Mar 11

1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Memorise Habakkuk 2:20
“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye”

Have you heard of the word ‘liturgy’ before? It means “a fixed pattern of worship”. If you pick up the church bulletin, you’d see that one of the pages looks like the program sheet for a meeting or concert! It starts with “call to worship”, then “opening hymn”, and to other items, and finally the “benediction” (“the Lord bless you and keep you”).

Do you think, “Hmmm… this is so boring! Why can’t we be spontaneous and do different things each Sunday?

But think again – this will make everybody so confused, that we lose our focus and will be unable to worship God properly.

Why do we need such “rigid” liturgy? These are a few scriptural reasons:

1. The pattern of worship in the Old Testament. If you read the Old Testament, especially the book of Leviticus, you can see how detailed the Bible is in specifying how God wants us to worship Him.
2. A set/prescribed liturgy allows us to concentrate on the substance of worship, and not be distracted by the style. It is like playing the piano – once you have learned the basic techniques, you can feel free to play the music – correctly and beautifully!
3. In today’s passage, in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, we see that there was a sort of an established pattern of worship that the early church was observing. Paul knew that when the Corinthian church gathered every Lord’s day, on the first day of the week, there would be a gathering of collections amongst the other things that they would do. 1 Corinthians 11:20 also speaks of how they would come together to partake of the Lord’s Supper, and 1 Corinthians 14:26, of other things such as singing psalms, preaching of God’s Word and other mutually edifying activities.

Dear Teens, do you know how wonderful it would be if, during our worship service, we could focus on each and every part of the liturgy (eg. paying attention to what the chairman says in the “call to worship”, to each phrase in the Lord’s prayer...), and find meaning in each of them.

Thought: “the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed will” (Westminster Confession of Faith).
Prayer: Teach me to worship You in a manner pleasing in Thy sight.