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Paul Smithson
Everyone should have reverent respect toward God's authority.
We must never be presumptuous concerning anything that we do in
our worship or in our everyday life. In word or deed we must
"do all in the name of the Lord" (Col.3:17), i.e. by His
authority. Thus, what one should do in worship to God is not
what one "prefers" but what one is authorized to do in the
Scriptures.
Jesus said we "must worship in spirit and in truth" (Jn.
4:24). To worship "in spirit" is to worship with the proper
mindset and attitude. To worship "in truth" is to worship as
the truth directs. If God has not directed (authorized) or
forbid a particular thing in His word then we must not presume
that it is O.K. to go ahead and do it. Neither should we assume
that just because a thing was permitted under the Old Covenant
that God approves of it today as we live under the New Covenant
(Heb. 10:1-9).
Many people practice things in worship which are not
authorized in the New Testament such as the playing of
instruments, dancing, burning of incense, etc. saying, "They did
it in the Old Testament." But where is the authority for these
practices in the New Covenant? Why would one practice these
things that were permitted under the Old Covenant and not
practice others such as offering animal sacrifices, polygamy,
etc.?
The most common religious question asked whenever God has
not spoken or authorized a particular thing is: "Why can't we if
God didn't say not to." The desire or motivation of this
question apparently is that one wants to have as broad a liberty
as possible to do as many things religiously as he possibly can.
But obviously, if one is permitted to practice a thing just
because God didn't order us not to, then such reasoning permits
one not only to do the few things God has mentioned in the Bible
, but also the limitless things not mentioned in the Bible. In
other words, with this kind of reasoning there is no need for
the Bible at all, for then it has no authority as one can do
anything he desires.
God's silence is non permissive. One cannot do any
unmentioned thing, for one specific thing forbids the thing not
specifically mentioned. For example, God's command to 'sing'
(Eph. 5:19) excludes to play an instrument, which is not
authorized in the New Testament for worship.
Someone ask, "What good then is the Old Testament?" Though we
are not under the Old Covenant and must submit to the authority
of the New Covenant, there are many lessons that can be learned
from the Old Covenant. One important lesson that is seen many
times is the very thing we are discussing-- God's silence is non
permissive. For example, in Lev. 10:1-2 we read, "Now Nadab and
Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and
after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered
strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.
And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed
them, and they died before the Lord." Notice that the problem
was not that they obtained fire from where God had ordered them
not to obtain it. The problem was they obtained fire from where
God "had not commanded." God had specifically told them what to
do, but in their reasoning they presumptuously did something
that God had not commanded. It resulted in the Lord consuming
them with fire. Again, one cannot do any unmentioned thing,
for one specific thing forbids the thing not specifically
mentioned.
It is important to remember too, that they were performing
an act of worship to God. Just because something is done in the
name of worship does not mean God will accept it (cf. Mt.
7:21-29). We must worship both "in spirit and truth" doing "all
in the name of the Lord (Jn. 4:24; Col. 3:17).
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