A Gathered People chapter 7
Greetings! Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged again. Chapter 7 in A Gathered People is Contemporary Gatherings: Assembling Worthy of the Gospel. The Apostle Paul wrote the Philipian church the following words, "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ ..." (1:27). The biblical narrative points us in a worship sense to the Christ Event (the life, death, resurrection and exaltation of our Lord Jesus).
Too often churches look down on other churches because they don't do "church" or "worship" in the same way. There are many issues. Instrumental music has always been a big one. One cup or many in the Lord's Supper. Praise teams. The list could go on and on. Hicks, Melton, and Valentine give "a way of framing the question of 'regulated assembly' that, hopefully, provides a helpful and biblical context for dialogue". Here are some ways to Divinely Regulate our Assemblies.
The Nature of Scripture says that scripture tells of all of God's mighty and saving acts and all that Jesus did for us. It is all in a narrated style and written in such ways that everyone in that day and age could understand it. I really like how they say that "the nature of scripture is covenantal". The Bible is relational and regulatory in function. It bears witness to and for us. It has it's roots in God and His saving power for us.
Regulative Worship says that all of life is worship (see 1 Cor. 10:31-11:1 and Col. 3:17). Our whole lives are under the covenant rule of God and must be shaped by Him. All we do is to be done "in the name of Jesus". "All worship - all life- is regulated". First Corinthians 10:31-11:1 suggests three questions that we should ask ourselves about worship. One is does it glorify God? Two, do we please ourselves or others? And three, do we point unbelievers to God? "In all of these questions, Paul calls us to imitate him as he imitates Jesus, who is the true worshipper of God".
The next part is Regulative Principles. "How does the gospel function to shape our assemblies?"
is a great question to be asked. Neither the gospels nor epistles give a program that must be followed like what Leviticus did in Old Testament days. Paul's epistles do though point that worship is for "edification (concern for others) to the chaotic situation in Corinth (1 Cor. 14). Paul applies the principle of the gospel meal (1 Cor. 11). These applications result in the contextualized rules ...".
Another really good section here is Contextualizing The Gospel in our Assemblies.
Enculturated Assemblies says, "worshipping assemblies function within culture". This can be pushed to bad extremes, but we have to take culture into account to some degree so the people you are trying to reach out to will understand what is being said and done.
Diverse Enculturations talks about inter-generational, multi-cultural, and multi-economic churches. All of these can be really good for the churches that have them. But they will have problems. Worship wars is certainly one of them.
Diversity like this is really good. It will be a great selling point for the church. It will certainly bemand "mature discipleship". This will mean at least four things. One is tolerance. Two is mutual edification. Third, appreciation. And forth, appropriation.
The next section is Gospel-Regulated Assemblies. A gospel-regulated assembly will be Theocentric. This means we focus on God, meet with Him, engage with Him, and delight with Him in a sacramental encounter.
It is also Christocentric. We also meet with Jesus through whom we go to God the Father. Jesus is our mediator (2 Tim) and High Priest (Heb.). We go to Him and through Him to the Father.
A gospel-regulated assembly is also table-centered. Through the table we meet and eat with the triune God. He is our host. He invites us and we eat with Him.
It is also Word-Shaped. "The assembly is a time for instruction and exhortation. I guess it would be like a pre-game speech before a big game by the coach to get the team fired up. It helps the team remember what they prepared for and perform well during the game. The assembly for the church helps us meet with God and we get "fired up" (for lack of better words) for the week ahead.
It is also Praise-Saturated. We get to praise God in the best ways we know how through prayers, songs, and studying His Word . It is up to great debate on our posture during these times. A lot of times we stand when we read God's Word, or pray, or sing. Sometimes we sit during those times. And sometimes we get on one (or two) knees when praying or singing.
It is also Gospel-Enacted. The assembly is how we enact God's redemptive story. "God speaks and we praise, He invites and we dine at His table". Baptism is how we enter into the covenant relationship with God and the Lord's Supper helps us renew and remember that covenant.
Lastly, tt is Gospel- Embodied. This helps in the way we "do" church. We help and serve the poor, out-casts, sufferers, and those who need encouragement. We are to bring the good news to those who have suffered so much with bad news.
Finally, the Assembly functions to help us be communally conscious. We focus on the Body of Christ during worship time and the Lord's Supper.
It functions to help us be transformed. We meet with God and He meets with us to transform us into the people He calls us to be.
It also functions to help us be Missional. That means we are missionaries in our own zip code (as it says in another book I was reading some time ago). We, like Isaiah, say "Here am I, Lord, send me" (see Is. 6).
We also meet Authentic Encounter. We, like the Psalter, seek to meet God face to face.
And lastly we have Doxological Evangelism. Assembly is where we meet with God and He with us, but we also help the lost encounter Him through the assembly as well. We can use that as the starting point where we can talk to a lost person about their relationship with God.
In closing, the church and assembly will look different in different cultures and places. We need to let them do "church" and "assembly" differently.
One more post for this book. A few more to go with Blue Like Jazz too. There are some other ideas and topics flooting around in my head to blog about in the future too. More on all of that later to come.
Thanks for tuning in for this post. God bless!
Too often churches look down on other churches because they don't do "church" or "worship" in the same way. There are many issues. Instrumental music has always been a big one. One cup or many in the Lord's Supper. Praise teams. The list could go on and on. Hicks, Melton, and Valentine give "a way of framing the question of 'regulated assembly' that, hopefully, provides a helpful and biblical context for dialogue". Here are some ways to Divinely Regulate our Assemblies.
The Nature of Scripture says that scripture tells of all of God's mighty and saving acts and all that Jesus did for us. It is all in a narrated style and written in such ways that everyone in that day and age could understand it. I really like how they say that "the nature of scripture is covenantal". The Bible is relational and regulatory in function. It bears witness to and for us. It has it's roots in God and His saving power for us.
Regulative Worship says that all of life is worship (see 1 Cor. 10:31-11:1 and Col. 3:17). Our whole lives are under the covenant rule of God and must be shaped by Him. All we do is to be done "in the name of Jesus". "All worship - all life- is regulated". First Corinthians 10:31-11:1 suggests three questions that we should ask ourselves about worship. One is does it glorify God? Two, do we please ourselves or others? And three, do we point unbelievers to God? "In all of these questions, Paul calls us to imitate him as he imitates Jesus, who is the true worshipper of God".
The next part is Regulative Principles. "How does the gospel function to shape our assemblies?"
is a great question to be asked. Neither the gospels nor epistles give a program that must be followed like what Leviticus did in Old Testament days. Paul's epistles do though point that worship is for "edification (concern for others) to the chaotic situation in Corinth (1 Cor. 14). Paul applies the principle of the gospel meal (1 Cor. 11). These applications result in the contextualized rules ...".
Another really good section here is Contextualizing The Gospel in our Assemblies.
Enculturated Assemblies says, "worshipping assemblies function within culture". This can be pushed to bad extremes, but we have to take culture into account to some degree so the people you are trying to reach out to will understand what is being said and done.
Diverse Enculturations talks about inter-generational, multi-cultural, and multi-economic churches. All of these can be really good for the churches that have them. But they will have problems. Worship wars is certainly one of them.
Diversity like this is really good. It will be a great selling point for the church. It will certainly bemand "mature discipleship". This will mean at least four things. One is tolerance. Two is mutual edification. Third, appreciation. And forth, appropriation.
The next section is Gospel-Regulated Assemblies. A gospel-regulated assembly will be Theocentric. This means we focus on God, meet with Him, engage with Him, and delight with Him in a sacramental encounter.
It is also Christocentric. We also meet with Jesus through whom we go to God the Father. Jesus is our mediator (2 Tim) and High Priest (Heb.). We go to Him and through Him to the Father.
A gospel-regulated assembly is also table-centered. Through the table we meet and eat with the triune God. He is our host. He invites us and we eat with Him.
It is also Word-Shaped. "The assembly is a time for instruction and exhortation. I guess it would be like a pre-game speech before a big game by the coach to get the team fired up. It helps the team remember what they prepared for and perform well during the game. The assembly for the church helps us meet with God and we get "fired up" (for lack of better words) for the week ahead.
It is also Praise-Saturated. We get to praise God in the best ways we know how through prayers, songs, and studying His Word . It is up to great debate on our posture during these times. A lot of times we stand when we read God's Word, or pray, or sing. Sometimes we sit during those times. And sometimes we get on one (or two) knees when praying or singing.
It is also Gospel-Enacted. The assembly is how we enact God's redemptive story. "God speaks and we praise, He invites and we dine at His table". Baptism is how we enter into the covenant relationship with God and the Lord's Supper helps us renew and remember that covenant.
Lastly, tt is Gospel- Embodied. This helps in the way we "do" church. We help and serve the poor, out-casts, sufferers, and those who need encouragement. We are to bring the good news to those who have suffered so much with bad news.
Finally, the Assembly functions to help us be communally conscious. We focus on the Body of Christ during worship time and the Lord's Supper.
It functions to help us be transformed. We meet with God and He meets with us to transform us into the people He calls us to be.
It also functions to help us be Missional. That means we are missionaries in our own zip code (as it says in another book I was reading some time ago). We, like Isaiah, say "Here am I, Lord, send me" (see Is. 6).
We also meet Authentic Encounter. We, like the Psalter, seek to meet God face to face.
And lastly we have Doxological Evangelism. Assembly is where we meet with God and He with us, but we also help the lost encounter Him through the assembly as well. We can use that as the starting point where we can talk to a lost person about their relationship with God.
In closing, the church and assembly will look different in different cultures and places. We need to let them do "church" and "assembly" differently.
One more post for this book. A few more to go with Blue Like Jazz too. There are some other ideas and topics flooting around in my head to blog about in the future too. More on all of that later to come.
Thanks for tuning in for this post. God bless!
posted by Zack | 10:26 AM
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