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Viewpoint Brief Bible Studies #35 & #42

JESUS calls US to be
members of His church

hand reaching out
e-mail address

The Christian religion is the worship and service of Jesus Christ. It’s not Mary we worship, but her Son. We worship neither saints, angels, a law code, nor even God’s Spirit. It’s JESUS who is to be honored. The Bible is our guide.

When we Really Don't Like Church Music,
Are We Never Free To Say So?
(Additional comments about Viewpoint study #27)
Musical Tastes Differ, but all love God!

> From: King Computer Assoc. or David or Amy King
> To: OCS Ray Downen <outreach@sofnet.com>
> Date: Thursday, July 17, 1997 4:33 AM

> Ray,   Just a note from one who belongs to a different generation. I am a musician. I studied at OBC <<NOTE -- Ozark Bible College in Joplin MO where Amy's parents and I were students together long before Amy studied there>>. I love the hymns. I love the Oratorios. I am a real fan of Bach. My favorite radio station plays classical music. Baroque is one of my favorite periods.

   Yet, I appreciate those "trite" choruses <<NOTE -- Choruses come in both trite and non-trite flavors. I hope I've never said that ALL "worship choruses" are trite and unmusical just because SOME of them are.>> and do not find them at all unmusical. The words cannot be surpassed as many quote scripture directly. <<For some people, the English of 400 years ago is not the English understood or spoken today.>> We do not know what music was attached to these psalms. Is our 20th century music so inappropriate? <<In some cases, yes.>>

   I believe David and Paul would have applauded us rather than condemning us. <<NOTE -- If I don't like "your" music, does that mean I'm "condemning" YOU?>>

   I wonder if perhaps your personal opinion of modern music has clouded your judgment of what is appropriate and beneficial in a Sunday Worship Service. <<Ray -- Note that I find nothing in the Bible that should lead Christians to have a "Sunday Worship Service.">> (Please take no offense. As noted above "pop" is not my favorite style either. I'm sure my Mom <<Ray -- Amy refers to her mother and my friend, Henrietta Luttrell>> doesn't entirely share my opinion either as she "teethed" on other music as well.) -- Amy L. King


    Amy,   Thanks for sharing. I know that many, both of  your generation and of mine, do find pleasure and  satisfaction in singing some "praise choruses." Pentecostals have done so for many years. Now many in our churches also do. Over and over and over and over.

     But I'm convinced that it's a mistake to invest our time in things of less merit than those things which formerly were our choice. I'm sure we are not O.T. Christians, but rather aim at being N.T. Christians. Except as God inspired prophets and apostles to speak to His people, the first generation of Christians had no access to divine guidance separate from the O.T. Especially in those first years when only Jews were invited to become followers of the Way, it indeed is probable that some of their music was in some ways similar to most of these "praise choruses" now in vogue.

    Always allowing for differences in the culture then and there and our American-style culture today. The instruments were different. So far as I know, they used little harmony and much antiphony. Allowing for differences, they may have sung even some of the very words which some are today finding appropriate and inspiring to them.

    But I'm convinced that Christians should sing to glorify and honor JESUS rather than just the Father. So far as I know, O.T. words can refer to Jesus only in prophecy. We are NOT practicing Jews in our liturgies. Why would we want to go back to Jewish music in congregational song services? Nor are we children to delight in overly-simple melodies and harmonies.

    We find exactly NO record of the early church being told to gather for WORSHIP services. Nor are we commanded to invest great deals of our time in meeting together TO worship. Early Christians met especially to PRAY on some dire occasions. They met to "break bread" (which likely included the Remembrance Supper but was not limited to it). And then, in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, which is about the beginning and end of where Christian assemblies are discussed in the Bible, Paul emphasizes the corrections that need to be made in their meetings. He points out that the PURPOSE for their coming together was to edify one another, and demands that ALL must be done to edify -- understandably and unmistakably.

If Paul's advice is followed, as I believe it should be, I don't want that observer of whom Paul speaks to find me engaged in puerile practice of repetitious ditties.

    If it's children whose minds we seek to engage, then children's choruses are very appropriate, complete with clapping and motions. If it's adults we seek to edify, I strongly believe we should engage the minds rather than pretend all are immature and must be led by the hand by "worship leaders" who have replaced song leaders in most of our congregations.

    Thanks again for sharing!!! Keep in touch, please.   Study #42 follows --

Musical Tastes Differ, but all love God! (Part 2)
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> From: King Computer Assoc. or David or Amy King
> To: OCS Ray Downen
> Subject: Re: "Worship" for Amy et al
> Date: Friday, July 25, 1997 5:28 AM

> Ray,   Thank you for your most recent missive concerning worship. I am relieved to know that you do not discount the need to worship God. Of course we are to worship in the "temple of the Holy Spirit."

> As to the five acts of worship, are they: teaching, fellowship, communion, prayer, and praising God? I'm not familiar with the term. I don't believe that any specific pattern for Christian worship is given, but I do believe that certain examples from the Old Testament can be a guide. That is not to say we should reserve those activities for Sunday gatherings. They should be daily occurances in our private quiet times, with our families, as we gather informally with friends, and in corporate settings with the body of Christ. Nor must each activity take place each time.

> I do think the Psalmist was right on the money when he asserted that it is by thanksgiving that we come into God's presence. What better way to adjust our attitude? Perhaps I should say that we begin to sense again God's presence when we thank Him for our daily blessings. Of course we are always in His presence. And doesn't praising God make it easier for us to receive His Word for us and obey it? If I am mad at God, I'm not likely to pay much heed when He speaks.

> I believe assembling together and praising God provides several benefits to those present:

    1) Re-affirms, publicly, our stand for God;
    2) Gives encouragement to the others present in their stand;
    3) Gives witness to the "great cloud of witnesses" of our stand -- be they angelic or demonic;
    4) Encourages us that others believe as we do; and
    5) Speaks loudly and boldly to the world that we stand for God.

> Even the Psalmist said he would praise God before "the nations" (gentiles or unbelievers).

> Although the Old Testament was fulfilled when Christ came, it has not been nullified. We need not continue the sacrifices or temple worship since those are now unnecessary, but God's desire for our fellowship and worship has not changed. Nor has our need to publically declare our position.

> There is strength in numbers. Ecclesiastes 4 states that clearly. We need each other -- not just on Sundays, but throughout the week.

> Even if gathering to worship is not commanded (I don't believe it is), it is certainly not inappropriate.

> Thank you once again for your comments.

Amy L. King

Amy,   Thanks for thinking with me. You say many good things about worship and Christian "togetherness." Cecil Hook preached in anti-musical-instrument churches throughout his "career" as a preacher. He's now retired. He's my (spiritual) brother, but his usual fellowship has been with folks who, unlike you, are very familiar with a way of thinking which says that five "acts of worship" are to be performed in "authorized" Christian gatherings, and no other acts are permitted there. Normally, they pick up four "authorized" acts from Acts 2:42 (some insisting that they must be performed in the sequence Luke uses) and add singing because they want to.

You may wonder why my writing is intended to take into account our cousins in "anti" churches. Why do we need to know how and what they think? We could just write about any subject we're interested in and omit their thinking as of no importance. But of course we can't. No more than I can IGNORE the thinking of ones who don't know anything about the brethren whose ideas on worship are shaped by various ideas brought over from the O.T.

You suggest God WANTS us to meet for worship, perhaps. Yet the only way we can know what God wants is for Him to tell us. It's not good for us to decide His preferences based on OUR preferences, or to forget that it's us made in HIS image, not Him in OUR image. We have NO good reason to go to the O.T. to learn what God wants Christians to do. He didn't forget how to speak clearly during the 400 years between Malachi and Matthew (Mark was likely the first N.T. book written, I hear, but they're printed with Malachi as last and Matthew as first, so I'll use that figure of speech).

God HAS SPOKEN (through Paul) to tell us what He wants in Christian gatherings. It's not from the psalms of the O.T. that we learn what God wants Christians to do. At least that's how I see it. The O.T. prophets spoke to live people then, and explained for God what God's desires were -- for THEM.

AFTER we thoroughly digest and put into practice what God's prophets to the N.T. people told US to do is the best time to turn to the O.T. directives to find out what God wants done. I'm appealing to you and all other Christians to shape your preferences by what the New Testament calls for rather than by different emphases from the O.T.

Most N.T. prophets spoke with no record being kept of their messages. But we have Paul's words. The three chapters of 1 Corinthians (12-14) in which he addresses how Christians in Corinth should conduct their meetings give us far more insight into what God wants of us than all the O.T. writings combined do. We'll have all eternity in which to worship and praise God. Here, he wants us to direct our attention to how to SERVE Him and how to help one another do it. Nothing in the N.T. encourages us to do our worshipping in crowds. It's testifying and sharing with PEOPLE that WE are called to do. Is it not so?

You suggest that our assembling in our church-owned buildings will be a powerful witness to the world that we stand for God. How many politicians and power-brokers of this world will be swayed by the comparative few who meet in our church houses? I really can't agree that our having a good time in our church houses makes much impression on anyone who isn't there with us. Perhaps some do take notice when something like the Promise Keepers rallies fill sports arenas once a year. Few notice if a few hundred local folks get together on a Sunday morning like they did the week before and will the next week.

We are to be salt and light IN our communities -- not in our buildings. Luke found newsworthy in early days what was done by God's people. Little of what he reported on was done in "church services." Most of it was done in the church serving and reaching out, and Luke didn't bother to report it if any congregation at that time had their own building!

And here's another view of "worthy" church music
from Rick Prugh (on 7/14/97 & again on 8/10/98)

      Ray -- Musical taste is probably the most opinion-filled area you could tackle. It is heavily influenced by age, custom, and individual preference. The repetition you dislike is obviously favored by others. This sounds a lot like the "Old songs vs. the New Songs" opinions expressed. It is my perception that these opinions are roughly divided along age lines, just like secular music tastes.

      "Nobody can sing like Elvis Presley." "The kids today don't know what real music is. Now, Frank Sinatra was real music." These, of course, are representatives of some of the comments one might hear in discussing music with someone of different ages.

     That principle also applies to the church. "This modern worship music is just not as good as a hymn written by Fanny Crosby." "These new songs just can't beat those old gospel songs like 'When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.'" Many of these opinions on old and new music, old and new worship styles, KJV and NIV, and tradition-bound vs. freedom-thinking seem to generally fall in camps divided at an age boundary of about 55 years old.

      Of course, there are exceptions to this as people, regardless of age, appreciate the beauty of music or worship styles or bible versions or traditions, whether old or new. Therefore, I am of the belief that we should incorporate songs of various ages and tastes into our worship services to edify as many people as possible. Those over 55 may have to endure a few choruses of "Awesome God" and those under 55 will keep singing "Old Rugged Cross" as we submit to each other in love. In this way the beauty and faith of the past builds to the beauty and faith of the future.

      Some call this a matter of tolerance. I say it is a matter of love.

      In Christ,    Rick Prugh

From: rprugh@mebac.umr.edu ~ Date sent: Mon, 10 Aug 1998
Subject: Re: Viewpoint Study #42

Ray, It's been awhile since I've written to you. I have to agree that our primary purpose for gathering together is to encourage each other, stirring up love, and encouraging good works. (Heb. 10:25) Of course, there are examples where Christians gathered to worship together (Acts 2:42, Acts 20:7, etc.), [Ray remarks -- They came together, and no doubt praised God while together, but do these texts say they came together for that purpose?] but I don't see anywhere in the New Testament a direct command to assemble together for purposes of worshipping.

However, when Christians came together, they worshipped, not as the result of a command, but out of love and gratitude for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 8:13 - 9:10 makes it very clear that regulations for worship were part of the Old Law, and not the New Covenant. That may explain why there is no Leviticus in the New Testament. That pretty much rules out the "Five Acts of Worship" limitation, especially when combined with Romans 12:1 that says the worship God wants is our service. The rules for the assembly given in I Corinthians 11-14 are fairly similar to how you should conduct any meeting with other human beings. General principles of love for others should govern our assemblies. Boiled down to basics, the New Testament rules for the assembly seem to be: 1) Don't do things in a chaotic (disorderly) fashion; 2) Don't (mis)treat your brother or sister disrespectfully by doing things like not sharing food or playing favorites based on dress or position. Neither of these actions are based in love or are profitable for encouraging each other and preparing for good works.

Some of the worship passages in Psalms and other places, have nothing to do with the worship regulations which were nailed to the cross. They simply reveal how people of that time and place expressed themselves in worship, but aren't to be regarded as binding or to be ignored. If these individual expressions were pleasing to God then, they can be pleasing to God now, as long as they are done to his glory. (I Cor. 10:31) Paul even kept the sacrifices and helped other Christian brothers keep sacrifices that were a part of the Old Law's Nazarene Vow, to the glory of God (Acts 21:20-26). This was no longer necessary, but was still done to the glory of God because of the Jewish Christians who were still zealous for the law.

Therefore, if hand clapping, hand raising, etc. were natural, individual, worship expressions pleasing to God in the Old Testament, they can still be pleasing to God, if done to his glory, and not done as a worship requirement. They shouldn't be done if they are a major divisive element, though. By the same token, they shouldn't be prohibited because they don't fit into our tradition, or our perceived list of "New Testament Worship Regulations."

Your brother in Christ, ~ Rick

<<Rick, Thanks for sharing again. I feel sure that we need to make sure that those present for our assemblies realize they're more than spectators. As spectators, we're used to clapping as applause when the performers finish a performance we like (or making displeasure known in various other ways).

<<When we go to "church" nowadays, chances are we'll have theatre seating (eiher in pews or chairs) in rows facing the performers. We're expected to act as polite hearers do everywhere. If pumped up by an emcee, we're to laugh or applaud. We're there to be entertained or sometimes to listen to a lecture and learn.

<<Some feel this is the way it should be. I don't. Thanks for explaining again your view of what our guidebook leads us to want to do for God when we meet together.>>


          Brief Bible Study #35 and #42 from Ray Downen. To go back to Viewpoint's first page, click < here.   Or here to go on to Viewpoint Study 36. For Ray's concluding remarks, click HERE.