Why do We Sing in our Worship Service?

I started the New Year by worshiping, fellowshipping, and preaching at Taft Avenue Community Church in Orange, California. At one point in the service, Pastor Bob Burris read aloud a short explanation of why Christians sing during times of worship. I appreciated what he read and want to share it with you today. The reading was adapted from , cut down to a length that could be used in a worship service. Why do we sing when we worship together?

“We sing in our worship service because it is the biblical pattern for God’s people: He saves, we sing. There are songs by Moses, Miriam, Deborah, Barak, David, and Hannah—he rescued them all. There are professional singers for the Temple worship—He saves his people, they sing. In the New Testament there are hymns to Christ in John’s Gospel, Romans, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Hebrews. There are doxologies scattered throughout the Bible and songs in Revelation 1, 4, 5, 7, 11, 14, and 15. The Psalms, all 150 of them, are one long prayer/singing catechism/guide. The church sings psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to each other, as the Spirit and the Word of Christ fills them, Ephesians 5:18-21; Colossian 3:16. The drama of redemptive history is actually a musical. How can the actors not sing?”

Excerpted from “Saved People Love to Sing” by Kevin DeYoung.