WORSHIP WARS

An older lady came to the pastor after a church service; not about the sermon, but about the music. She did not like the new choruses being introduced into the worship hour. The pastor replied that David wrote in the Psalms to sing a new song and that is what he would have played on his harp for Saul. The elderly saint replied, “Well, for the first time I now understand why Saul threw the spear at David!”

I Samuel 18:10,11 – And it came to pass
on the morrow, that the evil spirit from
God came upon Saul, and he
prophesied in the midst of the house:
and David played with his hand, as at
other times: and there was a javelin in
Saul’s hand. And Saul cast the javelin;
for he said, I will smite David even to
the wall with it. And David avoided out
of his presence twice

Local churches around the globe have been in a war; not outside with the world, but inside with worship. And the battle is primarily over music – it’s the old hymns vs. the new choruses. And so far, Wingham Baptist Church has not been a casualty in the Sunday singing conflict, where more and more old hymns disappear and more and more new choruses dominate. Why is that? Why have we added the new without throwing out the old? Here’s why,

The Bible teaches that when the Jews returned from Babylon and the foundation for the rebuilding of the temple was laid, it quickly became obvious that the new edifice was not going to be like the old one. And whereas the younger generation was rejoicing over the rebuilt temple to come, the older generation was weeping at the difference. As a matter of fact, the emotional split between the two was right down the middle, with neither side being heard above the other.

Ezra 3:10-13 – And when they laid the
foundation of the temple of the Lord
they sang together in praising and
giving thank s unto the Lord. But the
ancient men, that had seen the first
house, wept with a loud voice; and
many shouted aloud for joy; so that the
people could not discern the noise of
the shout of joy from the noise of the
weeping of the people

And this is where the story ends, because,

When It Comes To Worship, God Doesn’t Want
One Voice To Be Drowning Out The Other Voice

…so that the people could not discern
the noise of the shout of joy from the
noise of the weeping of the people.

And so at church, the old hymn voices should not be drowning out the new chorus voices. Nor should the new chorus voices be drowning out the old hymn voices. Both should be being heard.

Sadly, such isn’t the case with so many congregations today; – churches where primarily only old hymns are sung or churches where primarily only new choruses are sung. (As well, each congregation letting the other know exactly what they think of their musical taste.) By God’s grace, may there be no worship war here.

The bottom line?

A busy father came home late from
work and his two young daughters ran
out to the car to meet him. The older
girl got there first and jumped into her
daddy’s arms, telling him how much
she loved him while the younger girl
just watched. As they all walked
toward the house, the older daughter
looked back at her broken-hearted
younger sister and stuck her tongue out.
She thought no one saw her except her
sister. However the father viewed the
whole thing. Dad then stopped and let
the older daughter down out of his arms.
Then he turned her face toward him and
said, “I want you to know I saw the
whole thing you did to your sister and I
am not very pleased. So remember this
the rest of your life. You can’t love
your father and stick out your tongue at
his children at the same time.

Jesus said in John 13:35,

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.