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The Purpose of Worship
The Purpose of Worship
“What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification” 1 Corinthians 14:26
“When, Not If, You Assemble”
The Heavenly Father seeks worshippers (John 4:23), and despite the popular idea so prevalent today that one may worship God whenever, however and with or without assembling with other believers, being at the assembly where God is praised is not an optional aspect of living the Christian life. God commands those who adore Him to assemble (Hebrews 10:24-25). In such an assembly, God has specified the ways He’d like us to express our adoration. These include the thoughtful observance of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7), singing from the heart (Ephesians 5:19), giving cheerfully as one has been prospered (1 Corinthians 16:1-2), praying earnestly (Acts 2:42) and the reading and accurate explaining of Scripture (Acts 2:42).
First Century Worship Practices
A person might ask, “Why doesn’t the present church experience in our worship assemblies today the miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit,that once existed in the very early church?” The answer to this good question is found in the previous chapter. Love, in this chapter, is said to never fail (1 Corinthians 13:8) while such miraculous gifts as prophecy, tongues and the gifts of miraculously obtained knowledge (13:8), Paul plainly teaches would cease. When would these gifts no longer exist? They would cease when the “perfect” comes (13:10). Some say this means that the miraculous gifts would continue until Jesus comes, yet the text does not say “He who is perfect”, rather it says, “the perfect”. In the context, “the perfect” is contrasted with what was partial at that time. Before the entire New Testament was written, and all truth had been revealed through the apostles (John 16:13), Christians at that time had access to only some truth in written form and for the truth they did not have in written form, the miraculous gifts filled the gaps in their knowledge. When all the truth was finally revealed and recorded, the gifts that revealed such truths were no longer necessary and so they were removed. This is confirmed by at least a couple other lines of evidence:
- Only an apostle could pass on a spiritual gift (Acts 8:17-18), so obviously when the last apostle died, so did the gifts.
- The last apostle died about the same time that the New Testament was complete. So the purpose of the gifts, to reveal and confirm truth (Hebrews 2:1-4) ended about the same time that the last bestow of the gifts died.
- The writings in secular history confirm that the gift of inspiration, healing, etc… ended at the close of the First Century.
- A simple look at what is happening in the world today that some claim to be miraculous, compared to the miracles performed by Jesus and the apostles, makes it clear that such miracles are not happening today.
“Each One Has…”
So even during the brief history in which miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were bestowed upon certain First Century Christians, this never meant that each and every member had a psalm, tongue, etc… or that every member was to address the assembly. For example, women, even those with the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 11:5) were not allowed to address an assembly that included men (1 Timothy 2:12).
God’s Purposes for Our Gathering Together
Other than the presence of the miraculous gifts given by God given for the purpose of confirming the truths spoken by those inspired, every other element in our worship today is to be composed of the same purposes in the early, pre-denominational church.
Learning the Truth
When scriptures are thoughtfully read (1 Timothy 4:13); preaching is taken to heart (Acts 20:27), teaching is clear and accurate (Acts 11:26), and singing is from the heart (Colossians 3:16), then this desire of God has been fulfilled: that we all go home from an assembly having learned more invaluable truth.
Admonishing
We have been admonished when we have heard lessons that motivate, urge, or put us in the right frame of mind, or even kick us in the pants, when needed. Admonishment can happen during singing (Colossians 3:16) or teaching (Romans 15:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:14 “Admonish the unruly”; 2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:13 “This testimony is true. For this reason, reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith”). Sadly, this is one purpose of worship that is lacking in many modern churches where all the emphasis is on very light, feel good sermons that lack any real or serious content and thus fail to challenge the members to be more like Christ. If our toes do not get stepped on now and then we are probably not hearing or listening to the truth (Hebrews 4:12).
Expressing Our Gratitude & Thankfulness
Gratefulness is expressed by pouring out our hearts in appreciative prayer (Philippians 4:6; 1 Timothy 2:1-2), by sacrificially giving (2 Corinthians 9:7), singing from our hearts (Colossians 3:16 “singing with thanksgiving”), and especially during the highlight of the week for any Christian: our holy observance of the Lord’s Supper, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24).
Praise/Extolling God
We live in a culture that is constantly telling us how awesome and unique each of us is, and above all else, to be unique individuals, to be true to ourselves by doing things only our own way, to live our own life exactly how we want. How wise of God to instead shift our focus in a much truer and thus healthier perspective, to meet together on a weekly basis to remember how awesome God is, to practice forgetting ourselves and instead focus on the Only One deserving of worship: “Do this in remembrance of Me”.
Supplication
Supplication happens when our prayers are not for ourselves, but instead are for all the others we love and care about (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Before and after worship, is an invaluable opportunity to unguardedly share burdens with our brethren and in return get the support and perhaps even ideas to resolve the trials we may be experiencing.
Remembering
The pressures, distractions and even pleasures of the world can make us forget who God says He is, who God says we are and why God says we are here. Preaching and teaching helps us remember priceless lessons of the past (Romans 15:4) and the amazing things that God has done on our behalf (Romans 8:32). The Lord’s Supper focuses our minds on the most significant event in human history and the one event that has changed your life for good and gives you hope no matter what is happening around you: The Son of God died for our sins (1 Corinthians 11:23), you have been forgiven, and you are free to anticipate an eternity basking in the light of His glory.
Edification
The Bible is filled with examples of people coming together to worship God and God being absolutely disgusted with their attempts (Malachi 1:10) Listen: “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them” (Isaiah 1:14). In contrast, true worship will build us up, but beyond our own building up, we assemble for worship so that we can build up others (Hebrews 10:24) and ultimately, that God finds the worship stirring because it is the kind and quality of worship that He desires.
Some Principles of Worship
- The same rules apply to all worship.
Every act of worship must be authorized, or in other words, every act must conform to the standard of “in Spirit and Truth” (John 4:24).
- Equal attention to all aspects of worship.
Each act of worship deserves our best. None should be minimized.
- Equal diligence in preparation.
No one would appreciate the evangelist getting up and simply giving a sermon off the top of his head or just reading some random verses without any sort of order or point. The same respect for preparation needs to be in our prayers, selection of songs, and comments that are made during the Lord’s Supper. Take the time to write down the truths you think will best touch the hearts of the congregation.
- Equal seriousness in presentation.
Every act of worship needs to include our entire heart.
- Equal concern for content.
The content of sermons should be a result of deep meditation upon the scriptures. The same is true of our prayers. We need variety in sermons. The same is true in all other areas. We need variety in our songs, and timely, specific, mature, non-repetitive content in our prayers, and a thoughtful selection of the Scriptures read at the Lord’s Supper.
- A Healthy Element of Fear: 1 Corinthians 11:28-29
This is for God, the Creator of the Universe. Let us fear lest we begin to take Him for granted or treat what we do here as routine and ordinary. This is supposed to be the worship performed by the bride of Christ.
Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.net
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net
