Where is God when we meet?

So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

1 Corinthians 14:12

The Holy Spirit of God is best known in the Church of God when the people of God are built up in maturity to worship and live like the Son of God. The Corinthian church had an unhealthy fixation with the unusual. They were a church of immature believers but they wanted so desperately to experience manifestations of the Holy Spirit in visible ways. So some of their worship got wildly out of control. Paul issues all kinds of corrective teaching to them in 1 Corinthians 14 to get them over their unhealthy fixation with tongues-speaking. He calls them to emphasize the Word of God in prophetic ministry, focusing on understanding what God reveals clearly. He issues orders for who should speak in a service, when it should happen, and how it should happen. He strictly guides them to emphasize the disciple making message through the process of understanding and applying God’s Word. He calls for order to their meetings and rebukes their chaotic superficiality.

How do we know if the Spirit of God meets with God’s people in any church service? The answer is this: when God’s Word is carefully explained, the gospel is clear, and God’s truth builds up the believers so they can mature in Christlikeness, then God’s Spirit has led their assembly. The goal is not to “feel something”... that is emotionalism. The goal isn’t to see something supernatural... that is sensationalism. The goal isn’t to hear an elaborate sermon or a gifted speaker... that’s celebritization. The goal is to declare what God says, worship Jesus as Savior in the gospel, and grow believers to live more like their Master.

One very real benefit from the COVID creative pivot in our worship services as they have gone online, outdoors, and in smaller settings has been to force us as the church back to the simplest understandings of true worship. I pray this changes us permanently! May we steer clear of celebrity, sensation, emotionalism, or any other false focus as we begin assembling together again! May God’s Word be taught, may God’s people be encouraged and strengthened to believe and follow it, may the gospel be preached so that souls may be converted, and may God’s Church stay strong!