Text: Colossians 3:16-17<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. Worship is a solemn occasion<\/p>\n
A. We mentioned in past lessons that worship is<\/p>\n
1. The bowing down before the Almighty God<\/p>\n 2. It is the sense of reverence, fear, and awe when we realize we are in the\npresence of God.\n
3. It is the service we give as servants to our Great Master.<\/p>\n
B. Singing is not an option<\/p>\n
1. It is commanded of all Christians – Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16<\/p>\n
2. There are people who decline to sing for one excuse or another.<\/p>\n
a. How then is that worship?<\/p>\n
b. “Oh, I know God commanded it, but my voice isn’t that good.”<\/p>\n
c. Reminds me of Moses – Exodus 4:10-11<\/p>\n d. What reverence and awe is being displayed by one who willfully\ndisobeys a direct command?\n C. If we are going to approach worshiping God properly, it requires that we spend\ntime think about that worship.\n
1. Those who lead the worship need to spend time planning it. <\/p>\n a. Yes, I know there are times you are asked at the last minute to fill\nin, but most of the time we have the opportunity to plan.\n b. Yet, how often do we see song leaders planning the message they\nare presenting to the congregation?\n 2. Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 – We often quote this verse in reference to making\npromises to God, but consider the broader meaning\n
a. Far too many come to worship focused on “me” instead of God<\/p>\n
b. They don’t put forethought into what they are doing<\/p>\n
c. They forget about who they are worshiping<\/p>\n
II. The essence of songs is communication<\/p>\n
A. I Peter 2:9 – We were chosen to proclaim God’s excellencies.<\/p>\n
B. Ephesians 5:19 – Speaking to one another in song<\/p>\n C. Hebrews 2:11-12 – The importance of singing praise in the assembly – to show we\nare not ashamed..\n
1. This is a quote of Psalm 22:22-31<\/p>\n a. Notice who the terms of worship, reverence, awe, fear, and serving\nGod are intermixed in this passage.\n b. Notice that the Hebrew writer speaks of singing where the psalmist\nspeaks of praise. \n (1) The word used in the Greek is one we get the word “hymn”\nfrom. It means to celebrate God in song.\n (2) The Hebrew, while literally meaning “to shine” and\ngenerally translated “praise”, does contain the idea of\nsinging in its root word. \n 2. Singing was an important part of Hebrew worship. We just don’t often\nnotice because “singing” is a buried meaning in the idea of praising God. It\nis how praises were given.\n
3. It is important in our worship – Hebrews 13:15<\/p>\n
D. It is not merely saying words, but meaning them.<\/p>\n
1. God requires worship from the heart – Mark 12:30<\/p>\n 2. When the Israelites failed to do this, they were justly condemned by God –\nMalachi 1:6-14\n
a. They offered second best<\/p>\n
b. They approached worship as a burden<\/p>\n
c. In reality their worship was a burden to God – Isaiah 1:13-14<\/p>\n
3. Jesus condemned the Pharisees for the same – Matthew 15:9<\/p>\n
4. Proper worship is expressed in Psalm 69:30-31<\/p>\n
E. Our time together is to be encouraging – Hebrews 10:23-25<\/p>\n
1. Singing is an important part of this encouragement. <\/p>\n
2. The words are important. The melody helps us remember.<\/p>\n a. How many recall the books of the Bible by singing to yourself\n“Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; Acts and the letter to the\nRomans”?\n
III. Our goal is to worship, not to …<\/p>\n
A. Entertain ourselves and others<\/p>\n
B. Become a professional choir<\/p>\n
C. Showcase our talents<\/p>\n
IV. Our goal in singing is …<\/p>\n
A. To obey God’s command to sing<\/p>\n
B. To serve God by actively participating in worship<\/p>\n
1. Remember we are all priests, and priests offer up worship before God.<\/p>\n
C. To worship God from the heart<\/p>\n
1. Psalm 103:1<\/p>\n
2. Psalm 9:1-2<\/p>\n
D. To offer a sacrifice of praise from our lips<\/p>\n
E. To encourage each other<\/p>\n
V. What kind of music did God ask for?<\/p>\n
A. New Testament music<\/p>\n
1. Matthew 26:30 – They sung a hymn, Mark 14:26<\/p>\n
2. Acts 16:25 – Paul and Silas sang in jail<\/p>\n
3. Romans 15:9 – I will sing to your name<\/p>\n
4. I Corinthians 14:15 – I will sing with spirit and understanding<\/p>\n
5. Ephesians 5:19 – Sing and make melody to the Lord<\/p>\n
6. Colossians 3:16 – Sing with grace in your hearts to God<\/p>\n
7. Hebrews 2:12 – I will sing Christ’s praise in the congregation<\/p>\n
8. James 5:13 – If you are cheerful, sing praise<\/p>\n B. There are no verses indicating that the New Testament church used instrumental\nmusic\n
VI. What kind of music did the early church use?<\/p>\n A. These Biblical verses should be sufficent, but it sometimes we can affirm what we\nknow is true through history.\n B. Instrumental Music in the Worship, M.C. Kurfees, 1950 – “We know that\ninstruments preformed an important function in the Hebrew temple service and in\nthe ceremonies of the Greeks. At this point, however, a break was made with all\nprevious practice, and although the lyre and flute were sometimes employed by\nthe Greek converts, as a general rule the use of instruments in worship were\ncondemned. Many of the fathers, speaking of religious song, make no mention of\ninstruments; others, like Clement of Alexandria and St. Chrysostom, refer to them\nonly to denounce them.”\n C. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Samuel\nMacauley Jackson – “Because the organ was a means of enjoyment by society in\ngeneral, its use was rejected in early Christian circles.”\n D. A History of the Christian Church, Lars P. Qualben – “Singing formed an\nessential part of the Christian worship, but it was in unison and without musical\naccompaniment.”\n E. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, John\nM’Clintock – During later periods, “neither Ambrose, nor Basil, nor Chrysostom\nin the noble encomiums which they severally pronounced upon music make any\nmention of instrumental music. Basil indeed, expressly condemns it as\nministering only to the depraved passions of men . . . Even Gregory the Great,\nwho towards the end of the sixth century added greatly to the existing church\nmusic, absolutely prohibited the use of instruments.”\n F. Do we see a pattern here? The fact that the New Testament was silent on the\nmatter of instruments was taken as a commandment by early Christians to forbid\nthe use of musical instruments in worship.\n
VII. So why is instrumental music used today?<\/p>\n A. Various attempts are mentioned in history at introducing musical instruments into\nthe worship.\n 1. The earliest mention attempt was by Clement in Alexandria during the\nsecond century where he suggested substituting the harp to prevent the use\nof the wordly sounding flute. As the earlier quotes show, this move was\nrejected by the church as a whole.\n 2. “Pope Vitalian is related to have introduced organs into some of the\nchurches in Southern Europe about A.D. 670, …” Pepin, the king of the\nFranks, then placed one into the Church of St. Corneille at Compeigne and\nCharlemagne had one installed at Aix-la-Chapelle. Upon its introduction,\nit nearly threatened division in the Roman Catholic Church, so it was\nremoved to preserve the unity of the church.\n 3. It was later introduced a second time and the objections were ignored and\noverridden.\n B. What is the Church of Christ?, V.E. Howard – “In the Greek church, the organ\nnever came into use [though it has been added recently], but after the eighth\ncentury it became common in the Latin church, not, however, without opposition\nform the side of the Monks — the reform church discarded it; and though the\nchurch of Basil very early introduced it, it was in other places admitted only\nsparingly and after long hesitations.”\n
C. Notice the introduction was gradual, having to overcome many objections.<\/p>\n D. Jackson – “Smaller organs were at first employed before singing classes,\nespecially in cloisters, to fix the correct tune.”\n E. “It was used in the churches, first, to give the key-tone, then to accompany vocal\nmusic alternatively, and finally also to prefix a prelude a hymn.”\n
VIII. History repeats itself<\/p>\n A. “In the Dallas Morning News of June 3, 1995, an article by Helen Parmley\nreported that many churches of Christ are interjecting mechanical music into their\nworship assemblies. An interview with the ‘Music Minister of the Farmer’s\nBranch Church of Christ’ revealed that this church has begun the use of\nmechanical instruments of music in their worship.\n“This article also reported that other churches of Christ in the Dallas area have\nbegun using mechanical music in their special programs but have not moved them\ninto the worship assemblies for fear of alienating older, more traditional thinking\nmembers. The music director of another large Dallas church, who asked not to be\nnamed, said, ‘We are moving ahead. The banning of musical instruments is\nmore of a tradition than something based on Scripture.’\n B. Does this sound familiar? Does it sound like a repeat of the actions taken during\nthe seventh century?\n
IX. Is accapella singing, which by the way means “in the style of the church”, just a tradition?<\/p>\n A. We noted at the beginning that the only style of music mentioned in the New\nTestament in connection with worship is singing.\n
B. The Bible claims to contain every good work – II Tim. 3:16-17, II Pet. 1:3.<\/p>\n C. The Bible warns us to prove all things and all people – I Thess. 5:21-22, I John\n4:1\n
D. The Bible tells us to speak only as God would have us speak – I Pet. 4:11<\/p>\n
E. To go beyond God’s teaching is to abandon him – II John 9, Gal. 1:6-10<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFundamentals of Christianity\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Singing Text: Colossians 3:16-17 I. Worship is a solemn occasion A. We mentioned in past lessons that worship is 1. The bowing down before the Almighty God 2. It is the sense of reverence, fear, and awe when we realize we are in the presence of God. 3. It is the service we give as servants to our Great…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":26590,"menu_order":14,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-65265","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26590,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/fundamentals-of-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":65265,"position":0},"title":"Fundamentals of Christianity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Fundamentals of Christianity by Jeffrey W. Hamilton The Purpose of Learning A New Life The Church Church (Universal) Governance The Apostles The Prophets Church (Local) Tasks Preachers Elders Deacons Teachers Membership The Family of God Worship Praying Singing The Lord's Supper Giving Attendance Studying Standards of Authority What Would God\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70043,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/visit-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":65265,"position":1},"title":"Visit the Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Visit the La Vista Church of Christ Meeting Times Sunday 9:30 am Bible Study 10:30 am Worship Service 5:00 pm Worship Service Wednesday 7:00 pm Bible Study Address: La Vista Church of Christ 8920 Granville Parkway La Vista, Nebraska 68128 phone:\u00a0402-339-1318 email:\u00a0minister@lavistachurchofchrist.org Who We Are We are a church of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250127_174142-scaled.avif","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250127_174142-scaled.avif 1x, https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250127_174142-scaled.avif 1.5x, https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250127_174142-scaled.avif 2x, https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250127_174142-scaled.avif 3x, https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250127_174142-scaled.avif 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65234,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/fundamentals-of-christianity\/worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":65265,"position":2},"title":"Worship (Fundamentals)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Worship I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What is worship? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Worship is \u201can active response to God whereby we declare His worth.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In fact, the word \u201cworship\u201d is a modification of an older word, \u201cworthship.\u201d Worship means \u201cto attribute worth\u201d to something or someone. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we say \u201che worships his money\u201d or \u201cshe worships her grandchildren\u201d,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7592,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/mens-training-class\/song-leading\/","url_meta":{"origin":65265,"position":3},"title":"Song Leading","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 17, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Song Leading Introduction The song leader fills an important role. 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