Some people think the main purpose of gathering as the Church is to hear the Word of God. Is this true? Not entirely. Our main purpose is to meet with God, worship God, and share God with others. That certainly might include hearing the Word of God. Of course, we do need to gather to hear the word of God, but not in the way you might traditionally think. The Word of God comes through more than just 1 person teaching. Most of the time in church, people are hearing someone(the pastor) reading what some commentator or theologian thinks about what the Scriptures are saying. Best case scenario in this setting is when the pastor is in tune with the Holy Spirit and shares what God wants to say to the church. This is good, but the church meetings were meant to be so much more! The entire church body is intended to be sharing the Gifts of the Spirit during its meetings. Prophecy, exhortation, etc. People do not get bored when the Holy Spirit is really speaking through people. People get bored when they hear the regurgitation of a bunch of information. That is not really feeding sheep solid food, that is just giving the sheep stale bread. God-hungry people want fresh, daily bread that is God-breathed and spirit-inspired. People need a “demonstration of the Spirit’s Power”.
I believe there are to be different types of meeting in the church. There can certainly be meetings where one person is sharing or teaching in order to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. And, then there can be the types of meetings where spiritual gifts, worship, prayer, fellowship, etc. are shared. There needs to be a variety of meetings - without locking ourselves into any 1 type all the time.
Acts 2:42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
I don't believe for a second that the apostles' teaching was what we see in most churches today. I believe the people devoted themselves to the apostles' way of life - the life of following Jesus. The apostles were teaching people and leading people in such a way that the people were coming into an intimate personal relationship with the one who had just risen from the dead. I don't think they got together and had big doctrinal debates, I believe their purpose in getting together was to let the life of Christ flow from one to another.
I and my family desire real life, not dead, stale Religious services where the same pattern is repeated over and over with no real change week in and week out, year in and year out. It seems the pattern of 1 Cor 14 is being ignored for the most part in our church gatherings today.
1 Cor. 14:26-29
When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. 29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.
This scripture says 2 or 3 prophets should speak. Not 1 person dominating the service with an extra-long teaching every time. We should have people sharing hymns, words of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation, or a prophecy. I encourage you to really imagine what this might look like. Maybe the problem is, you don't really believe God can speak to or through people today. Maybe you believe God can only "illuminate" the scriptures, not actually speak to you personally. If you don’t believe God can reveal(only illuminate) then this scripture will mean very little to you. It says very specifically that someone can share a “revelation”, not just an “illumination”.
When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. 29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.
This scripture says 2 or 3 prophets should speak. Not 1 person dominating the service with an extra-long teaching every time. We should have people sharing hymns, words of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation, or a prophecy. I encourage you to really imagine what this might look like. Maybe the problem is, you don't really believe God can speak to or through people today. Maybe you believe God can only "illuminate" the scriptures, not actually speak to you personally. If you don’t believe God can reveal(only illuminate) then this scripture will mean very little to you. It says very specifically that someone can share a “revelation”, not just an “illumination”.
The following links have been a source of inspiration to me over the years.
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