God is concerned with the way we worship Him. In 2 Samuel 6, we read that a man named Uzzah died because he touched God’s ark of the covenant—even though he thought he was only trying to help!

We should be very careful to learn how God wants us to worship Him and to obey Him. Let’s find out if God wants us to sing to Him with our voices only or if we should praise him with instruments, too.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites used musical instruments in worship, but only when they were offering animal sacrifices in the tabernacle or in the temple (2 Chronicles 29:25-28). Temple worship was meant to be temporary. Animal sacrifices and everything with them pointed forward to Jesus’ perfect sacrifice on the cross (see Hebrews 9:8-14). God does not want temple worship to continue now that Jesus has been crucified and resurrected.

In the New Testament, Jews sang a cappella (without instruments) in their synagogues. Synagogues were assemblies for meeting, learning, and worshiping God, not places for animal sacrifice. The Christian church is patterned after synagogue worship, so we should sing with our voices only when we worship God.

The human voice is a beautiful musical instrument. We should try to develop our voices and always sing our best to God. Instrumental music does have its place; God gave people the gift of making and playing musical instruments to fill the earth with lovely sounds. But God does not command us to use instruments in worship services, so we sing to Him a cappella.

Think About It Why does the Reformed Presbyterian Church not use any instruments in worship services?

Did God’s people in the Old Testament use musical instruments in worship? What about the church in the New Testament?

Is the Christian church today modeled after temple or synagogue worship?

•Adapted from When We Worship God, by Max and Fran Mann*