Why worship?

1) Suppose someone asked us a short but thought provoking question.

2) Suppose sometimes this coming week a person asked us, “why worship”?

a) If we believe in a living and eternal God, why worship Him?

b) Some might respond by saying He has told us to worship Him.

c) This answer would be true. Could we say anything else?

d) We could, and we might say that worship is an activity that strengthens our ties to fellow Christians.

e) Virtually every aspect of our worship is designed to connect us to our brethren.

3) This Sunday, as well as every other, we take up a collection.

4) When collections were taken in the first century, Paul spoke about how money helped bond people together.

a) Those who gave were creating a relationship with those who received.

b) The receivers felt a bond with those who had contributed money to help meet their needs.

c) Even in the world we find this relationship.

d) Donors and the groups receiving the donations forge ties and bonds.

5) When it comes to the Lord's Supper, the Bible also refers to this word as the “communion” (fellowship).

6) We have fellowship with Christ in the Lord's Supper, but also one another.

7) As a body of people we remember together Jesus’ death together; this is a group activity.

8) When it comes time for religious instruction, all are able to listen and consider what is presented.

9) When it comes time pray, one leads but all the others follow along.

a) Another aspect that we find in regard to worship is song.

b) In the churches of Christ (and a few other groups), there is singing without man made instruments.

c) If a few people are using man made instruments, that type of music is always limited to those few.

d) If music comes from singing, all can do it.

e) Congregational singing is certainly the picture that we get in the New Testament regarding music.

f) Not long before the New Testament was instituted Jesus and His disciples “sung a hymn” (Mt. 26:30).

g) Someone might say they sang because did not have any type of man-made instrument with them.

h) Matthew had some reason for making the statement that he did.

i) After the church was established two preachers were in jail.

j) According to Acts 16:25, Paul and Silas sang hymns while they were in a cell.

k) It was Paul who wrote the book we know as Romans.

l) Rom. 15:9 says “I will sing unto thy name.”

m) Another book written by this same apostle is First Corinthians.

n) 1 Cor. 14:15 says “sing with spirit and understanding.”

o) Col. 3:16; Heb. 2:12; and Jas. 5:13 all deal with this same subject (singing).

10) In Eph. 5:19, yet another text, Paul spoke about “singing from the heart.”

11) For a long time lots of religious people believed this passage meant exactly what it says.

12) God said sing from the heart (the innermost part of our being) and people did that.

13) Even well known denominational preachers in the past accepted this verse for what it says.

a) One well known preacher who was not associated with the churches of Christ was John Calvin.

b) Calvin said musical instruments would be as suitable for praising God as burning incense or lighting lamps.

c) John Wesley is another well known preacher from the past.

d) He said he was not opposed to organs as long as they were not “seen or heard.”

e) Adam Clarke was a well known and respected commentator from a previous century.

f) He said he had become an old man and an old minister and never knew instruments to be productive in worship.

14) These men are note the basis for determining truth or helping us understand right and wrong.

15) No man is our religious authority; God and the Bible are.

16) They simply demonstrate that 200 years ago a lot of people had drawn a conclusion about instrumental music.

17) That is, God authorized singing and singing only; instrumental music was not part of heaven’s will in worship.

18) Charles Spurgeon was a very well known Baptist preacher; some of his books are still in print.

19) He was asked why he had preached for 20 years in London and instrumental music was not used in worship.

20) He cited 1 Cor. 14:15, a verse I want to read – READ.

a) Spurgeon said he would be as disposed to “pray to God with machinery as he would to sing with machinery.”

b) Similar comments have been made on passages like Eph. 5:19.

c) Instead of making “melody on a harp,” God said “make melody with the heart.”

d) Hundreds of years passed before any worship known as “Christian” had instrumental music.

21) There is a reason for this; God said music is to come “from the heart.”

a) This is a very specific type of statement.

b) Under the Old Testament system, there were arrangements that we might compare to a choir.

c) During the Old Testament period instrumental music was used and even commanded.

d) The emphasis during the time of the Law of Moses was “on how it sounded.”

e) In the New Testament things are different; now worship is to involve all.

f) Just as our giving, prayers, teaching and communion involve all, so such is to be true of our music.

g) There is now a strong emphasis on the “heart” (from within ourselves) instead of an outside source.

22) A lot of people struggle with this and much of the struggle seems to be based upon the inability to divide the Bible.

THE BIBLE IS DIVIDED INTO TWO BASIC PARTS, THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW TESTAMENT.

a) The subject of the heart is found in both testaments.

b) God wanted the heart involved when the Law of Moses was in place.

c) The heart takes on a whole new significance in the New Testament.

d) One of the books that demonstrates this is Hebrews.

e) In Heb. 9:1-10 we read about “fleshly ordinances.”

f) Jews had a physical structure (for a while this was the tabernacle and later it was the temple).

g) The Hebrews had a designated place to worship; under the New Testament this is no longer true.

h) Under the Old Testament system the priests wore special clothing. This was described in detail.

i) There is no type of special clothing for teachers and preachers with the New Testament system.

j) Lamp stands were part of the Old Testament arrangement.

k) Today religious groups light candles and other things, but we do not find these items in the NT.

l) Incense was burned when the Law of Moses was in effect; some today still do this.

m) There is not a single verse that describes New Testament worship for life on this earth where incense is involved.

n) Animals were sacrificed by the thousands when Moses’ law was in effect.

o) After the New Testament was instituted, an animal never had to be again sacrificed.

p) Most do not have too much difficulty with the idea of getting rid of animal sacrifices.

q) That’s messy, bloody, and probably smells bad.

r) Because of blood, mess, smell and cost, people seem to say, “get rid of animal sacrifices.”

2) When it comes to special clothing, there are those who seem to reason, “We like that idea. Let’s keep it.”

3) Others like candles and incense so they say, “We want to retain these two items.”

4) Another group looks back to the temple or tabernacle and likes the idea of having a special holy place.

5) They therefore lay claim to some building or structure as being “holy ground.”

6) The Old Testament system which had these things is gone.

a) Rom. 10:4 says “Christ is the end of the law.”

b) Earlier in Romans (the 7^th chapter) Paul said “we have been joined to another.”

c) All the trappings that were part of the Old Testament era have been removed.

d) They were part of a system that pointed to something better.

e) For a time man had to live with the inferior so the superior (the NT) could come.

7) Part of that inferior system was making music with man made instruments.

8) With the New Testament system, we now make “church music” with the best instrument ever made (the human voice).

9) Refusing to do this or adding to it reaches back to a religious system that no longer exists.

a) God now says “make music from the heart.”

b) In the book of Hebrews (13:15) it speaks of praising God with the fruit of our lips.

c) It baffles me how people can never seem to believe that God meant what He said.

d) God wants us to use the body He gave us to praise Him.

e) The part of the body He has asked for is not our fingers to pluck guitar strings.

f) He has not asked for hands to manipulate drum sticks.

g) Neither did He just say “make music.” God said the “fruit of our lips.”

h) In Eph. 5:19 the apostle Paul said “make melody with the heart.”

10) What these two passages say should not be all that surprising.

a) In recent weeks we have seen the importance of the heart.

b) Jesus once said that it is from the “heart that the mouth speaks” (Mt. 12:34).

c) Our heart is the sole and core of our being.

d) What comes out of the heart can defile a man (Mt. 15:18).

e) While this is true, the reverse is also right (what comes from the heart can also honor and praise God).

f) Consider too what the Lord said in Mk. 12:33 – Jesus spoke about “loving God.”

g) How did Jesus say that we love the Lord? We love Him with “all our heart.”

h) Our obedience is “from the heart” (Rom. 6:17).

i) We do the “will of God from the heart” (Eph. 6:6).

j) We are to “love one another from the heart fervently” (1 Pet. 1:22).

11) When there is a band of some type of an instrument of music, some things are altered.

12) First, there is a “them versus us” mentality.

a) Listen sometime to people talk about their worship.

b) You will hear things like I have heard. “The band was great today. The choir was wonderful.”

c) Statements such as that point to an almost spectator mentality.

d) Eph. 5:19 says “speaking one to another” (all are supposed to participate).

e) Choirs and bands also require a certain level of skill.

f) I was part of the school band program for several years in school; my role was a saxophone player.

g) My hope was to be a drummer. I gave that band director multiple sales pitches to be a drummer.

h) No matter what I said the answer was no, no, no, no, and no.

i) I was a good sax player but drumming was not my strong point.

j) If a man can smack a drum but not play that instrument, who would want him?

k) No religious group or band would welcome someone who can just pound on a drum.

l) What the world wants and has is performance based worship.

m) What the religious world wants and uses is entirely at odds with what we have in the Bible.

13) A second issue with using man made instruments is the lack of emphasis on the heart.

14) A person may come out of a service and say, “I really enjoyed that” and they are probably right.

15) What they are not saying, however, is this.

16) “I worshipped God today from the very core of my being.”

17) “I reached into the deepest part of myself and gave of myself to God.”

18) This is what God wants, and He has told us how to do it.

19) One place He has told us about this is Eph. 5:19 – “sing and make melody in the heart.”

20) This is why Heb. 13:15 can refer to singing as a “sacrifice” of praise.

a) A sacrifice costs something; it requires effort; something noticeable is given.

b) This is what God wants us to accomplish in this part of our worship.

c) From the very private part of ourselves we reach inside and offer with our voices praises to God.

d) God indicates to us this a beautiful gift, and we can understand why that is.

e) Imagine receiving a letter from someone that is heartfelt communication.

f) A person has reached deep down within themselves to communicate something to us.

g) We notice that type of thing and we appreciate it.

h) God says we can and we are commanded to do this with our singing.

21) When people realize this, adding an instrument corrupts the beauty of the gift.

22) God has asked for our heart, not a drum, piano, harp, organ or even a series of trumpets.

23) Will we give that to Him in both our day to day life as well as our worship?

24) The process begins by becoming a Christian; we must “obey from the heart.”