Christ Assembly

March 17, 2011

Worship and Music:

Instruments of Praise

1 Chronicles 16:5-6

Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals, and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

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Eternal Life

     I saw another friend of mine at the beach recently.  He talked with me about his view of “karma,” meaning to him that if you do bad things to others, bad things will happen to you.  I mentioned to Him the Biblical doctrine that Jesus Christ died for all my sins, so that I live without condemnation from God (Romans 8:1) and that I have peace with God because I believe that Jesus died for all my sins (Romans 5:1).  I certainly have done many bad things to other people, but the punishment for all my sins fell once and for all upon Jesus Christ, and He paid the full price of my sins upon the cross.  Nothing is coming back to me.  He suffered the wounds from my sin in my place.  Jesus fully satisfied the righteous justice of God and bore the full anger of God I deserved for my sins.  Because of Jesus dying for me, I want to worship and praise Him.

       In many American assemblies, musical instruments play a greater role in praise and worship. Yet some assemblies do not associate music with worship at their breaking of bread service.  They think of the Lord Jesus in the upper room with His disciples breaking bread, without music. 

       In 1 Chronicles 16:5,  we read about the musicians David appointed to serve as ministers before the ark of the LORD.  We can compare these names with 1 Chronicles 15:16-24 to see the various musical instruments these men used.  Asaph, the chief and also a singer, played aloud cymbals of bronze (1 Chronicles 15:19).  Zechariah played a harp, tuned to alamoth (1 Chronicles 15:20).  Jeiel played the lyre tuned to the sheminith (1 Chronicles 15:21).  Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Eliab, Benaiah, played harps tuned to alamoth.  Mattithiah, Obed-edom,  and Jeiel played lyres tuned to the sheminith (1 Chronicles 15:21).  Beniaiah and Jahaziel blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God (1 Chronicles 16:6). These men stand in the Biblical Musical Hall of Fame.

       So we learn more about Biblical worship today.

        ●  We learn that Biblical worship involves musical instruments.  We can worship without musical instruments, but God has a special place for musical instruments and skilled musicians and singers in His worship.

        ●  We learn that God appointed certain men to organize worship bands, and to oversee their work.

       ●  We hinder the corporate worship of God when we ignore God’s patterns and plans for worship.  God gave very specific instructions for Biblical worship, and He intended it to be, at times, loud, melodious, and full of energy.  When our worship gets stale, quiet, and dead, we should reconsider the patterns of Old Testament worship, still appropriate today.

Application for Today

        Today, I want to worship God.  I want to be open to all forms of Biblical worship.  From my heart, and with my spirit empowered by the Holy Spirit, I want to worship God as He reminds me of how much He has done for me.  I am not worried about “karma,” because Jesus fully satisfied all my debts from sin. He died for me, and now lives, accepting my worship because He deserves it.  Will you look for reasons to worship God today? Will you bow your heart before Him today, while you lift your voice in worship?

 

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