THEY HAVE DECIDED, NOW WHAT WILL YOU DO?

On Jan. 28, 2008 the elders of the Quail Springs Church of Christ of Oklahoma City announced that they were introducing instrumental music in some of their worship services. They join the Richland Hills Church of Fort Worth, the Norway Ave. Church of Huntington, WV along with others.  The question of churches using instrumental music is no longer theoretical or suppositional.  It is on the table before us. It is fact and reality.   Several other congregations have been waiting for someone to take the first "bold" steps away from the old biblical standard.   We can expect them to soon join the parade.  The question now is, "What will you do in reference to those who have made this choice?"

* Will you pretend to ignore the matter? We can expect some to respond as follows:   They will rationalize, saying These are only isolated cases. They will reason, These churches are not a  threat to us.  They might think, They are in places far removed from us thus we need not act.  Others will say, We are not concerned with their choice.  Some will respond, We are autonomous congregations, they have the right to make such decisions. Some will say, We are too busy preaching the truth to the lost and meeting humanities' needs to be bothered with such matters.  We know that some will thus respond because they have already done so when instrumental music or other similar issues were raised previously.

* Will you tolerate their innovation? Will you reason, Well this to me is not a salvation issue?.  I am sorry they have decided to break with our tradition, but it is their right?  Or might you be thinking, I am praying for them and I am sure they will see their mistake and correct it?  Your excuse might be,  I don't believe in meddling in the affairs of other congregations, or  I try to look at all the good they are doing and not dwell on their failures.  After all we all are sinners. But in your heart you know that you are excusing and tolerating their violation of God's standard for worship rather than taking a stand against it.

* Will you treat them as mistaken in their decision, but still count them brothers in good standing and fellowship them?  Some brethren will express their concern at this departure.  They may even preach a sermon or two on the subject. But in the end they will do nothing more and they will continue to associate with these unfaithful brethren.  They will include them in their programs and count them as a part of our brotherhood. Will you reason, Well we have so many problems among our people, we just cannot break fellowship with a church for a problem such as this?  Or Well, they are still a church of Christ, their members were all baptized just as we were?  Might you say, Other than instrumental music they worship just like we do?  Or will you say, We need to have some unity meetings with them and other brothers of different fellowships and pray together and get to know each other better (Eph. 5:12)?

* Will you do what the Holy Spirit instructs you to do? Will you "Preach the word... reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching" (II Tim. 4:2).  Will you recognize error when it raises it ugly head in our midst and refuse to accept, endorse or ignore false teachers who are wilfully leading God's people astray ? Will you act swiftly to isolate the problem and protect the Lord's church from a cancer that consume and destroy many congregations unless it is removed (II John 10-11)?

Instrumental music is not a new, unstudied issue.  It was fought out by an predecessors more than a century ago and settled for all who know and believe the truth of the gospel.  Our commitment to a cappella praise has brought us scorn and ridicule from our religious neighbors, yet our brethren were convinced that pleasing God was more important than pleasing men (Gal. 1:10). There is no lack of materials to explain and justify our position on the matter. It is without biblical authority. To use an instrument of music in worship is act of the same nature as Nadab and Abihu's use of strange fire when burning the sacred incense (Lev. 10:1-2).

Any congregation that chooses instruments thereby separates and alienates itself from the brotherhood of churches of Christ.  They choose their instruments over our fellowship. We should not recognize them as being in good standing among us. We should exclude them from our activities and preachers fellowship meetings.  They should not be listed in directories of our congregations. Their preachers and elders should not be invited to speak for our churches, lectures, workshops, etc.   Their activities should not be announced or encouraged in our churches. We should never recommend faithful disciples to attend and worship with them. Our journals should not accept their advertisements.  Elders should advise their members that these congregations have gone out from us because they were no long of us (I John 2:19).  We should pray that the eyes of their hearts will be enlightened (Eph.1:18) and that they will repent and return to the Savior's way of worship (Rev. 2:5). We must never be a partaker in other men's sin (I Tim. 5:22).