Published: January 5, 2025 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Worship 2 - Part 1 | Scripture: Hebrews 12:19-25; 1 Corinthians 14:20-26; Philippians 2:1-5
Transcript
View Full Transcript →
0:05
so we're ret turning to a topic that we discussed back in 2023 and that is worship in the church and during that session we um
0:20
were using the passage in Acts chapter 2 somewhat as a framework or a paradigm in terms of the
0:30
opponents of a Christian Assembly excuse me chapter 2 of Acts verse
0:41
Acts verse 42 and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to Fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer so these four
0:54
elements and and I think we were all in agreement at least those of us who were here at the time but this is not necessarily an exhaustive list you may notice that singing is not on the list
1:07
um although that may be an an integral part of Fellowship as we talk about that what we do know is that Believers have been seeing uh the worship of God for a
1:18
very very long time we have the book of Psalms um we also have the um the historical reality that some of the Levites were set aside as as basically
1:29
wor worship leaders so we we do have that so the apostles
1:50
fellowship I don't know if I'll pen will make it to the end of the
2:05
and prayer we spent a good deal of time talking about the apostles teaching so I'm not going to to rehash that is that there's a lot of different places that that you can go with that and we did in
2:16
the last session in fact that's all the further we got on the list so we are going to talk about the word coia Fellowship but Lord willing that's going to be next week I want to do a little
2:28
bit of a review kind of catch up with what we've talked about and where um people's thoughts are um but there are uh other elements that that we have
2:40
added to um to a worship service in other words um the church in its different iterations over
2:51
the last 2,000 years has developed a liturgy now that that word is also biblical Loria which means service and
3:03
is in reference to the Tabernacle or the temple um we also have that in Romans 12 where Paul calls it our reasonable service um and most of our English
3:16
Bibles add the words of worship which are not in the Greek so we have this uh
3:36
liturgy and as I mentioned before you know that word to to a lot of people especially Baptist scares them because it sounds very Catholic sounds very high
3:47
Church U and and they would be surprised to know that they have a liturgy fact some Baptist Churches have a very rigid liturgy down to which stanzas of the hymn you sing not the entire one but the
3:59
first third and fifth verses a liturgy is nothing more than an order a set order of of what you do and um it may be surprising to to know but even even
4:13
charismatic assemblies have a liturgy every everyone has an they get they get started at a certain time whatever it is they're doing it's amazing how how timely the spirit is and
4:25
how programmable um but you get started at a certain time and then there are certain things that happen at a certain time during the time that you're together and then it comes to an end
4:35
well that's a liturgy and each week it is essentially the same thing which is how you know it it is a liturgy so um don't be afraid of that
4:45
word the question really is is the Liturgy of the assembly serving the purpose of gathering that that's really what we're
4:57
asking here and this is not so much an instructional Series in the sense of catechizing and telling everyone this is
5:08
what we do as it is to say okay this is why we do what we do and do you think there are better things we could be doing okay so the the
5:22
um the
5:35
is to serve the purpose of
5:55
assembling is that make sense do everybody agree so it's not the Liturgy that that runs that's not that's not the it's the horse
6:05
not the not the cart and so so many books talk about the Liturgy and what it is that we're supposed to do and they really don't
6:17
talk much about the purpose although it's always there implicitly and you can always tell what an assembly's purpose is by their
6:27
liturgy if you stick around long enough enough you figure out pretty quickly what it is they think they're assembling for because this is what they do okay so
6:38
this it may be subconscious um it may not be explicit but what really matters if you are looking for uh biblical worship is that
6:49
we from the scriptures determine what is the purpose of our getting together that that's what it boils down to and then we analyze what we do with
7:01
respect to why we're here okay what we do is not the important point it the important point is is what we do
7:11
conducive to why we're here okay and if we're not in agreement as to the purpose of assembling we're not going to be in
7:22
agreement on the function of liturgy or the form for that matter and that can be found true I think in in almost all
7:32
congregational um congregational um conflict okay so I'm going to put that there as as a um not so much an axiom as a thesis okay
7:44
that we can think about as we go along all right so here's the thesis I'm going to put it in a positive way okay
8:16
common purpose for assembling it is the assembling that makes us a congregation we congregate okay if we
8:28
didn't assem didn't assem we're not a congregation I think that's to me that's one of the problems with the video the what do they call them the the remote churches and certainly a
8:40
problem with with those who who get their Christianity from the TV set or the now the computer screen or the phone um each Lord's day that's not congregating so let's look at a few
8:52
passages of course we're all familiar with these passages but I don't know that we necessarily connect the dots in terms of um their
9:04
connection to the idea of of gathering first of all Hebrews chapter
9:17
22 now I'm going to start there for the sake of time but really starting at verse 19 um is is the basis for what he's now
9:27
going to say in starting in verse 2 too so I I would advise you to to go ahead and read um well really the whole book but in terms of the immediate context of this verse star in verse 19 but verse 22
9:40
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full Assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies
9:52
washed with pure water let us hold fast the confession of Our Hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful and let us consider
10:04
how to stimulate one another to love and Good Deeds not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all
10:16
the more as you see the day Drawing Near we're going to look a lot at that pack passage in terms of Fellowship um because it does contain some very key
10:29
words that constitute what Christian coia is all about both the reason for doing it and the the method as it were the things
10:39
that we do when we assemble are there in in in this passage um but of course everybody's most familiar with the passage in verse 25 not forsaking the assembling as is
10:52
the habit of some I've always found that somewhat odd not really odd but enlightening at least to realize that in the first century there were those who didn't care
11:04
to assemble and yet consider themselves to be Believers okay that that's that's hard to believe with the apostles still living okay with with Paul still saying
11:14
we are baptized into one body you know with with all the different um teaching that that they were having now the scriptures were were not necessarily the New Testament was not necessarily in the
11:26
form that we have it now by the time the writer of Hebrews was writing which I believed was before ad70 because of his comments regarding the temple worship he he views it as
11:39
still going on so that's awfully early in in the church's history and yet there were still those who um who were not assembling why do you suppose that
11:55
was persecution that that would be one thing fear of persecution yes that
12:09
though well yes it it would have probably been a work day still but as far as we know they gathered before work they gathered early um because of
12:26
that why bother yeah there could have been a theological or spiritualizing of it that they you know when Paul says that do you not realize that you are the Temple of the Holy Spirit you know in one place he's talking about the
12:37
individual Christian in 1 Corinthians 6 and they can easily forget 1 Corinthians 3 but there there's an underlying reason um that that come that is the reason why
12:49
in each of these cases we come to the conclusion not to gather and that is because people didn't like people any better in the first century than they do
13:00
now okay they were not different than us okay they they were antisocial people in the first century as there as there are in the 21st century um and and assembling
13:13
especially early in the morning before work is not necessarily a pleasant thing to do and so I I think underlying it is simply the path of least
13:24
resistance and then what what other very good reasons well I don't want to do it because I might I might get arrested or I might be late for work or you know I
13:34
don't need to because I have the Holy Spirit within me those are largely justifications for an underlying problem and that is the the lack of realization
13:45
that we are a body now you can have an analogy here especially as get older that you you know sometimes when you wake up in the morning not all of you wakes up you know some parts don't
13:57
necessarily wake up along with the others and that's not pleasant and and that is the analogy that Paul uses in terms of the assembly and that is it's
14:08
the body of Christ so we do have um you know we we do have a a a Temptation within us within our flesh to
14:19
neglect or to at least um diminish the importance of assembling so one of the purposes of this study is to try to show you from the scriptures that that not only does not do you any
14:32
good it is detrimental to the rest of the body and that there there is and I'm saying it's it's all um smiles and joy and you know you come in hopping no
14:44
sometimes you drag yourself in we you know we all are there but that this is something that God has ordained like he has ordained that our bodies function on
14:56
oxygen that in Christ we are made a people and this is that that phrase right there is a
15:08
summary of the existence of the nation of Israel it was made to exist as a people and and so um the heart of
15:19
coinonia is that we are made to exist as a people and not in some abstract sense that we are all brothers and sisters in
15:29
the Lord across the country across the world that is true but that's not the providential outworking the providential outworking of God's salvation is that he has
15:42
baptized you into a body and that the assembling together is part of it's an integral part it's not a dispensable part it's an integral part of your life
15:53
in Christ that you cannot forgo the one without suffering in the other now don't misunderstand me I'm not saying that you'll lose your salvation if you
16:05
don't assemble or you don't attend the service every time you know there have been teachings like that and I don't hold to that it has more to do with um
16:15
with your with your heart Jenny I know
16:47
no and in and the atomization of our society the individualism of modern Western Society I've talked about this many times it works very powerfully against the idea of coinonia um we we really do have access
17:00
to all that we need from our home
17:32
that compon of I would say it's a component of the all three lettu us okay and and the and um it's kind of easy to remember because you just think of lettuce lettuce
17:43
lettuce lettuce um it is a very unique grammatical I appreciate you pointing that out it's a very unique grammatical component of the Greek language that we don't actually have in the Anglo-Saxon
17:56
languages and that is a first person imperative now we think of imperative in the second person right you do this and
18:09
certainly Greek has the second person both singular and plural imperative a command what we don't have is is a first person plural or even a first person
18:20
singular command this this is not a suggestion okay this is a command uh which we we need need to understand the Greek here because the L us and we'll
18:31
again as I said we're going to be in this passage uh fairly U deeply during this session but it it's it's not really what most of us think and that is the
18:45
it's not a voluntary Society now what what has happened in modern Western EV evangelicalism is the influences of
18:56
arminianism by which the individual sinner has the free will to accept the offered grace of God has has become a
19:07
corporate individualism and volunteerism and also that coupled with the consumerism of our society where we do have tremendous amount of choices
19:19
that we can make now we have the same thing in churches and then we also have the same thing on on Sunday mornings or other times when when the fellowship
19:30
gathers we can choose whether we want to or not there is another fallacy uh and that is that Mark and I just jump out of bed on Sunday mornings uh with big
19:41
smiles on our faces eager to get to this building that there are never any days that the pastors are kind of dragging too um okay no that that's a fallacy uh you know it's it's we all understand
19:53
especially again we've had small children trying to get them ready to get out the door on a Sunday morning is not always a Christian experience okay you have to be actually
20:04
as parents you need to be very careful there right because um it's it's not hard to turn your children off to church uh on the basis of what they have to go through to get there you know we've been there and and
20:16
that's that's a reality of our flesh so I'm not I'm not going to make this some poana you should love everybody and just want to be with each other all the time
20:27
I don't know when I've heard that stuff I want to throw up in my mouth that's just not it's not
20:45
serre a command but command but if members of the assembly do those commands then Other M purpose ising
20:59
things ass some will be encouraged encouraged some will have their hope built up yeah and some will be stimulated stimulated hopefully all will be stimulated all
21:10
will be encouraged by so the purpose of assembl then in your mind also by this absolutely I think we don't have a
21:21
specific passage in that I can think of that tells us explicitly this is why you assemble I so many things in the scriptures God has chosen not to give us
21:34
the specific summary statement but rather to tantalize us to find out the reason in the method itself
21:45
does that make sense okay with with this the parable of Israel also agrees they were to he uses the phrase draw near
21:56
doesn't seem like an accident right no not at all that is that is an echo that they were to come to the tent where the Holy Spirit was right on purpose right
22:06
together and then just turn the page to
22:17
12 starting in verse 18 and I'm not going to read the whole thing but I I do want to say that this ties into the draw near draw near was an echo we we talked about these on in Plum line in biblical
22:27
theology that you you you begin to hear phrases in the New Testament that activate the phrase from the old testament old testament Israel Drew near
22:38
to the Tabernacle okay the three annual feasts um or on the Sabbath or we Drawing Near um is is a key word there
22:48
and then the writer of Hebrews then expands that he unpacks that phrase toward the end of the letter to say that you're not Drawing Near to to a mountain
22:59
that may be touched and a blazing fire Into Darkness and Gloom and Whirlwind that's sin okay that's the Drawing Near and you're not Drawing Near to that type of
23:10
a of a of a covenant or of a relationship with God your drawing near he says he says but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living
23:22
God the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels to the general assembly now that's not Presbyterian by the way okay just make a note in your Bible that that's not the general
23:32
assembly okay to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn who were enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect and to Jesus the
23:43
mediator of a New Covenant and the sprinkled blood which speaks better things than the blood of Abel okay um there's That Drawing Near and yeah it's
23:53
it's um it you know it's it's very similar to uh the the Israelite did not really have the option of just sitting in his tent when the nation was drawing
24:06
near if he did he would be cut
24:28
off yeah um that's a good point that we've discussed over the years um and that usually and that'll come out in our discussion because um why do congregations do that well one of the
24:38
main reasons is the style of music because the the congregation doesn't agree there's that there's that congregational conflict and the conflict
24:51
is over the music that is being used some members of the congregation want more contemporary Christian music other others want you know the old traditional
25:01
hymns from the 1800s um okay uh you know that that the old traditional hyns might have been Gregorian chance I don't know but they
25:12
they don't want we've we've had that here um I do remember one person very very upset that we began to sing
25:22
Psalms and the comment was I want to sing about sing about Jesus okay Jesus okay okay all right uh we got a problem if
25:33
you can't see Jesus in the Psalms the music's not the problem so what a lot of churches do is in order to basically cater to the
25:45
various branches or or portions of their congregation they establish different services with different music It's usually the same sermon everything else is the same the music is different now
25:57
there are some Churches to do it because the congregation has grown so large you know and there is a a school of thought that says you should plant other churches rather than get that large we've never had that danger
26:21
James oh yes yeah um let's turn now to 1 Corinthians 14 uh we're we're kind of setting up three passages
26:41
yes go ahead you said to our benefit he uses the writer of Hebrews uses that phrase or something similar the path of least resistance for the children of Israel was not to assemble as well and it did not benefit
26:53
right what they heard did not benefit them because they meet it with yeah so what was there for them in Israel did not benefit them because they
27:03
did not draw near and that's something that you see throughout the prophets well even within the Pento you see those who did not draw near because it's you know it's it as I said we haven't
27:16
changed over time okay we we've been kind of the same Humanity since the fall so um you know don't think well it was easier for them because of this some
27:27
people say well okay it was a it was a parochial and agrarian society well my my in-laws were Dairy Farmers okay that's agrarian isn't it man those cows
27:37
got to be milk when they got to be milked right and in fact what happened was my my in-law stopped going to church there was a little bit of a conflict that I never heard about because it was
27:48
before M was BC um before Chuck okay I I said before Chuck um even though letter start no we won't go there
28:01
and they just you know my father-in-law just decided it was too much of a hassle he could get it um he could get it from the television every Sunday morning he would sit there and watch um Liberty
28:11
Baptist Church he even had the he had the fallwell Bible so just knew what page to turn to you know that was that was it that was his assembling for the rest of his life um and it also I mean
28:23
his whole lifestyle kind of played into that because cows have to be milked early in the morning you know and they have to be milked early in the afternoon and you don't miss a milking
29:15
it is very different I think that's that's a that's a good point this is not um Judaism uh Revisited it is a New Covenant that's I think what he means
29:25
when he says you're not coming to a mountain burning with fire you're coming to Mount Zion the idea the New Jerusalem um the idea of coia now is is not
29:37
something that you can do three times a year it's something that is it is now part of your life part of your existence and I think um this verse in in chapter
29:47
14 of 1 Corinthians speaks to that where Paul says you know he's been talking about um the assembling really since chapter 11 in a negative sense and now
29:59
he's moving in chapters 12 13 and 14 to a positive sense and and even the wording of verse 26 of chapter 14 is is very significant to what we're talking
30:09
about what is the outcome then Brethren well there It Is Well what what is the result here of all of that I've been saying and he says when you assemble
30:20
each one has a Psalm has a teaching has a revelation has a tongue has an interpretation let all things be done for edification okay
30:37
um the the again we're going to we're going to unpack this over the coming weeks I just want to give you the core verses today but the idea here is it's first of all it's not top
30:47
down it's each one and and that is so foreign to many professing Believers today in in why they go to church and if it is top down
30:59
why bother getting out of bed when you can get it on your phone you know if it's just receiving a sermon then you can get that online so you don't need to assemble but
31:12
that's not what it is that that is actually I'm going to use the adjective satanic only because not that I believe
31:24
necessarily that Satan is directly behind everything but that his name means deceiver and it is a subtle deception that has overtaken the church in every
31:36
generation and that is that the work of ministry is done by the clergy and The Business of the congregant is simply to receive no Paul says each
31:49
one which which may not um give you um a mental image of what this looks
32:00
like uh and I will confess that the image it gives me is
32:12
frightening it reminds me of the charismatic movement that Angela and I were in back in the 80s um it it was chaotic but I do think that Paul very
32:24
quickly puts a Biblical control let all all things be done for edification he's already pointed out that if one speaks in a tongue and there's no interpretation who is edified okay if
32:37
all he's about to go into the concept that that we experienced and that is if all prophesy at the same time who is edified he he immediately says if one is
32:47
prophesying and another has a prophecy the first will sit down the other will speak and then there will be judgment so obviously there's some order here here
32:58
right that because without order there is no is no edification so I do want to point out that first of all it is every member but secondly it is for the edification of
33:09
all I think he's put another very sober in control on it befor Brothers do not be children in your thinking well we're heading thank you okay because that links now to the next verse in
33:21
Philippians 2 all right so today we're just kind of putting some verses on the board that Lord willing over the next few weeks we're going to connect because they all flow out of Acts
33:33
242 okay they they all show us the the how of first century biblical assembling
33:44
which I think all will together point to the why all right so
33:54
Philippians Philippians 2 um verses 1-5 and again Philippians 2 is most famous for the doxological hymn of Christ but
34:08
what's important here is to realize that that hymn that Paul gives us starting in verse five and six is actually explanatory for what he's just said in
34:20
verses 1-5 okay so he says if therefore there is any encouragement in Christ if there is any consideration of Love
34:30
consolation of love if there is any Fellowship of the spirit if any affection and
34:45
compassion you do all understand that these statements are rhetorical I mean I I think you can Envision an assembly where none of these are present are present okay sometimes it's your family but you
34:56
know you you can Envision a human assembly where none of these things are present right but he has he has already spoken of what Christ has done and he
35:07
said back in first uh chapter 1 uh verse 27 he says we are we are standing firm in one spirit with one
35:19
mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel the unity of the body is presumed because it is brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit through
35:30
baptism and through instruction so when he says in verse one if there is any if there is any that is a literary device that is rhetorical there is
35:42
encouragement there is consolation so he says make my joy complete by being of the same mind maintaining the Same Love United in spirit intent on one purpose
35:55
do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit but with humility of Mind Let each of you regard one another as more important than himself do not
36:06
merely and the word merely is not actually in the Greek do not look out for your own personal interests but for the interests of others have this
36:19
attitude which is found in Christ Jesus see verse five actually goes with verses
36:31
verses six and onward is is an explanation and a glorification of the attitude of Christ so it's it's actually the Supreme example of what he's just exhorted Believers to be and to do when
36:45
they assemble and there is no room for selfish ambition for seeking one's own edification or one's own benefit
36:58
the irony the the the um poetic irony is that God has so or dained that we will receive the most
37:10
when we benefit others the most that it is completely opposite of the of the human the natural Fallen human concept of it's it's about me the
37:23
the real benefit that I receive biblically speaking is when I seek to benefit others and it's not a saving of the conscience or a feeling of of uh of
37:35
Worth or Merit that I've done a good thing remember the Boy Scouts used to have a a little token in one pocket I think your left pocket I I didn't go
37:51
far I didn't go very far in Catholic school either um but when you did a good deed you were you were allowed to take that token out of one pocket and put it in the other okay that's not what this
38:01
is about is that each day you do something nice for somebody and then you you feel good about yourself no this a there's a dynamic I think we're going to see there's a um 1 Corinthians 10 talks
38:12
about there's a there's a spiritual Dynamic that's going on within the body that is um that is orchestrated and directed entirely by the Holy
38:23
Spirit and what interrupts that spiritual work is when individuals are selfish and look out for their own
38:33
perceived needs But the irony the sad irony is when they do that they don't receive what they really need often times they don't receive what they perceive they need but they really don't
38:45
receive what they do need okay so there's a dynamic going on here all right and right and then Ephesians 4 which again we've talked about this passage we're not
38:56
going to spend as much time on this because we spent a lot of time on it in the first session but here we're talking about you know why why do we get together well you know from what we've
39:07
read we we're not to forsake the assembling together when we assemble each one has a contribution now that doesn't mean that each one has a contribution every time
39:19
we get together that that's not what that verse means it means that when we get together the contributions of Ed ification will come from the
39:29
body and it's not a topown um uh clerical type of of ministry and that's something that it's been so long that
39:41
the church has thought in that top down clergy based
39:53
that getting all of this is really falls on your on your shoulders it it comes down to to you realizing as you read the scriptures that it's not Mark's job it's not my job
40:04
to live your religion your faith it's not our not our job to edify each one of you every Sunday and that fact I'm glad because
40:17
that's impossible it's your job to build up one another to encourage one another to stimulate one another which is essentially bringing a Psalm A Hymn a spiritual song song A Prophecy a tongue
40:29
now don't don't go too far with what I just said there about okay I don't want anybody to think that I do not think that tongues are still functional in the church but that's a different uh story
40:40
altogether I'm just simply quoting 1 Corinthians 14 um the point being is that that we each as Believers need to come to the realization that biblically
40:50
we're part of the body an integral part we are a limb we're an ear we're an eye we we're some part of the body without which the rest of the body cannot
41:01
function quite function quite right and the fewer parts of the body that do function that that don't function I should say the more immobilized the body becomes right so
41:14
that analogy of the body Paul uses for a purpose for a reason it just it fits the picture so what is the function of the elders well that's Ephesians 4 and we've
41:26
talked about this too um he he have he first gave uh he gave Gifts of men to the church verse 11 and
41:38
he gave some as Apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers and again that that last one um is often shortened
41:49
to Pastor teachers but it it's grammatically they go together because the introductory phrase ends some as is only there once whereas it's in front of
42:02
Apostles it's in front of evangelists it's in front of prophets but it's only in front of pastors and teachers okay which grammatically means those two are
42:13
the same gift now other passages in the pastorals that talk about the Elder and the responsibility of the elders as Shepherds and as
42:23
instructors teach us that this is the function of the pastoring Elder the pastor teacher what's the purpose well verse 12 for the equipping of of the
42:35
Saints now I stopped there some of your Bibles may have a comma after the word saints that is an
42:46
evil comma uh keep in mind that the ancient Greek manuscripts did not have punctuation in fact they didn't actually have spaces between words because
42:57
Papyrus was expensive okay so you you don't have a comma in the original these all the commas and question marks and whatnot that you have in your Bible are
43:07
interpretations of the text this is a case where the church has interpreted the passage in light of their own
43:18
clericalism read it differently for the equipping of the Saints for the work of service to to the building up of the
43:28
body of body of Christ well who's responsible for the building up that's the same word by the way as edification a building is actually known as an edifice okay so
43:39
building up um and and edification are the same concept well we've just seen that that's the responsibility of the congregation that's the responsibility
43:49
of every believer including the pastors the elders so the elders function is not to build up the body it's to equip the Saints for the building up of the body
44:00
okay now very quickly as we close um you know these are the components I'm going to submit as we begin uh this session
44:16
again that that is largely where it all happens that we're going to see especially in Paul that this is fundamental and essential to the meaning of the Greek word coia everything that we've talked about in these
44:28
passages I'll put the last one up here before I close and there are many others but these are kind of four points that we're
44:40
going to be um oriented around as we begin our our re restart our discussion on worship well let's let's close in prayer father we do thank you that you
44:52
have given us your word to in to instruct us to guide us into your will your mind but even more
45:02
we thank you that you've given us your spirit without whom we could not possibly understand your word and so we ask that your spirit would Enlighten our minds and also strengthen our hearts to
45:15
do what you have equipped us to do and to receive the equipping that we continue to get from your word and from your ministers that we might when We Gather
45:27
each one have a Psalm each one have a song each one have a prophecy that we might stir one another up to love and Good Deeds that we might stimulate one another's hope that we might encourage
45:40
all the more as we see the day approaching we pray father that our gathering would indeed fulfill the purpose for gathering in worshiping you
45:52
and in building up the body of Christ for it is in his name we pray