And
whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the
Father by him.
Colossians 3:17
Al Maxey:
Notice
that there are
TWO "audiences" here in this passage: God and One
Another! Paul says
we are to "SPEAK"
to ONE
ANOTHER in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs. This is obviously
referring to an
audible sound, as opposed to
that which occurs
silently in the heart, since men can't read the
hearts of other men
(although many try to do so!!.
However, when our
"audience" is
the LORD, our singing
and psalming are both
IN THE
HEART.
Why? Because God
is not concerned so much with the audible sounds
being made (that is
for OUR benefit), rather He is concerned with the
beautiful "sounds"
coming from the HEART.
Al admits then that
there is
no Biblical authority for external singing. The usual
conclusion is
that because you can sin with modern complex harmony
this gives us
the authority to sin with instruments.
Jesus said that
worship is
"in the spirit" or in the heart or mind and not in the
place of
"worship service." Paul's notices about worship is "in
the spirit"
and prayer is "in the spirit." What the "church" did was
never called
worship but church was synagogue or school of the Bible.
Singing in
our sense of the word was a purely secular activity
because you have
to become somewhat dissociated in order to move into
this very
unnatural form of speech. In addition, external melody
speaks of
twanging bow strings sending singing arrows into your
heart to grind
you into a powder: it is related to the SOP Jesus ground
up for Judas
and the Judas Bag was "for carrying the mouthpieces of
wind
instruments."
See some
Twanging universal connection with warfare and never
with spiritual
worship.
Unfortuantely, Al is
going
to want to add this non-authority for modern singing up
and come up
with authority to make the melody upon a harp and the
one another
singing done by a "team."
God is concerned with
the
SOUND because if it does not TEACH and ADMONISH with
inspired
Biblical material, then it is violating a direct
commandment of
Christ through Paul.
It is true that God is
so
unconcerned about the "artistic" performance of music
that He used a
word or two which explicitly excludes the charismatic
practice of
getting "carried away" with the music which we see was
reserved for
the singing, dancing and drinking festivals or the
end-time Babylon
harlot worship.
Al Maxey:
Brethren,
I think we
have missed something VERY significant here in this
passage. The
"singing and psalming (making melody)" which GOD approves is entirely
SILENT --- it occurs IN
THE HEART. Our praise
unto God is truly offered WITHIN.
First, let's not that
"praise" is not singing but
speaking or
teaching someone about what God has done. Paul didn't
command a
"praise
ritual"
which is the
most ancient superstitious belief that God is aided by
our much
praising. I cannot praise Joe for his hunting skills
without telling
others audibly!
Next, the singing is internal but the 'psalming' is external: when we Teach it has to
be audible; when we
Admonish it has to be audible. Since the teaching
resource is the
inspired Biblical Text, the singing is also external. However, singing to the
Greek mind, would be
ordinary speech which was melodious or highly accented.
The "melody" in an
external
sense in the Old Testament and in the root meaning of
the word is
always destructive: we psallo someone to death by
twanging a bow
string to send an arrow "singing" into the enemy's
heart.
Al Maxey:
The
various
"sounds" which we make are not
what impresses
our God, these are for the benefit and edification
of "one another."
The "sounds" which our Lord finds pleasing to His
"ears" are the
"sounds" which come from our hearts.
If we violate the
direct
command stated over and over about the resources of
teaching (song
and sermon) then what goes on in the heart, however
sincere, is not
heard from God. Jesus said that God seeks worshipers who
worship in
spirit. That means "in the mind or heart." And the
second requirement
is "in truth." If we try to worship with out bodies or
artistic
talent God isn't listening, and if we refused to speak
His Truth then
He does not listen.
He
answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias
prophesied of you
hypocrites, as it is written,
This people honoureth me with
their lips
(and
instruments) but their
heart is
far from
me.
Mk.7:6
Jesus refers to Isaiah
and
Ezekiel where people treated both God and the prophets
as musical
prostitutes: they came to hear the polished voice and
well played
instrument but this was a sign that they were not
interested in the
Word of God.
Al
Maxey: In this way, our deaf
and mute brethren are just as
much in compliance with this directive as are we!!!
And when they
"speak" to one another, they are also in compliance,
for they "speak"
with their hands!!! They too, then, are in full
compliance with the
directive to teach and admonish one another, as this
can be done with
sign language, and they too sing and make melody "in
their hearts" to
the Lord.
Some, not
understanding this,
have condemned the deaf in their worship because
"the Bible says
SING, not SIGN!!"
Absurd!!!
Why do I doubt that? I
think
the objection is usually women "teaching" using sign
language. The
direct command was to teach or preach or communicate:
most often the
preaching in established churches was "reading the
Word." However, if
a signer comes into a hearing congregation and insists
on signing
without an interpreter then he is speaking an unknown
tongue. If the
fellow decides to "sign" with a harp then we can see the
absurdity of
the example.
Al
Maxey: These are the types of
legalistic
restrictions and declarations with which the
church is plagued
when the intent
of this passage is not truly perceived.
Jeses condemned the
Pharisees
because they MADE UP their doctrines. Therefore,
legalistic means
human rules imposed on the church. Instrumental music is
a human
rule. Therefore, adding instruments is the LEGALISM
which you MUST
obey or get out.
Paul didn't restrict
women from
teaching others and they have the other 167 hours a week
to do so.
However, in a public, preside-over or non-sedentary
sense, Paul
restricted the effort. Because the "musical" commands are not
singing but teaching, Paul understood that when everyone has
the
Scriptures they can "give attention to reading the Word"
without
having to have someone interpret for the deaf: why cheat
the deaf by
preachifying or versifying the Words of Christ when they
can have, as
Isaiah 55 claimed, the free word free of charge.
Al
Maxey: Thus, "to the Lord" we
"sing and make melody" in our
hearts; and to "one another" we "speak"
(or "verbalize" or use
signing with our hands)
so that we can all be benefited by the thoughts
conveyed by the
psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
Worship in Truth.
Missed
the point: two
audiences but two functions. To others we speak
audibly because the
command is to teach and
admonish. And God
neither needs to be instructed nor admonished.
Worship in
Spirit.
However,
the singing
and melody is in the heart or spirit which is the only
PLACE where
Jesus said God even seeks us.
The only true
worship word means to "give heed" to Christ by
giving heed to His
Word. If you ADD what was always a pagan way to
silence the Word of
God then you prohibit any worship in spirit.
The word "speak" is
the same
word as preach:
the word sing is often the poetic sound of poetic
language. Paul didn't say "verbalize" by singing
with our mouth
or with our
hands:
he said
verbalize, teach
or preach
and that can only be done with the voice or hands but
never with an
instrument. Indeed, Paul equated speaking in tongues
to instruments
of warfare.
Al Maxey: Indeed, Col.
3:16 points out that our psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs "teach and
admonish one another!" However, the passage says
that "with grace"
you "SING IN YOUR HEARTS to God."
Then that does
not mean
"with grace you sing with your mouth to God." Nor
does the Spirit
intend to say "with harps in your hands." As you
speak the word to
one another the RESULT is singing and melody in the
heart directed to
God.
Al Maxey: What do these
passages teach us? They simply teach that SINGING actually takes place
in the
heart,
when the
audience is GOD.
That is a fact.
Al Maxey: : The psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs have a different
audience (at least
audibly & visibly) -- it is "one another." And in our "speaking" to one another
through these psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs (whether
accompanied or
unaccompanied) we "teach
and admonish" one another.
Now, let's test that:
Paul
told Timothy how to "worship." He said "give attendance
to the public
reading of the word, to doctrine and to exhortation.
Now, "it doesn't
matter
whether accompanied or unaccompanied we read the word to
the others."
But, no, the preacher will not make "accompaniment or
unaccompanied"
an option when HE is preaching: why should Lord Jesus
Christ make it
optional?
Paul said teach or
preach
using the Biblical material: he didn't have to hint
whether it was
accompanied or unaccompanied; we are too smart for that.
However, it is the
little
word "sing" which gets us into trouble but the direct
command is to
TEACH OR PREACH and the singing is in the heart even
though it would
occur externally with any poetic material. A good public
speaker does
not speak monotone. Rather, speaking has a natural
melody about it
and a good preacher would be said to "sing" in the Greek
world.
"Ancient
Greek was a pitched
language, so melody
had to be an outgrowth of the natural inflections of
the spoken
language.
Greek
vowels had long and short values that corresponded
to long and short
notes in the musical settings. Thus musical rhythms
were derived from
metric forms, and melodic movement was governed by
the
natural
rise and fall of
the text.
When you read a
"Greek"
document you "sing" it but not with four part
harmony.
Al Maxey: Remember: the
audience IN THIS CASE is our
fellow man, and not
God! The sounds being made or the motions being seen
are for US; to
OUR edification! That just might make
a difference, when understood,
in what we declare to be pleasing & acceptable
& "authorized"
.... and to whom!!
Edification does
not mean
"makes me feel good or spiritual." That feeling is created
by a quick squirt of
endorphins (morphine within) to heal the hurt created
by complex
harmony. This harmony creates the impulses of "fight,
flight or sex."
When we exercise our right to "sow discord" many
people flee and some remain to fight.
However, the weak and effeminate actually have an
erotic,
climaxing
experience
with
"a god" but not Jehovah. Click to read
the Mother of the "having sex with God praise
craze."
Edification in the Biblical sense is
"house
building." All of the bricks must
come from the
Word of God or we build with straw. We build up the
house by
edification. That is the meaning of "education." And Paul told the Romans
to teach with the
revealed resources with "one mouth" and then wrote:
>
Yea,
so have I strived
to preach
(evangelize) the
gospel, not
where Christ
was
named,
lest I
should
build
upon another mans
foundation: Ro.15:20
At least, that
sounds like
"an approved example."
But having had
the Word
preached to you then what? Why:
>
And
now, brethren, I
commend you to God,
and to
the word
of his
grace,
which is
able to build (house
build or edify)
you up,
and to give
you
an inheritance among all them which are
sanctified. Ac.20:32
We have "grace
singing in
our hearts" when the word sings in our heart.
So, don't let any
one give
you a new set of songs or sermons. All of the
writers warn us not to
accept "private interpretation" which means "further
expounding"
because, first, the word is God breathed and,
second, if you allow
any "cut N paste" slick serpents will wrestle the
Word to your and
their own destruction:
That their hearts
might be comforted, being knit together
in love, and unto all riches of
the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God,
and of the Father, and of
Christ; Col 2:2
In
whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. Col 2:3
And this I say,
lest
any man should
beguile you with
enticing words. Col 2:4
For though I
be
absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the
spirit, joying and
beholding your order, and the stedfastness of
your faith in Christ.
Col 2:5
As ye have
therefore
received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in him: Col 2:6
Rooted and
built
up in
him,
and
stablished in THE
FAITH, as ye have been taught, abounding therein
with thanksgiving.
Col 2:7
PISTIS (G4102) pis'-tis;
from 3982;
persuasion, i.e. credence; mor. conviction (of
religious truth, or
the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher),
espec. reliance upon
Christ for salvation; abstr. constancy in such
profession;
by extension
the
system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: -
assurance, belief, believe, faith,
fidelity.
Don't let
professionals GET
ACCESS to your "spirit" which is the only place
worship can take
place as it gives heed to the Word or spirit of
truth:
FINALLY, my
brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same
things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is
safe. Phil 3:1
Beware of
dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. Phil 3:2
For we are the
circumcision,
which worship God in the
spirit, and rejoice
in
Christ Jesus, and
have
no confidence in
the flesh. Phil 3:3
It is not
possible to worship
God in the new PLACE of the human spirit which was
washed and made
into A holy spirit at baptism while listening to
people refusing to
teach that which has been taught or "that which is
written" in Romans
15
Rather than
being like Christ,
who refused to pleasure or be pleasured in a
homosexual sense of
Dionysus attack by the Jewish clergy, almost all
forms of worship
OUTSIDE of the mind or spirit would be like
breaking down the walls
or the sheepfold to let the wolves in to FEED ON
the lambs.
All performers
in the
worship of most were dogs or catamites or male
homosexuals.
Beloved, when I
gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you, and exhort
you that ye should earnestly contend for THE FAITH which was once
delivered unto the saints. Jude 1:3
For there are certain
men crept in
unawares, who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men,
turning the
grace
of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the
only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus
Christ. Jude 1:4
Lasciviousness
is:
Aselgeia (g766)
as-elg'-i-a; from a comp. of 1
(as a neg. particle) and a presumed selges , (of
uncert. der., but
appar. mean. continent); licentiousness
(sometimes including other
vices): - filthy, lasciviousness, wantonness
And
delivered just
Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the
wicked: 2Pe.2:7
For when
they speak great
swelling words of vanity, they allure through
the lusts of the flesh,
through much wantonness, those that were clean
escaped from them who
live in error. 2Pe.2:18
But the
heavens and the earth,
which are now, by the same word are kept in
store, reserved unto fire
against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly
men. 2Pe.3:7
M. Tullius Cicero, Orations:
for his house, Plancius,
Sextius, Coelius, Milo, Ligarius,
XIX.[44] But
in Marcus Caelius
(for I will speak with the greater confidence of
his honourable
pursuits, because, relying on your good sense, O
judges, I am not
afraid freely to confess some things respecting
him) no luxury will
be found; no extravagance; no debt; no
lasciviousness; no devotion to
banquets or to gluttony. Those vices, forsooth,
of the belly and the
throat, age is so far from diminishing in men,
that it even increases
them. And loves, and those things which are
called delights, and
which, when men have any strength of mind, are
not usually
troublesome to them for any length of time, (for
they wear off early
and very rapidly,) never had any firm hold on
this man so as to
entangle or embarrass him.
[46] Do you
suppose that there
is any other reason, why, when the prizes of
eloquence are so great
when the pleasure of speaking is so great, when
the glory is so high,
the influence derived from it so extensive, and
the honour so pure,
there are and always have been so few men who
devote themselves to
this study? All pleasures must be trampled
underfoot, all pursuit of
amusement must be abandoned, O judges; sports
and jesting and
feasting; yes, I may almost say, the
conversation of one's friends,
must be shunned.
And this is
what deters men of
this class from the labours
and studies
of oratory; not that their abilities are
deficient, or that their
early training has been neglected. [47] Would
Caelius, if he had
given himself up to a life of pleasure, while still a
very young man, have instituted a
prosecution against a man of consular rank?
would he, if he shunned
this labour, if he were captivated by and
entangled in the pursuit of
pleasure, take his place daily among this array of orators? would he court
enmities? would he
undertake prosecutions? would he incur danger to
his life? would he,
in the sight of all the Roman people, struggle
for so many months for
safety or for glory?
Flavius
Josephus, Against Apion
(ed. William Whiston, A.M.) BOOK II
Again: Why is it
important
to teach that which you have been taught? Over and over, Paul and
Peter insist on
using the inspired Word for two reasons:
First, the word
is inspired
by God. Second, if you open up the process to
another "teacher" you
are certain to be deceived:
Beware lest any
man
spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments
of the world, and not after
Christ. Col 2:8
That means songs
which "you
have not been taught by Christ."
>
As
newborn babes,
desire the sincere
milk of the word,
that ye may grow
thereby: 1 Pe. 2:2
Ye also, as
lively
stones, are
built up a spiritual
house, an
holy
priesthood, to offer up
spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. 1 Pe. 2:5
By him therefore
let us offer
the sacrifice
of praise
to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to
his name. Heb.13:15
This does not
define a
legalistic 'praise ritual."
Edification is
not "my
feelings" but it is education and the resource for
teaching and
"singing" is the Word of Christ or Spirit or "that
which is written."
Singing our own songs deliveres the universal
message of music to
God: "We don't want to hear your songs anymore."
Paul did not tell
the
Corinthians to do all things but to do things which
edify: only the
Word can build the house.
Al Maxey: IM itself, in
my view, is not a
sin.
God nowhere
declares it to be a sin, therefore it is rather
presumptuous of ME to
do so. God never makes it a salvation or fellowship
matter, thus
neither shall I. I really hope you'll reflect upon
the "two
audiences" in view in the two passages by Paul. I
think it will make
a vast difference in our view of some things!!
The issue is
this: if Christ
came into your presence to speak to you and you got
out your fiddle
while He was speaking would that be a sin?
Of course not,
God never
said "thou shalt not fiddle while I am speaking."
Most of the
world's older
scholars held a different view based on facts:
"The triumphal
hymn
of Moses had unquestionably a religious character
about it; but the
employment of music in
religious services,
though
idolatrous, is more
distinctly marked in the festivities which attended
the erection of
the golden calf." (Smith's Bible Dictionary, Music,
p. 589).
This is self
evident: "worship"
means to give
heed
to God through His
Word in the New Testament. For instance, the Lord's
Supper is not an
"act" but it becomes our worship when we honor
Christ's Word.
If we "give heed"
to the
musicians "standing in the holy place" then we are
worshiping the
performers. This is idolatry. If Al can tolerate
idolatry then
instrumental music is ok. But, again, all ancients
saw the musical
twanging or ringing sound as proof that the gods
lived inside the
musical instrument. Therefore, instruments were made
in the form of
the female, a bull, a penis or some other "animate"
article.
The
instruments were the idols.
Click
to see what happened at Mount Sinai:
Ephraim Syrus On Our Lord notes
that
Sinai was a test. The Israelites were consummate
idolaters in Egypt.
However, God gave them one more shot at the Abrahamic
Covenant. By
removing Moses as a visible "authority figure" He wanted
to let them
answer their own prayer:
18. But when their
heathenism from being inward
became open,
then Moses
also from being hidden openly
appeared; that he might openly
punish those
whose heathenism had revelled beneath the holy cloud
which had overshadowed them.
But God removed the
Shepherd of the flock from it for
forty
days,
that the flock
might show that its trust was fixed upon the calf.
And he was there
in
the wilderness forty
days tempted of Satan;
and was with the wild beasts; and the angels
ministered unto him.
Mark 1:13
While God was feeding the
flock with all
delights, it
chose
for
itself as its
Shepherd
the
calf,
which was not
able even to eat.
Moses who kept
them
in awe was removed from them, that the idolatry might cry
aloud in their
mouths,
which the
restraint of Moses
had kept down in their hearts. For they cried: Make
us gods, to go
before us.
19. But when Moses came down, he saw their heathenism revelling in the wide plain with drums and cymbals.
Speedily, he put
their madness
to
shame
by means of the
Levites and drawn swords.
So likewise
here,
our Lord concealed His
knowledge for a little
when the sinful woman approached Him, that the Pharisee might form
into shape his
thought, as his
fathers had shaped the
pernicious calf.
Of the Musical
worship
condemned by Amos:
"we recognize
the same
elements: the sacrifices and libation, the cultic feast in which the
congregation gets a share of food and
drink after it has been blessed by the king, and the merry-making, now in the form of instrumental and vocal music. But the central act of
the ritual, which was
performed
by the
king,
is called
literally 'drinking' the
god
(Gurney, O. R. Some
Aspects of Hittite
Religion, p. 33-34,
Oxford University Press, 1977)
"In the New
Testament there is nowhere any emphasis laid on the
musical
form
of the hymns; and in particular
none on
instrumental
accompaniment whereas this is significantly
paganism." (Delling,
Gerhard, Worship in the New Testament, trans. Percy
Scott Phil.
Westminster press, 1962, p. 86).
Job represents
many parallel
passages associating musical play with telling God:
"We had just
rather not listen to your words."
- Why do the
wicked live and become old,
- Yes, become
mighty in power? Jb 21:10
- They send forth their
little ones like a flock,
- and their
children dance. Jb 21:11
- They take (make
insurrection) the timbrel and harp,
- and rejoice
at the sound of the organ. Jb 21:12
- They spend their days in
wealth,
- and in a
moment go down to the grave. Jb 21:13
- Therefore they say unto God,
- Depart
from us;
- for we
desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Jb 21:14
- What is the
Almighty, that we should serve him?
- and what profit
should we have, if we pray unto him? Jb
21:15
Trying to worship a
Spirit
God with the works of human hands has always been evil:
it says to
God, "Our songs are better than your songs" and making
the people
"feel" the drug high from music is more important than
teaching the
Words (Spirit) of Christ.
Strabo
Geography 10.3.16
Of the rites of Dionysus condemned by Paul in
First Corinthians using the
"weapons" of warfare or even the metallic chisel to
help with the
clangs and booms to bring down the gods:
"And he mentions
immediately afterwards the attendants of
Dionysus:
one, holding in
his hands the
bombyces, toilsome work of the turner's chisel,
fills full the
fingered
melody, the call that brings on frenzy,
while another
causes to
resound the bronze-bound cotylae.
"and again,
stringed instruments raise
their shrill cry, and frightful mimickers from some place
unseen bellow like bulls, and the semblance of
drums, as of subterranean
thunder (underlying bass), rolls
along, a terrifying sound.
THOUGH I speak
with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am
become as
sounding brass, or a tinkling
cymbal. 1 Cor 13:1
Echeo (g2278( ay-kheh'-o;
from 2279; to make
a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.
And there
shall be
signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the
stars; and upon the
earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the
sea and the
waves
roaring Lu.21:25
Echos (g2279) ay'-khos; of
uncert. affin.; a
loud or confused noise ("echo"), i.e. roar: fig. a
rumor: - fame,
sound.
For ye are not come unto the mount
that might be touched,
and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness,
and darkness, and
tempest, Heb 12:18
And the
sound
of a
trumpet, and the voice
of words; which voice
they that heard
intreated
that the word
should not be spoken to them any more: Heb.12:19
Brass is: Chalkos (g5475) khal-kos';
perh. from 5465 (great gulf)
through the idea of hollowing out as a vessel (this
metal being chiefly used for that
purpose); copper (the substance, or some
implement or coin made of
it): - brass, money.
A hi-tek
"familiar
spirit."
AUGUSTINE: on the Morals of the
Manichaeans
riducules them for believing that the gods
came out of
brass
and other things
by rubbing
or
abrading (making melody
with them). Augustin uses figurative language much
like Paul's
warning that our melody must never be external but in
the
heart:
Augustine on the
Psalms noted
that making melody external is a work which David
always performed
trying to find God whom he believed had become lost:
"Make melody unto
the Lord upon the harp: on the harp and with the voice of a
Psalm"
(ver. 5). Praise Him not with the
voice only; take up
works,
that ye may
not only
sing,
but
work
also.
- He who
singeth and worketh,
- maketh
melody with psaltery and upon the harp.
I have no opinion. I
have no
right to an opinion. But, I honor God by listening to
God and,
thankfully, He has unplugged my ears and opened my eyes
because I
seek (worship) Him in spirit (mind) and in truth (His
Word and not my
opinion.)
And, somehow, along
with all
of the world's scholarship until the latter day
prophets, I somehow
see the "music" as not a worship to the Spirit God word.
On the
contrary, along with all of the world's scholarship I
see the "music"
word as a sign that people have turned their mind away
from God and
they are not going to be able to turn back. One pastor
confessed that
all of the music and instrument words in the Bible have
bitter or
even Satanic roots. However, God saw how successful the
Devil was and
decided to reveal to us that "music" is really a good
idea after
all.
Kenneth
Sublett
Musical Worship
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