuel 6 5 Bible
tells us in the days of King David when David
moved the ark of the Covenant There's a lesson
that we can learn from David when he moved the
Ark of the Covenant In connection with moving
the Ark of the Covenant the Bible says David
and all the house of the Lord prayed David and
all the house of Israel played before the Lord
on all manner of instruments made of fir wood
even on harps salt trees on timbrels on corn
ants on cymbals a Lot of people today are drawn
to big churches that entertained because they
put on a big show They put on a big show, and
to some degree, we see David here putting on
a big show when he was moving the Ark of the
Covenant. All the instruments came out. David
danced before the Ark, the Bible tells us. All
Israel came out to watch and witness this parade
-like concert, and all the instruments played,
and David danced. And we'll visit the end of
the story in just a few moments. We'll come back
to it and learn the lesson that needs to be learned
from that chapter. But as we look around us today
something else we also see is that the faith
of many people who call themselves Christians
Has been founded on nothing more than dopamine
driven emotional experiences For a lot of people
who call them Christians they have built their
faith on an experience a dopamine driven experience
involving a huge auditorium With massive crowds
right and loud music and bright lights and theatrical
smoke and you know the band You know, it's the
best band in town and it's up there playing and
the music is loud and they they're playing the
number one song on Christian radio and everyone's
got their hands held high and everyone's shouting
hallelujah and this this experience This dopamine
driven experience. This is what many people have
associated with and believe it means to be spiritual
To be involved in an experience like this and
this is what they need To have their relationship
with God they need this type of experience. They
found their faith on emotional experiences because
after all an event like this That's the place
to be. That's the main event. That's the big
show a Lot of people a lot of Christians have
built their faith on this big show Here's what
I want to tell you and I'm we're gonna see this
by going back to 2nd Samuel chapter 6 God does
not always attend the big show and God does not
always approve of the big show If the big show
involves worship that doesn't please him The
whole world could like it and it don't matter
if it doesn't please God if it's not acceptable
to him He's not gonna approve of that big show.
He's not gonna attend the big show We know that
for what happened in second Samuel chapter 6
remember David was moving the ark the instruments
were playing David was dancing you remember what
happened Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark
of God took hold of it for the oxen shook shook
it and the anger of the Lord was kindled against
Uzzah and God smote him there for his error and
there he died by the ark They put on a big show
God did not approve of their big show Their disregard
for God's word. They weren't moving the ark of
God in the way that he had prescribed in the
law and their disregard for his word made him
very angry and And a man named Uza lost his life
that day because he wasn't careful To do things
God's way Folks we need to be careful to do things
God's way when it comes to giving Him worship,
when it comes to approaching Him and doing things
for Him that are part of our faith doctrine and
practice. Stories like this teach us we need
to be extra careful. And we need to learn a lesson
from Uzzah. We need to be careful about the type
of worship we offer up to God because, you know,
instrumental music, I like bluegrass music. I
like bluegrass music. That's the type of music
I love. And I love it so much, it'd be an easy
jump for me to say, well, if I love it so much,
God should love it as much as I do, and we'll
just bring the bluegrass band in here on Sundays
and just play bluegrass hymns to the Lord. That
would seem right to me. On a certain level, that
would seem very right to me, and that does seem
right to many different religious people, to
just give God the type of music we like. But
you know what Proverbs 14 -12 says? It says,
there's a way which seemeth right unto a man.
There's all kinds of religious ways that seem
right. Just seemed right for Uzzah to touch the
ark. Just seemed right. There's a way which seemeth
right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the
ways of death. We look around us in the religious
world today, and unfortunately, all too often,
worship becomes not about that which pleases
God, but about what pleases us, what pleases
me. And you know, that's not a new thing. It's
an old thing. It goes all the way back, I believe,
to Genesis chapter 4. In Genesis chapter 4, we
read about two brothers, Cain and Abel, the sons
of Adam and Eve. Both brothers, the Bible tells
us, were worshipers of God. They both brought
an offering to the Lord. They brought their sacrifices.
Both brothers were worshipers of God. However,
one brother's worship was accepted, Abel's worship.
One brother's worship, Cain's worship, was rejected.
Cain didn't give God what he wanted. He didn't
give God what he'd asked for and The point is
this you know what if we never sacrifice our
will in any way shape or form In order to embrace
God's will that might be a good sign that our
worship like Cain's might not be acceptable to
God We got to be willing to sacrifice our will
what we want what we think is nice To be able
to take hold of embrace and offer God the type
of worship that's acceptable to him. You in Genesis
4 -3, in the process of time it came to pass
Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the Lord, but Cain, unto his offering, but
unto Cain, unto his offering, God had not respect.
And Cain was very raw, he was very angry in his
countenance, his attitude fell. God did not accept
Cain's offering, Cain's worship, and God does
not accept self -serving worship today. So we've
talked about God's original plan for music what
he wants music to be in the church We've talked
about how down through the ages of church history
man has strayed away from God's original plan
for music in the church and we've tried to take
an honest assessment of Music in churches today.
The last thing we're going to do is we're going
to talk about how we restore That original pattern
how we get back to giving God the type of music
that He wants, right? That's what we want to
do. If we're going to restore God's pattern for
music in the church, we're going to have to go
back to simply singing music without the use
of musical instruments. Because as we've already
seen, those instruments are not authorized by
the New Testament Scriptures. If we want to worship
God like the church Jesus built, And that's what
we're striving to do. We're going to have to
pay close attention to the New Testament and
what it teaches concerning the pattern of music.
And we read these scriptures earlier in the lesson.
And the pattern is true. It's consistent. The
pattern is singing music, singing music. James
5 13 singing music. First Corinthians 14, Hebrews
13. The pattern is singing over and over again
as we go through these scriptures. Every scripture
in the New Testament which speaks to the type
of music God wants in the church It speaks of
singing music and I'll remind you again. None
of the scriptures in the New Testament which
speak To the music God wants in the church speak
to playing of music If we're going to restore
God's original pattern For music in the church
here. Here's an attitude. We're going to have
to cultivate in our hearts It's not just about
getting back to doing all the right things. Okay
doing the right things is important But you know
Jesus is looking for God is looking for true
worshipers who will worship what in spirit and
in truth We can worship in truth. We could do
all the right things in our worship. We could
sing to God That's a that's worshiping in truth.
That's worshiping according to the Word of God
But if we're not worshiping in spirit What's
the point? We need to be very sincere in our
worship. We need to cultivate the right heart,
mind, and attitude about the music we give to
God. And here's a part of that attitude we need
to cultivate. We can take joy. I think we should
take joy in the music that we give to God in
the church. But the source of that joy, the place
that that joy comes from is this. We need to
have an attitude that says God If I've given
you what you've wanted what you've asked for
for music, and it's made you happy Lord Then
I can be happy knowing I've made you happy Okay
Lord I can take joy in this offering of praise
if I know that you take joy in the praise that
I've given you I do believe we can take joy in
our worship. I don't believe we have to come
here like robots and we have to just sing the
songs and not show any type of joy, any type
of emotion, any type of feeling whatsoever. I
believe there's great joy to be found in singing
praises to God. But it's not a joy that comes
from... it sounds so good to me and we hit all
the notes just right and the four -part harmony
was great and you know I wish we would have recorded
that because we could have sold a million copies
of that and that's not where the joy comes from
the joy should come from knowing that we gave
God what he wants and that he is accepted and
that he is pleased with our worship and Lord
if you're pleased with it we can be pleased with
it Worship is us giving to God what pleases him.
So let's try to be faithful in doing that. Let's
give God what he's asked for He's asked us to
sing music to him. Let's do just that nothing
more and nothing less Let's put our faith and
trust in God's Word. You know faith is trusting
that God's Word is best Despite what I think
what I feel what I want faith is trusting that
what God feels what he thinks what he wants is
best and I just need to follow his word and Give
him what he wants and trust that he is pleased
So let's do our very best to to do just that
to have that type of heart to have that type
of attitude Let's do our very best to restore
the type of music. God wants in the assemblies
of the church