What are the ingredients to a truly biblical worship service?

114 The two grand elements of Christian worship are the presence of the Holy Spirit and the remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ, which is commemorated in the Supper.

In the Assembly the Spirit should control every motion. "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" (ver. 15). God's Assembly is marked by prayer — the expression of dependence — and singing, which is the outlet of the heart's joy. Some people think it is not spiritual to sing — I do not think they have the Spirit's mind. Paul says, "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 occupies the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understands not what thou sayest?" (ver. 16) Here is worship; blessing and giving of thanks. What a lovely picture of the Assembly in function. It is marked by ministry that profits, and prayer, singing, and worship. That is what God's Assembly is put together for, to turn to Him in prayer, song, and worship. It is the New Testament analogue of Psalm 29:9 — "Every whit of it utters thy glory."

If we follow the example of the early Church in coming together each first day of the week for the breaking of bread, we will surely make the remembrance Supper the center. of the worship meeting. Such a gathering together is the great occasion for church worship. Praise should always flow from our hearts to the Lord, but the special occasion for praise and worship is when we are gathered together with the memorials of our Savior's dying love before us. Then the Spirit of God truly leads us out in fervent praise and worship.

But just what is worship? we might well inquire. It is necessary to be clear as to this, for in the common acceptance of the word, "public worship" includes prayer, praise, and preaching for the edification of saints or the conversion of sinners. A moment's reflection will surely be sufficient to show that this is quite incorrect. Even prayer, as blessed as it is, is not worship, for that is asking of God for our needs. And no work of God towards men is worship. Preaching the Gospel to the unconverted is not worship, though it may be the means of producing it in a heart; neither is a sermon worship, though it, likewise, may be the means of leading the heart out in worship.

(V. 26). In view of his instructions for the maintenance of divine order when come together in assembly, the Apostle enquires how these believers at Corinth were acting. He had been giving full liberty to pray, to sing, to bless, to give thanks, and to prophesy, provided all was carried out in a spirit of love and edification. They were taking full advantage of their liberty, for “every one” was ready to take part. Nevertheless, they had abused their liberty by not acting “decently and in order”. The liberty of the Spirit had been turned into licence for the flesh. To correct this abuse does not suggest that one-man ministry should take the place of the liberty that belongs to every man. Christendom has done this and lost the liberty in seeking to correct the abuse. The Apostle says, “Let all things be done to edifying”, and in order that this may be so, he presents God's order, thus maintaining full liberty for ministry while guarding it from abuse.

Praise, worship, thanksgiving, adoration — such were the features of this blessed institution. For this no gift was required. A gift of prayer, a gift of praise, these are man's thoughts, and, like all else that is of man, quite foreign to the thoughts of God. To quench the Spirit by committing the expression of praise and thanksgiving to some gifted or official person, or by appointing some president to regulate its expression in others, is among the most daring usurpations of the Holy Ghost's prerogatives that man's presumption has ever made. But though gift was not necessary, indeed had absolutely no place, in connection with the principal object of the meeting, its exercise under the Spirit's guidance was freely permitted. Thus, at the breaking of bread in Troas, "Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight" (Acts 20:7). In writing to the Corinthians, he rebukes the way in which the liberty of the Spirit had been abused — "When ye come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation." They were using these gifts for display, not for edification. The apostle, therefore, adds — "Let all things be done unto edifying" (1 Cor. 14:26). He then directs how these gifts should be exercised, — unknown tongues were only to be used when there was an interpreter, prophets were to speak two or three, women were not to raise their voice in the assembly, and "all things" were to "be done decently and in order."

For Breaking of Bread and Worship

We have seen that the original Assembly at Jerusalem "continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). Thus, besides fellowship, which would apply to all meetings and the whole life of the believers, we have here three special features which marked the church life of these saints: Teaching, Breaking of Bread, and Prayer. At first all their meetings were probably so characterized, but as the Church emerged from Judaism, we find regular meetings for special purposes. From Acts 20:6, 7 we learn that a regular meeting was held on the first day of the week for the purpose of breaking bread. There we hear of a company, Paul and his companions, arriving at Troas and abiding there seven days. "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them." Here at a specified time (the first day of the week, the Lord's day), at a specified place, the disciples came together for a specified purpose (to break bread). From the form of expression used here we are given to understand that this was their regular weekly custom. They did not come together to meet the apostle or to hear him preach, but to break bread on the first day of the week-the resurrection day, the day which spoke of His rising power. This was their habit and Paul and his company waited at Troas seven days so that they might enjoy the great privilege of breaking bread with the disciples. Being thus assembled for this purpose, Paul used the opportunity and followed with an address to the saints, for he was leaving on the morrow. But the first object of their meeting was to remember the Lord in His death; it was the center of their worship and a regular thing among them each Lord's day, the first day of the week. Thus we learn from Acts 2 and 20 that one of the principal meetings of the apostolic Churches was the meeting for the breaking of bread and worship in response to their Lord's request on the night of His betrayal. Further we learn that at first they met together every day at Jerusalem to remember the Lord in the breaking of bread and that later it seems to have been the custom in the Assemblies which were formed elsewhere to come together every first day of the week to celebrate the Lord's Supper. The Lord had said through Paul: "as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come" (I Cor. 11: 26), so they did it often. These early Christians, in the bloom and freshness of their first love, were in the constant habit of breaking bread in affectionate remembrance of their Lord. They were so filled with the Holy Ghost, that Christ was ever before their hearts and they delighted to celebrate that precious feast which was, according to His own express word, the effecting memorial of Himself in His death.

The keynote of the Church is unity — gathering together to the Lord. The disciples "were all, with one accord, in one place," on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), just prior to the formation of the Church. The three thousand new converts that were added to their number on that day continued daily, with one accord, in the temple. In the joy of that first love it seemed to be one long meeting, scarcely discontinued at all. And yet, even at that time (exceptional as to many things — the immense number of visitors at Jerusalem, the great temple still open to them, the need of further leading, etc.) there were certain characteristics which serve as a guide in settling the nature of Church meetings. "They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). We have here indicated, besides fellowship, which would apply to all meetings and the whole life, three features which marked the Church-life of these saints: Teaching, Breaking of Bread, and Prayer. We do not mean that at once separate meetings were devoted to each of these, but that all their gatherings were so marked. But as the Church emerged from what must of necessity have been but temporary, as the link with Judaism was severed, we find regular meetings for a special purpose. "Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). Here at a specified time (the Lord's day), at a specified place, together, for a specified purpose (to break bread) , the disciples met. That this was their regular weekly custom is manifest from the form of expression. They did not come together to meet the apostle, but to break bread. That this custom was universal is seen from 1 Cor. 11:20: "When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper" — because of their abuses. See verses 21-34. That what he wrote for the Corinthians was for the entire Church is seen from 1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Cor. 11:16; 1 Cor. 14:33.

IV. For the object of the gathering of the assembly was worship. There might be meetings of brethren for consultation, meetings of believers for prayer, for reading the Scriptures, for hearing gifted teachers and evangelists, but the meeting of the assembly was that held on the first day of the week for remembering the Lord and showing His death. At this meeting the Church acted, "with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ," whether to bind or to loose, but its main object was "the breaking of bread." In instituting the Lord's Supper, Jesus had broken bread, and this act, recorded in each of the narratives, gave its name to the feast. It is said of the believers immediately after Pentecost, that "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). At Troas we read that "upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them" (Acts 20:7). Paul had been six days at Troas before this, and had doubtless taught and preached, but this is the only meeting of the Church recorded. The language shows that it was not an accident (Paul happening to be there on "Communion Sunday"), but that it was the custom to meet together on the first day of the week, for the breaking of bread. So Paul, writing about the collection for poor saints, says — "Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him" (1 Cor. 16:2). At Corinth, where the Lord's Supper had been converted into a social meal, at which disorder, and even drunkenness, prevailed, the apostle corrects the abuse, and gives directions how the feast should be observed. But throughout he speaks of the meeting for the breaking of bread as the coming "together of the Church," and assumes that "when ye come together into one place," the object was to celebrate the Lord's Supper.

But from Acts 20:7 we may assuredly gather a little more. We learn thence that there is one day above all others appropriated to the supper of the Lord. No doubt other acts of worship or divine service may accompany it, such as prayers and praises; and if there be present any that need a word from the Lord in the way of a discourse on the grace of Christ or the truth of God, there is the fullest openness for it. The assembly of God is free to receive not only all that falls in with her own thanksgiving, but also everything that might contribute to the real edification of the saints of God. And therefore, as we find in 1 Corinthians 14, all these different elements are in exercise there, singing, prayer, thanksgiving, and blessing, but also speaking to edification and comfort. Yet the central object and chief motive for the heart in thus coming together is the remembrance of Christ in the breaking of bread. So we find it here: — "Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread."

Principally from 14:15 and 16 we know what were the activities appropriate to meeting "in assembly." They were prophecy, tongues, prayer, singing, blessing, giving thanks, teaching, revelation, interpretation. It would surely be quite wrong to conclude that, because prophecy for edification is shown to be superior to tongues, the gathering described is for edification. The activities mentioned seem rather to indicate that the New Testament gathering generally, for many purposes, was of this kind, and that the Lord's Supper was one of the principal purposes for which such gatherings were held. In such gatherings for the purpose of the Lord's Supper, blessing, giving thanks and singing would doubtless be prominent, though others of the list might have a place.