Worship: Bringing God Glory Sermon 5: The 1 1/168 th Worshipping Together

Worship Worship is the End and the Beginning of Discipleship, Evangelism, Fellowship, and Ministry. These Equal 167 Hours a Week. They Lead to 1/168 th of a Week to Worship Together. Living purposeful lives in all aspects of our faithfulness ends in genuine, God focused, thankful, Worship.

Why This Day and Hour? Why Sunday instead of Saturday? Not creation but resurrection. Acts 20:7 This hour? We are called to “come together” (eg: 1 Corinthians 11:18, 20, 33, 14:26).

To Do What? Page Acts 20:7 “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.” 1 Corinthians 11:24. “do this in remembrance of me”

The Synagogue Influence The synagogue was the place where Jews gathered for instruction and worship in the New Testament period. Synagogue services included prayers, the reading of Scripture, and, usually, a sermon explaining the Scripture. A nearly 900 year history in Jesus’ time.

The Lord’s Supper Acts 2: A life of worship. On The Lord’s Day (as it came to known) they gathered together for The Lord’s Supper as we read in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 10:14-17 page 1783 – Unity. 1 Corinthians 11 – Correction. From Passover to Agape Meal. Our simplified service.

The Lord’s Supper The core of the service. 1 Corinthians 11:23-24 remind us that this is a time of memorial, verse 25 focuses on the covenant, verse 26 the proclamation to one another and unbelievers.

1 Corinthians 14 Context. Cessationist View. Speaking the word of God in prophecy encourages the believers and convicts the unbeliever (1 Cor 14:22-25). Looking into this section helps us realize that congregational worship is intended to be helpful to the believers and understandable to unbelievers.

1 Corinthians 14 Page :26 - “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.” 14:40 - “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”

Male Led Worship Leaders 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, 34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.”

1 Timothy 2:11-14 Speaks of the creation order and not culture when the Holy Spirit writes through Paul: “I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man; she must be silent” So roles of teaching are left to the men of the congregation as we worship together.

Collecting an Offering Each week our members take up an offering to support the work of the church. 2 Corinthians 8-9 give several directions about this. The context.

Sing Together Ephesians 5:19 on page 1823 “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,” Colossians 3:16 on page 1835 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Our voice is the instrument.

Praying Together In Colossians 1:3, 4:3. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 we read “16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” and verse 25 says “Brothers, pray for us” showing an example of intercessory prayer.

Two More Questions Why an hour? Focusing takes effort and worship is focusing on God so we try to keep to a time frame to help the focus. God does not enter in at 11 and leave at 12 with a call to worship and a “closing prayer” but our focus changes.

2 nd Question Are the passages in the Bible about congregational worship descriptive or commands? Descriptive not prescriptive. The structure may be helpful but not to be worshipped or followed blindly. Theology over “command, example, inference.”

A Quick Answer If you want to look at some aspects more deeply please let me know. We have come together to focus on Jesus let’s continue to do so as we continue to worship together. It is because of Jesus that we sing, pray, read His word, and meet around His table. (more next week.)