A gracEmail subscriber writes: "Last Sunday as we sang the song Come Lord Jesus, Come, it struck me that I really don’t want Him to come -- not now. It makes me feel like a hypocrite to offer praise and worship as if I do. I’m not ready for Jesus to come and my earthly life to end. I want to live out whatever the Lord has planned for me. I know that life hereafter will be so much more than we can imagine but I don’t want that life yet. I want to see my children happily married. I want to see them and their spouses grow in their own walks with Jesus. I want to experience the joy of … [Read more...]

A correspondent asks, "Can you give me some thoughts on the fate of Uzzah, whom God struck dead when he touched the Ark of the Covenant? Could I not receive the same fate as Uzzah if I make a mistake while serving God?" * * * Uzzah did not die as a humble man who made a well-meaning mistake, but as a man with a serious attitude problem. Second Samuel 6:7 makes that very plain: "God struck him down there for his irreverence, and he died there by the Ark of the Lord." There is good reason to think, in Uzzah's case, that familiarity bred contempt. The Philistines had captured the Ark of the … [Read more...]

A correspondent asks, "Can you give me some thoughts on the fate of Nadab and Abihu, whom God destroyed by fire when they erred in their worship? Could I not receive the same fate as these men if I make a mistake while serving God?" * * * This story is frequently used by those who argue for a detailed pattern of Christian worship based on their own logical deductions from various Scripture verses, and who condemn others who do not conform exactly to that pattern. Yet there is not one example in the whole Bible, so far as I can find, of any person whom God punished or even reprimanded, for … [Read more...]

Somewhere, on any given Sunday, guests from another heritage visit a Church of Christ and for the first time experience unaccompanied congregational singing in four-part harmony. Those visitors often compliment their hosts afterward, comparing the singing to that of the heavenly hosts, and remarking that "the whole church sounded like a choir!" Churches of Christ are known for singing a cappella or "chapel style" -- an Italian phrase for singing without musical accompaniment. Such singing can be indescribably beautiful, as, of course, can accompanied singing and instrumental music alone. … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber writes: "Was there a Greek word in the first century that meant singing without an instrument? In other words, could Paul have said "sing a cappella" if he had wanted to? Was a Greek word with that limiting idea available to him? Many of the psalms speak of singing and then you find out in another portion of the psalm that they are doing that with instruments." * * * To a sizeable percentage of gracEmail readers (and a similar segment of the universal church), discussion concerning the propriety of musical instruments in Christian worship seems about as irrelevant as … [Read more...]

A subscriber from the Churches of Christ writes: "I have been hearing much lately in tapes and lectureships about our 'tradition' of acappella music. Do you see singing without accompaniment as a tradition, or as a biblical principle for public worship assemblies?" * * * In the Southern United States, the Churches of Christ historically sing without instrumental accompaniment in public worship. (Outside the South, "Churches of Christ" is sometimes synonymous with "Independent Christian Churches" who do use instruments.) Other believers have also sung acappella through the years -- including … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks: "Why do some churches not use instrumental music in public worship?" * * * God expressly commands instruments in the Old Testament but the New Testament does not specifically command them for Christian use. Some Christians therefore think it obvious that God still wants accompanied praise today, since he didn't say that he has changed his mind. Others think it obvious that God has changed his mind, since he didn't repeat the command in the New Testament. On that particular point, of course, both are reasoning from silence. Less explicitly, the New Testament … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks whether we are capable of correctly concluding from the Bible what God intended to convey. "I believe we can," he says, "and that's why I think obvious conclusions from the Bible are so clear that all other people should also see them." * * * Yes, it is possible to draw correct conclusions from the Bible using our God-blessed thinking. However, Thomas Campbell, a founder of my own modern-day Churches of Christ, had some wise advice on that point. We must be careful, he warned, not to attempt to bind such deductions on the consciences of others, "farther than they … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber heard a sermon condemning instrumental music in Christian worship based on John 14:31, in which Jesus says that he does just as his Father commands. The preacher said that if we do just as God commands we cannot have instrumental music since the New Testament does not specifically command it. He called this "the law of silence." What should we make of this? * * * I appreciate your preacher’s desire to obey God exactly, just as Jesus did. When it comes to the subject of instrumental music, however, exact obedience leaves the door wide open. God does not require us to … [Read more...]