The preaching was designed by God to feed the beginning Christian with the milk of the word, while at the same time feed the more mature Christian with the meat of the word. The new born babe in Christ needs to concentrate on the simpler things in the sermon while at the same time they learn to write down verses and take notes in order to be like the Church at Berea of whom it was said they listened with a ready mind and then searched the scriptures to see if those things were so.
The fact the new born Christian is encouraged to study for oneself helps them to grow quicker unto maturity. And by writing down the verses used by a more seasoned teacher of the word, should help the spiritual infant to learn now to tie verses together and to learn how to glean the sense the verses are teaching. As the new born baby in Christ begins to develop and grow spiritually, the preaching plays a part as the young spiritual child understands more and can digest more mature foods until they begin to be able to explain these simple things themselves. Over a period of time as the young Christian grows from the newborn stage as they learn to understand and then to explain more and they learn to teach these concepts both privately and publicly, if they are men and privately if they are women.
Prayer in a similar fashion in the beginning of the spiritual life of the babe-in-Christ is more self-centered and more about the needs of the spiritual child. A babe-in-Christ, just as a physical baby is selfish and immature, thus these traits show up in the things they do. Thus their prayers are simplistic and self-centered more and as they grow and mature, their prayers change and become more about others and less about their own physical and spiritual needs. Also with maturity comes more of an understanding of the importance of accepting and trusting in God will. Even if they do not understand why, the more mature Christian has learned from experience God knows and understands much more than we humans ever will and thus they learn to trust in God and to wait upon the Lord.
Singing is much the same as the other items of worship in this fashion. When a Christian is a spiritual babe, the singing is something that is there to feed the infant. It is the babe in Christ who says such things as, I did not get anything out of the worship service today, because they are still thinking from a selfish perspective, as though the world revolves around them. But as the spiritual baby uses the singing service to feed the Holy Spirit within them and learns to think about and to meditate upon the words they are singing, they begin to mature and to grow spiritually. As this growth process takes place, the young adult Christian begins to realize if they concentrate on putting their heart into their singing and the other items of worship, there is more for them to take from the worship service, then their spiritual growth begins to really take off and their growth becomes much more noticeable. At this time when the Christian is more capable of concentrating on putting their spirit into the worship service, then they can begin to build up their brothers and sisters in Christ and when the entire congregation is working together, growth both spiritually and numerically begins to take place at a phenomenal rate.
The Contribution is perhaps the least understood and at the same time it is an important item of worship. Many times all a new-born Christian knows about the contribution is the little that may be said by the man who is waiting on the table. Too many times we treat the contribution as a red headed stepchild of the items of worship. Most places I have been, the man taking care of the contribution just mentions how this item of worship is used to help the needy saints and to spread the gospel. Then the basket is passed around and since nothing else is said, it gives the impression this is something we do as an afterthought. But if we study the Bible and understand it properly, we realize this is not just a method for raising money, but it plays an important role in the Christian’s growth and maturity.
The Bible says we are to give as we have been prospered. This means we need to take time to count our blessings, to know how we have been prospered.. The Pharisees took this to the extreme of counting even the herbs they raised in their garden. But Jesus did not condemn them for that, he said “This they should have done, but not to have forgotten Mercy, Faith, and Love.” I understand one of the reasons we as Christian are told to count our blessings before we decide how much to give back is that this way, when we truly understand how much God has blessed us, first we will be less likely to take God and the things we receive for granted and then when we truly have counted or meditated about our blessings, then the appreciation we have in our heart helps us to be able to give cheerfully.
The young Christian, if they start using the contribution in the way God has intended, will never take God and the blessings He showers down upon them for granted. But they will begin to see how God takes care of them each and every day. This helps the new Christian to trust in God. When one trusts in God, they will quit worrying about where their next meal comes from. Then with trust and faith in God, the new Christian can better devote their lives in service to God and because of this trust, they will grow unto maturity much faster.
The Communion, while its important can not be stressed too much, after all this is one of the main reasons we as Christians come together on the Lord’s Day, still, I believe many of us do not realize just how great a role partaking properly and partaking in the right frame of mind plays in our Christian growth. This one item of worship is so important and so pivotal in our living the Christian life it is written in the New Testament if we partake in the wrong manner we bring eternal damnation upon ourselves, but if we use the Communion in the way God intended we will not fall, but rather we will grow unto being a mature Christian.
In the same way a good parent tries very hard to provide a well-balanced meal and tries hard to see their children eat properly, so a good congregational leadership struggles together and works together to make sure their spiritual off-spring, those have obeyed the gospel and entrusted into their care by God, have a well-balanced spiritual meal placed in front of them at every worship service and encourage each and every child of God to be at every worship service of the church.
John 4:23-24 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
But being at every worship service is only part of the growth process. Each and every time a Christian comes to worship God, two things must be there for the worship to be pleasing to God. First, the worship must be in truth that is everything in the worship must be done according to the pattern laid down by God and it must be found in the Holy Scriptures. Second, the worship done must be from the heart. For worship to be from the heart, it must be a conscious choice, with each part of the worship service being thought, felt, and believed. For example, when we sing praises to God, the Bible has chosen to mention singing that is not accompanied by instruments of music. This is the truth part. We are to sing songs, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. Singing and making melody in our hearts is part of the truth, in that God has commanded where the singing and making melody is to come from, our hearts. But also, this means we need to think about the words we sing and the emotions of our heart need to be put into our songs.
Thus as responsible leaders in a congregation, it behooves us to do everything in our power to make sure the worship service is pleasing in the sight of God. We need to make sure the teachers are faithful men who have been taught to love the truth. We need to make sure the man who is chosen to lead the congregation in prayer, understands his responsibility to pray with the spirit and understanding. We need to make sure the song leaders understand their responsibility to lead songs that can be sung with the spirit and understanding. We need to make sure the man who waits on the Lord’s Table understands what the bread, cup and fruit of the vine represent and can bring it forth in such a way that the congregation can partake in a worthy manner and lastly the man who takes care of the contribution does so in such a way as to help encourage and remind the members of their responsibility to give as they have been prospered and an amount they have determined they can give cheerfully.
If all of this is done, then we as leaders in the congregation have done everything we can. The only thing left is for us to pray for guidance and the congregation will have the right type of heart to put into the worship service in order we can encourage, strengthen and uplift one another. We also as leaders need to realize we are human beings and as such can and do make mistakes and sin. We need to make sure we keep a humble spirit and we provide an example we will not be ashamed of in the Day of Judgment.
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