My son called me earlier this week. He is a counselor at a Christian youth camp. He needed my counsel. The adult song leader stopped the children from doing what came from their hearts while singing certain praise songs to the Lord: clapping. My son observed that the kids were confused. For years they had clapped in praise songs at camp. Earlier their singing was joyful; afterward they had lost heart, for their joy was robbed. They don’t clap on every song; just the joyful songs that beckon clapping. However, the song leader explained there was no support or authority for clapping during singing in the New Testament. So, he requested they respect his view and stop clapping because it offended his conscience. Whose conscience was really offended? I think the children. It is common knowledge that the children clap during certain songs; and they clap believing their joyful expression pleases God. Now, their minds were jarred by the thought that their clapping was a sin.
This past Sunday as I was preaching the word of the Lord, I clapped my hands together to make a strong point. I did not plan this. It came from my heart and supported my words and emotion. My preaching is an act of worship, and I had no New Testament authority to clap. If I accepted this kind of reasoning, I would be in a quandary. I don’t however.
Suppose during worship before the prayer, the prayer leader announced that a certain member is very sick and near death; so that several worshipers are touched and weep before and during the prayer. No New Testament verse specifically authorizes weeping during worship; but Romans 12:15 (ESV) does admonish: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” Suppose a week later during worship, the prayer leader announces that God has healed this same member who had been deathly ill; so that several worshipers are moved in their heart to clap and thank the Lord. All they did was give heartfelt expression to rejoicing, just as they had given heartfelt expression to weeping.
Understand that promulgating regulations nullifies the blessing of freedom under the New Covenant (Galatians 4:8-20 and 5:1). The way of the New Covenant is different from the old way of the written code (Romans 7:6). The New Testament amply warns against religious leaders making rules where God has not spoken and that are inconsistent with what he has spoken (1 Timothy 1:1-4, Matthew 15:1-20, Colossians 3:16-23, and Galatians). It is a grave mishandling of God’s word to teach the New Covenant as a written code, rather than the new way of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Not even the Law of Moses regulated clapping. Yet Psalms 47 demonstrates that worshipers exhorted clapping in praise to God. Moreover the Old Testament scriptures looked forward to the time when the Gentiles would join in extolling and praising the Lord for his mercy in the Messiah; for example, Romans 15:11 quoting Psalms 117:1. In Isaiah 55, God encourages his people by affirming that he will bless them by keeping his word to David. God would return them from captivity and dispersion to the promise land; and they would be welcomed and supported in their joy by singing mountains and clapping trees (Isaiah 55:12). The singing mountains and clapping trees is a metaphor for the expressions of joy and praise that God’s people would share when they return to the land and were blessed by God in the land. Under the New Covenant God has given to his people the fullness of this prophesied blessing. Should not his people be free to sing and clap with joy in praise to God for being faithful to his covenant?
I’m not defending a reckless freedom of unbridled emotional religion. We honor God through worship with the fruit of our lips and the mutual edification of one another (Hebrews 13:15, Colossians 3:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 14). While words are a key means of Christian praise in worship; words are not the exclusive means for expressing all that praise is and should be. Indeed the words are empty without a life of goodness lived in consistent praise to God. Yet in worship, the non-verbal language of our spirit and our body should be in accord with the meaning of the words, and authentically support the expression of praise. That kind of expression has always been proper for worshipers of God; and God has never stopped it or discouraged it. Even the reactions of Jesus to heartfelt or hearty expressions of praise demonstrated his mind in contrast to the regulators and judgmental of Judaism (Matthew 21:1-17 and 26:6-13, Luke 7:36-50 and 19:28-40, and John 12:1-8). According to Jesus’ own teaching and example, following the mind and heart of God is the critical issue for all correct interpretation and application of scripture (Matthew 12:1-14). Indeed, if God did put a stop to clapping, then preachers should restrain their emotions and expressions in preaching, for much of that has not been authorized by the New Testament.
Church leaders taught me in my youth to embrace my freedom by their example of leadership. In Vacation Bible School the leader led us in a variety of enthusiastic songs with a Christian verbal and a fitting, decent non-verbal expression. I think of the song with these words: “I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery; I may never fly o’er the enemy, for I’m in the Lord’s army. Yes sir!” I can picture the stomping of feet, the jouncing of riding, a clap to fire their weapon, arms spread like wings, and saluting as the children shout, “Yes sir!” I can also see their joy and realize they are learning an important spiritual truth in an appropriate way. I would be confused about my freedom if as a preteen or teenager the leaders of a youth camp then stressed that expressing my joy non-verbally during a joyful song was not only inappropriate, but sinful because God did not specifically authorize that particular expression of joy. Understandably certain expressions, both verbal and non-verbal, appeal to certain age groups; but the beauty of clapping is that it is fitting and meaningful for all age groups who are able to clap.
The one who claps embraces his freedom; and the one who forbids clapping takes refuge in his conscience. As an act of love, the free may refrain from clapping in the presence of the one with the weak conscience; but the one with the weak conscience may not regulate the religion in order to make the freedom sinful and a barrier of fellowship. These critical issues of Christian freedom were dealt with by the Apostle Paul in Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8 and 10:23-33, and Galatians. Christians are free to worship and serve by the Spirit of God and not by a religion of regulations and rituals (Philippians 3:1-9). Christians must be free to worship God and edify one another with both their minds and their spirits (1 Corinthians 14:15). We sing with our mind in edifying words that others can understand; and we sing with our spirit with expressions that accord with our spirit, as God’s Spirit helps us. When such expressions aid a reception and understanding of the words, then all worshipers are edified.
I am thankful to God there are Christian spiritual songs and hymns that are beneficial for the stirring of deep and joyful feelings in our hearts about our faith and our hope in Christ. If we admonish worshipers to sing with their minds and their spirits, the Holy Spirit would stir their spirits to renewed motivation and obedience. At times the Spirit would stir them to weep and at times to shout praise or clap; and at times the Spirit would lead them to sing a new song and at times to sing the old hymns with a contemporary melody or beat. At no time however will the Spirit lead God’s people to stop these expressions for this is the joy the Spirit himself prophesied through Isaiah as he gave a glimpse into the great happiness of God’s people in anticipation of the times of refreshing and the restoration of all things (Acts 3).
[Buttram, D. Bryan. Clap Your Hands. WordPress.com. 2007/07/24].
Thought to Thought 