Singing Praises to God

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 From: https://www.worldenglishinstitute.org/admin/assignments/1284161/take

Singing Praises to God

On the night before Jesus was killed, he and his apostles " sang a song and then went out to the Mount of Olives" (Matthew 26:30). Even under the shadow of the cross, Jesus sang praises to his Father.

In Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten with rods and thrown into jail. The jailer put them far inside the jail and tied their feet between two large blocks of wood. But, "about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God" (Acts 16:25).

The Scriptures say, "Encourage each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19). We don’t know the difference between Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. It is possible that "Psalms" were Old Testament poems set to music, that "hymns" were praises sung to God, and that "spiritual songs" were songs sung by believers to encourage and inspire one another.

Again the Spirit says, "Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God" (Colossians 3:16).
When we come together for worship, we receive strength from one another. One person's faith stirs up faith in another person. Faith is born in community; faith grows in community; and faith is passed on in community. Without the fellowship of the church, our faith would become weak and cold–like an ember losing heat when it is pulled out of the fire. In fellowship, we give warmth, strength, and encouragement to one another.

No Musical Instruments in the Early Church

Church historians agree that musical instruments were not used in the New Testament church. In New Testament times, the church sang without the aid of harps, lyres, flutes, or other musical instruments. For hundreds of years, the human voice was the only instrument used in Christian worship.

No one knows with certainty why God did not include instrumental music in the worship of the church. We only know that every church leader who wrote about musical instruments during the first 300 years of church history spoke out against them. Perhaps God excluded instruments from worship because he wanted us to communicate clearly with him and with one another. A musical instrument often drowns out the message of the song.

God had his own reasons for excluding musical instruments from the worship of the church. It doesn't matter what his reasons were. We are his servants, and a servant doesn't ask the Master why he does thus and so. A servant simply obeys the Master and tries to please him.

God told the Holy Spirit what to say to the apostles. Then, the Holy Spirit led the apostles "into all truth" (John 16:13). That is, the Holy Spirit told the apostles what to teach. Since early Christians worshiped without musical instruments, the apostles must have taught them to sing a cappella (chapel style, without instruments). That is reason enough to sing without musical instruments today. Like Abel, our strongest desire is to please God and to offer gifts that are pleasing to him.


a Christian, writer and homemaker

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