Two sentences jumped out at me in our Corinthians reading today.
Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 1 Corinthians 14:26b
In this passage Paul was referring, in particular, to the way worship was carried out. The goal of the Christian worship service - everything from the teaching to the singing - was and is to edify and build up the church.
John MacArthur says....
And so then, we are committed to edifying. We meet together to edify. You say, but what happens with evangelism. Well, how do we reach out if all we do is edify the saints? Well, it's very easy to see the answer to that if you look at Acts 9:31... "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified..." All right. The churches were doing what they should have been doing. They were being edified or built up to maturity. Now watch. "...and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, were"...what?..."multiplied." You see, growth is a result of edification. As the church is built up, it will reach out and evangelism will be a by-product. So we meet together to be edified, beloved. We meet together to be taught the Word of God. We meet together to be exposed to God's truth in a way that it will cause us to grow to maturity. (emphasis mine)
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. 1 Corinthians 14:33a
Isn't this so true? Our God is not a God of disorder.
Anyone who has ever read the Pentateuch can vouch for that! Detail after minute detail to be followed to the letter. Order. Not chaos.
The service of the church should manifest the character of God... When we come together, Paul says, we should, by the order and the beauty and the dignity and the system and all that is a part of our service, be manifesting a God whom we serve. And our God is not a God of confusion. And our God is a God of peace. And when somebody comes to your church, he sees confusion and fighting for preeminence and he concludes that you have a confused, angry, fighting God, see. I'm sure there are people who see what goes on in some of the charismatic chaos today and say, boy, their God must really be a mess. God is a God of order and God is a God of dignity and God is a God who functions systematically for results, not chaotically for feelings. And God is to be made manifest in the worship of His church. People will say sometimes, you know, I came to your church and it wasn't what you said; it was just what I could sense about the whole service. I hope that's true. I hope that what you sense when you hear the magnificent beauty of the music of the choir is that God is a God of harmony. I hope when you see the sort of gentle beauty of a simple building, you see the beauty and the design and the symmetry of God. And I hope when you hear that which edifies you, you know that God is a God who wishes to give instruction. And I hope when you sense a warm and a passionate heart that you sense that God is a God who cares, see. And I hope when you touch the lives of the people sitting around you, you know that God is a God who feels and breathes and cares about you and is sensitive. You see, that's what God wants in the fellowship of His church to be made manifest...His nature. (emphasis mine)
Every one of us, not just the pastor or the worship leader or the others up front, contribute to the atmosphere that is present during the worship service. Are we seeking to edify each other? Are we helping create an atmosphere where the attributes of God are seen and felt?
Are we even showing up for the right reasons?
We should be going to church for several reasons - to worship God, to learn more about God, to fellowship with other believers - all of which should be done in such a way that God's character/nature is manifest (correctly!) and that the church as a whole is built up.
Tomorrow's passage: 1 Chronicles 26-27, 1 Corinthians 15:1-34
4 comments:
Great post Tammy. I totally agree that if we edify God, the church will grow. People are drawn when God is present.
I think we've kind of lost sight of what church is supposed to look like ~ it's purpose for believers and unbelievers alike. I've been reading a few books on discipleship lately, and I wonder if even as individual Christians, we just aren't taught that there is an expectation of how we will fit into the church to help it grow and prosper; that we have a responsibility to the Body of Christ.
I've been a little frustrated at our church lately... apparently someone has been complaining that the service is too long, so first they decided not to pray about the individual prayer requests but just do a general prayer covering all the requests at once. Then they cut out praise & prayer time all together. Then they shortened the singing at the beginning of the service. Then the messages started getting shorter. I feel like we're rushing through the services as though fulfilling a duty we want to get over with so that we can go do other things. Another thing that irks me is that they are accommodating the wishes of a few without consulting the majority. I would like spiritual nourishment from our church services, not just a "snack".
Could you bring this up at the next meeting or with your pastor? Without complaining, just mention you miss the quality of how the services used to feel and that you'd like it to feel like people actually WANTED to be there again...
(Aggghhhh, I just noticed I wrote "IT'S purpose..." in my previous comment when it should have been "ITS"!!!)
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