Body-Building Worship

Churches often find what they consider valid reasons to split over worship. One likes acapella music while another prefers instruments. One wants hymns, another wants choruses, still another wants contemporary Christian rock. We decide get other people together who agree with us, create a group and try to get our way through the influence of that group. If that doesn't work, sometimes we leave and start a new group just to match our preference. We call it a "new church plant" so we don't feel bad about splitting our previous church community.

Music isn't the only thing that threatens a church community. Gifted people can be a threat as well. This is rather ironic, since God gives gifts to everyone who comes home to the Father through the Son and receives the Holy Spirit. In fact, those gifts are given by God for a reason. We are all expected to use them. Sometimes, though, we don't like the gift we've been given and we are jealous of the gift another person has been given. That doesn't help the church at all, though. Instead, we tear apart God's design for the Church.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. (1 Corinthians 12:14-18 NIV)

Working together as the Body of Christ is important because we are supposed to worship in Spirit and in truth. Worship in the Spirit is, in part, recognizing and living out the gifts we were given by God. Not only that, walking by the Spirit means we celebrate the gifts of others rather than feel jealousy. Finally, walking by the Spirit means using your own God given gifts without getting all full of yourself. The gift you have does not make you more important than anyone else. It is given to you so you can serve everyone else in His Body.

Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church. For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified. (1 Corinthians 14:12-17 NIV)

One of these "church splitting" gifts back in the New Testament days was the gift of speaking in tongues. It makes sense that it could cause problems. It is a really cool gift. People were given the miraculous ability to speak in a language they had not studied and did not previously understand. This gift was a sign from God that the message the person was speaking came from God. Remember, all prophets had to have a miraculous sign to confirm that their message was from God. Speaking in tongues was just such a sign. In fact, it was a common sign that God poured out, starting on the day of Pentecost. The problem was that people got so caught up in the gift, that they forgot God. They thought they were worshiping God by speaking in tongues, but they forgot that God gave them the gift in order to validate the message God wanted to give to His people. (Remember, the New Testament church did not have the New Testament to read. They were living it!)

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!" What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. (1 Corinthians 14:22-26 NIV)

So, how about you? Do you want worship services to be customized around you and your preferences? Do you get jealous or upset at spiritual gifts that God gave other people? Do you hide your own spiritual gifts because it doesn't match the "style" of the church where you worship or they are just not as "good" as someone else's gift? Do you use the gifts God gave you to worship God and build up His church?