In the New Testament there is not an instrument in sight! We believe God trusts us with an instrument. It disciplines us; it helps us; it holds us together singing in unison. It may even suggest the mood and the tone – a tone of love and worship and triumph, or of regret and serious seeking, but it must never take over from praise directed to God; it must never rival what can be said and thought. What is the place of an instrument? Well, it is very similar to the place of a radiator on the wall. Without the radiator, in wintertime, it may be very difficult to worship. Your very jaws freeze together. Like the radiator, the musical instrument is simply a help to worship. Remember the words of old John Wycliffe: ‘If I like the tune overmuch, I like not the tune.’ The music must never eclipse the worship, but it can help it.
People say, ‘No, get the music going: the sounds, the emotions, the sob stories, the emotional manipulation. Get people feeling.’ That is all self-indulgent, false feeling, no different from the feeling of the concert hall, no different from the feeling of secular entertainment. Worship is truth, God’s precious, holy truths and doctrines, views of Christ in the Scripture, things we appreciate and love and the heart responds to them. That is worship.
Before the Reformation, it was all Roman Catholic theatre. The whole thing was a performance. All kinds of different aids were employed: soaring naves, candles, incense, stained glass, altars, different procedures, priestly garments – the lot. Everything was designed to make an impact on the senses, because Rome believed, if you capture the senses, you can float in your dogma and your teaching. Then came the Reformers and the first thing they did was to throw out all the theatre. Theatre is out; in comes the word of God. It's not an attack upon the senses. It's about the word, and it impacts the mind. The mind is the palace of understanding, the palace of faith, and because we understand the teaching, and it’s precious to us, and by the Spirit it convicts us and moves us, we’re lifted up, and our hearts, our feelings – which are a system of response – join in. Mind first, feelings second. That was the Reformation. But now many Bible believing Christians even, have gone back to the philosophy of Rome. They have turned it all round again. Wall-to-wall music, rhythm, beat. Borrow from the world in order to stir people up. Launch an attack on the senses first, and then we will float in some truths. Wrong approach, entirely wrong.
I heard somebody ask, ‘Does God love rap?’ Does God love rap! Here is the answer. ‘The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such.’ The Father’s desire is in those words. ‘He seeketh such to worship him’, those that worship him in spirit and in truth, and elsewhere with great reverence also, and love and devotion.