Response to "Studies in the Cross of Christ Lesson 4" (Question on Instrumental Music)

Click here to see Lesson 4

I would like to use your study in a Bible study with our friends.  We used to go to a church of Christ so I understand the language in the study, but what does instrumental music have to do with the cross?   

If you had truly been to the hill and spent time with Christ while he hung there for you and had asked Him what he thought of instrumental music and I am sure you would find that this subject does not belong in your Church of Christ study of the Cross.   

I went up the hill and never was the type of music being played on Sunday ever mentioned as being important.  I think your study would be far more effective if you pull your Church of Christ views out of the Study of the Cross.  I would still like use your study but I would like to pull out the legalistic Church of Christ stuff that hinders the Gospel and is killing His church.   

Stacy  

My Response

Dear Stacy,

I want to thank you for your request to use my home class material:  “Studies in the Cross of Christ.” I actually encourage teachers to made changes to the outlines so that it can taught in the most effective way. If you wish, I can send attachments of these studies in word format so that you may edit them as you see fit.

You ask me the question: “what does instrumental music have to do with the Cross of Christ?” I believe that everything I do and everything I teach should ultimately come from the cross of Christ. Truly, as you have said, I must have “been to the hill and spent time with Christ while he hung there for you” before I do anything else. I must daily take up our cross and follow our Lord (Lk 9:23-24).

At the cross I learn to be crucified, I come to see my complete spiritual destitution and, as a result, I allow Jesus to become my Lord. Because His grace has cleansed me from my sin, I now can walk with the Lord and continue to be forgiven as I walk in the light (Acts 2:38, 1 Jn 1:7-9). This is the foundation from which I then allow Jesus to direct me in every thought and action in my life. “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col 3:17). When I cease to let the Lord be first in my teachings and in my life, then I have moved away from the cross.

Just as Jesus taught His disciples, He teaches us. He did not give all instruction to His disciples on any one occasion. He did lay the foundation of repentance and of His Lordship, but other things were taught on that foundation over time. Consider His great commission. ^”And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:19-20). “All things” are issues of Jesus being my Lord and thus “all things” are tied to the cross. When we try to have one (the relationship from the Cross), without the other (His Lordship), we have moved away from the Cross. We cannot have the benefits of the Cross without Jesus also being Lord in my life.  “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

Look at how the apostle Paul made the controversy over circumcision a Cross issue! Because of Jesus’ death on the Cross, the Old Law was not to be bound upon Christians (Col 2:14-17). In the churches of Galatia, as well as in other churches, Jewish Christians were demanding that Gentile males be circumcised because of the teaching of the Old Law. When we listen to our Lord, we find that He gave no such law (Acts 15:24), and as a result I cannot give into the pressure from those teachers that demanded it.

Are man-made laws and forms of worship of no consequence since they are not specifically mentioned at the Cross or, as you have put it, when “I went up the hill”? Are all religious controversies placed in the realm of not “being important” because of the events of the Cross? I believe this kind of reasoning is foreign to the demands of the Cross. Again, hear the Apostle Paul: “And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the Cross has ceased” (Gal 5:11) and “As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ” (Gal 6:12). 

Stacy, all of these things teach us that we should open our Bibles and see what the Lord has taught on any given subject. Those who live in the shadow of the cross will do so. Do you realize that we have yet to do that on the question of instrumental music? We have not examined even one verse on that subject. Please be careful that you do not develop a line of reasoning that closes the Bible on any given subject rather than opening it. Philosophical arguments may sound good at first, and they may be intimidating to some, but in the end they fail to actually address the word of God where the only right answers can be found.

The day before you sent me this e-mail I had preached on the subject “Instrumental Music and the Cross of Christ.” I honestly had addressed these very issues before you wrote this timely e-mail! Here are the links to the material:

Outline

http://www.uvachurch.com/Sermons/InstrumentalMusicAndTheCrossOfChrist.pdf

Audio

http://www.uvachurch.com/Audio/InstMusicCrossOfChrist.mp3

PowerPoint

http://www.uvachurch.com/PowerPoint/InstrumentialMusicAndTheCrossOfChrist.ppt

I will be praying for your success in your studies with others about the Cross of Christ! 

In Christian Love,

Larry Rouse