Would Jesus And The Apostles Recognize The Church

[GrowingPains]

Originally Posted by Aquila

This is a great question. Paul laid out how a church meeting should be...

I Corinthians 14:26-40
26What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

As in all the congregations of the saints, 34women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

36Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. 38If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.[i]

39Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Here we see everyone bringing something to offer: a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All were to be done in order for the strengthening of the church. If there was an utterance in tongues it was to be limited to three individuals at most to maintain order... but a member present had to provide an interpretation. If no interpretation came forth after an utterance... they were to cease speaking and disrupting and simply pray to God. Two or three anointed preachers (prophets) were to come prepared to speak and teach and the listeners gathered were to seriously weight what was said that they might be built up in Christ Jesus. However, if something were revealed to a listener present, the speaker was to stop speaking and let the brother share his understanding. This way, though two or three prophets governed the meeting, all were allowed to prophesy (teach and share anointed thoughts and messages) in turn. They were sharing their understandings and teaching one another like a round table discussion. However the two or three elders functioning in the meeting were to have spiritual authority over anyone who wished to speak... the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Women were not permitted to interrupt the elders when teaching with questions (remember women were largely unlearned in those days). If they had a question they were to ask their husbands at home. For a woman to interrupt or challenge teaching was disgraceful. Paul then asks them where they got the authority to do things their way and get out of order. They are then admonished if anyone believes they are a prophet or spiritual that they are to know that these are THE LORD'S COMMANDS. And if any saint ignored this general order of worship and gathering he was to be ignored.

I'd say that when a group becomes too large to facilitate this functionality of body ministry it's too big. If all cannot share and discuss openly, it's too big. If only one man has the constantly... it's unbiblical. The church isn't just a meeting... it had a purpose. It's purpose was so that saints could all edify and instruct one another under the guidance of two or three elders. It was an open forum, a round table discussion, anointed by the Spirit and covered in prayer. They also broke bread together for the Lord's Supper... it wasn't this tinny tiny wafer and thimble of grape juice. The Lord's Supper was a feast of fellowship, remembering the Lord and looking forward to his coming when we will all sup with him at the marriage supper of the lamb.

When a church gets so big it's problematic to allow everyone to participate and relegates the majority to being spectators watching a trained preacher and trained singers... it's too big. It will fail in it's purpose. You'll have immature saints and big bills that bog the church down. You'll have unfulfilled ministries and men who never get used. You'll have... a big building where people meet and spend only an hour listening to one man and then everyone goes their marry way until next week or mid week. No real fellowship, confessions, weeping together, laughing together, teaching together.

So yes... it's a commandment from the Lord. When a church body becomes a theater and ceases to be a holistic meeting where all present can share and edify one another per Paul's words... it's too big and unbiblical.

Aquila, no doubt the larger the church gathering, the more weighty the challenge, but you seem to believe we can't accomplish 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 through a larger church dynamic. Small group ministries, through the encouragement of large churches, have been quite successful at helping disciple thousands. While I share your burden for these special times of apostolic gathering, I don't think building a church center for corporate worship is necessarily the wrong thing -- nor, do I believe, one person speaking to the church at a designated time is less than what God wants. I don't see it as either-or. We can have both! Families should be more encouraged to bring church to their homes IMO.