Spiritual, user-friendly public worship

Keep each of these short:

Opening Illustration:

There was a game that my family played together growing up. It was called “Dutch Blitz”. It can be quite intimidating when you first come to the game because: (i) There is a lot of moving parts (ii) It requires a lot of attentiveness to multiple things simultaneously (iii) You have to be faster than the everyone else. The less aware the other person is the better chance you have of winning. This would be the exact opposite of what Paul is teaching the church in Corinth. He is teaching that you win by building others up.

Groundwork for theme:

Groundwork for theme:

Remember that in this book Paul is correcting some things within the church, responding to some questions from the church, and now addressing what the public worship time in the church should look like. They are to chase love at church gathering by building up others.

Opening Question:

Today, as you gathered with your church family, does this characterize you? Is it clear that you have dedicated your influence and time today to using your gifts to build others this morning?

Historical context/Review:

Now Paul is specifically addressing the issue of the use of tongues on the assembly time. In the culture, there were was (a) ecstatic utterances used in the pagan worship (b) tongues in the sense of other languages.

The Corinthian worship service has become disorganized and had lost the sense of purpose. Selfish use of the gifts and lack of distinction from the culture seem to be prevalent in the corporate assembly.

Reason for the theme:

As a result, Paul is writing to these believers in this chapter, in this paragraph particularly, to tell them that their corporate worship is to be spiritual and understandable. Their worship is to be clear so that everyone can understand it and be built up by it.

Proposition:

So it is the challenge of this passage to us today that all Christians should be committed to the clear, spiritual, understandable, intelligible, user-friendly worship for the edification of each other.

Illustration:

Many items that need assembly today come with instructions that have pictures. If you open the instructions, but you are an impatient person, you may be prone to look at the words, realize that they are in French or German, and rather than find the English words, you just look at the pictures on the German page. You figure that since the pictures are the same - you can just figure it out. You ultimately come to realize that you need the words that helps to describe the parts in the picture, but you need words that you can understand. In other words, you need both the words and the pictures to work together so that you can accomplish what is before you. So it is with the assembly for worship that we need two dominant things: (i) the worship needs to be spiritual and the worship (ii) needs to be intelligible [user-friendly]

1. Our worship should be both spiritual and intelligible (v. 13 - 15)

(a) Paul gives the command for the worship to be user-friendly (v. 13)

An explanation of the Platonic cultural teaching (the evicting of the mind, non-cognitive phenomena)

(b) Paul gives the reason for this command about intelligibility (v. 14)

my understanding is unfruitful would show that Paul is not saying that he doesn’t understand what he is saying, otherwise Paul would be contradicting himself.

Paul has simply included himself in the point to show his accountability and to help the Corinthians accept the rebuke.

An explanation of “my spirit” (3 options: Holy Spirit, spiritual gift, or deep/inner man)

There are groanings and there are times when we cannot express our felt praise or our felt needs because of the depth of them.

Hannah praying for a child

R. Martin (1984: 69) describes the experience this way: “It suggests an enraptured fellowship with God when the human spirit is in such deep, hidden communion with the divine Spirit that ‘words’— at best broken utterances of our secret selves— are formed by a spiritual upsurge requiring no mental effort.” [Garland, David E.. 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle Locations 14681-14683). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. ]

R. Martin (1984: 69) describes the experience this way: “It suggests an enraptured fellowship with God when the human spirit is in such deep, hidden communion with the divine Spirit that ‘words’— at best broken utterances of our secret selves— are formed by a spiritual upsurge requiring no mental effort.”

Garland, David E.. 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle Locations 14681-14683). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

(c) Paul gives a resolution that is both spiritual and user-friendly (v. 15)

Christological Consideration:

It reminds us of how God communicated to man in the way that was most beneficial and intimate - the Word.

It reminds us how we are able to live for the edification (love) of others in the public worship.

It reminds us how that Christ died to give us a sphere (the church) within which to offer this edification.

It reminds us how that Christ gave himself for the benefit of others. The wisdom of the Cross is the foundation of this letter.

Jesus Christ continues with us in His Spirit.

It reminds us how that Christ gave himself for the benefit of others.

The Spirit is what makes the experience to be real.

THIS NEEDS TO FLOW BETTER

It reminds us of how God communicated to man in the way that was most beneficial and intimate - the Word.

Principle: Lifeless, liturgical, unintelligible worship is not what the LORD intended for public worship.

Illustration:

In 1624, a man was born who grew up in a town dominated by the Puritans of that time. In addition, there were religious battles happening between Anglicans and Protestants. This man formed a group that would be known for their experience in worship over and above their doctrine. It was one of the early “seeker-sensitive” movements.

George Fox was this man’s name. He would often publicly interrupt sermons by the preacher. He felt that the established church lacked dynamic life, and he opposed established church liturgy. He felt that people listened too little to the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. His followers became known as the Quakers because they were noting as quaking back and forth as part of their religious experience.

Application:

We are afraid that spirit-controlled might mean unintelligible. (v. 13 - 15)

Where is the life in the worship today? We attempt to manufacture it with music and preaching; but what of meditating upon the Word of God…etc

2. Our worship should be both spiritual and ESPECIALLY intelligible [user-friendly] (v. 16 - 19)

(a) Paul gives the consequences of not obeying this command (v. 16 - 17)

(b) Paul gives a stronger resolution to user-friendliness (intelligibility) (v. 18 - 19)

Christological Consideration:

It reminds us how that Christ has gifted us specifically for the edification of others.

It reminds us how we are able to live for the edification (love) of others in the public worship.

It reminds us how that Christ died to give us a sphere (the church) within which to offer this edification.

Principle: It is your privilege to engage in deep, spiritual worship for the building up of others.

It reminds us how we are able to live for the edification (love) of others in the public worship.

It reminds us how that Christ died to give us a sphere (the church) within which to offer this edification.

Principle: It is your privilege to engage in deep, spiritual worship for the building up of others.

Illustration:

Another man who was born in 1535 believed that the scriptures should be the center of worship. The lifestyle of the followers of Thomas Cartwright would appear to almost be ascetical. They were called the Puritans. They saw the immorality that was rampant in the Anglican church. They believed in a deeper, holier life. Much of their writings are rich and pure in their understanding of the spiritual life.

Another man from 1570, rejected the use of the Common Book of Prayer are Psalter in worship, believing that worship should come from the heart, and reading from a book was not spontaneous. His name was John Smyth. Began as an Anglican priest but came out of it.

Rejected the use of the Common Book of Prayer are Psalter in worship, believing that worship should come from the heart, and reading from a book was not spontaneous.

Application:

We have misapplied the purpose of spirit-controlled intelligible worship (v. 16 - 19)

We have disciplined ourselves to the point that there is no spiritual outworking that benefits others. Our singing is dead, our conversations are lifeless....We have a name that we are living, but we are dead....

We seek to entertain ourselves by speaking of the world’s entertainment…OR

We seek to entertain ourselves by gaming on our devices before service...

Our displeasure is further evidenced by our inability to stay engaged in the service.

Conclusions:

Our sin is not that we are out of control or disorganized. Our sin is that we have suppressed the Spirit of God.

Our sin is not that we cannot understand the English words we use. Our sin is that we don’t have a deep sense of God in our own spirits.

When was the last time?

When was the last time you knew that God was moving in you?

When was the last time that you were so overcome by the contemplation of the scriptures that you could not help but yell out “Amen.”

When was the last time that you were deeply moved to weep because of thankfulness to God for Jesus.

When was the last time that you were enraptured so much so that you could not help but speak forth to someone else the glories of Christ in your life.

When will our worship singing NOT need a someone to prod us but we will burst forth with singing that honors God and edifies each other.

Our deepest sin is not that the worship is NOT “user-friendly”. Our deepest sin is that our worship lacks a deep, inner spiritual conviction.

Illustration:

In our home, we have a small rice cooker. You put the rice in, and then you add the water. On the front of the rice cooker is one button and two indicator lights. One of the indicator lights says “Warm” and the other indicator light says “Cook.”

The first time I used the cooker, I kept coming to it wondering why it was taking so long to cook. After several minutes, I realized I had not pressed the button to change the light from “Warm” to “Cook.” It would never have cooked the rice, if I would not have changed the status. The issue was not that the rice cooker was not user-friendly. The issue was that I had not taken time to consider the instructions.

Some of you are waiting for others to make you feel something deeply. Truth is that you already have the Holy Spirit. Would you take time to contemplate the richness of what you have in Jesus?

Many of us have had a long period of time since we really felt something so rich in our souls that we just were enraptured and had to speak to God. This is true personally and corporately. Because of this, we put pressure on preachers, music leaders…etc The truth is that you need to press the button.