Video Notes: 

• Our passage for today and throughout this week is Romans 14:1-15:7 which addresses things of Christian freedom in the church and how we are to deal with them when we disagree about what to do with our freedom. Specifically, in Romans 14 and 15 it addresses the day of worship, special holy days, and food (clean or unclean), but the concepts discussed apply to any matter of Christian freedom within the church where God has neither commanded nor forbidden something. So, I thought it would be helpful to address a topic related to this, the “worship wars”.
• This generally refers to the battle between traditional and contemporary worship. Within the Lutheran church, this largely focuses on music, but also includes elements of the liturgy. 
• Formula of Concord Ep X 7 – We believe, teach, and confess that no church should condemn another because it has fewer or more external ceremonies not commanded by God, as long as there is mutual agreement in doctrine and in all its articles as well as in right use of the holy sacraments, according to the familiar axiom, “Disagreement in fasting does not destroy agreement in the faith.”
• Our unity is in our doctrine and administration of the holy sacraments, baptism and communion. Beyond that, the elements of the worship service are to some extent what is referred to as adiaphora.
  • Adiaphora refers to things not commanded or forbidden by God and thus things that are in the realm of Christian freedom.
    • Think of things like how often you pray the Lord’s Prayer, whether you read the ESV, NET, NIV, or King James Bible, etc. 
    • On the one hand, we should rightly condemn forcing matters of adiaphora as though they were commanded by God. We should not burden people’s conscience where God gives freedom.
    • On the other hand, adiaphora doesn’t mean we just turn off our minds. We are to think carefully about these things, seek God’s wisdom, and think beyond ourselves. Part of that careful thought is how our doctrine speaks to our worship practices and other matters of adiaphora/Christian freedom as well as the context in which we minister, both the context of our larger church body and the context of our local church and culture in an around it.
• I’m going to try to talk about this in general in a way that would apply to all Christians bodies, but will use the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod as the example because that is my context and I’m most familiar with it.
• I’m also going to focus on how we can have the conversation in a Godly and helpful way, maintaining Biblical unity as we discuss matters of Christian freedom as well as conversation determining whether things are adiaphora.
• Since much of the focus of the “worship wars” was music, let’s start there.
• We tend to use terms like contemporary and traditional, but does that mean the only issue is the how recently a song was written or where it was written?
• So, what questions can we ask?
  • Are the songs or styles of songs we sing commanded in the Bible? If not, then this is adiaphora/Christian freedom which means we need to think and pray carefully about the songs we sing.
  • We know the New Testament churches sung psalms and spiritual songs, but we don’t know what the spiritual songs were.
    • As you think through these things, it’s important to note the difference between descriptions and commands in the Bible.
  • How does our doctrine guide us in the songs we sing? What are we singing in the lyrics? Does it agree with our doctrine? Does it teach our doctrine? Does our doctrine speak to a style of music?
  • It’s also good to consider how singable the song is and whether it lends itself to corporate singing.
  • With each aspect of the worship wars we consider, we also need to keep in mind what Romans 14-15 tells us. We need to consider how our choices affect our brothers and sisters in Christ and, at least for a time, those comfortable in their Christian freedom (the strong) may need to sacrifice for the sake of the those who aren’t (the weak).
  • So, when choosing the songs we use in worship, we want to consider the lyrics and our doctrine, whether the song is singably good for corporate worship, our cultural context, and how the use or lack of use of certain kinds songs effects our brothers and sisters in Christ.
• Are the instruments we use to play songs or hymns commanded by God?
  • What instruments have been used in the past?
    
  • What about the cultural context of the local church? I think of churches in Africa which may have some different song styles and instruments. It may seem more obvious there, but a poor rural area in the South isn’t the same cultural context as a wealthy suburb of the North East which or the inner city in Chicago or church in San Francisco. What about the contexts of different generations?
  • When considering the instruments (or lack thereof) we use in worship, we should consider the practicality of its use, whether it is conducive for a worship setting, our cultural context, and how the use of the instruments will affect our brothers and sisters in Christ.
• What about liturgy, the order of service?
  • Even non-liturgical churches have some form of liturgy.
  • Are the parts of the worship service commanded? Are there parts of the service described in the Bible (keeping in mind the difference between commands and descriptions)?
  • How does our doctrine inform our worship? For example, in the LCMS, we hold a high view of confession and absolution/forgiveness, so we have that as part of our worship service.
  • What liturgy are other churches in your denomination using and how important is it to use the same liturgy in every church? 
    • Is there already diversity in the liturgy?
    • Do all elements of the liturgy need to be included?
    • Does the context of the local church matter? How might local culture affect what would be good for the liturgy or should it?
  • When considering the liturgy of our service we should look at what the Bible describes in worship, let our doctrinal beliefs guide us, consider our context, and consider the affect of including or excluding something from the liturgy on our brothers and sisters in Christ.
• Regardless of where each one of us stands on the use of liturgy, hymns, songs, and instruments, we should start with the assumption that the people who disagree with us are not the enemy, they are brothers and sisters in Christ who want what is best for the church. With that attitude, we can then have loving conversations that seek to reach agreement. Where the Bible speaks plainly, we should be in agreement submitting to God’s Word. Where God has not commanded or forbidden, we should allow for Christian freedom with prayerful, thoughtful, wisdom. Where we can’t find agreement, let’s learn to disagree agreeably with love and respect and realize that, if this is truly a matter of Christian freedom, both practices can be God pleasing, just as in Romans both those who followed the food laws and those who ate freely, those who observed the Sabbath and holy days and those who worshipped on Sundays with different holy days were both done in faith and were both pleasing to God.