Optional: Acapella and/or Instrumental

The God of Israel had this to say regarding the spiritual status of His people, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hosea 4:6). Is it possible for spiritual Israel (the church of the Lord) to be destroyed because of the lack of the knowledge of the Word of God? The answer is a resounding yes! There is always the probability that the church of Jesus Christ can lose its identity because of ignorance of the Holy Scriptures. When we do not diligently study the Word of God we often fall short of what God would have us to be and to do; and, it is definite that error will occur in our teaching which will lead to multiple innovations in our attempt to worship God as prescribed in the New Testament. Many are the members who do not search the Scriptures to know the will of the Lord. While it is honorable that we are daily readers of the Bible it is another thing to study in depth the meaning of the same scriptures. Where there is a void in the understanding of the Bible there is the potential of being led astray from the teaching of the Lord. When this occurs an apostasy usually occurs over a period of time. We must never assume that all Christians have a proper understanding of biblical matters. Therefore it is of necessity that elders require of their preachers to present lessons and sermons over a broad spectrum of subjects pertaining to the authority of the scriptures, how to rightly divide the Word of God, the identity of the church of our Lord, acceptable worship as well as the grace and love of God. There is always a great need for a balance in the preaching of the Word of God.

The Lord God required His people in ancient times to propagate His Word to the next generation. We read in Deuteronomy 6:7-9, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” Paul instructed Timothy in this manner, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (II Timothy 2:2). The next generation untaught will be unlearned in the ways of the Lord and there will be the ever present danger of drifting away from New Testament Christianity. There is factual knowledge and experience to prove this last statement. You only have to read the writings of preachers, youth ministers and others involved in the leadership of the church to know that there is a woeful lack of Bible based convictions regarding the identity of the church, what constitutes scriptural worship, the importance of baptism and scores of other subjects. It is rather evident that many of our younger men are reading the writings of sectarian and denominational authors rather than studying books written by our own brethren. One of the areas in which attitudes have changed over the years is in regards to acceptable music in our worship to God. Our brotherhood of believers has evolved to the point that some congregations no longer care what others might say about the use of the instrument in their assemblies that they can, without hesitation, present the following in their need for a “Student Minister” to work with them. Among the qualifications mentioned in their preacher’s blog on October 19, 2006 was that the potential candidate should be “Comfortable with both acapella and instrumental form of worship.” It is indeed later than we think! This required qualification will not be disturbing to more members than we might imagine. It will also be greatly alarming to know just how many of our young men will apply for this position with the Garnett Church of Christ in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

You can know assuredly that when preachers do not preach on the subject as to why we do not use instrumental music in our worship that there will be a generation of Christians who will not possess a conviction regarding this important matter. Also, when an eldership and/or a preacher proclaim that while they have no conviction regarding this subject but they will not have the instrument in their worship, it will only be a matter of time that the same congregations will eventually introduce the instrument into some of their assemblies. Yes, spiritual Israel can be destroyed today because of the lack of knowledge of the Word of God. The church can become simply a denomination with a corruption of the worship to God that is not scriptural. We all need to remember the words of Jesus when he said to a certain religious group, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lip, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8, 9).

2 comments:

Zabrina Kelly said...

I am a new member of a church of christ, and this has become a source of contention in our congregation recently. I have yet to have someone provide to me scripture (nor have I located it myself)to support your claim that instrumental music is not scriptural. I genuinely want to know what the Lord wishes in regards to our worship, but I am having difficulty with the only argument that I have heard from those against instrumental music - which is that the bible does not COMMAND us to use instruments, and therefore it is not scriptural. However, there are numerous things that we do in our service that are not specifically commanded - for example, there is nowhere in the bible (of which I am aware) that it specifically commands at what age a person/child can begin to partake in the Lord's supper. That is something we decide on our own in regards to our children and whether we feel they are mature enough to understand the meaning of it all. I would be most grateful if you could provide the book, chapter and verse which commands that we are not to use instruments. Serving Him, Zabrina Kelly of Westminster, MD

Raymond Elliott said...

Hello Zabrina, first of all I want to thank you for reading my article and for writing to me concerning the use of instrumental music in our worship to God. I have an article on this subject I would like to send you that is too
lengthy to be included in this post. I would love to send it to you if you would send me your email address. My email address is
raymondelliott@knology.net.
You must understand that it is not the responsibility of parents of a child who is to decide when the child should begin partaking of the Lord's Supper. When Jesus instituted the Supper as recorded in Matthew 26:26-30, He stated in verse 39, "I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on
until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." You will note that Paul wrote to the church of God in Corinth (I Corinthians 1:1,2 and in chapter 11 He dealt with the manner in which those brethren should partake of it acceptably to the Lord (11:23-29). The kingdom of our Lord is the church of our Lord. In order for one to scripturally partake of
the supper he/she must be "born of water and the Spirit" to be in the
kingdom/church (John 3:3,5). The apostle Peter told the believers on the Day of Pentecost to repent and be baptized in order to be saved. The writer of Acts informs us that the Lord added the saved to the church (Acts 2:36-38, 47). So, only members of the kingdom/church can partake of the Lord's Supper in a scriptural manner. Children who are not members of the kingdom/church
should not be allowed to eat of the bread and drink of the cup by their parents. If you have further discussion about this matter, please contact me.
In Christian love,
Raymond Elliott