Sermon for Saturday
To the end that the children of Israel may being their sacrifices which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the Lord. Leviticus 17:5
Our esteemed brother Michael Penfold has passed on an article written by a godly denominational man named D. Cloud, who is deeply concerned about the growing negative influence of contemporary Christian music (CCM) on fundamental churches. Mr. Cloud has done his homework well, and outlines the great dangers of this form of music. He also issues warnings about applying the CCM form of music to traditional Christian hymns and songs. Firstly, he says bridging to CCM music forms gives the impression that CCM is safe, when it is anything but. Secondly, he says it can create an appetite for sensual, worldly music that is deeply dishonouring to God. Thirdly, Mr. Cloud declares that using CCM music forms is disobedient to God’s command to separate from error; he refers to the fact that most CCN is produced by charismatics whose doctrine is unscriptural and spiritually dangerous in the extreme. Obviously, we ought never to use CCM music, or even that form of music, in our worship, within our Assembly meetings or anywhere else. Our text today makes it clear that any offering to God must be an offering that is acceptable to bring into His holy presence.
Israelites were free to make offerings to God in their fields. But every one of those offerings must then be taken to the door of the tabernacle. This means that they must conform to the requirements for offerings made there. If it could not be offered in the tabernacle in God’s presence, it could not be offered in the field. I believe we need to see in this text the need for us to be consistent with the Word of God in our lives when we are in our private lives as well as when we are in Assembly settings.
Music we have already spoken about. While there is no need to limit our music to the songs within the Believers Hymn Book, there is a need to limit our music to that which brings no dishonour to our Lord. Just as we would never expect a Christian to sing songs with smutty lyrics and profanity, we should not expect Christians to sing songs that contain promote ecumenism (which CCM does) or that are based on immorality (which rock and roll is – the term rock and roll, for example, is a euphemism for an act of fornication). But there are many other aspects of our lives that may well be unfit to bring into God’s presence. What about the company that we keep? I’m not referring to the people we must work with and do business with, but our social companions. What about the books we read, the stories we tell, the places we frequent, the activities that we involve ourselves in? Can these all be comfortably discussed in the company of your Assembly oversight, for example?
You and I are temples of the Holy Spirit. We must be careful that we do not grieve the Holy Spirit by involvement in unholy and shameful things. -Jim MacIntosh