How should we worship God? #4 Christian Congregations

Christian Congregations

The writer of this course is a Christadelphian. He belongs to a group of people who have from earliest times sought to rediscover exactly what the Bible teaches. This community was established in the 19^th century and its founder members all sought to practise what we have been learning to do – to read the Bible for themselves and then do what God requires of them. There are now Christadelphian congregations in most parts of the world and we can put you in touch with your nearest group.

Sometimes, of course, you may be the first believer in your locality, in which case we can help and support your spiritual development while you are teaching others in the locality. For this is what the apostle now says to the Roman believers that they should do. They should work together to build one another up.

Notice that Paul doesn’t write to the clergy at the Church of Rome, as though they were the only ones who would understand what he was saying. He wrote to

“all those … who are loved by God” (1:7).

The early Christians did not have professional teachers or priests. All the believers worked together and contributed to the spiritual development of their congregation as they were able. For God had called them all to be holy; as the apostle Peter expresses it:

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9,10).

All members of the congregation were to be holy and were to work together to worship God. So Paul tells the Romans that they should see what they can contribute:

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:6-8).

Everybody has something to give, says the apostle, and that is as true now as it was when he first wrote those words. When we are able to understand the Bible we can do a great deal to help others who also are learning, and this is a wonderful way of growing together and developing spiritually as we prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Preceding

Counting sands and stars

Together we can Cultivate more faith

To Glorify God and His Son

To Glorify God and His Son #2 Governance and objectives of the ecclesia/charity

How should we worship God? #1 Appreciation for God

How should we worship God? #2 Spiritual Worship

How should we worship God? #3 Spiritual Transformation

Everyone Welcome in our open Ecclesia

Memorizing wonderfully 1 Introduction

How should we worship God? #5 Congregational Worship