Individual Edification?
For the next few days, my son and I will be hiking and camping part of the Appalachian trail in Pennsylvania. While I’m away, I’m going to re-publish some of my older posts – posts that many of you have not read. As you can tell, I wrote some of these during my earliest examinations of the church in Scripture. Feel free to comment or discuss the posts among yourselves. I’ll try to reply to your comments when I return.
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Is an activity appropriate during the meeting of the church if that activity edifies only one (or a small number) of individual(s)?
In 1 Corinthians 14:1-25, Paul discusses two spiritual gifts: speaking in tongues and prophecy. First, it must be noted that Paul has already revealed in 1 Corinthians 12 that both of these activities are gifts provided by the Holy Spirit. But, in 14:1-25, Paul states that speaking in tongues (without interpretation) is not suitable for the gathering because only the individual speaking in edified. Paul acknowledges that the person speaking in tongues is edified, and that the person speaking in tongues is speaking to God. However, he states plainly that this is not an appropriate activity for the meeting of the church.
William F. Orr and James Arthur Walther [1 Corinthians, The Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976), 306.] comment on this aspect of Paul’s instructions when they state,
It is surprising that Paul regards speech addressed to people more highly than speech directed to God. The reason is the scope of edification; speech in a tongue builds up only the speaker. He seems to be saying that private devotion has its place; but it is not as important as public devotion, which builds up the entire group. The life of the church is more important than the religious development or expression of a single person.
According to Paul, during the gathering, the spiritual health of the church takes precedence over either the devotion of the individual or the spiritual health of the individual. Therefore, based on this passage, activities that only edify the individual are not appropriate during the meeting of the church.
What is edification?
The purpose of this blog is to explore the nature of the church according to Scripture in parallel with my PhD studies in Biblical Theology. Specifically, I’m interested in the purpose of the meeting of the church. In other words, I want to answer the following the question: According to the New Testament, what was the purpose of the church gathering together?
I think that Scripture tells us that the purpose of the church meeting was edification. The primary indicator of this is 1 Corinthians 14:26 –
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up [edification]. (1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV)
However, even if the purpose of the church meeting is edification, this is not a complete answer. For example, this leads to other questions: What is edification? What does it mean to edify someone? How does someone know if they are edifying or being edified? Who does the edifying and how? Who is edified and how? What leads to edification?
So, I thought I would give you an opportunity to answer these and other questions relating to edification. What do you think?
Singing
A couple of days ago, David from “All Glory“, left a comment on my blog that spurred me to finish a post that has been sitting in draft for too long. David is a “worship leader” for a church. This is what he said in his comment:
It’s a strange thing that happens to worship leaders when they read their Bibles and begin to interact with the God who inspired it. We find out that worship is not what the magazines, catalogs and conferences tell us it is.
I have been in the process over the past few months of retooling the music ministry of our church from a ‘worship’ ministry into a ‘discipleship’ ministry, based on Colossians 3. We are becoming able to teach and admonish one another with wisdom rather than simply ‘following the leader.’
Today, many Christians use the term “worship” when they are talking about music and singing. We know that God intends for us to live all of our life as worship to him. So, in that sense, we should worship when we sing. But, it is problematic to equate worship with singing.
Why is it problematic to equate worship with singing? Two reasons: 1) Because it blurs the real meaning of the term worship in Scripture and 2) because it blurs the real purpose behind singing in Scripture. In this post, I want us to consider the second point. When we use the term “worship” to describe singing, we miss the scriptural exhortations concerning music and singing.
For example, consider these passages:
[B]e filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart… (Ephesians 5:18b-19 ESV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16 ESV)
First, notice that in these passages singing is a response to a work of God – much like teaching and serving. We sing because we are filled with the Spirit or the word of Christ (probably references the same or a similar type of “filling”).
Second, notice that in Ephesians, Paul does not tell us why we should sing. But, in Colossians, he makes it clear that singing is part of “teaching and admonishing”. Thus, we sing to God, but at the same time we sing with a purpose of exhorting and edifying one another. The purpose of singing – as every element when we meet together – should be to build the church up toward spiritual maturity in Christ.
How do we sing together with the church in a manner that takes these two points seriously? How do we sing as a response to God filling us? How do we sing in order to teach and admonish others?
Meeting with the family
Sunday afternoon, when I returned home from meeting with the church, I was full – my heart was full, my mind was full, and my stomach was full. (Everyone loved Margaret’s chicken soup!) I pulled up my Google Reader, and found that Jonathan at “Missio Dei” had asked the following question in his post called “Your Sunday Experience“:
If you participated in some type of community today, what is the one sentence that would describe how you felt during the experience?
My first thought was, “One sentence? I can’t say anything in one sentence!” But, after thinking about it, I responded with this:
I was glad to be with my family again.
When we met together, I saw the family that went with us Saturday morning to spend time in a poor neighborhood in our city. I spoke with the young lady who wants to spend time with my daughter and another pre-teen girl. The family that spends time in the nursing home every week told me about their latest visit. I was encouraged when several brothers and sisters shared about people that God is bringing into their lives, and how they are allowing God to use them in their work places, homes, and neighborhoods.
I met a new friend Sunday. He said something about the “atmosphere” when we met together. I suggested that “meetings” are different when we consider one another family.
Going to Church
My friend Lew, from “The Pursuit“, recently moved to Athens, GA with his wife so that she could finish her college degree. A friend of his asked him where he was going to church now. Lew responded that he was not “going to church”, and he was not interested in “going to church”. His friend didn’t understand, so this was Lew’s explanation:
I am very interested in meeting with other Christians to fulfill the things that Scripture seems to indicate that we should fulfill (i.e. Encourage one another to maturity, stimulating each other to love and good deeds, etc.). I have generally come to the opinion that what happens on Sunday morning prevents most Christians from actually doing what Scripture says we should do. The lack of participation and involvement from all believers doesn’t seem to match what I see Scripture describing. I find myself sitting in a chair for one-two hours listening to one person talk about something that I already know… then it’s time to leave. I generally feel like I could spend my time better somewhere else. I guess what I’m looking for is not always the same as “going to church”. I’m more interested in sharing Christ with other believers and non-believers.
I love this response! No, there’s nothing wrong with “going to church”, but there’s not necessarily anything “right” with “going to church” either. The question is not, “Do you go or do you not go?” The question is, “Why do you go? And what do you do when you go?” There is nothing sacramental about attending a church meeting.
In Scripture, we see believers gathering together very often – sometimes daily. But WHY did they gather together? They gathered together so that they could encourage one another (edify one another) toward maturity in Christ and toward love and good works. They exhorted one another to love God and love others.
But, their meetings were the tip of the iceberg – so to speak. The only reason there was life together in the meetings was because there was life together outside of the meetings. They did not live individualistic lives – separate from their brothers and sisters in Christ – but, instead, they lived life together – sharing the good and the bad, the tears and the laughter, the excesses and the needs.
So, along with Lew, I don’t care about “going to church”. Instead, I desire to live life among a group of brothers and sisters in Christ, so that we can mutually encourage one another toward faithfulness to God and love and good works toward other people. Will this happen if I “go to church”? Maybe… maybe not. Will this happen if I stop meeting together with other believers? Nope. Will this happen if I only meet together with other believers once or twice a week? No again.
How will this happen? When we live our lives together in community – with Jesus Christ being the center and head of that community.
Edified Anyway
So, for the last two Sundays, I have not been able to meet with the church as usual. Last Sunday, we had a small family crisis that we need to deal with on Sunday morning. Nothing major… but we needed to stop and talk about a few things. Then, this Sunday, because of my eye, I was too tired to go anywhere. In fact, I slept most of the weekend. I didn’t realize my eye was taking so much out of me until I realized that I didn’t do much but sleep all weekend.
But, my family met with the church Sunday. And, they brought back greetings and concerns that not only demonstrated that people care about and love me, but they also brought back news that has thrilled me and encouraged me.
For example, a young couple gave us a “Thank You” note. They were simply thanking us for sharing our lives with them. We’ve enjoyed spending time with them and watching them start their new life together as husband and wife. While we haven’t been able to get together as much as we all would like because of schedules, our family is looking forward to accepting their invitation to dinner soon.
Also, the wife of this couple has asked if she can teach a Bible study for our daughter and other girls around her age. We’re excited about the prospects of the Bible study, but we’re even more excited that Miranda will be spending more time with this young lady. She is an excellent example for Miranda to follow both as a young lady and as a wife. Plus, it will be good for Miranda to spend time talking about faith with other people.
Finally, a young man asked Margaret if Jeremy could come to his house this week to hang out. I don’t know if there will be other people there (i.e. other teenagers) or not. But, we’re also excited about the prospects of Jeremy spending time with some young men who can help him grow in his faith and mature as a young man.
So, even though I haven’t been able to meet with the church for the last two Sundays, the church continues to edify and encourage me by their service to us and to one another. I could give other examples as well, but these are the ones that most affect us and our family right now. I thank God for my family – my wife and children, and also my brothers and sisters in Christ. He has surrounded us with such wonderful examples and servants. We always look forward to how he uses them in our lives.
When we all get together…
Here’s another good post by Guy Muse (Happy Birthday, Guy!) at “The M Blog” called “Why are we so program oriented?” In this post, Guy relates two instances in which he was asked to preach. After a short exhortation from Scripture, he then encouraged the congregation to use their gifts to build up one another. Guy says that in each case the congregation was excited by the prospects of serving one another, but that the pastors eventually stopped the mutual edification.
Guy’s final question is one that I have been asking for a long time:
Why are we afraid to gather today in what is clearly a much more Biblical way, than what takes place in most churches with a controlled program format?
Equipping and Being Equipped
Lionel, at “A Better Covenant“, recently wrote a post called “Equipping ourselves out of a position: A case for mutuality“. Some are saying that this is Lionel’s best post yet. I think they may be correct.
This is how Lionel concludes his post:
Anyway this is my struggle and what I have spent a great deal of time praying and studying about. I think this is what I desire. If I were to plant a church my ultimate goal is to see the church function free of me and other leaders. I would want someone to walk in and not know who is who unless something got out of line. I would want the younger brothers and sisters (non-positioned) to be able to bring a word of encouragement and exhort the assembly with something they have been studying and applying in their daily lives. I would want the children to speak freely about what Lord was doing with them on their sports teams and schools and what the Lord has been teaching them throughout the week. I would want a church free of pulpits but saturated with sound biblical, orthodox theology. Christ centered and priesthood heavy. I would want a church that all saints are equipped to minister to one another without fear. I would want a church that if all the elders died tomorrow there are enough mature man and women who could step up and ensure it functions biblically and wouldn’t skip a beat.
Again maybe I am wrong or a hopeless romantic but as I read this is what I see and I think anything short of it robs the saints of their gifts and cripples the doctrine of the priesthood. I hope this clears up anything that sounded to forceful or condescending. God bless. And I would ask that you pray that God would give me wisdom and an ear to hear His voice.
What a church that would be! A church where everyone works to build up everyone else. Maybe I can dream with you, Lionel.
Here I am to worship
I originally published this post on July 31, 2007 (“Here I am to worship (synchroblog)“). I think I published it as part of the first synchroblog that I participated in. I like this post because it combines part of my journey with God as well as my studies in ecclesiology. I hope you enjoy it.
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Here I am to worship
For as long as I can remember, I have been exhorted to come to church on Sundays in order to worship God. On Sundays, churches have “worship services” at certain “worship times” held in their “worship centers” during “corporate worship” to sing “worship songs” chosen by “worship leaders” accompanied by “worship bands”. I learned that I could participate in this “corporate worship” by attending the worship service, putting money in the offering plate, singing the songs, and listening to the preacher. This is what I was taught to do in order to worship God.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I was also taught that “personal worship” was important. I was supposed to read my Bible, pray, and journal (if I was very spiritual). But, though these were suggested as important, they always seemed to be less important somehow than “corporate worship”. When preachers talked about being “fed from the Word”, they always counted preaching times during a “worship service”, but they didn’t count personal Bible reading times during “personal worship”. Thus, we were told, we should all see how important it is to come to the Sunday evening “worship service” because we would then be getting twice the amount of Bible teaching and “worship”. Again, that “personal worship” seemed to be important, but it didn’t really count. I was supposed to worship God personally, but I REALLY worshiped God on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday evenings during “corporate worship”.
When I started seminary, this perception of “corporate worship” continued. The seminary held chapel services three days a week in which we were exhorted to “worship” God together as a seminary. I read articles about corporate worship, such as one where the author stated, “Corporate worship is the energizing center for all that the church is and does.” (G. Temp Sparkman, “Corporate Worship: The Experience and the Event”, Perspectives in Religious Studies 18 (Fall 1991), 241-48). Also, I was required to take a course called “The Ministry of Worship”.
It was in this class that I first began to seriously question the belief and practice concerning “corporate worship”, which led me to consider the topics of “worship” (in general) and ecclesiology. While much of the class dealt with music and the “worship service”, the professor did not allow us to limit our definitions of worship as I had been taught. We were encouraged to study what Scripture said about worship. This was eye-opening and life-changing for me.
The New Testament says nothing about believers gathering together for the purpose of “worship” as we see it today. In the NT, singing is rarely mentioned. In the NT, preaching is primarily for proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to unbelievers. There is no teaching in the NT leading to a “worship leader”, and pastors are never seen as managing or even coordinating a meeting of believers. Sitting and listening quietly are never presented as a way to participate in “corporate worship”. These ideas, and many others that I had taken for granted, are nowhere to be found in the pages of the New Testament.
And, yet, followers of Christ are to worship God. Also, believers are to gather together. How do we understand worship and believers gathering together if not in the traditional sense? Jesus tells us that the Father seeks those who will worship him in spirit (or is it Spirit?) and truth. Paul says that offering our entire lives to God as a sacrifice constitutes reasonable worship. He also exhorts us walking in love (following Christ’s example) is the type of offering that is pleasing to God and that we should discern what is pleasing to God – that is, ways to walk in love and in light. But, where are the instructions to get together and sing songs, put our money in an offering plate, and listen to a sermon?
Certainly, there are various activities described in Scripture that people do together. For example, Paul tells us how important it is for us to partake in the Lord’s Supper together. However, he also says that simply eating the bread and drinking the wine (or eating an entire meal) does not constitute participating in the Lord’s Supper. Similarly, we know that many people pray together, give money together, and sing songs together without worshiping God. It seems something more than mutual attendance and activity are necessary to worship God.
To me, the key seems to be recognizing that worship is not about activity – whether individual or corporate. Instead, worship is a life lived in obedience to God. We can sing about loving God forever, but if we are not demonstrating that love through our lives then we are not worshiping. We can give every penny, but if that giving is not in response to the love of God and the love of others, then our giving is worthless, not worship. We can listen to Bible sermons, preaching Bible sermons, or read the Bible on our own, but without a life that demonstrates dependence on God and obedience to Him, then we are not worshiping. We cannot worship God without obeying what he has revealed to us. We cannot obey on our own what God has revealed to us. We are completely dependent upon God (the grace that he provides through his Spirit) to be able to worship God. Worship is not as much about doing things for God (an audience of one?) as it is about being in God, abiding in Christ, walking in the Spirit.
If we worship individually as we abide in Christ, then how does this relate to the times when believers come together as the church? If abiding in Christ is related to obedience, then we recognize that we worship God together only as we obey him together. But, what did God tell us to do when we come together? Did God tell us to sing songs, take up an offering, and preach/listen to preaching? No. Instead, very simply and very clearly, we are told that whenever we come together everything should be done for the purpose of edifying (building up) one another. We worship God together as we mutually encourage one another toward maturity in Christ. In fact, we are told to consider (think deeply about) one another so that we will know how to spur on one another toward love and good works. When we come together we speak to one another and serve one another in a way that encourages us all not merely to think something, but to do something: love and good works.
Certainly, we would want to continue meeting with those who show us what it means to abide in Christ through their good works. So attendance at a meeting will not be required or commanded. Instead, meeting together will be a joy and a relief and a welcome opportunity for laughter and tears, comfort and admonishment, singing and praying, giving and getting, listening and speaking and serving.
This is not a “service” that is planned by a professional, but a gathering of God’s people that is choreographed by the Spirit. Similarly, it is not a time for one or two people to exercise the gifts of the Spirit in order to build up the church. We all speak and serve by each one exercising the gifts that the Spirit provides in the way that the Spirit wills in order to build up one another toward maturity in Christ and, in so doing, we bring glory to God.
As I’ve been learning about the church, as I’ve studied Scripture concerning the church and how believers meet together, I’ve found that God expects us to build one another up toward maturity in Christ when we meet together. This is a true “worship service” – obedience to God in service to one another.
Sacred Meals in the Synagogue
This is my last post about synagogues – for now. Actually, I had not planned to write this post, but after discussing the topic with Dave Black and after his encouragement, I decided to write it. In Stephen Catto’s book Reconstructing the First-Century Synagogue: A Critical Analysis of Current Research (New York: T&T Clark, 2007), Catto describes four “worship practices” that he says were common to first century synagogues. He says that those synagogues practiced 1) sanctity (cleansing or purity), 2) Scripture reading and teaching, 3) Prayer (including hymns), and 4) Sacred meals.
Yes, you read that correctly. Catto suggests that first century synagogue meetings included meals as a form of “worship”. In fact, he points out that many synagogue buildings included dining rooms for the meal.
In the book of Jubilees (written around the middle of the second century BCE), the author states:
And thus he created therein a sign by which they migh keep the sabbath with us on the seventh day, to eat and drink and bless the one who created all things just as he blessed and sanctified for himself a people who appeared from all the nations so that they might keep the sabbath together with us. (Jub. 2.21)
Catto says, “The picture is of the heavenly and earthly realms uniting, both in worship and in the sharing of a meal. Such a description would suggest a communal activity, and probably reflects the Sabbath practices of the author’s community. Further, the eating and drinking that goes on appears to be linked with the worship of the community.”
As further evidence that synagogues shared a meal together, Catto quotes a passage from the Tosefta, a written compilation of the oral law of Judaism from sometime around 200 CE. The passage describes exactly how those assembled share the meal together. Commenting on the passage, he quotes another author as follows: “The form of the meal represented here clearly corresponds to that of the Greco-Roman banquet. Such features as reclining, three courses, washing the hands, mixing wine with water, and saying a blessing over the wine are some of the more obvious elements.”
If Catto is correct, and I have much more studying to do before I form an opinion, then eating and drinking together were considered a form of worship to some Jews around the time of the New Testament. Thus, the concept “breaking bread” together would not be a foreign concept to the new church. Certainly, there would be difference between the communal meals of the synagogue and the communal meals of the church. Primarily, for the church, Jesus Christ is both the host and the benefactor of the meal, and the meal provides an outward demonstration of the fellowship that the church possesses because of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Do you think it is important to know whether or not synagogues regularly shared meals together as part of the worship?