The church of Christ practices congregational singing. There is no choir so that others do our worshiping of the Lord. There is no noise of lifeless instruments which hinder the player from praising and which also distracts in the distraction they are to the fleshly ear.

In an audio reading of a sermon by Charles Spurgeon, we see that he made a strong case for congregational singing. Why? Because praise to God can’t be done by proxy through a choir and because a musical instrument is inferior to what God deserves. Here is the quote…
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“Praying is the end of preaching. Might he not have gone further to say that praising is the end of praying. Preaching and prayer are not the chief end of man, but the glorifying of God, which praising God vocally is one form.

Preaching is sowing, prayer is watering, but praise is the harvest. God aims at His own glory, so should we. ‘And whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me’, sayeth the Lord.’ (Ps. 50:23).

Be ye diligent then to sing His praise, with understanding. We have put away the harps and trumpets and organs; let us mind that we really rise above the need of them. I think we do well to dispense with these helps in the typical dispensation. They are all inferior in the music to the human voice. As assuredly no melody or harmony like those created by living tongues.

But let us mind that we do not put away an atom of the joy. Let us be glad when in the congregation we unity in pslamody. It is a wretched thing to hear the praises of God rendered professionally as if the mere music were everything. It is horrible to have a dozen people in the table pews singing for you, as if they were proxies for the whole assembly. It is shocking to me to be present in places of worship where not a tenth of the people ever venture to sing at all. And these do it through their teeth so very softly that one have need of a microscope invented for his ears to enable him to hear the dying strain.

Out upon such mumbling and murdering of the praises of God, if men’s hearts were joyous and strong they would scorn such miserable worship. In this house we all try to sing.” – Charles Spurgeon, The Joy of the Lord, the Strength of His People. Sermon # 1027, Dec 31, 1871 a.d. Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

Link: https://youtu.be/J4AiawMz6K8

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