To Sing or Not To Sing - Instruments in Worship?
I had a thought. That's not too unusual, I have a head full of them; but this one was notable because it was unusual.
There's a lot of debate about how Christians should worship. About singing and mechanical instruments, specifically.
During a Bible class I attended recently, we were doing a study on Bible authority, and the subject of music in worship came up. That's not unusual either. But something I read in the handout really struck me and made me think of it in a way I hadn't before. It was a verse, and a paragraph about it in reference to worship.
The verse was Colossians 3:16: 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 with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Along with the verse was a little paragraph referring to music. The paragraph wasn't too important, except that it sparked a thought I'd never had before.
First, the music should teach and admonish us. How can we do that by playing an instrument? An instrument can't instruct us. And it certainly can't admonish us. It's the people that do this. Someone who plays an instrument and doesn't sing is neither teaching nor admonishing their fellows.
But as I was thinking about this, and reading other verses about singing and musical worship, I saw something else.
Every verse I've read that has to do with singing in the New Testament also mentions something else. The music we make should be done with joy, with thanksgiving, with grace, and with the heart. So not only are we to teach with our musical worship, we are also to do it with our hearts. We are to feel it very deeply.
But why? Why does it matter that we feel deeply?
Perhaps it's because it's not what it sounds like to us that matters. God has shown that human senses don't factor into what He demands for worship; have you ever smelled a scorched animal? I'm pretty sure that singed hair stinks, but He describes the smell of burning animals as a pleasing aroma.
Perhaps what makes it worship is not how it sounds to us, but what our hearts are feeling as we sing. The act of obedience, and the state of our hearts.
With that said, what instrument can surpass the depth of emotion the human voice is capable of? What better way to express the emotion we are supposed to feel than with the sounds our own bodies make, unaccompanied?
And for what did Jesus die? Not instruments. He died for us - to save us. What more fitting worship could we offer than to use our own bodies, our own hearts, in worship?
An instrument is just that. An instrument. It feels nothing. You can feel something as you play it, but your attention of necessity must be divided. You must focus on playing, rather than making a joyful noise to the Lord, which is what worship truly is. And the sound an instrument makes cannot be joyful. The instrument has no heart to feel.
A lot of people...they get sidetracked by the argument itself. They also get sidetracked by the word of God's law, and can easily lose sight of the purpose of God's law.
The reason we worship at all is because we love God and want to be pleasing to Him. But He gave us another purpose for our musical worship, and that is teaching and admonishing one another. To share what we feel in a way that others can understand. To spread the love and joy that comes from being a child of God - even to those who may never have heard or understood it before. To raise a sound pleasing to God that expresses our joy at His gift and love, and to teach each other. The purpose is not entertainment, nor is it to sound good to human ears. It can, certainly, but that's not the purpose.
This post is not to try and convince others to change their minds. If it was, I would have immediately started in on authority, and all of that. That's not my purpose for writing this.
My purpose is for people to think. Even if you do believe instruments are perfectly fine in worship, is there a way you can make your worship more pleasing to God? Are you teaching and admonishing each other? Are you offering your whole heart to God with every song? Is there a way you can make sure that your music, whatever it is, is not distracting from the purpose, or our Creator?
There's a lot of debate about how Christians should worship. About singing and mechanical instruments, specifically.
During a Bible class I attended recently, we were doing a study on Bible authority, and the subject of music in worship came up. That's not unusual either. But something I read in the handout really struck me and made me think of it in a way I hadn't before. It was a verse, and a paragraph about it in reference to worship.
The verse was Colossians 3:16: 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 with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Along with the verse was a little paragraph referring to music. The paragraph wasn't too important, except that it sparked a thought I'd never had before.
First, the music should teach and admonish us. How can we do that by playing an instrument? An instrument can't instruct us. And it certainly can't admonish us. It's the people that do this. Someone who plays an instrument and doesn't sing is neither teaching nor admonishing their fellows.
But as I was thinking about this, and reading other verses about singing and musical worship, I saw something else.
Every verse I've read that has to do with singing in the New Testament also mentions something else. The music we make should be done with joy, with thanksgiving, with grace, and with the heart. So not only are we to teach with our musical worship, we are also to do it with our hearts. We are to feel it very deeply.
But why? Why does it matter that we feel deeply?
Perhaps it's because it's not what it sounds like to us that matters. God has shown that human senses don't factor into what He demands for worship; have you ever smelled a scorched animal? I'm pretty sure that singed hair stinks, but He describes the smell of burning animals as a pleasing aroma.
Perhaps what makes it worship is not how it sounds to us, but what our hearts are feeling as we sing. The act of obedience, and the state of our hearts.
With that said, what instrument can surpass the depth of emotion the human voice is capable of? What better way to express the emotion we are supposed to feel than with the sounds our own bodies make, unaccompanied?
And for what did Jesus die? Not instruments. He died for us - to save us. What more fitting worship could we offer than to use our own bodies, our own hearts, in worship?
An instrument is just that. An instrument. It feels nothing. You can feel something as you play it, but your attention of necessity must be divided. You must focus on playing, rather than making a joyful noise to the Lord, which is what worship truly is. And the sound an instrument makes cannot be joyful. The instrument has no heart to feel.
A lot of people...they get sidetracked by the argument itself. They also get sidetracked by the word of God's law, and can easily lose sight of the purpose of God's law.
The reason we worship at all is because we love God and want to be pleasing to Him. But He gave us another purpose for our musical worship, and that is teaching and admonishing one another. To share what we feel in a way that others can understand. To spread the love and joy that comes from being a child of God - even to those who may never have heard or understood it before. To raise a sound pleasing to God that expresses our joy at His gift and love, and to teach each other. The purpose is not entertainment, nor is it to sound good to human ears. It can, certainly, but that's not the purpose.
This post is not to try and convince others to change their minds. If it was, I would have immediately started in on authority, and all of that. That's not my purpose for writing this.
My purpose is for people to think. Even if you do believe instruments are perfectly fine in worship, is there a way you can make your worship more pleasing to God? Are you teaching and admonishing each other? Are you offering your whole heart to God with every song? Is there a way you can make sure that your music, whatever it is, is not distracting from the purpose, or our Creator?
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