After 25 years of pastoring, this question has come up many times in various ways. We may have lost some key principles Paul sets forth in his final comments in his letter to the Thessalonian church. In 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, Paul gives us three principles that would help make corporate worship both exciting and sacred.
- Lead worshipers, that is those who plan and lead the service, need to be right with God and seek the leading of the Holy Spirit. In verse 19 Paul says ,”Do not quench the Holy Spirit” (NIV). Lead worshipers need to be men and women who are in the process of letting God transform them from the inside out to become more like Christ. We need to be people who are willing to confess and repent of specific sin before God and serve people with the towel and wash basin.
- The congregants need to prepare their hearts through the week so that, when we walk into Sunday worship service, we are teachable and prepared for what God has for us. Paul gives us a strong command in regard to this: 19) Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21) but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22) reject every kind of evil.The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Th 5:19–22.
- Exciting and sacred worship cannot be manufactured by us. It must be a matter of being open to God, the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit. We need to be willing to confess our sin and repent from it. We need to have a teachable heart. We need to be open to God.
We need to apply these principles to our own hearts with the help of the Holy Spirit. This starts with our individual worship Monday through Saturday. Then, when we walk into our worship services, we don’t walk in with a motive of duty. We come in expecting a dynamic and sacred encounter with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit because our hearts are now open and teachable to what God has for us. Are you ready for corporate worship that is dynamic and sacred?