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Your Contribution to Edification of the Whole
By William R. Cunningham
For May 13, 2007
Introduction
The typical church service is regimented. There is always some type of order of service that is followed Sunday after Sunday in both traditional and non-traditional churches. The typical congregant comes to church and participates at most in a sing-along fashion. The congregation is mostly spectators as church leaders do their thing ever Sunday.
In the more charismatic churches you will have people speaking in tongues, giving a word from the Lord, and singing songs. The praise and worship team will lead the people into praising God, but again the typical congregant is a spectator going along with the program that has already been mapped out.
Sooner or later the pastor or the like will preach the morning sermon. This will be delivered in any number of formats and styles. Some preachers are more entertaining than others. Some preachers are more informative than others. However, I have learned that many times the preacher preaches what the people want to hear. Sometimes, interestingly enough, a preacher may preach a really “good” sermon, but say nothing in terms of edification. This part of the service is where edification can truly be realized, but again the congregation members are spectators.
Why do we go to church? Why do we go to church services Sunday after Sunday only to be spectators overall. Sure we are edified to some extent by some of the things that go on in the service, but one has to wonder if there is another way that would transform the morning worship from a spectator sport to a participatory sport so to speak. Is it possible that we could increase the edification component of church services and decrease the spectator component of the services?
Well we are going to take a look at the church service of the first century church to help us answer that question. You may be surprised at what the first century Christians did when they first began to meet together for worship services. We can learn a lot about increasing the effectiveness of our church services by analyzing how the early Christians “had church.”
Please read 1 Corinthians 14:21-33, which I will quote here for convenience.
Some Background Information
Let’s qualify by what is meant by the word “church.” The word church referred to the body of Christ collectively. However, in this context we are talking about the specific local church at Corinth and in this case it is referring to the collection of these local churches.
The local churches here were not what we would see today. The Christians met in house churches and not dedicated structures as we do today even though house churches are popular these days.
Paul had spent about eighteen months with them previously (See Acts 18:11, 18). Since he did not give them the guidelines that are found in this particular letter then we can probably assume that these guidelines were directed at a specific situation at the Corinthian church. Remember, by “church” we mean the collection of all of the congregations, house churches, or gatherings that took place in the city. These house churches could have had up to fifty people in attendance
Let me also point out here that Jesus did not give us any instructions on how to conduct a church service. Jesus taught us about the Kingdom of God, how to communicate with God, and many other things pertaining to God’s way. We have the foundation on which to build our worship and meeting practices on. Each culture will have their own methods of doing things, but the principles are still the same. Whatever is done in church services should surely be edifying to those who are in attendance.
The early church services had much in common with the synagogue services. There was prayer (sometimes spontaneous), teaching, and psalms (songs). Revelations and tongues were unique to the Christian church services.
Prophesy: Speaking forth God’s message by his inspiration. It can, but need not, involve prediction. Although “prophet” technically refers to anyone who prophesies, Judaism generally reserved this title for God’s spokespeople of the distant past.
Most Old Testament prophets were apparently trained by a more experienced prophet such as Samuel (See 1 Samuel 19:20. This is also seen in the relationship of Elisha and Elijah)
Tongues: A different language than what one speaks
Note that the early church services were not run by a religious leader of officer. Everyone could participate in the activities during the meeting.
unbelievers in the service
1 Corinthians 14:21-25 (NKJV) -- {21} In the law it is written: “With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says the Lord. {22} Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. {23} Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? {24} But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. {25} And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.
The church at Corinth was a very interesting one with many issues. One important thing about the Corinthian church was that they were immature (See 1 Corinthians 3:1-3). Paul indicated that they were carnal (physically or materially minded instead of heavenly minded). They seemed to have an infatuation with speaking in tongues and I would imagine that not all who spoke in tongues really had the gift of speaking in tongues (speaking in a different language). This type of practice is present in churches today. I am convinced that many who “speak in tongues” are really only practicing what they were taught or mimicking what they have seen and really do not have a gift from God.
However, we have a lot of clues at how the church services were conducted at this time. Evidently the Corinthian church practiced the gift of speaking in tongues and prophesying. Speaking in tongues simply means to speak in a different language in contrast to the practice today of speaking nonsense or what is commonly known as an unknown tongue. The tongues or languages that were spoken in the early church time were unknown, but only to the one speaking. We will talk more about this later, but for now I want to focus on what Paul says in the verses of scripture above since they reveal some very important things about church services.
Paul first refers to a prophesy given by Isaiah (See Isaiah 28:11-12). Isaiah told the Israelites that since they didn’t want to listen to him that they hear from another people who spoke a different language, namely the Assyrians. The Assyrians were approaching at that time and soon would conquer Israel. The sign was for judgment against the Israelites who would not listen to God. Paul says that tongues were therefore a sign to the believer not the unbelievers. At that time the tongues referred to a sign since the people would hear nothing else.
Let me stop here for a moment. Why is it that we have to experience pain before we take something seriously? Why is it that we have to suffer before we reckon something as significant? Why do we have to suffer loss before we are motivated enough to do the right thing. For example, we Americans eat a lot of substances (I don’t want to say food because all of the stuff we eat is truly not food) that we are harmful to us. We hear many times that we should eat this or that we shouldn’t eat that. We are told to eat right and exercise, but unless something really bad happens to us we continue to eat the same poison that we always eat. It has become evident in recent years that the bible surely helps us with our diet in identifying the kinds of foods that we should not eat. Did you know that according to the bible that lobster is really bad for you? Oh boy!
Paul says that if the whole church comes together and everyone is speaking in a different language than the unbelievers and uninformed who happen to come in would think that everyone is out of their minds. Likewise if the unbelievers and the uninformed were to come in while everyone was prophesying in order than they would be edified and know that God was there. The important point here is edification.
The unbelievers were those who simply had not put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation yet. The uninformed are thought to be those who were curious about the Christian services and the like. These were those who were inquiring about the Christian faith. Consider how many times that people may have come into your church service. Were they edified or did they run away with nothing to show for the time spent with you.
If unbelievers attended your church service then would they hear God and know that God was there or would they be inundated with religious traditional procedures? Would visitors to your church be edified with the word of God and fellowship or would they be torn down with your religious traditions and programs?
We have to take notice of the difference between prophesying and speaking in tongues. Prophesying is simply to speak words of wisdom or a revelation that comes from God. Remember that these people did not have a bible that they could quote from. They could not teach on the New Testament revelations and the like because it hadn’t been written yet. So they quite naturally relied of revelation that came from God even though I’m sure that not all of the professed revelations came from God as it is today.
Now remember that the context here was the activities of the Corinthian church who were over indulging in the gift of speaking in tongues over and above what was really important, which was the word or revelation of God.
Edification in the Service
1 Corinthians 14:26 (NKJV) -- {26} How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
The people in the Corinthian church would participate in the church service by speaking in tongue concurrently or prophesying concurrently. Just imagine stepping into a church service and many people were speaking in tongues or speaking “a word from the Lord.” Of course you have probably been in a church where this very thing happened. According to Paul, that is not good and is disorderly. Paul says to let things be done for edification and then he explains.
1 Corinthians 14:27-28 (NKJV) -- {27} If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. {28} But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.
Note the prophesying was a known phenomenon in the ancient world, but speaking in tongues was not. The ancient people respected prophesying, but didn’t know what to make of speaking in tongues if they didn’t know to expect it (See Acts 2:13 for example).
Now here is something very interesting. Paul already stated that the church should do all things for edification. Now he gives some guidelines to implement edification and order. He says that there should only be two or three who should speak in tongues and that they should all take turns. They should speak all at one time. He also said that there should be an interpreter else they should keep silent. So if speaking in tongues was to occur in the church service then there should also be an interpreter so that the message from the person speaking in tongues would edify everyone else.
Now how many church services have you gone to where there were many people who were speaking in tongues at the same time? I’ve been in church services where the majority of the congregation was shouting out in tongues at the same time. I’m sure you’ve heard ministers say phrases in “tongues” as they are preaching. Do you know what was said? Did what was said edify you? Of course not. How could you be edified by something you do not now or understand?
Prophesy and Self-Control
1 Corinthians 14:29-31 (NKJV) -- {29} Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. {30} But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. {31} For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.
Here a prophet is someone who speaks God message as he or she is inspired. It does not necessarily mean that the prophet will tell the future. Notice what Paul says here to the prophets. He said that two or three should speak and that others judge. This is very important because this is surely taken for granted in churches today.
Typically someone who calls themselves a prophet or someone in the congregation who proclaims a word from the Lord is typically believed or considered to really have a word from God (though some may be skeptical). However, Paul says that the prophet should be judged and that no more than two or three should speak. The important thing besides maintaining order by limiting prophesies to two or three prophets is judging or testing.
The prophets of the early church would not have had an experienced leader such as Samuel to train them. Therefore, what was said by these prophets had to be tested. This surely protected the congregation from responding to false prophesy.
Here is a side note. Jesus said that we could identify a false prophet by their fruits.
Matthew 7:15-20 (NKJV) -- {15} “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. {16} You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? {17} Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. {18} A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. {19} Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. {20} Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
The words of a prophet are confirmed by the fruit of the prophet. This however implies that the prophet must be known. How can we know the fruit of the prophet unless we know the affect that the prophet has had on others? So judging the words of a prophet implies more than an on-the-spot interpretation or discernment.
Now Paul goes on to say that if someone is sitting down gets a revelation and wants to speak then the first prophet should be quiet so that the other could speak. This way everyone gets to participate. Remember that we are referring to a small group of people (up to fifty). Remember that the principle in play here is order. No one should dominate the floor so to speak. Everyone should be able to participate in the service for the edification of the saints.
So let’s recap two very important principles here.
- Order
- Edification
The church service should be orderly and the congregation should be edified.
1 Corinthians 14:32-33 (NKJV) -- {32} And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. {33} For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
One of the arguments that is used to justify the actions of someone who is being religiously dominant or who wants to have their way in regards to religious activity is to proclaim that you should not quench the Spirit of God or that you should not hinder the operation of the Spirit of God within a church service. This is very wrong and very counterproductive to order.
I would dare say that the adage of all night is alright is not necessarily right at all (it could for example be very much alright depending on the culture). Surely anyone knows that after a while the human being becomes tired and you reach a point of diminishing return where more is actually less. The more the service lingers the less productive and therefore edifying it really is. So there, as with most things, a balance that has to be reached. We shouldn’t rush through the service, but we should also maintain order and allow edification to take place.
Paul says here that the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. In other words, the gift of prophecy is controlled by the prophet. Whatever gift we have is not to be thought of as a loose canon so to speak. We control our activities and must therefore operate in wisdom. A person who really has a word from the Lord that would edify the church has control of his or her prophesy and it is not an invitation to be disorderly in order to practice the gift. God does not condone confusion, but peace.
Summary
We have taken a situation in the Corinthian church were the people were over zealous with tongues and prophecy. The zeal caused the church services to be disorderly and ineffective in witnessing to unbelievers who may have visited a particular house church.
Paul promotes order in the church services so that edification would be realized for both the unbelievers who attended the services and the believers. Unbelievers should conclude that “God is really among these people” and the believers should be edified and encourages. In contrast many churches today are a running monotonous program that is replayed Sunday after Sunday. Visitors are chased away by the monotony and the zeal to capture more members. Christians who do attend tend to remain for patronage reasons and not because of edification.
Would you continue to go to a restaurant if the food wasn’t good? Probably not unless your wife or someone you are close to works there. Yet many people continue to go to a church so to speak when there is no real food served and they are not edified. They continue to go because of tradition, family, or sentimental reasons and not because it is making a difference in their lives.
We should be edified when we go to church. We should also edify others when we go to church. Christians who attend church services should be more than spectators, but rather active participants in the edification of the saints and the unbelievers who may visit. The church service should be much more than a recipe that is followed every week. It should be a cause of great comfort, spawning of hope and encouragement, and surely edification by the word of God.
There is a credit card commercial that asks, “What’s in your wallet?” Let me ask you, “What is in your church?” Are people edified because of your church? Are you accomplishing anything in the lives of others and yourselves or are you just meeting every Sunday following the same old program? Are the people in your congregation growing in their faith and relationship with God? Are they maturing in their faith going from glory to glory or are they just fulfilling their religious obligation each Sunday by attending the church program like a robot.
We have to get off of this ride. We have to stop making church a recipe to follow and begin to edify each other. We have to make the unbelievers know that God is truly among us. This doesn’t mean that you have to do away with your traditions, but your traditions should surely not interfere with the word of God. Notice what Jesus said to the religious leaders.
Matthew 15:6 (NKJV) -- {6} then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
It is very important for you to realize that it is not the sole responsibility of the pastor to edify you. Many people come to church with the idea that they are to be fed by the pastor so that they would be able to endure the week until their next filling. This is far from the truth and will only promote baby Christians. Yes the pastor will teach you and guide you, but you have a lot to do yourself. The pastor is a gift to the congregation to edify you so that you can do the work of ministry. The pastor, preacher, teacher, or the like is not instructing you merely so that you could get by. God wants you to do more than to get by. He wants you to help others get by. He wants you to do something to get people to Jesus Christ.
So we in the church have to not only be edified, but we also have to do our part to edify. Our church services should be conducted in a manner that people are edified. The believers gain encouragement, hope, and a message from God whereas the unbelievers come face to face with the presence of God, which hopefully leads them to repent and seek the Lord. So the key is to edify even in our church services so that our lives are changed and that we could edify others in our normal walk. Amen.