There are many articles and
sermons on the parts of a worship service, and as we grow as
Christians, we come to know these well. While we should never stop
writing these articles and preaching these sermons especially for the
benefit of younger people and those new to the Church, we have other
issues regarding Church services not covered by these important
teachings. In today’s changing world with today’s generation of
Christians, we encounter issues not seen in past times. The purpose of
this article is to address many of those issues often not covered
regarding us as an audience. We’ll call these things the Church
service “etiquette.”
In our worship services, we have
one person at a time who leads a song, one person at a time who prays,
and one person at a time who preaches. We are taught what these men
are to do, but what about those in the audience, where there are many?
The simplest answers are the following:
1.We
are to quietly sit there with attentive minds during the sermon and
prayer.(1 Cor 14:34-35)
2.Sing
with our hearts (Eph 5:19,
Col
3:16).
3.Examine
ourselves, focus on Jesus’ pain and suffering upon the cross, and
look forward to his coming during Communion (1 Cor 11:26-29).
As simple as it should be, we do
a terrific job of complicating matters.
The first thing we should do when
we walk into the building is find a place to sit. As Christians we
should be eager to be among those of like precious faith and to
worship God. We should be excited at the possibility of learning more
of God’s word. Yet, why is it the back of the building fills up
first? It’s certainly not for a better view. There are several good
reasons to sit near the back of the building. Those who are sick, and
those with young children honestly need the back so they can quietly
make their way to a restroom or outside the building. However, most of
the time I see people not even near these situations arriving as early
as possible to “get a good seat.” Is that where an eager
Christian would sit?
We’ll arrive hours early to a
ballgame to sit as close to the action as possible, yet sit in the
back of the building during services like we don’t want to be
noticed. When I was younger, I assumed those without good reason to
sit in the back sat there because they didn’t actually want to be
there. Do we want young people to interpret this as I did? I’ve
always viewed those who sat near the front as those who are most
excited to be there.
People arrive late to services
sometimes, and it can be very distracting if during the song service a
family has to cross the entire congregation and make their way up to
the second pew because the back filled up an hour before services
started. Let’s leave space in the back for those who are ill, have
children, arrive late, or have other legitimate issues.
In today’s modern society, we
have more distractions than we used to in the Church service. Aside
from the visual distractions, we’re serenaded with candy wrappers
crinkling, nails being clipped, and cell phone ringtones. To avoid
distracting others, when we pass notes and cough drops/candy along
pews, let’s keep things out of sight so not as to distract those
behind us. Some candy wrappers can be very loud, but we should try to
open wrappers as quietly as possible. Some in the audience have enough
trouble hearing as it is. The church service is not the time to do
your manicure. Remember that Jesus was nailed to the cross; Jesus
didn’t do his nails on that cross. Save the audience from the
clipping sounds and the mess it leaves behind, and do this somewhere
else.
Remember to turn off our cell
phones, or at least put them on silent. Five years ago this wouldn’t
be an issue. Now nearly everyone in the audience has a cell phone,
even those who don’t really know how to use one. They’ve become so
rampantly common that cell phones are now often used to entertain the
young children. It’s become fairly common for cell phones to go off
during services, often without the owner realizing it’s their phone
causing the disturbance. Let’s avoid the distraction it causes in
the middle of the sermon, and get our cell phones silent before
services begin.
If we treated the Church service
like attending a movie, our etiquette would probably improve. If we
were in a dark movie theater, we wouldn’t dare risk having our cell
phones sound off for risk of angering the crowd of movie-goers. We
would get there early, eager for a good seat. We would adjust our
behavior and devices to avoid disrupting the movie, and to avoid
offending the audience. Why can’t we do this for Church services as
well?
We need to be considerate of
others in the audience by being quietly attentive and self-contained
behavior. I recently attended a high school show, and in the program
was a list of golden rules of audience etiquette. After substituting a
few words, this list is a guide we could follow in the Church service:
Go
easy with the atomizer; many people are highly allergic to perfume
and cologne.
If
you bring a child, make sure etiquette is part of the experience.
Unwrap
all candies and cough drops before the service begins
Make
sure cell phones, beepers, and watch alarms are off. Don’t
jangle your keys
When
the service has been called to order, please cease talking at this
point.
Force
yourself to wait for a pause before rifling through a purse or
bag.
Leaving
while service is in progress is discourteous
Honor
the old standby: Do unto others, as you would have them to unto
you
This is only an overview of
general etiquette in the worship services. There are many more
specific topics that could be covered. In the next article, we will
examine etiquette regarding children in the Church service.
Question:
God in the Bible tells that we are to acknowledge Him and He will
direct our paths. Exactly what does this involve and how is it
accomplished?
Answer:
The verse referenced is from Proverbs where Solomon is declaring the
need to live wisely in this fallen world. The context of the verse is
found in a section of scripture that sets forth basic principles for
living wisely. The passage reads,
“My
Son do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; for
length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.
Let
not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write
them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in
the sight of God and man.
Trust
in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct
your paths.
Do
not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It
will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones
Honor
the Lord with your possessions, And with the first fruits of all your
increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will
overflow with new wine.”(Proverbs 3:1-10)
The purpose of the book of
Proverbs is to impart wisdom and instruction. To furnish people who
have had their minds darkened by sin to have understanding. It is
written so that the simple will have prudence and the young man can
have knowledge and discretion. In short it extols the importance of
seeking to live our life with wisdom as opposed to folly.
The passage given above shows
that when one lives wisely there will always be blessings that follow.
Note carefully the following:
If we remember God’s commands
and obey them, length of days, long life, and peace will be ours to
enjoy.
If we are merciful and seek truth
we will have favor with both God and man.
If we fear the Lord and shun evil
we will have good health.
If we honor God with our
possessions we will be provided with that which we have need.
We purposefully left out the one
which is the subject of our study for we will deal with it in detail
later in our article. But we mention these to show that there is a
sowing and reaping aspect to living by wisdom. This is why we should
“cry out for discernment and lift up our voice seeking
understanding, and seek her as silver, and search her as for hidden
treasure. Wisdom is the principle thing.
Now turning our attention to the
inquiry we will seek the proper application. Solomon tells us that if
we will trust the Lord in that which He says, if we will not be
foolish enough to try and make our own way in the world and make Him a
part of all that we do we will have paths that are directed by Him.
Remember He never leads us wrong.
The writer is exhorting us to
learn to make wise choices as we live our lives. Sin has certainly had
an impact upon us. Because of sin we have suffered relationship
problems. These are both vertical (God and man) as well as horizontal
(person to person). Sin has impacted us physically. Consequently we
grow old and die. Sin has also impacted our hearts. This includes our
emotions, our will, and our ability to see things the way they really
are. When left to our own hearts we go astray. We desperately need
guidance. If we will fear God, He will show us the way in which we
should go.
There are three main principles
we need to keep in mind in order to have our paths made straight. All
of these deal with how we handle ourselves in this world. It is about
making wise choices everyday.
Principle No. 1- Make the Worship
of God the main thing in you life. While there are many things that
demand our attention we must never allow ourselves to forget that we
all live, move, and have our very being in Him. We all live under the
umbrella of His being. Since this is the case then we need to make Him
the focal point of our lives. He is to be the center of our employment
(either employer or employee), our marriages, in raising our children,
handling our money, and any other thing our hand finds to do. The
Bible tells us that Jesus is the pearl of great price that we should
sell all to possess. There is nothing greater than knowing and
pursuing Him. The apostle Paul wrote concerning his accomplishments
before becoming a Christian. Of these he said,
“But
what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet
indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence for the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and count them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be
found in Him.” (Philippians 3:7-9)
To acknowledge God in all you do
is to make Him the center of your existence.
Principle No. 2- Make the most of
the time that God has given you. We need to as the Latin phrase
“Carpe Diem” states. It means seize the day! In Ephesians 6 and
verse 15 Paul instructs us to,
“…Walk
circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because
the days are evil.”
Our life on this earth is
fleeting at best. We are as the grass of the field, blooming today but
fading tomorrow. Redeeming the time means that we are to be zealous in
doing good works. We acknowledge God when we carry out the work He has
given us to do.
Principle No. 3- Flee from Sin.
As Christians we all need to be reminded of the fact that we are weak
and frail in our fleshly state. While forgiven the scripture is clear
that we are involved in a battle. Paul tells us that the flesh wars
against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh so that we do not
do the things that we wish. (Galatians 5:17)This is why we are told that if anyone thinks he has no sin he
is deceived (I John 1:8) Sin does not leave our lives naturally. Only
by waging war do we deal with sin properly. Paul in the Roman letter
warns that if we live according to the flesh we shall die but if we
put to death the deeds of the body we shall live (Romans 8:13). We
face temptation daily and many times we fail. We must make battling
sin one of our daily tasks. We must put it to death in our lives.
If we follow these principles we
are walking wisely. Those who orient their life around these truths
are acknowledging God in such a way that He through His truth will
direct us safely through the landmines of a fallen world.
1.What does the Bible say
Manna tasted like?WAFERS
MADE WITH HONEY (Exo 16:31)
2.According to Psalms 112,
what will be in the house of the man who fears the Lord?WEALTH AND RICHES (Psa 112:3)
3.In Isaiah’s prophecy
against
Jerusalem
, what did Isaiah refer to
Jerusalem
as?THE
VALLEY
OF
VISION
(Isa 22:1,5)
4.According to Acts, who was
the first apostle to die as a martyr?JAMES, BROTHER OF JOHN (Acts 12:2)
5.In Paul’s letter to the
Ephesians, what are the three types of evil persons who have no
inheritance in the
kingdom
of
Christ
and God? WHOREMONGER,
UNCLEAN PERSON, COVETOUS MAN (Eph 5:5)
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