Hi, my name is Rick Bloodworth. This is the Common Sense Christian channel, and it's Sunday, so we're gonna have a sermon today, a lesson from the Bible. And the topic I selected for today was musical instruments, and what the Bible says about musical instruments. Now, I say this recognizing the fact that this has been a highly controversial subject for a number of years. As a matter of fact, This is a subject that's literally divided religious bodies through the years. And so it's a fairly serious subject at that. But I do believe we can go to the word of God and we can find out what God, what God has to say about the type of music that he has had in the various dispensations. And maybe it will also help us. with the Christian dispensation as well and how the New Testament church is to worship, or at least we can look back and see how the New Testament worship took place during the first century. And so by doing so, we're going to be able to find out, I believe how the apostles understood the worship, and since they were the ones that were entrusted with the Word of God, they're gonna be a pretty good one to be relying on. And so, let's just go ahead and look at some of the different things that, that God has said about musical instruments down through history. And we'll begin with the Old Testament. The Old Testament has just scores of, of examples of musical instruments being used. Certainly it was part of the, of the worship when we talk about the Law of Moses. And we know this is true because we can read of it within Scripture. And so let's look at 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse 6. And it says this, The priests took their positions, as did the Levites, with the Lord's musical instruments. Notice whom the musical instruments are attributed to. The Lord's musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord, which were used when he gave thanks. So here we see That even though it was David who made the instruments, just like it was the Israelites who made the tabernacle, this appears to be something from God so much so that it was attributed to God because it was called the Lord's instruments of music. And we don't have to really wonder about that because it's even more specific down through the years. In 2 Chronicles chapter 29. In verse 20, we see early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials together and they went up to the temple of the Lord. So here we have the king and his officials going up to the temple. Now look in verse 25 of 2 Chronicles 29. 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. Well, just by looking at that, you might think, well, these were authorized by men, not by God, but keep on reading because it says this was commanded by the Lord through his prophets. So the Levites stood ready with David's instruments and the priests with their trumpets. And so here we see in two different occasions when we talk about the worship at the temple, that they used the Lord's instruments of praise and that the Lord commanded these instruments to be used. So, when we talk about the worship during the time of the Law of Moses we see very clearly that not only were musical instruments acceptable, but they were commanded. What happens if they didn't use them? Well, just look at Leviticus chapter 10 and verse 1 to see what happens when people tried to go outside of God's authorized plan of worship. Leviticus 10 verse 1, Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them, and added incense, and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord. contrary to his command. And so here we see that they have a very specific way in which they're to offer fire before the Lord. And he had commanded that, and yet it says they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So, What happens? What happens when Nadab and Abihu think that they can make the worship a little more special by adding something or taking something away, but doing anything in the worship contrary to God's command? And we don't have to wonder because in verse 10, 2, it says this, So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died. Before the Lord, Moses then said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke of when he said, among those who approach me, I will show myself holy in the sight of all the people. I will be honored. And so when it came to the worship of God during the Old Testament worship, the temple worship, it had to be done. specifically according to the Lord's commandments. And when people went outside those commands, there was a heavy penalty to be paid. In this instance, Nadab and Abihu, the priests, sons of Aaron, the nephews of Moses, were struck dead. They were consumed by fire from God because they acted contrary to the Lord's commandments. Now, how about the New Testament? In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6. Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, Do not go astray. beyond what's written. Then you'll not take pride in one man over against another. For who makes you different than anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you did not? Well, Here, what the Apostle Paul is talking about is, when it comes to serving God, it has to be done in God's way, and they can't change that. If they do, think about this. When people try and change God's commandments, whether it's the commandments concerning the plan of salvation, or the plan of worship, or the plan of For the way we're to live our everyday lives. Whenever there's a change made by man and that man gets followers or that woman gets followers, isn't it true that those followers are taking pride in this man or this woman over other men and women, and especially over God. Because anytime there are changes made to God's plan, we really are giving somebody else preeminence. over God. And so Paul just says, learn the meaning of this, don't go beyond what's written. And so the, the plan in the New Testament was pretty much the same as in the Old Testament as far as the standards. The standards were always, if God commands that we do it, if God doesn't command it, we don't do it. And so this is where we want to, Be a little more specific in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 in verse 15 it says do your best to present yourself to God as one approved a Workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth There are so many people that say you can't understand the Word of God It's just too hard and yet here were commanded to correctly handle the Now, who's right? God who is commanding us to correctly handle his word, or those who say that it can't be understood. Now, in this verse, it also says, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. When we talk about the way we live before God, including in our worship, we're trying to present ourself to God as one approved. And we do so not by listening to the teachings of men, and the controversies that men might have in their teachings, but we do so by going to the Word of God. In Colossians chapter three and in Ephesians chapter five, we have an indication as far as how the New Testament church worshipped when it came to music. In Colossians 3, 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your heart to God. And so here we see that the New Testament church sang. What did they sing? Well, psalms, hymns, other spiritual songs. It was all with gratitude in their heart, but it appears to be something that was always without the benefit of instrument. Now, some will say, well, when you go back to the psalms and you read the instructions that David might say to be used on this stringed instrument or to be sung with this stringed instrument, but that's probably not a really good to go for that anymore than it would be a good place to go and see how they did other forms of their worship. Just because we're singing the words from a Psalm doesn't mean that we worship in the same way that they did. This just talks about singing. It's an a cappella. Bye. or unaccompanied singing that they were commanded to do. And in Ephesians 5 verse 19, 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. So again, here we read about them being commanded to sing. to the Lord. The music was to be in their heart. And so we know that it was something that was not only acceptable, but that it was commanded in the New Testament that they just sing to God as part of their worship. But we don't really know a lot about whether it was wrong not to use musical instruments, do we, as far as can you go outside of them? And so let's explore that a little bit more. In 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 11, as Paul is wrapping up his second letter to the church at Corinth, a place, by the way, he had stayed for a number of years, he said, Finally, my brothers, goodbye. And then he said this, Aim for perfection. The idea is we want to make sure that we're trying to be as close to the mark as possible. We're aiming for perfection. Just like if you're target shooting, you may not hit the center of the bullseye each time, but you're going to be a lot more likely to hit that bullseye if you are aiming for the center. And so we're to aim for perfection. Might we make a mistake? And the answer is, of course, we're still human. But, we need to make sure that we're at least aiming for the bullseye, and not just shooting at random, like some people seem to be doing. Now, as far as, as far as how serious, again, it was, to God for people to stay with his word back under the old law, the law of Moses, Deuteronomy chapter four and verse two, do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord, your God that I give you. And so here again, we see how important it was to them when it came to God's commandments, not to be tinkering with it or, or, or adjusting it. He was, they were just commanded, don't add and, and don't take away from, don't subtract. Why? Well, in Proverbs chapter 30 in verse five, it says every word of God is flawless. He's a shield. to those who take refuge in him do not add to his words or he'll rebuke you and prove you to be a liar. And so here again we have this standard. Don't add to God's word. How come? Because it's without flaw. It was without flaw when the people did it. We're, we're first created and they were just worshiping to the best of their ability as God gave them insight. It was true when the law of Moses was given about maybe 1440 BC and God gave them very specific ways that they were to worship. And it's true for us today as we talk about the New Testament worship. The idea is that we don't want to add to God's word because it's flawless. So we have this. Directive, this instruction that we stay as close to the mark as possible. Remember the passage we looked at in 1 Corinthians where, where the Apostle Paul said, learn from us the meaning of this statement, do not go beyond the mark. And so here we have, have the idea that we're going to try and do our best to stick with what God has written. Now there's something else. We mentioned that in the Old Testament, there's no question that they use musical instruments. It was discussed freely their use of the musical instruments within the temple worship. We see that it was the Lord's instruments. And it was commanded by the Lord. But, but also think about this. We have just a few glimpses of heaven within the New Testament. And yet within those glimpses, we read of musical instruments. Revelation chapter 14, verse 2. Let me stop, start by saying I realize that Revelation is a prophetic book. And sometimes the language is very, And so we can't be exactly certain of everything that we're reading within the prophecy. But this is, this is fairly clear. Revelations 14, 2. Well, here it talks about John hearing a sound like harpists playing harps. Well, it doesn't say they were harpists. It doesn't say they were playing harps. That's true. But now turn to Revelation 15 if you would. In Revelation 15 in verse 2, I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast in his image and over the number of his name. And then look at this. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the Lamb. And so in this vision, John's vision of heavens, he, heaven, he sees people Being given harps by God and they're singing accompanied by those harps. And again, Revelation is certainly going to have a lot of of, of language in it that we cannot understand exactly. It is representative of, of other things sometimes. But again, with just a few references that we have within scripture about heaven, we harp. And so we have this understanding. It does appear that God would not use this example if it were not acceptable to have musical instruments, specifically harps, in heaven. And so we have God commanding them to use musical instruments in the Old Testament. We have God giving people harps, at least symbolically in the New Testament, to be used in heaven. And so, So what now about the church? Because in the New Testament, there's a lot written about the worship within the New Testament church. Now, it's not all in one spot. It's not like the Ten Commandments, where you can kind of go down one by one and read the elements of worship, but scattered throughout the New Testament, we get a very firm idea how the worship took place on the first day of the week. We know that they gathered together, with the specific purpose of taking the Lord's Supper. That appears to be their focal point. We know that there was preaching and teaching and reading from the scriptures. We know that they sang. We know that they, they sang from their heart. They sang psalms and spiritual And and so the idea was that they were definitely singing. But again, we don't read anything about musical instruments here. We know that they prayed in the, in the New Testament worship. They know, we know that they gave of their means on the first day of each week. And so we have a very good idea of what the New Testament worship was composed of. And one of the things that we know was that there was no, not a single. mention of musical instruments. within the New Testament church. Now, there's a couple questions that arise from that. Was this just an oversight by God? Well, since every word of God is flawless, I think we can conclude that God didn't have any oversights within scripture. If he did, it wouldn't be fair, would it? But the second question is this. We know that it's acceptable to worship without musical instruments. We see that they were commanded to worship by singing. But we don't have any commands that say thou shalt not use musical instruments and a lot of people take this as as permission to go ahead and use musical instruments, but let me show you what the early church understood about this. It was not and other religious organizations within the church. We realized that there was not a perfection among men. Once the apostles died, there was no longer any. and instruction from prophets, but we do have the Word of God now in its complete form. And because we have the Word of God in its complete form and we have the New Testament with 27 books and letters, we can go to that and we can know that we have all the instruction that we need. When Paul was talking to, to the church in, in Acts, he said, I've not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Well, we know that the whole will of God was available during the apostle Paul's lifetime. And so it's very reasonable to conclude that the instruction that we have within the New Testament is in fact the whole will of God. And we know that they didn't worship with musical instruments. They weren't commanded to. to worship with musical instruments during the New Testament. So when did all this come about? Well, in 800 or in 700 AD or AD 700, Pope Vitalian, Catholic Pope, added an organ to the worship in the Catholic church. Well, this threatened to divide the Roman Catholic Church so much so that they immediately pulled the organ out, and it wasn't added again until about the year 830 or 800 years after Jesus died on the cross. And it was certainly nearly 800 years, 750 anyway, since the bulk of the New Testament had been finished, 730 years since the entirety of the New Testament had been finished. And so we know that for those years, they weren't using musical instruments, at least within the Catholic Church. And it was something that threatened to split them when they started introducing it. Other, other prominent men, John Calvin, John Calvin is the one who is given credit for for forming the Presbyterian Church. And this is what he said, musical instruments would be no more suitable than the then the burning of incense, lighting of lamps, and restoration of other shadows of the law. So we know that when the Presbyterian church was founded, they did not use musical instruments because they thought that was as unsuitable as bringing in any other Old Testament forms of worship, such as the burning of incense and all the rest of the things that went along with that. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, said this, objection to instruments of music in our chapels, provided they are neither seen nor heard. Well, he was asked what he thought about musical instruments within the Methodist church and he, he just said, no objection as long as they're not seen or heard. In other words, they can't be used within the worship is what John Wesley was saying. Charles Spurgeon Baptist will be familiar with him. Charles Spurgeon was probably the most notable of all Baptist preachers throughout the years. He wrote a set of commentaries that still are a standard amongst Baptist scholars and other people have, have sets of the Spurgeon commentaries. So anyway, he was probably the most notable of the Baptist preachers and commentators. And this is what he wrote. He said, what a degradation to supplant the intelligent song of the whole congregation. by the theatrical prettiness of a quartet, the refined niceties of a choir, or the blowing off of wind from inanimate bellows and pipes, we might as well pray by machinery as praise by it. And so here we see one of the most prominent preachers within the Baptist doctrine, who was very much against the use of, of anything that was other than congregational singing, whether it was quartets or choirs. Or the use of musical instruments another Baptist historian by the name of David Benedict said this staunch old Baptist in former times would have as soon tolerated the Pope of Rome in their pulpits as an organ. in their galleries. And this Baptist historian is just saying from what he could read from their history that musical instruments were not permitted. They wouldn't have been tolerated. Well, it gets even more serious than that when you read of Martin Luther. Martin Luther, we know, was the founder of the Lutheran church. He was also one who, who translated the Bible into German. He was very much responsible for getting the Word of God into the hands of the common people. And this was his understanding. of musical instruments. He said the organ in the worship of God is an ensign of Baal. It's an instrument of Baal. Well, you don't have to wonder how, how Martin Luther felt about that. And then just a general historian. I don't know if he was affiliated with any denomination per se. Maybe you do. If you do put it in the comments, I'd be interested to know who he was affiliated with, if anything in specific. But the, this was a historian by the name of John Spencer Kirwan, and he was a member of the Royal Academy of Music, as well as being the president of one of the colleges in London. And this is what he said through his study of musical instruments throughout church history. And he's talking about recent church history. He writes this in the year 1880. And so it's not as recent for us, but it will show you what he was finding in the year 1880. Men still living can remember the time when organs were very seldom found out of the Church of England. Well, the Church of England always used musical instruments, so far as I know. But, but this historian, John Spencer Kerwin, is saying that they were very seldom found outside of the Church of England. And then he said this, the Methodists, Independents, and Baptists rarely had them, and the Presbyterians were strongly. Opposed. And so here we see that musical instruments have been something that men of note have taken into consideration. And through their study, not just of the word of God, but also of their knowledge of history, including the history of the various denominations showed that this was something that was not universally accepted. And so it's a fairly modern phenomenon. Now, I don't, I don't guess you could call the year 830 modern, but that's certainly 800 years after Christ died before they began to introduce that. And so what's the point? And the point is just this, The New Testament church sang a cappella, they were commanded to sing, and they did sing within the worship. But the churches understood for hundreds of years that they were, this was their understanding, mind you, the churches understood for hundreds of years that they were not to use musical instruments. And so, what does that mean for us? a couple of passages that I think would be helpful as we try and come to a conclusion on this as far as what the Bible has to say about it. And then you can draw your own conclusions before God because you'll answer before God. And certainly we don't have the right to be judging other people as, as, as being going to hell or to heaven based on the way that they worship. But we do need to be cautious. In Romans chapter 10 verse 17, it says consequently, consequently, faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ. And so a lot of times the way people bandy the word faith around today, they use it the same way that some people just use the word belief or even superstition. They believe what they believe because they believe it, but that's not the way faith is. has ever been meant to be. Faith has never been meant to be nebulous, something that you can't quite grab hold of or put your finger on. Faith is something that is solid. It's intellectual. It comes by hearing the word of Christ. In Hebrews chapter 11, we read about all sorts of men and women of faith down through history. And, and the inspired writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 11, Verse six says without faith, it's impossible to please God. And so we have this. We have no commandments within the New Testament to use musical instruments, even though we know that they were commanded under the, the temple worship of the law of Moses to use musical instruments. And so we know we're not commanded to use them. So we know we're okay if we don't, as long as we're singing within our, our, our worship. But we also, it's true, don't have any commandments that forbid the using of musical instruments. per se or specifically. Now, when Paul says don't go beyond what's written, a lot of us take that to mean we can't go outside the, the scriptural instruction on that. And by faith, we, we don't. And so for some people, because they're convinced that it might be wrong to use musical instruments in the worship, they can't. And to force them to do that would be to compromise their faith. Now I'll also say this, those who, who by faith cannot use musical instruments, and I'm sure, I'm, I'm surely one of them, I'll tell you that just, just right off, I, I do not feel comfortable doing that because it's not commanded. And I'm afraid that by doing so, it might. be displeasing to God. So what happens then if it's okay to use musical instruments and it's just not commanded? Well, there's no problem, is there? Whether you use it or not would be a matter of indifference. But what happens if it is, in God's eyes, unauthorized? What Abihu's adding something to their worship or taking something away from their worship? Maybe, maybe an example will help, and I know it's kind of a silly example, but I think you'll see the connection. Suppose you had the offer of two pizzas. You're just starving to death, and somebody offers you a pepperoni pizza, and then they also offer you a pepperoni pizza with extra cheese, thick crust, with mushrooms. And you love that type of pizza. So you say, I believe I'll have the pepperoni pizza with extra cheese, thick crust and mushrooms. But then the person says, Oh, by the way, there's a slight chance that the mushrooms have been tainted and they might kill you if you eat them. Then which pizza are you going to take? Isn't it true that if you're reasonable, you're going to take the pizza that you know is okay to eat as opposed to the one that may or may not be okay? And let me ask you an even more serious question. Which one are you going to serve to your family, to your children, to your friends? Well, it's very likely that if you're reasonable, you're not going to take a chance with poisoning them, so you'll take the one you're sure of. When it comes to musical instruments, it has been a controversial topic. That's, that's granted. And, and many people feel very comfortable using it. They prefer that, just like they might prefer that one peats over another. The question is, what if it's not acceptable? If it's acceptable, it's okay. And maybe if it's not, but God's willing to forgive it, then again, you're okay. But what if it's not? And, and so in, in the minds of many people, myself included, it just seems best to avoid it. That does not mean that we're judging others who use it. I can tell you for a fact, I've got a lot of family members, some of whom have already gone home, who I hope are saved, even though they use musical instruments within their worship, I hope they're saved, but I'm not going to use them just because they did, faith still comes by hearing the words of Christ and we have to try and aim for perfection as closely as we can. I also think we need to avoid judging others. Can we issue a warning? Yes, that pizza might be poison. You might want to take that into consideration, but don't go beyond that. And then you can worship in the way that you are confident in. You can worship by faith and others can as well. We do, I believe, need to issue the caution and we do need to be educated on this because the Bible does have things to say about musical instruments. from the time of the worship under the law of Moses all the way to heaven and so it behooves us to do our best to try and handle the word of God correctly in this area. If we disagree, I hope we can still be friends, but for now, I hope this gives you something to think about. Well, thank you for listening today. I appreciate your tuning in and I pray that God will richly bless you as you seek to serve him in the very best way possible. Thank you.