Don McClain65th St church of Christ 1 The importance of worshipping God in spirit & truth – John...

Don McClain 65th St church of Christ

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The importance of The importance of worshipping God in worshipping God in spirit & truth – John spirit & truth – John

4:24!4:24!• The reality of “FALSE” worship!

• The “PURPOSE” of worship!

• Some general principles governing our worship!

The Lord’s SupperThe Lord’s Supper

The CollectionThe Collection

The importance of The importance of worshipping God in worshipping God in spirit & truth – John spirit & truth – John

4:24!4:24!• The reality of “FALSE” worship!

• The “PURPOSE” of worship!

• Some general principles governing our worship!

The Lord’s SupperThe Lord’s Supper

The CollectionThe Collection


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Ephes. 5:19 (NKJV) Ephes. 5:19 (NKJV)

speaking to one speaking to one another in psalms and another in psalms and hymns and spiritual hymns and spiritual songs, singing and songs, singing and

making melody in your making melody in your heart to the Lord, heart to the Lord,


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What Are The

Grounds of

Objecting To

Mechanical

Instruments of

Music In Worship?

Not Because:Not Because:

They are evil in They are evil in and of themselves and of themselves --

Merely preference Merely preference --

But Because:But Because:

There is no There is no authority for using authority for using mechanical mechanical instruments of instruments of music in music in worship . . . Col worship . . . Col 3:173:17


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Matthew 26:30Matthew 26:30 (NKJV) (NKJV)

And when they had And when they had sung a hymnsung a hymn, they went out to the , they went out to the Mount of Olives. Mount of Olives.

Acts 16:25Acts 16:25 (NKJV) (NKJV)

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing singing hymnshymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Romans 15:9Romans 15:9 (NKJV) (NKJV)

and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: "For this reason I will confess to You among it is written: "For this reason I will confess to You among

the Gentiles, And the Gentiles, And sing to Your namesing to Your name."."


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1 Cor. 14:151 Cor. 14:15 (NKJV) (NKJV)

What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will and I will also pray with the understanding. I will singsing with with

the spirit, and I will also the spirit, and I will also sing with the understandingsing with the understanding. .

Hebrews 2:12Hebrews 2:12 (NKJV) (NKJV)

saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren;saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren;

In the midst of the assembly I will In the midst of the assembly I will sing praisesing praise to You." to You."

[[13:1513:15] Therefore by Him let us continually offer the ] Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice ofsacrifice of praise praise to God, that is, the to God, that is, the fruit of our lipsfruit of our lips, ,

giving thanks to His name.giving thanks to His name.


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speaking to one speaking to one another in psalms another in psalms and hymns and and hymns and spiritual songs, spiritual songs,

singing and making singing and making melody in your heart melody in your heart

to the Lord, to the Lord,

Speaking?Speaking? To one another?To one another? Psalms, hymns & Psalms, hymns &

spiritual songs?spiritual songs? Singing?Singing? Melody is to be made Melody is to be made

– but how?– but how? To please Whom?To please Whom?


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speaking to one speaking to one another in psalms another in psalms and hymns and and hymns and spiritual songs, spiritual songs,

singing and making singing and making melody in your heart melody in your heart

to the Lord, to the Lord,

. . . The heart always going with the lips. It is a shocking profanation

of Divine worship to draw nigh to God with

the lips, while the heart is far from him. It is too often the case that, in

public worship, men are carried off from the

sense of the words by the sounds that are put

to them.

Adam Clarke


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Col. 3:16 (NKJV) Col. 3:16 (NKJV)

Let the word of Christ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all dwell in you richly in all

wisdom, teaching and wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing spiritual songs, singing

with grace in your hearts with grace in your hearts to the Lord. to the Lord.

Teaching?Teaching? Admonishing?Admonishing? One another?One another? Psalms, hymns, & Psalms, hymns, &

Spiritual songs?Spiritual songs? Singing?Singing? W/ grace in your W/ grace in your

hearts?hearts? To the LordTo the Lord


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The singing which is here recommended is widely different from

what is commonly used in most Christian congregations; a

congeries of unmeaning sounds,

associated to bundles of nonsensical, and

often ridiculous, repetitions, which at

once both deprave and disgrace the Church of

Christ. . . .

Adam Clarke


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. . . Melody, which is allowed to be the most proper for devotional

music, is now sacrificed to an exuberant

harmony, which requires, . . . different musical

instruments to support it. And by these

preposterous means the simplicity of the Christian worship is destroyed, and

all edification totally prevented.

Adam Clarke


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We are told We are told what to sing what to sing (Eph. 5:19).(Eph. 5:19).

1) "Psalms"1) "Psalms" - the heritage of the Jews which expresses deliverance, thanksgiving, etc.

2) "Hymns"2) "Hymns" - songs of praise, reverence and adoration.

3) "Spiritual Songs"3) "Spiritual Songs" - a song which correctly expresses the thoughts, facts, and emotions of Christianity.


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We are told We are told what to sing what to sing (Eph. 5:19).(Eph. 5:19).

We are told We are told how to sing:how to sing:

1) With spirit and understanding (1 Cor. 14:15).

2) With melody in the heart (Eph. 5:19).

3) With grace in the heart (Col. 3:16).


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David Had & David Had & Used Them – Used Them – 1 Chr 23:51 Chr 23:5

• What about animal sacrifices, the burning of incense, and the Passover. (Amos 5:21-23; 6:5)

• We are no longer under the Old Testament – we are under the New Testament. (Col. 2:14; Gal. 5:4; Heb. 10:9-10)

• We must find authority for all that we do in the New Testament. Col. 3:17; 2 John 1:9


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Harps are in Harps are in heaven – Rev heaven – Rev

5:85:8 • Literal harps?

• What are the golden bowls of incense?

Rev. 5:8 (NKJV) Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a

harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Other things in Other things in the contextthe context – –

The scroll, (1-4), The scroll, (1-4), The throne, The throne, Lamb, seven Lamb, seven horns, eyes & horns, eyes &

spirits, (6)spirits, (6)

Other things in Other things in the contextthe context – –

The scroll, (1-4), The scroll, (1-4), The throne, The throne, Lamb, seven Lamb, seven horns, eyes & horns, eyes &

spirits, (6)spirits, (6)


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5:85:8

Psallo – Psallo – includes includes

mec. mec. InstrumentInstrument

Vincent Word Studies:Vincent Word Studies:

• A psalm [psalmos], was originally a song accompanied by a stringed instrument. . . . The idea of accompaniment passed away in usage, and the psalm, in New-Testament phraseology, is an Old-Testament psalm, or a composition having that character. (Col 3:16)


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5:85:8



Thayer Definition:Thayer Definition: ψαλλω - psallo

1) to pluck off, pull out

2) to cause to vibrate by touching, to twang

2a) to touch or strike the chord, to twang the strings of a musical instrument so that they gently vibrate

2b) to play on a stringed instrument, to play, the harp, etc.

2c) to sing to the music of the harp

2d) in the NT to sing a hymn, to celebrate the praises of God in song


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5:85:8



There is an There is an instrument instrument specified:specified:

Ephes. 5:19 (NKJV) . . . singing and making melody (psallo) in your heart to the Lord,


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Making melody on a piano! Entertainment!

The InstrumentThe Instrument –“Singing –“Singing Making melody in your Making melody in your

heart to the Lord”heart to the Lord”

Patriotic songs, holiday jingles, secular songs -

The Kind of SongsThe Kind of Songs – – “Psalms and hymns and “Psalms and hymns and

spiritual songs,”spiritual songs,”

Solos & Choirs! Playing instrument!

The ParticipantsThe Participants –“one –“one another”another”

ExcludesExcludesSpecified:Specified:


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Making melody on a piano! Entertainment!

The InstrumentThe Instrument –“Singing –“Singing Making melody in your Making melody in your

heart to the Lord”heart to the Lord”

Patriotic songs, holiday jingles, secular songs -

The Kind of SongsThe Kind of Songs – – “Psalms and hymns and “Psalms and hymns and

spiritual songs,”spiritual songs,”

Solos & Choirs! Playing instrument!

The ParticipantsThe Participants –“one –“one another”another”

ExcludesExcludesSpecified:Specified:

These change the type (nature, characteristic) of the music

“specified.” God Specified:

The Participants – The Kind of Songs - The Instrument to be Used

-


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5:85:8



An expedient, An expedient, like a pitch like a pitch

pipepipe

ExpedientsExpedients

•Pitch pipes, Pitch pipes,

•Song books, Song books,

•Song leader.Song leader.

Nothing God requires is changed by

using such aids


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5:85:8



An expedient, An expedient, like a pitch like a pitch

pipepipe

ButBut - If a mechanical instrument of music

is used, it is an additionaddition - the type

(nature, characteristic) of the music “specified” is

changed. The The instrument is instrument is

specified – The specified – The Heart!Heart!


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Justin Martyr (A.D. 139): "The use of [instrumental] music was not received in the Christian churches, as it was among the

Jew, in their infant state, but only the use of plain song. . . . Simply

singing is not agreeable to children [the aforementioned Jews], but singing with lifeless

instruments and with dancing and clapping is. On this account the use of this kind of instruments

and of others agreeable to children is removed from the

songs of the churches, and there is left remaining simply singing."


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Tertullian (c. A.D. 200):

"Musical concerts with viol and lute belong to Apollo, to the Muses, to Minerva and

Mercury who invented them; ye who are Christians, hate

and abhor these things whose very authors

themselves must be the object of loathing and

aversion."


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Eusebius (260-340): "Of old at the time those of the

circumcision were worshiping with symbols and types it was not

inappropriate to send up hymns to God with the psalterion and

kithara . . . But we in an inward manner keep the part of the Jew,

according to the saying of the apostle . . . [Romans 2:28f]. We render our hymns with a living

psalterion and a living kithara, with spiritual songs. The unison voices

of Christians would be more acceptable to God than any musical instrument" (Comments on Psalm

92:2-3).


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Augustine 354 A.D."musical instruments were not

used. The pipe, tabret, and harp here associate so

intimately with the sensual heathen cults, as well as with

the wild revelries and shameless performances of the degenerate theater and

circus, it is easy to understand the prejudices against their

use in the worship." (Describing the singing at Alexandria

under Athanasius)


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Chrysostom (345-407): "Just as the Jews are

commanded to praise God with all musical instruments so we are commanded to praise him with all our members-the

eye, the tongue, ear, the hand. These instruments were then allowed because of the weakness of the people, to

train them to love and harmony" (Comments on

Psalm 150)..


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Thomas Aquinas (1225 -1274)

"Our church does not use musical

instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise

God withal, that she may not seem to

Judaize" (Thomas Aquinas,

Bingham's Antiquities, Vol. 3, page 137)


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John Calvin "Musical instruments in celebrating the

praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense,

the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the

law. The Papists therefore, have foolishly borrowed, this, as well as

many other things, from the Jews. Men who are fond of outward pomp may

delight in that noise; but the simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostles is far more pleasing to him.

Paul allows us to bless God in the public assembly of the saints, only in a known tongue (I Cor. 14:16) What shall we then say of chanting, which fills the

ears with nothing but an empty sound?" (Commentary on Psalms 33)


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Martin Luther (1483-1546)

"The organ in the worship Is the insignia of

Baal… The Roman Catholic borrowed it from

the Jews." (Martin Luther,

Mcclintock & Strong's Encyclopedia Volume VI,

page 762)


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John Wesley(1703-1791)

'I have no objection to instruments of

music in our worship, provided they are neither seen nor

heard." (founder of Methodism)


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Adam Clarke - (?1760-1832)"But were it even evident, . . . that

instruments of music were prescribed by divine authority under the law, could this be adduced with any semblance of reason, that they ought to be used in Christian worship? No; the whole spirit, soul, and genius of the Christian religion are against this; and those who know the Church of God best, and what constitutes its genuine spiritual state, know that these things have been introduced as a substitute for the life and power of religion; and that where they prevail most, there is

least of the power of Christianity. Away with such portentous baubles from the worship of that infinite Spirit who requires His followers to worship Him in spirit and truth, for to no

such worship are these instruments friendly." (Clarke's CommentaryVol. II, pp. 690-691.)


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Adam Clarke - (?1760-1832)"I am an old man, and I here declare that I never knew them to be productive of any

good in the worship of God, and have reason to believe that they are productive of much

evil. Music as a science I esteem and admire, but instrumental music in the house of God I abominate and abhor. This is the abuse of

music, and I here register my protest against all such corruption of the worship of the

author of Christianity . . . John Wesley, who was a lover of music, and an elegant poet, when asked his opinion of instruments of

music being introduced into the chapels of the Methodists, said in his terse and powerful manner, 'I have no objections to instruments

of music in our chapels, provided they are neither heard nor seen.' I say the same."

(Adam Clark, Methodist)


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Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)

"David appears to have had a peculiarly tender remembrance of

the singing of the pilgrims, and assuredly it is the most delightful

part of worship and that which comes nearest to the adoration of

heaven. What a degradation to supplant the intelligent song of the

whole congregation by the theatrical prettiness of a quartet, bellows, and pipes. We might as

well pray by machinery as praise by it...


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Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)

. . . 'Praise the Lord with harp.' Israel was at school, and used

childish things to help her to learn; but in these days when Jesus gives

us spiritual food, one can make melody without strings and pipes... We do not need them. That would hinder rather than help our praise. Sing unto him. This is the sweetest and best music. No instrument is like the human voice." (Charles

Spurgeon (Baptist), Commentary on Psalm 42.)


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William Conybeare"Throughout the whole passage there

is a contrast implied between the Heathen and the Christian practice… When you meet, let your enjoyment consist not in fullness of wine, but fullness of the spirit; let your songs

be, not the drinking songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and

their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart; while you sing them to the

praise, not of Bacchus or Venus, but of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Conybeare and Howson, Life and Times of the Apostle Paul,

comment on Eph. 5:19).


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The verb, _äù is also used for sing, Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Revelation 5:9; 14:3; 15:3. . . . In Ephesians 5:19 we have both verbs. The

noun øáëìüò psalm (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 14:26), which is etymologically akin to this verb, is used in the New

Testament of a religious song in general, having the character of an Old Testament psalm; though in Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26, ›ìíÝù ,

whence our hymn, is used of singing an Old Testament psalm. Here applied to such songs improvised under the spiritual ecstasy (v. 26). Some think that the verb has here its original signification of singing with an instrument. . . .

But neither Basil nor Ambrose nor Chrysostom, in their panegyrics upon music, mention instrumental music, and Basil expressly condemns it.

Bingham dismisses the matter summarily, and sites Justin Martyr as saying expressly that instrumental music was not used in the Christian Church. The

verb is used here in the general sense of singing praise.

Vincent’s Word Studies: Vincent’s Word Studies: Vol. 3: Vol. 3: The Epistles of Paul – 1 The Epistles of Paul – 1

Cor. 14:15Cor. 14:15


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Book Chapter Book Chapter & Verse – & Verse –

says sing – says sing – not play not play

No authority No authority for for

mechanical mechanical music in music in worshipworship

History History testifies to testifies to

the NT the NT church’s kind church’s kind

of musicof music


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Without mechanical Without mechanical accompaniment is accompaniment is

right – to which right – to which everyone will agree! everyone will agree!

Songs directed Songs directed toward God, (toward God, (i.e. i.e.

songs of worshipsongs of worship), ), With mechanical With mechanical accompaniment accompaniment

cannot be done by cannot be done by faith! (2 Cor 5:7; faith! (2 Cor 5:7;

Rom 14:23) Rom 14:23)


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Don McClain65th St church of Christ 1 The importance of worshipping God in spirit & truth – John...

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