Three Points From A Brother Worth Considering

I found an article which may be of interest, but is not presented here to “give ammunition” to one side or the other in the “consideration of instruments in worship.”
I have no idea where the article came from, although I think it came from a church bulletin somewhere.

Dad did speak to churches where instruments were regularly used. They kindly omitted the use of instruments while he was there, and he appreciated this. However, he didn’t berate them for their use of the instruments of music, he considered them his brethren… and he treated them as such.

He understood, as do I that it is the blood of Christ that puts one into Christ and His grace is that which keeps one in Christ… and that instruments are not an issue of salvation, even though their use divides many. He believed that the use of instruments and other methods or areas of differences should never… ever… be forced upon a congregation and if one congregation wants to use a certain method… it doesn’t mean all have to.

While Dad never spoke on the subject of “Instrumental Music in corporate worship,” but he thought it presumptuous of brethren who go to such extremes as legislating and trying to invade a Christian’s privacy… and forbid the use of a piano at home in private worship, or listening to Christian music over the radio while driving down the road, or cassette tape recording or cd… Dad believed in God’s grace. He understood and believed that we are not perfect in our understanding of everything in the Bible. He didn’t really hold to the “Better to be safe than sorry” idea… as so many Christians today. Why? Because that is not joyful, confident Christian living. (So while he was traveling down I-75 to Jacksonville to catch a flight to his next meeting, he was probably listening to his favorite singer George Jones singing Gospel songs…)

If you want to be safe rather than sorry… then you may not make it to the church building Sunday morning for fear of doing something wrong… Whatever happened to GRACE, and LOVING EACH OTHER, UNITY OF THE SPIRIT and CHURCH AUTONOMY?

Here is an article Dad found and used in his newsletter on month…

Three points by Tom Lawson, as to why he thought it better (at least occasionally) to leave out the instruments… Tom Lawson, was at the time of this article, the Minister of Music for an Independent Christian Church… (in other words he is a brother in Christ)…  Of course the instrument is used where Tom worked at that time. Well he wrote an article pointing out three advantages of not using an instrument in worship. Here it is…

1. It tends to maintain the central leaders in worship as part of the congregation rather than performers up front. When the music of the worship is the music of the church itself, it seems less likely that we would move from worship, to watching worship. The worth of a particular service is, many times gauged by the quality of the performances. Applause is not merely tolerated, it is expected.
2. It tends to preserve times of silence within corporate worship. Not every moment must be programed with organ or piano music to affect my mood.
3. It tends to preserve simplicity of worship that may be increasingly attractive in our complicated age. I am baffled why some within the Church of Christ would pick this time to move toward inclusion of the instrument in worship. Times of silence may have an attraction as great as the “big performances.”

He then concludes, “To my friends within the Church of Christ, I would encourage you to think long and hard before you join the rest of the evangelical world in this area that so clearly impacts the entire worship service. I find myself wishing that. at least once in a while, we would close up the piano, turn off the organ, unplug the guitars, and just see what happens.”

Personally, I find this quite interesting and not bad at all! Now whether or not you agree with Tom, it seems to this scribe that there are some important things to consider along with this…
1. Brethren can and do often differ, and can still remain brethren based on the fact that they are added BY CHRIST to the body through his blood… not on whether they agree on everything all the time.
2. God IS the Judge in matters where frankly one has to admit, there is confusion even and impressive scholarship on both sides of the music issue.
3. There is such a thing as “Conscience Fellowship,” which does not split and divide the church. No one says you have to worship where the instrument is being used, but Jesus did command all of us to love the rest of us who are blood bought and stand in His grace.
4. Judging and condemning each other doesn’t help… Studying together does!
5. Sometime brethren must simply agree to disagree on a topic of confusion (which may be based on methods of interpretation of silence), and still love each other, and respect each other, and work together on other levels and especially in the area of reaching the lost.
6. Read the article “Black Balling”

These are just some of my thoughts. If you don’t agree, that’s okay… I may not agree with myself in a few days… but at least we can give each other time to study, grow in grace, and change down the road.

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“Black Balling”

There are definitely some things which we DO NOT need to restore which the early church practiced. I am standing firm on this, and you should as well. Now before you get upset, just think about it. What did some in the early church do, which we should not? Well, here is an article which Dad wrote some years ago, and I found it while going through his papers. I am not sure he published it, but I will… It needs to be read…
The article is entitled, “BLACK BALLING”

The idea of assassinating a brother (in Christ) by spurious charges is not new. Simply asking an unanswered question like, “Where was OUR GOOD BROTHER on the night of August 6th,” in order to raise a doubt in the minds of others is an old but still workable trick. Assassination by association is back in style. It is “murder” by grouping. Example: “I was at the zoo recently and saw a monkey, a baboon and brother so and so!” Gossip can often be nothing more than “Guess who I saw sitting at the same table… and they were talking and laughing and seemed to be having lots of fun together.”
The idea of assassinating a brother (in Christ) by spurious charges is not new. Simply asking an unanswered question like, “Where was OUR GOOD BROTHER on the night of August 6th,” in order to raise a doubt in the minds of others is an old but still workable trick. Assassination by association is back in style. It is “murder” by grouping. Example: “I was at the zoo recently and saw a monkey, a baboon and brother so and so!” Gossip can often be nothing more than “Guess who I saw sitting at the same table… and they were talking and laughing and seemed to be having lots of fun together.”
The idea of assassinating a brother (in Christ) by spurious charges is not new. Simply asking an unanswered question like, “Where was OUR GOOD BROTHER on the night of August 6th,” in order to raise a doubt in the minds of others is an old but still workable trick. Assassination by association is back in style. It is “murder” by grouping. Example: “I was at the zoo recently and saw a monkey, a baboon and brother so and so!” Gossip can often be nothing more than “Guess who I saw sitting at the same table… and they were talking and laughing and seemed to be having lots of fun together.”

1. Have I contacted the person or persons about whom I am writing? Have I discussed with them the point of conflict, allowing them to give any detail of conscience or circumstance that may otherwise be unknown? This would allow me the ability to be fair and responsible in my own attitudes.

2. Did I offer them space in my bulletin or periodical to allow them an adequate reply in the same edition?

3. This procedure would allow more room in your journal or publication for positive truths that encourage brethren and build up the church.

4. Following this checklist (might) help do away with much of the labeling and black-listing of brethren/ This would in turn, give us all more “elbow-room” to study truth without fear of the “light” that truth brings. This would produce the climate needed for more open discussion (without pride or malice) of issues that need “ventilating.”

5. Above all, this kind of consideration would would help restore (to some degree) the FIRST (and greatest) commandment of loving God (His Word and truth) and of loving each other (as we love our self) more (Matthew 22:37-40).

Some call it slander, others say libel, or misrepresentation, or “murder.” “He who steals my purse steals trash, but he who robs me of my good name, steals that which enriches him not, but makes me poor indeed” (Shakespeare). However you write it, or whatever you call it, if it results in “consuming each other,” it’s just a matter of time before ”
“We’ll all be made somebody-Else’s dinner!!”

Jack Exum

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