PROPER WORSHIP (PART 4)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

God's message did not start with you people, and you are not the only ones it has reached.

If you think of yourself as a prophet or a spiritual person, you will know I am writing only what the Lord has commanded. So don't pay attention to anyone who ignores what I am writing.

My friends, be eager to prophesy and don't stop anyone from speaking languages that others don't know.

But do everything properly and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:36-40 CEV

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians ends, so too does this four message series on proper worship as Paul addresses the Christians in Corinth.

As we look at verses 36 through 38, we get a sense that not all of the Corinthians were receptive of the content found within Paul’s letter. In fact, the feel is that some in the church felt they knew better about what God wanted the church to be than Paul who had served extensively as the Lord’s messenger and prophet. We find him issuing a challenge to those believers as he proclaims:

“God's message did not start with you people, and you are not the only ones it has reached.”

In other words, the Corinthian church wasn’t operating in a vacuum. It wasn’t that they had some special privilege with God that other churches didn’t have. No, the church in Corinth was a part of the bigger body of Christ, one Christian church of many at that time and Paul was a messenger to nearly all of them. After all, he was the one who planted them in the first place.

This gave Paul a unique place as a missionary who also was empowered by God to establish churches and then provide instruction to them. In fact, Paul challenged the spiritual status of those who would doubt the validity of his word. He asserted that any spiritual person or prophet would know he spoke truth, only writing what the Lord commanded him to share. Therefore, anyone who rejected what he shared in his letters was essentially rejecting God Himself and therefore should be ignored with no attention given to any accusation of untrustworthiness directed at Paul’s messages.  

With this out of the way, Paul shares the final guidance on proper worship and it was simple. Everything was supposed to be proper and in order.

Attend any church service today and you will typically find they are orderly and proper. In fact, I know the phrase, “Order of Worship”, has been used consistently to describe how the elements of worship are arranged from beginning to end.

This ordering of service will vary depending on the denomination of the Christian church one attends. The more traditional Christian churches like the Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches will have a very regimented and rigid order of service that rarely, if ever, changes. Other more contemporary services may be more flexible and free flowing, especially the non-denominational churches.

Note Paul doesn’t call the church to any particular worship layout. That isn’t the main emphasis. There is great latitude in how the service is laid out but what isn’t negotiable is that the worship needs to be proper and orderly.

In the end translation, the style of worship and the way it is structured isn’t as important as making sure the service is focused on honoring and revering our Lord, the One whom we worship, the only One worthy of all our praise.

Through the last four messages, we have looked at some guidance on worship but it certainly isn’t all inclusive. We should intentionally seek and find all guidance in the scriptures and then commit to carry them out perfectly because our Lord deserves nothing but the best we can offer.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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