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Paul continues to emphasize what is needed to insure that
church worship is edifying (builds up and doesn’t tear down). He said that prophesy is to speak to the
hearts of the believers present, giving them strength, encouragement, and comfort. At that time, prophesy wasn’t speaking a
prepared sermon as it is today; it was a directed giving of a message for the
believers by God through the Holy Spirit to the speaker, my commentary
reminded. It also mentioned how every
part of our services should be edifying and not simply entertaining, and how
God will bless such an effort and people will be helped.
He also mentioned understanding
eight times. “It is not enough for the
minister to impart information to
people; the people must receive it
if it is to do them any good … If a believer wants to be edified, he must prepare his heart to receive the Word … Paul first applied the principle of
understanding to the speaker himself.” He did this because many speakers were simply
experiencing some kind of personal
spiritual excitement, not caring about the congregation.
He also applied it to other
believers present. He assumed they would listen and respond. Of
course, they couldn’t do that if the
speaker was speaking in a language they didn’t know, and that was happening a
lot as well.
He finally applied understanding to unsaved persons who happened to attend, or seekers, for
understanding is key to salvation and church growth. “What
we share must be understood if it is to do any good.”
He also addressed order
in worship, mainly in limiting those who were “hogging the stage”, making sure
that messages were from god and even that the messages of the speaker were checked
for errors by the congregation. After all,
humans do err.
Father, I love the basic message You showed me today – the purpose
of building up the church – the believers today and the new believers resulting from what we do in worship and how
You use it. Keep that in my heart and
mind as I worship.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
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