By: Thomas F. Booher
If we want to know how to order our worship services today, going to the book of Acts or even I Corinthians isn't really the best thing to do. Why? For one thing, the call to "let all things be done decently and in order" of I Cor. 14:40 is about speaking in tongues, prophets speaking, where only two or at most three speak, with an interpreter for tongues, and with the others judging the two or three prophets speaking, for "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" I Cor. 14:32.
We should turn to the pastoral epistles, Paul's instructions to Timothy and Titus, for a better look at the Church's structure and worship today. Prophecies and tongues were bound to the apostolic era, and were bound to pass away, as I Cor. 13 itself indicates.
I-2 Timothy and Titus show us what Paul was bequeathing, the order he was setting up after he/the apostles would depart. The Church is built upon "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone" and that foundation has been laid now that the canon of Scripture is been written and disseminated. Eph. 4:11 shows that God has given some to be "apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" and it goes on to say that this prevents us from being tossed about by every wind of doctrine, but speak the truth in love and grow up in all things into Christ our Head.
The only question is if the age/era of Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists (understood as a separate office that Philip in Acts 21:8 and Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:5 are described as holding) is over. Which is another way of asking, has the foundation of the NT Church been laid, or are we still waiting for the concrete to dry after 2,000 years?
It has been laid. So when you read in Titus 1:5-11 that Paul has left Titus (a Deputy/Evangelist akin to Timothy) to "set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city," and that these elders must be "holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict" given the false teachers "whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain" we see that the Eldership, the Presbytery, is the ordinary means by which God oversees His Church, teaches us, disciplines us, and protects it from false teachers within the Church and dangers outside of it as well.
The rest of Titus shows Paul exhorting Titus to "speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine" (2:1) which includes addresses to older and younger men as well as older and younger women. Completely absent is any discourse on prophecies, new revelations, tongue speakings, miraculous healings, etc.
The same is true in 1-2 Timothy, where Paul exhorts that the elders "who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and doctrine" and this pertains not just to respect but remuneration, "the laborer is worthy of his wages" I Tim. 5:17-18.
Rather than call for a healer to lay hands, Paul even tells Timothy to not drink only water, but "use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities" (I Tim. 5:23).
Thoughtful reading of Scripture would reveal the pattern of NT worship, now that the foundation of the NT Church has been laid. Instead, we have so many churches ignorant of how we are to worship, which has given rise to charismania, seeker-sensitivity, TED Talk "worship" services with rock concerts (and sometimes even light shows and fog machines) that really aren't Elder-ruled worship giving heed to "reading, to exhortation, to doctrine" (I Tim. 4:13) whatsoever. So no one is being built up in the faith, false teachers aren't having their mouths shut, older women aren't teaching younger women to be modest and homemakers (Titus 2), older men aren't serving as wise, godly, examples to younger men, etc.
Make no mistake about it. What passes for "Church" and "worship" in many even ostensibly conservative churches today will have God spewing them out of His mouth. If we want real Reformation and Revival, it must come through the eldership, and because elders must be men who first rule well in their homes, we must first have a Reformation and Revival in the family, with fathers. And how will we get that unless the Church, particularly the Elders, practice and preach this?
May we pray earnestly for God to give us godly men who are godly husbands and fathers, who then enter into the ministry as faithful Deacons, Ruling Elders, and Teaching Elders/Ministers of the Word and Sacrament.
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