Before I share with you this morning my position on Instrumental Music in the assembly, I have to get a word in on the Rangers. It’s hard to keep the emotions in check with the Rangers playing as well as they are right now. As the calendar turned from April to May, it saw the Rangers in first place in the AL West. After the disastrous 2-7 start, the Rangers battled through adversity to capture first place in the West at the end of April.
The last two nights have seen two of the best wins of the season. On the Sunday night ESPN game, the Rangers were manhandled for six innings by Cleveland starter Jake Westbrook. He held the Rangers to three hits heading into the seventh with Cleveland leading 3-1. But the Rangers exploded for six runs. The 8-4 win Sunday night was huge and the kind of game a team competing for a pennant throughout the summer wins.
Last night, the Rangers won 3-0 behind a sterling outing by Kam Loe. Seven innings of three hit ball, no walks and a shutout performance. Akinori Otsuka, he of the quirky delivery, has supplanted Francisco Cordero as the closer and he nailed the save with a perfect ninth inning.
---------------
One of the distinctives of our heritage in the churches of Christ has historically been our commitment to acapella (Latin for “in the style of the chapel/church”) singing in the worship assembly. But why has acapella singing been a hallmark of our heritage?
It is important to remember that as descendants of the Restoration Movement, our aim has always been to restore faith and practice as described in the New Testament. When one studies the worship assemblies of the New Testament, no where is instrumental music mentioned as a feature of worship.
“But Jim, what about David? Didn’t he play his harp in praise to the Lord? And what about temple worship in the Old Testament? Doesn’t the Old Testament speak of instruments within temple worship? And what about the end of time? Doesn’t Scripture say the very second coming of Jesus will be signaled by the blowing of a trumpet? And aren’t the praises of God in heaven going to be accompanied by instruments?”
Those questions form the basis to many of the objections I have heard voiced to me personally regarding our historical position of singing without instruments. But my response to those questions is this: our aim in the churches of Christ, as descendants of a Restoration Heritage, isn’t to restore the worship of David, the temple or even to seek to duplicate the worship of heaven. Our aim is to restore the faith and practice of the first churches as revealed in Scripture. And the revelation of Scripture is that the first churches used their voice alone in praise and worship to God.
In Ephesians 5, Paul describes a clear evidence of a Spirit-filled Christian when he says they “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5.18-20). Elsewhere, Paul told the Colossian church that the proof of the indwelling Word of Christ in a believer’s life is seen in a commitment to “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and…sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3.16).
Ironically, some of our Restoration leaders had a hang-up over the validity of even vocal singing to God. Men like Thomas Campbell interpreted the Scriptural injunction to “make music in your heart” and “sing…with gratitude in your hearts” as a prohibition against vocal singing since the over-arching emphasis in the language of Scripture was upon the heart, not the mouth or voice. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a person advance the argument against acapella singing on the basis some of our Restoration leaders did, but that argument was a very real discussion in the early days of the churches of Christ in North America.
Practically speaking, the voice is the only instrument God had a direct hand in creating. And theologically, historically and practically, I am supportive of our historical position in the churches of Christ to worship God corporately with acapella singing.
Having said that, my caution would be for us to avoid an attitude of spiritual superiority or smugness toward those who see the philosophical question of the silence of Scripture regarding instruments in the New Testament as permissive. I once had a very well respected professor/preacher in our heritage say to me, “Jim, I am convinced if Paul were to visit any of our churches today and found an instrument, he wouldn’t have as much trouble with the instrument -- given his Jewish background and thinking and his familiarity with temple worship – but he would have major misgivings with the way we participate in the Lord’s Supper.” When it comes to restoring the “ancient order of things” we haven’t exactly cornered the market.
I would also add that at the end of the day, God is God and I am not! And as such, God is free to judge according to his own dictates and choices. I cannot legislate to God what God can and cannot do; how God can and cannot judge the apex of his creation -- mankind and mankind’s attempt to bless God in worship. I do know this, God will judge me according to the very standard with which I judge others (see James 4.11-12). And in this life, if I am forced to choose justice or mercy, I will always seek to err on the side of mercy for the sake of the day when I myself stand before the Righteous Judge.
