|
THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 6, NUMBER 12, MARCH 26, 2006 IS PRAYER WORSHIP? For the last several weeks I have been devoting the bulletin articles to a limited study of those acts of worship that Christians do collectively in our assemblies. Prayer offered to God in accordance with His will is one of the most common expressions of worship in the church that Jesus built. I am reminded of Acts 2:42 , where we are told, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” There are those who see in these words an order. The devotion of the early Christians to the teaching of the apostles is mentioned first. This, in turn, regulated their fellowship, their manner of partaking of the Lord’s Supper, and their prayers. In prayer we give voice to our reverence for God and that is in a large measure what worship is all about. By taking our petitions and thanksgiving to God we are freely admitting and acknowledging our absolute dependence upon, and trust in, Him. The early Christians were exhorted to fill their lives with prayer. Remember 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” In 1 Corinthians 14, we find the Apostle Paul seeking to regulate and give order to the worship assemblies of the Corinthians. The context actually begins back in 1 Corinthians 11:17-18, with the words, “Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.” Skipping down to verse 20, we find, “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.” In verse 33, we read, “Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.” We are all aware that chapter 12 and chapter 13 deal with the matter of the exercise and duration of the miraculous spiritual gifts. Chapter 14 focuses once again on the assemblies, and how they were to conduct themselves. We see in verse 4 the phrase, “edifieth the church.” In verse 5 we find, “that the church may receive edifying.” Verse 12 tells us, “seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.” Moving on down to verse 19, Paul wrote, “Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also…” Than, as we move down to verse 23, it becomes even clearer that Paul is writing about times of assembling. It says, “If therefore the whole church be come together into one place…” In his discussion of conduct and activities that are to take place in the assemblies, Paul wrote in verses 15-16 of 1 Corinthians 14, “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?” Prayer was a part of the worship of the first century church and at least a portion of that was public. I was just a wee bit reluctant to write this article for fear of any one who was so inclined to misinterpret what I was saying. Prayer was undoubtedly part of the public worship of the first century church, but we need to be very careful about it. We must not fall into the mistake of the Pharisees who tithed mint, and anise and cumin, but ‘neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith” (Matt. 23:23). As we seek to emulate the worship of the early church, and to a large measure we have succeeded in doing that, we cannot allow ourselves to be content with the mere duplication of the outward forms of prayer. Prayer must be more than just an “item” or “act” of worship that we perform in a routine kind of way. There is so much that can be said about prayer, but the scope of this particular article will not permit it. However, there are some things that must be said. Individually, prayer is a pretty effective measure of what we are as Christians. Prayer is commanded in many passages. Are we personally obedient to that command? Prayer is a test of our humility. A proud man may pray loudly and at great length publicly, but does he go to God on his knees, literally or figuratively, in the privacy of his own home? Prayer is a test of our faith. It evidences our trust in a personal God who really cares about each of us individually. What about prayer congregationally? How do we compare with the early church as a church? I would like to give you a portion of a lecture given by Sewell Hall on this subject. He wrote; “The first church was a praying church, and no doubt that had a part in its rapid growth, both in numbers and in faith. If their prayers had not been important they would not have been mentioned…I have had opportunity to observe some growing churches that are just as strong in denouncing sin, in demanding strong preaching, and in maintaining discipline as any that are stagnant, but I have often seen in those prospering churches more emphasis on prayer. There are churches that have fairly regular prayer meetings – meetings devoted entirely to prayer: prayer for sick persons, for the lost, for God’s will to be done in national emergencies, for evangelists being sent out to preach the gospel and for other special needs. In addition, they meet together in the homes of members just as the Jerusalem church met in homes for prayer (Acts 12:12). When such churches are growing, it just may be that they are growing because of their dependence on the Lord and the blessings He has promised. How does the congregation of which you are a part measure up?” Hopefully this article, along with the comments by Brother Hall, will give us all a better understanding that prayer is in fact part of the collective worship of the church, but also of how important it truly is.
Greg Litmer
|