» Fellowship cont. Mt. Tirzah Baptist Church: Our Fellowship in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Posted in February 25th, 2009

I was thinking about the article we discussed yesterday by Alan Knox and I began to wonder more about our church practice and whether it agrees with the Scriptures. The text I would like to consider this morning is 1 Corinthians 14:27-30

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. If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, 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. 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. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged

I’m not interested at this point in discussing the nature of the prophecy in this text. Let’s assume for our context today that the way we apply this is prophetic illumination of the Word of God - a.k.a. teaching the Scriptures to others. There are several things in this text that are in striking contrast to the way we commonly meet together in church.

First, there is more than one person teaching. Churches today commonly put a lot of stock in a seminary graduate and allow him to do all the teaching. The deacons do not teach. The rest of the body does not teach. We definitely do not conduct services in such a way where anyone else is expected to teach. Is this biblical?

Second, the text suggests that the teaching is not a monologue, or one person talking. Rather, it seems that someone says something, and then others respond. There does seem to be a group (two or three) that is expected to handle most of the teaching, but even these really seem to be leaders of a discussion. Also, the text says “let the others judge.” It seems that it is incumbent upon the church as a whole to speak up if the person or persons teaching is saying something contradictory to sound doctrine.

My question is, “Why do our church services look so foreign in comparison to the biblical model?” I think that much of the reason is that it is simply built into our tradition. Just think about the positive aspects to doing things according to the biblical model. What positive things can you see? What negative things can you see? How would we go about changing to meet together in a more biblical way?

4 users commented in " Fellowship cont. "

Liz said,

in February 25th, 2009 at 9:42 am

Positive: When you have more than one teacher/leader it is possible that people are not following one man as someone on a pedestal. Perhaps it is easier to hear the Word. Also then all people receive teaching even the teachers.
Negative: You open the church to situations that can be uncomfortable. What do you do if one of your teachers teaches something contrary to Scripture. Sure the other teachers are there to correct. But maybe the damage of what they have said is already done. Even if there is no damage, it would be very uncomfortable to have to correct in front of the people. If many are able to teach, there is less control over what is said.
Also, much of the “order” that we enjoy in church would be lost if we were to have teaching and discussion this way. But perhaps this is a positive thing too.

Matthew said,

in February 25th, 2009 at 9:50 am

Liz, I think you hit the nail on the head with the “less control” comment. We like to control things don’t we? Are you saying that the biblical model requires us to “let-go?”

Vernon said,

in March 12th, 2009 at 3:10 pm

I don’t think it is as much about control as it is “order”. It’s not that I don’t like a free flowing discussion but i think the results would be chasing not teaching. Let’s take the way you start in scripture and this Sunday you are doing lets say versus 2-6 of book X. I think you would spend most of your time guiding people back to the versus you are trying to cover. However on a Wed night bible study this would work as long as you did away with your power point which in it self is an attemp to conrol

Matthew said,

in March 17th, 2009 at 8:39 am

Vernon, I agree there would be a lot of rabbit chasing. But, 1 Cor 14 tells everyone else to be quiet while 2 or 3 teach. Then others interpret. So there is not total disorder. There seems to be a time where some primary points of prophecy are discussed between the 2-3 teachers, then the others get in on the conversation.