Why Don’t You Use Music?

Col 3:16-17

By far, the most often question asked of me is “Why don’t you use music in your worship?” If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked that, I would be a rich man today. The reason it comes up so often is that what we do is extremely unusual compared to other churches. Very few churches in America outside the churches of Christ don’t use instrumental music. Even in our own tradition, we parted ways with what is known as the Christian Church today over the use of music. One group believed you could, and the other group believed you could not.

What is the answer to this question? Can we be right and everyone one else wrong on this matter? Is it a doctrinal thing, a salvation thing, or just an opinion? I would wager that most of us couldn’t answer these questions with certainty. As always, let’s see what the Bible teaches about this subject.

PRAYER

I. Instrumental Music in the Bible

A. Disclaimer

1. No matter what I say some of you will be dissatisfied with my comments.

2. I understand that and when I asked a couple of our elders about preaching this lesson, they understood I was opening up a can of worms.

3. I am not speaking for our elders or for this church.

4. I am sharing with you what I have studied and how I answer this question when asked to me.

5. So with that out of the way, let’s open the can.

B. Old Testament

1. Old testament scripture plainly show that instrumental music was used in worship.

2. The very definition of a Psalm is “ a sacred song, usually sung to the accompaniment of a harp or other instrument.”

3. Many of the Psalms have in their headings that they were for the director of music. Which means they were meant to be set to music.

4. 2 Chron 29:25 tells us that God COMMANDED the Israelites to use instruments in worship.

"He stationed the Levites in the temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the Lord through his prophets." (NIV)

5. 1 Chron 23:5 tells us that 4000 musicians were employed to praise God with instruments.

6. Other verses like these paint a clear picture that the Old Testament worshippers not only used instruments, but also were commanded to use instruments in the Temple Worship.

C. New Testament

1. The 2 main scripture we have about music in worship are our text that we read at the beginning and Eph 5:16 which says about the same thing.

2. Other than that, we know of examples of them singing together but have no scriptural record of them using instrumental music in worship.

3. Some scholars make a big deal out of certain words that were used in these two verses to say they excluded music.

a) I don’t think that argument has any strength at all.

b) Nowhere in the New Testament is there a command to or not to use instrumental music in the worship service.

4. I grew up with the “law of exclusion” (Call Rhyann up and have her take the quarter from a handful of change)

5. By saying take the quarter, I ruled out all the other coins. The argument is that God implied the same thing when he said to SING and make melody in your heart.

6. The problem I have with that argument is that we are now trying to read into scripture some that God may or may not have wanted implied.

D. Silence can be telling

1. Here is what makes a person think.

2. The Jews used instruments in worship, the Pagans used music in worship, but the Bible shows no record of the Christians using music in worship.

3. If they were so used to instruments being used in worship why wouldn’t they simply incorporate them in Christian worship if there wasn’t anything wrong with it?

4. Is the silence of their use in the New Testament speak to a theological statement or simply a choice?

II. Instrumental Music in History

A. Use of Instruments

1. Let’s take that thought a little further and look past the Bible to the history of the early church.

2. Historians have found that the early church didn’t use instrumental music in worship and in fact several records show that early church leader opposed it for Biblical reasons.

3. We don’t have a record of the use of instrumental music in worship in any type of widespread use until 1000 A.D. at the earliest and then it was one of the major reasons the Western and Eastern Catholic churches split apart.

4. Again, you have to ask yourself why didn’t they use instrumental music?

5. Some argue it started with not using in out of fear of persecution and just became an accepted practice.

6. Others argue that it was simply understood that it wasn’t to be a part of Christian worship. God was and is always more interested in the words of praise from man’s heart verses the sound of that praise, mechanical or instrumental.

B. Quotes from Denominational leaders

1. Even denominational leaders opposed using instrumental music in worship at late as 200 years ago.

a) John Calvin, Presbyterian – Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, the restoration of the other shadows of the law. The Papists, therefore, have foolishly borrowed this, as well as many other things, from the Jews. Men who are fond of outward pomp may delight in that noise; but the simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostle is far more pleasing to Him.

b) John Wesley, Methodist, writer of hymns – I have no objection to instruments of music, in our chapels, provided they are neither heard nor seen.

c) Adam Clarke, Methodist – Music as a science, I esteem and admire: but instruments of music in the house of God I abominate and abhor. This is the abuse of music; and here I register my protest against all such corruptions in the worship of the Author of Christianity.

d) Martin Luther, Lutheran – the organ is an ensign of Baal.

e) Charles Spurgeon, Baptist – I would as soon attempt to pray to God with machinery as to sing to Him with machinery.

f) Writers like John McArthur also admit that “Spurgeon himself would not appreciate our organ.”

III. Instrumental Music Today

A. Use today

1. Almost all Christian churches today use instrumental music in worship.

2. Some are just a piano or organ while others have a full band and still others have an orchestra.

B. Is instrumental music just an expedient thing?

1. Here is where I want to say again, I am speaking only for what I have come to believe through study of this subject. I am not speaking for this congregation as a whole or the elders.

2. I do not believe you can go to scripture and prove that God does not want us to use instrumental music.

a) Because of that, I don’t believe a person will be held accountable for the use of instrumental music in worship.

b) I don’t believe God would condemn someone to hell solely for this issue.

3. However, I could not worship on a consistent basis in a church that does use instrumental music.

a) I believe that the silence on the use of instrumental music in the New Testament with the knowledge that it was used in Jewish and Pagan worship is a strong reason not to use it in worship.

b) I believe that the historical evidence of almost 1000 years of the early church not using it is also a strong reason not to use it in worship.

4. Another reason not to use it has become the bitter struggle in churches over the style of music.

a) So many churches have split over whether to have a rock style band or traditional piano.

b) So many churches have split over what type of music is played in their church, and by the way we do the same thing with a cappella music.

c) We have made music about our likes and dislikes rather than God’s.

d) Worship is for God’s praise not our own. We should enjoy lifting our hearts to God in any style because it’s about God, not me.

e) In my opinion the use of instrumental music just exacerbates the problem rather than help it.

5. I that that for some, you have felt that I am riding the fence on the issue.

a) I cannot give a blanket condemnation of the use of music in worship.

6. I know to others I sound too old fashioned about using music.

a) I love music. I have grown up my whole life surrounded by music.

b) But when it comes to worship, I really believe the evidence points to being more biblically correct by not using it rather than to use it.

7. In the end you need to decide for yourself on this issue.