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Worship that strengthens the church - 1 Cor 14:26-40

The theme of worship is an interesting one ... It impacts on structure, tradition, culture, personality, expectations, style, attitude ... But if collective worship is done well, it is such an enriching environment in which to grow as a believer ... Experientially not just theoretically ... Note I use the word environment and not experience!

What strengthens? Whenever we meet together as believers, be it small groups, large groups we should come away feeling
A/ encouraged
B/ strengthened
C/ developed in our gifting
D/ equipped for life/ministry

Personally and corporately - Do you feel that when you leave a Church meeting each time? Too many leave Church feeling discouraged, bored, annoyed, unchanged etc etc

Worship is both a noun and a verb ... Each individual believer has the responsibility to express him/herself outwardly in worship, through whatever means are open to that individual in every area of life. One expression of that is the corporate worship service of a local church, when we all come together as the "worshipping group" - we are the worship group - not those who lead us in praise.

Difficult to jump straight to passage so lets briefly look at the way Paul's argument builds up over the preceding chapters;
Ch 11 - Spiritual authority and cultural norms, Foundation of relationship paramount to effective worship - personal accountability

Ch 12 - celebration of diversity in one body, Mutual recognition of diversity and gifting in others

Ch 13 - Motivation behind all must be Love ... Love is patient, kind, does not envy, or boast, is not proud, rude, self-seeking, or easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Ch 14 - Explanation of tongues and prophecy, practical usage and purpose

Builds to vv26-40 how do all these elements then tie together whenever we meet together to worship? What kind of worship strengthens the Church?

Here are Five factors to start with;

1/ Sieze all opportunities when we come together to engage in corporate worship/body ministry ... Not specifically the Sunday morning .... Wherever and whenever the local body comes together this 'worship' should take place ... This "encouraging, strengthening, developing equipping"

2/ Take responsibility to be prepared, but don't be upset if you don't speak ...
"each one, every one" – exercising the Gifts of the Spirit through the heart that is overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit, on the foundation of good relationships - expectation to share, preparedness to share, responsibility to share - for the sake of the Church - no hidden agendas, put relationships right, deal with problems – or don't share.

3/ Create opportunity for everyone to be involved ...
this covers environment ... Loving, forgiving, halpy to handle mistakes (young man sharing a 'vision' - needs shaping and developing not licence to say anything), trusting ... Gives people confidence and enthusiasm to share...
As well as structure ... Flexibility, freedom, variety, happy to deal with vacuums - don't build up and prepare if not giving freedom to use and develop gifts - people will make mistakes, but this is not a performance - but as soon as you have a stage you create "audience" and "performer" .... A difficult barrier to break down ... and limits the size of the group ...
And personal liberty ... Freedom in Christ, to express exuberant worship

4/ Exercise love ...
Which include self-control, and submission to each other and to leadership.

5/ Discover together what "fitting and orderly" looks like today ...
There is no one answer to this - it has to be explored together by each group of believers to develop what is culturally relevant and demographically sensitive, focussed, Discussion only works well if relationship is in place ... Exploration of faith together ... Not one person thoughts alone ... there is a need for a framework, onto which the Holy Spirit is able to build...

Conclusion:
Openness, preparation, participation and trust are essential if we are to build an environment of worship that strengthens, encourages, develops and equips the Church ... To be the worshippers that the Father is seeking!

- Press on!
Follow me on twitter @johnbagg


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