The worship: (5:16-21):
The Apostle Paul gives 4-important ingredients of worship. Without them, our worship would be pale, mechanical, gloomy, boring and becomes irrelevant. ‘William Temple’ an Archbishop of Canterbury said: “For to worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open up the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. ” Some of the ingredients of our worship should have:
- Rejoice always: (5:16): We must understand the meaning of this then it becomes reminiscent of many O.T commands viz, Come let us sing for joy to the Lord, Shout for joy to the Lord. Here Paul is inviting us for a joyful worship. People are happy on some occasions, but Paul is saying that, Christian’s joy is not dependent on circumstances but it comes from what Christ has done in our lives. John Stott in his book says: “Almighty God with awe and humility, every church service should be a celebration, a joyful rehearsal of what God has done and given through Christ. So let there be organs and trumpets and drums and singing.”
- Pray Continually: (5:17): Jesus Said: “the disciples should always pray and not give up” (Lk. 18:1). If praise is one indispensable element of public worship, prayer is another, especially in the form of intercession. Every congregation should take the responsibility to engage in serious intercession, not only during Sundays but in the midweek prayer meetings as well. We can pray for: our own church members far and near; churches in our country and world, its leaders and adherence to the truth of God’s revelation, its holiness, unity and mission; our country parliament and governments; world mission; open doors for Gospel; for the poor, hungry, oppressed, destitute etc. for world peace. This way we can pray and intercede for all others and spend a great deal of time in prayer. This would really satisfy our spiritual lives.
- Give thanks in all circumstances: (5:18): The two previous commands deal with time (always and continually) but this one deals with the Believers are always to give thanks to God in every circumstance of their lives. The fact that God works everything together for good for those who love Him (Rom. 8:28) is the basis for this entreaty.
The above three commands are God’s will for every Christian. God’s will means joy, prayer, and thanksgiving for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- Listen to the Word of God: (5:19-21): Apart from God’s Word, we have no other revelation from the Lord. Any worship that ignores the Bible is not spiritual. The early church did not have a completed Bible as we do. The Holy Spirit gave the gift of prophecy to certain members of the church and would speak the message through them. In the Post-Pentecost era all God’s people received the Holy Spirit and prophesied. A umber of people were called prophets and prophetesses viz. Agabus, Judas and Silas, Philip’s four daughters and others. Since now we have a complete Bible, we affirm the Bible as supremacy and sufficiency of Scripture.
Certainly today there are no Apostles as compared to the ones in the first century. If there are Apostles now, we would have to add their words to Scripture and the whole church would have to listen and obey. Now nobody has the right to tamper with add to or to subtract from the infallible Word of God. Presently the requirement of the Church and individuals is to believe on the Word of God and listen to the right exposition and exhortation of the Word of God. When preachers come with gifts of preaching we need to test and see whether the teaching is glorifying God or not. Some of the tests are as follows:
- Like the people of Berea, we have to examine the Scriptures to see if the teaching is true or not.
- Whether the teaching speaks that Jesus as both divine and human. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and that does not acknowledges is not from God and is the spirit of antichrist.
- Gospel is God’s free saving grace through Christ.
- Know the character of the speaker or teacher as Paul and Peter many times warned us to watch out for false prophets. “By their fruits you will recognise them.” (Matt. 7:15)
- Whether their teaching edifies the Church or not.
Once these tests have been applied, we can listen to the teachers.