“Seeing the similarities”

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Over the years, I have heard all kind of arguments to defend the use of instrumental music in worship. In the end it usually comes down to, “Well I like it, and I can’t see God not liking it.” For many, the passages that teach Christians to simply sing (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:17) fall on deaf ears. Perhaps it will help to draw a parallel to another invocation the early saints were guilty of doing.

In I Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul discussed how that local church decided to change the Lord’s Supper into a feast (verses 20-22). There is no question that the brethren were coming together as a church (verse 18). What does it matter if the congregation decided to make a feast out of the memorial of Christ’s death? These people enjoyed themselves by having their hunger pangs satisfied. God knows the heart, right? Why did Paul feel he was able to judge their actions? They would have needed to eat anyway – why is this a big deal? The Bible contains answers for all of these questions.

Paul made it clear that this was not what they did in the beginning (verse 23). Rather, this was something that evolved over time. Someone introduced this concept. This is our first parallel to instrumental music, which was  introduced into a variety of religious groups around 670 AD. In other words, it took approximately 650 years to introduce the instrument to the worship service. Keep in mind that these religious groups were not the church you read about in the Bible.

There are several other parallels between the abuse of the Lord’s Supper and instrumental music in worship. Consider these points as you weigh the scriptures:

1. Introducing a different form of worship divides the church (verse 18).
2. Even if you say you are coming together for the Lord, you may still be coming together for the worse (verse 17).
3. Even if you say you are coming together to take the Lord’s Supper, you may not actually take it (verse 20).
4. A person can do nonsinful activities like eating on their own time. It is not necessary to add these things to worship (verse 22).
5. If you think you are going to be praised an addition to worship, you would be wrong (verse 22).
6. This change was not harmless as they were despising the church by not respecting authority (verse 22).
7. It is incorrect to think that what I do in worship has no bearing on others (verse 21).
8. The apostle was correct to tell them they were in the wrong (verse 17).

A review of these points will show that every argument made against modifying the Lord’s supper can be made against instrumental music in worship. Personal opinions on the matter need to be subjected to God’s word. If you say to yourself, “I just don’t see the similarities between the abuse of the Lord’s Supper and the abuse of singing psalms and hymns and spiritual song”, then you have closed your mind.

                                                                                                Chuck

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