Make a Joyful Noise

Our all-in service this past Sunday was moving. Institutional church often drifts toward tradition and rote: we do things the same way over and over, and before long we do those things with little regard for the meaning therein. Words, actions, postures, symbols... whatever we use to worship can be full of meaning, or it can be devoid of life. It doesn't matter if our worship is "traditional" or "contemporary," "liturgical" or "emergent," or even "contemporvant" (ha ha). Any style of worship can be thriving and engaging, and any worship style can be lifeless and boring. Vitality in worship comes down to two things: God's revelation and our response. God's revelation is found in the resurrected Lord Jesus, our Messiah! You don't get closer to vitality than that. Our response is up to us. The exciting part of Sunday was seeing us respond in so many beautiful ways: from celebrating what God is doing in the hearts and homes of foster kids to hearing Alisanne's thoughts on Deuteronomy 33:12, from the peace of Psalm 3 to the joyful noise of instruments and singing.

Speaking of "joyful noise" (see Psalm 98 and 100 in the King James Version, by the way), I mentioned Sunday that many instruments referenced in the Bible are percussion or stringed. And it's true. Instruments specifically mentioned in the Bible include wind instruments: trumpets (see Exodus 19:16), flutes/pipes (try Matthew 9:23), horns a.k.a. shophars (like in Psalm 81:3); stringed instruments: harps (see Revelation 5:8), lyre (in Psalm 144:9), and general stringed instruments found in the introduction to several Psalms (4, 6, 54, 55, 6, 67, 76); and percussion instruments: tambourines/timbrels (referenced many times, including Judges 11:34), cymbals (check out 1 Chronicles 16:5), and sistrums (found only once in 2 Samuel 6:5). Some passages mention many of these instruments used together in worship, like 1 Chronicles 13:8. Other passages mention the use of choirs (1 Chronicles 15 and Nehemiah 12). In fact, music is mentioned over 1,100 times in the Bible! It was a crucial component of worship, expressed in a variety of ways that were culturally relevant.

Here's a question for us: are the instruments listed prescriptive, or descriptive? If the Bible is prescriptive in this, then we should only be using instruments found to be used in worship in the Bible. But I don't think that's the case. These instruments are found in scripture because they were instruments of the time. Being bound to this list of instruments for true worship to exist is legalistic and confining; Jesus came to set us free. Instead, I think the Bible is descriptive: these instruments describe the form of worship. So what do they describe?

Well, worship was often loud. It was clanging. It involved motion and dance. Timbrels must be hit! Lyres must be strummed! Shophars must resound! When God's people gathered, they made some noise.

Worship was organized and rehearsed by those leading, but it also involved everyone. Some people took up instruments spontaneously (like Miriam in Exodus 15). But other times choirs were formed to lead singing, and skilled musicians were recruited to play. But their task was to prompt. True worship involves everyone. It is the work of (all) the people, not a select few.

Worship was most often celebratory, as we can tell by the context of the passages mentioned above. It celebrated something God was doing or had done. Of course, worship can also be lament, or prayer, or silence. All of these are still responses to God. Most often, though, worship in the Bible celebrates.

Our instruments may have changed a bit in the past 2,000-4,000 years, and we might not be gathering in a temple or tabernacle since Jesus fulfilled the Israelite system of worship, but we can still loudly praise God. We still want everyone to come, no matter age or background. We still want to celebrate what God is doing around us, and what He has done through Jesus, retelling God's story over and over again until He returns. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth!