Instruments of Praise

Introduction

Today we are focussing on making the scriptural case for acapella singing in worship.

There are many foundations that we are building on today that we don’t have time to go back and reestablish.

For more thorough treatments of how we establish authority, I’d be happy to study those things further or to direct you to the many sermons we have on our website that deal with those concepts.

We are starting with the premise that we believe we have the complete and accurate revelation of God in the Bible as we have it today

The Regulated Pattern

Before the law we have a few instances of instrumental music used in worship (Ex. 15:20)

Moses specified the usage of music in the Law (Num. 10:1-10).

When the place of worship became stationary, many jobs of the Levites were discontinued (1 Chron. 23:25-26).

So David organized them in other duties including playing instruments (1 Chron. 23:1-5).

This was not mere preference (2 Chron. 29:25-27; 7:6; 1 Chron. 16:42).

This was the pattern appealed to over and over again:

Solomon (2 Chron. 5:11-13; 8:14)

Jehoiada (2 Chron. 23:18).E

Josiah (2 Chron. 35:4, 15).

Zerubabbel and Jeshua (Ezra 3:10).

Nehemiah (Neh. 12:24, 35-36).

God has always regulated his public worship even in regard to the specific musical instruments used. There is no record in Scripture of a musical instrument ever being used in public worship without an explicit divine command. - John Price

Melody in the Heart

The New Testament gives us a pattern to follow (Eph. 5:19).

We cannot act outside the level of specificity God has revealed (Heb. 7:14).

The heart is given as the instrument for the melody.

If another instrument is implied (by psallo) then that instrument is required, not optional).

We might add Col. 3:16 to show a parallel between this heart melody and thanksgiving in the heart.

Plucking the strings of the heart, which we might say describes gratitude is what is called for here.

In a passage that includes songs in a discussion of spiritual gifts, the gift of musicianship is not included (1 Cor. 14).

As to what songs, how to know them, what tune they may be set to, He has not specified.

Conclusion

This is fundamental to the nature of what we are trying to do here at Pepper Road. We want to look back for a pattern of how God told His people to operate.

Then we want to follow that. This is always what has been done when people come to serve God at any time or place.

If you are here this morning and want to be a Christian, there is no other way to accomplish that than by looking back to see how people became Christians in the first century.

Anything else is just doing what some man said and slapping the Christian label on it.