June 24, 2007
Orderly Worship
1 Corinthians 14: 26- 40
Certainly there are many ways by which God's people worship him. Over the years I've worshipped with Navajos, Koreans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican- Americans, African-Americans. I have also worshipped with people from other Christian churches. And then even within our own denomination the Christian Reformed Church, worship has really changed over the years. We can even find some of that diversity here at Faith Community.
Yet amidst all this diversity are there certain rules that should govern our worship? Are there certain things that God expects us all to be doing? For years that question has caused division within some churches including some Christian Reformed churches. In fact, some churches have split over worship style. Thankfully, much of this has died down today. But it is still important that we understand how God desires to be worshipped. Does Scripture give us any guidance on this matter?
Now, we don't have time this morning to look in depth at this entire question. But, for a few moment let's examine together the scripture we read and try to determine what it teaches us about this important matter.
If you have your pew Bibles open you'll notice that the section we read is put under the heading Orderly Worship. Now these captions don't appear in the original text and were only added by the editors of our English Bible to help us in our understanding of the text. Clearly the editors came up with idea for their heading from Paul's conclusion in verses 39- 40,
Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. .But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
Paul specifically wrote these words to deal with problems that existed in the Corinthian church. Now, we say "the Corinthian church." Some Bible scholars believe that perhaps there were perhaps several house churches, where groups of around 30 people would gather for worship. Whether or not this was the case it appears from our scripture that their worship was fairly informal. Instead of having a paid minister who delivered a sermon, members of the congregation would rise and speak. Maybe it was a little like more like the worship in Quaker congregations today. The Quakers also have no paid clergy. Instead members of the congregation get up and speak as they are led by Spirit.
Now, this whole informal structure might be difficult for us. Even as informal as our church is, we are very formal compared to the Corinthians. In fact, I doubt whether any of us have experienced anything like what was going on there.
Some of the Corinthians spoke in tongues-that is in other languages-though probably not languages that people normally speak. Some would call these heavenly languages. How many of you ever been in a worship service where people spoke in tongues? Maybe you participated, or maybe you worshipped with some of some of our Pentecostal or charismatic brothers and sisters. Often they devote a part their service to speaking in tongues or singing in tongues. I remember a friend of mine from the Presbyterian church who was invited by another friend to attend worship at his independent Pentecostal church. My friend said that the first part of the service was pretty much what he was used to. They sang songs. The minister had a message. But then there was time set aside for experiencing the power of the Spirit. During this time some people began speaking in tongues, some started shaking; others began moving in the aisles. Some were being smitten by the spirit and passing out. Some were singing. All of this was too much for my friends son, who never had seen anything like this in the Presbyterian church. And so he said to his dad, "Dad, what's happening?" All my friend could think of saying in response was, "Sh-sh-sh, be quiet, we're in church."
But, the situation in Corinth was far less organized than that. The entire service consisted of people all speaking at once-some in tongues, some with a word of prophecy. And very few were listening to each other. And the people believed that they were experiencing the Holy Spirit and he was prompting them to do what they were doing.
But Paul confronts this idea head-on in v. 33, where he says,
33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
Yet, order wasn't the only problem. Notice that in verse 40, Paul also says that whatever is done in worship should also be done in a "fitting" way. The Greek word here is the word euchamonos, which literally means "in a becoming way or in a way that is in accordance with proper decorum." Or "in a way that shows some class."'
And there were big doctrinal disagreements among the Corinthians. As a result some challenged those who were speaking right during the service. Interestingly, Paul doesn't have a major problem with challenging what a speaker says. For in verse 29 he writes,
29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.
Like I said a couple of weeks ago, our elders are given the important responsibility to listen to what I say and make certain that what I am teaching you is Biblical and helpful. And if they don't think it is, they are to challenge me on it. And if one of you has a problem with what I say, please first talk to me about it. But, if it remains a problem, talk to one of the elders. And if the elders and I can't reach an agreement on what the Bible teaches, that's where our classis comes in. And ultimately if classis can't resolve it, our bi-national governing body, our synod, will decide.
Yet, the way this was handled in Corinth only added to confusion. What's more, it would seem that some of the wives of the speakers were questioning-maybe challenging what their husbands had said, right in front of everyone-embarrassing their husbands and confusing those who were trying to get something out of what they had said. How would you react if right in the middle of my sermon, my wife Brenda began to challenge what I was saying? These are just a few of the problems suggested by our scripture. Maybe you are beginning to get the picture of the pandemonium that was going on here. It was a real mess.
Yet, probably if we stop right here, you and I can go home without being challenged by the Word of God. When we seriously reflect on the situation in Corinth, how many of us can truly say that our worship here at Faith Community is any where close to what was going on in Corinth? While it's certainly true that our worship is a little less formal than it was years ago, our worship certainly is far from the chaos that reigned in Corinth. Almost 2000 years of structure and tradition have tended to reign in those excesses. So, does that mean that this passage has nothing to say to us and we can just go home?
Not quite. Take a look at verse 26 again.
What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
The New Revised Standard Version is a little more true to the original Greek here. Let all things be done for building up.
The reason Paul was concerned about order and decorum was that because these things were lacking, the worship in Corinth was failing to build up the church. Certainly there were individual members who felt uplifted. But, the worship was doing nothing for the church as whole. The one big rule for worship that Paul proclaims in our scripture for today is that true worship "builds up the church." So, I have a project for the kids to do this morning. I want you to go to your bulletins and cross-out the word "orderly" and write the word "Edifying" I'll spell it for you-E-D-I-F-Y-I-N-G.
The word "edify" means "to build up." As I said three weeks ago, this word was specifically used by the Greeks to refer to building a house. This is what construction workers do. Now we must remember that in worship we are building this body of Christ. Certainly we are building each member. For each member is important. But in building up each member, we seek to build up the body. And in building up the body, each member is built up. Two chapters earlier Paul points to this important idea when he writes in chapter 12 verses 21 and following,
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And then he goes on to mention the gifts he gives so that the members of the body might build each other up.
One of the important ways in which our worship should be building us up as church is by advancing our unity together. Unity is the sign of a healthy church.
One of the realities in churches over the last 20 years or so, is the tendency for some to drift from one church to another. They stay in one church for a while and then something happens or they find another church that seems a little more exciting and they leave. That is not helpful for gaining a sense of what being the body of Christ is all about.
Nor is the tendency of some members and pastors to want to run the show, especially in ways that alienate and hurt others. Over the years there has been too much of that in our churches. There have been too many power struggles-- too many of us who have the attitude "I'm right. They're wrong." Certainly, some of the conflicts over worship stemmed from just such attitudes.
And that was the attitude behind all the chaos in Corinth. Their problems in worship were really a reflection of the other problems that divided them. Don't forget this church was broken into factions. Some claimed to follow Paul, some Apollos, some Peter, some claimed to purely follow Christ. Their disagreements in worship were merely the result of such division.
A real sign that the Holy Spirit is moving in our church is not only found in the truth of our doctrines, but also in the unity that we display. Our church's bi-national governing body, the Synod, has just concluded its meeting at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. One of controversial issues that this Synod faced was whether to remove the word "male" as a qualification for serving as elder or pastor within our denomination. After all the discussion was over, they voted 112- 70 to do so. Some cheered this decision; others were grieved. The former director of the Back to God Hour, Dr. Joel Nederhood was one who was grieved. Yet, he gave a powerful address at the beginning of Synod calling us a church to live out that for which Jesus prayed when he said, "1that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
And after the vote which he disagreed with he Nederhood simply said, "There will be many of us who continue to believe that biblical requirements involve gender and it is impossible for us to surrender that,"... but "the issue is the unity of the church of Jesus Christ.
People of God, Jesus not only prayed that we might be one, he suffered and died that we might again become one with God and with each other. Living out our unity in him is one of the best ways in which can respond to what he has done for us. And when our worship displays our unity and when it calls us to further unity, it is worship that truly honors him.
Please don't misunderstand. Truth is very important! If you want to know how important, I invite you to check out my sermon two weeks ago. But unity is also important. I once heard an address by Haddon Robinson, where he said, "theological seminaries [and I'm certain that the same could be said of churches] have to be faithful to the past and committed to the future. They have to preserve the embers of the fire and throw the ashes away. God, help us if we get the two mixed up." But, it goes farther than distinguishing between embers and ashes- distinguishing between truth and tradition. Sometimes for unity's sake we have to distinguish between what is true and what is essential.
Would you turn with me to Psalm 133. Let's read it together.
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron's beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
When the Lord looks at Faith Community Church. is that what he sees in us. If so, then our worship truly brings him glory. Amen.