The corporate life and worship of the New Testament church was to strengthen it. It was to share all they had. The worship of the local church had an indispensable role in building up the faith and the discipleship of its members. When Paul speaks of it as needing to be done 'decently and in order' the root meaning of the word translated decently means 'expectant, participatory and attractive' so that the congregation grows strong and steady in Christ. The New Testament church had incredible vitality - life and worship.
In the New Testament the church was richly diverse. There were at least three kinds of Christian communities:-
- Those reflected in the Pastoral Epistles with their emphasis on teaching, structures, pastoral care and the survival of the Christian community.
- Those reflected in Ephesians and Colossians with their emphasis on the church as the body and bride.
- Those reflected in Acts - combined the other two forms, stressing the structures and the life within.
What was common?
- Faith in Jesus as the Messiah
- Practise of Baptism and Lord's Supper
- Apostolic teaching
- Communal love and shared life, including food
- Meeting together to worship - mostly in homes. The Acts give high priority to the home. It was the central place for the Christian church's discipleship and worship. We are told they met in Jason's house, Philip's house, in Justus' house and so on. The early Christians had still attended the Temple for a while (Acts 2 & 3) and the Synagogue but after that there was not much sign of it. It is thought that Jewish Christians like James and some of the converted leaders from the Pharisees still attended the Temple but it was at this time a place of apartheid - the Gentiles could not enter its main area on pain of death. In Acts 21 Paul is harangued for bringing a Gentile into the Temple. But there was a shift away from it, its sacrificial system and priesthood. Believers had the reality.
- During that worship time there were several elements - songs/psalms, scripture, teaching, deep silence in order to hear from God, the sharing of any revelation and the Eucharist. There was alo a missionary dimension to the worship - they were prepared to send people out from their midst. There was a strong emphasis on prayer and there was a seriousness of resolve, marked by fasting. There was the prophetic element to their worship too.
The church in the New Testament was to be a living organism - the body, many parts. The church is not a human institution or an earthly organisation - it is eternal, indestructible and supernatural. It is an organism that worships a supernatural God - a supernatural intervention in human history in terms of revelation of God's word and of the living Christ. We have the indwelling of the supernatural Holy Spirit. We have been given a supernatural endowment of gifts to use in the life of the body.
The church is not, therefore, to be a spectator sport. It is a living, breathing organism that functions as life and breath on the basis of the ministry of each member to minister to the others.
Turn to consider particularly 1 Corinthians 14 to discover there a picture, if you like, of what Paul says must happen when people met for corporate worship
Context: 1 Corinthians 13 - LOVE!! The supreme power and the supreme gift. The spiritual gifts are to be used in the context of love. Paul takes the church in Corinth to task for the lack of love; they are not giving the first place to love and so they were abusing their gifts. But that did not mean doing away with them altogether.
Seek the gifts Paul says.
The problem today is that PCI has scripture at our centre - crucial - but many with the responsibility for teaching have chosen to teach only parts of scripture and have left out chunks - person and work of the spirit. They have taught that only some of the gifts are for today, eg teaching, pastor, evangelist, leadership, but that the more supernatural gifts are not. Nowhere in scripture can I find any justification for this. So I believe we are to be a church that embraces our biblical teaching - and our Presbyterian heritage…..
Calvin in his commentary on Ephesians says that the reason we do not see much of all the gifts, particularly the supernatural gifts, is because we do not have the faith to believe!!
Not to despise the gifts but to desire them, to be eager for them; they have a vital place in the church and in its worship.
Paul approves of prophecy more than the others because it is the one that gifts the greatest benefit. Paul then goes on to say why. He compares it with tongues. It was likely that the Corinthians were giving undue attention to this gift because it was showier. Paul is teaching some guidelines worship. He is redressing an imbalance in Corinthian spirituality and correcting confusion in Corinthian worship.
Tongues - personal prayer language. Can be a recognisable language or mysterious one (Russian). Can be used in the worship but must be interpreted. We are experiencing at such times the spirit's interpretation of the mind and heart of God back to His people in response to their turning to Him. Individuals are used by God to communicate between the Father and His children.
Prophetic gift - enriches everyone, comforts and strengthens us…'a word from the Lord through a member of His body, inspired by the Spirit and given to build up the rest of the body.' (M Green). It is a gift of revelation, a means of the Lord speaking directly to His people in a particular time, in a particular place for a particular purpose. The medium might be a picture, a vision, a word, scripture, a dream. It always had to be interpreted and then applied.
Three helpful words about the gifts and their use in worship:
- Upbuilding
- Encouragement - to be called in alongside, to assist and support. The gifts are used to give strength to the local church, its life and witness.
- Consolation/Comfort - the sense of whispering in the church's ear - to be calm under pressure.
It is a ministry available to every Christian as The Holy Spirit gives. However, a few can be recognised as having sufficient regularity of use of the gift that they are considered. God gives His people special insight into His will for a specific situation or into the application of His word to the times in which we live.
See Isaiah 50 v 4 - 6 : Joel 2 v 28 : Acts 2 v 16
Revelation 19 v 10 - 'The spirit of prophecy is the testimony to Jesus'
Unbelievers know that they are in God's presence. Although the scriptures do not emphasise evangelism as a primary purpose when the church meets for worship, Paul tells the Corinthians to take thought for those who have not made a commitment to Christ but who came to services - to be sure that the Christians speak in understandable ways (v 23). He also tells them that when the gift of prophecy is functioning properly, people will, from time to time, have the secrets of their heart revealed and they will respond that God is amongst the people of the church.
We must allow time for the various aspects of corporate.
- Genuine prayer takes time - Acts 12 v 12, 13 v 2, Luke 6 v 12
- Teaching takes time - Acts 20 v 7 - 11
- Praise will also take time if it is to be effective
This is because different aspects of a worship service require different attitudes and states of mind. Listening to Bible teaching requires attentiveness to the word and to the teacher. Praise requires joy and a focus on the Lord and His goodness. Prayers of intercession require a focus on needs and a deep concern for others. The time for the offering requires us to focus on sacrificing ourselves to the Lord as well as giving to Him from our means and trusting Him to provide for our needs. The Lord's Supper requires personal reflection, self-examination and perhaps repentance, along with thanksgiving. But we cannot have all these attitudes at once - so it is impossible to fulfil all the all the tasks necessary for an assembled congregation simply in one hour on a Sunday morning. |
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History of Worship
David and Worship
Tabernacle Worship
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