Sermon Central
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Real, Old-Fashioned Church Series
Contributed by Steven Simala Grant on Mar 7, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: Paul says four things need to be present for the building up of the church. The two we generally ignore are the ones where we listen to God directly.
Real, Old-Fashioned Church: Becoming A Festival pt. 5
March 1/2, 2003 1 Corinthians 14:26-33
Intro:
We have spent the past four weeks talking about worship, and about our vision for worship depicted by the idea of a festival. I¡¦ve been excited to see the Spirit of God moving in our midst, drawing us back to a place of seeking to meet with God and focus on Him in worship, bringing us back to the point of recognizing that worship is about expressing our love for God and hearing again His love for us.
Today I want to take a step back in time, to real, old-fashioned church.
o Let¡¦s step back in time before modern, rythmic music with drums and bass and guitars, and chorus¡¦ that are repeated numerous times.
o Stepping back from that we enter a time when the church sang hymns accompanied by the organ.
And by the way, do you know the difference between the two? A young Christian went to his local church usually, but one weekend attended a small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. "Well," said the young man, "It was good. They did something different however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs." "Hymns," said his wife, "what are those?"
"Oh, they¡¦re okay. They¡¦re sort of like regular songs, only different," said the young man.
"Well, what¡¦s the difference? Asked his wife.
The young man said, "Well it¡¦s like this: If I were to say to you, ¡¥Martha, the cows are in the corn,¡¦ well that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you: ¡¥Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry. Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth. Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by, To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth. For the way of the animals who can explain? There in their heads is no shadow of sense, Harkenest they in God¡¦s sun or his rain Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced. Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebelious delight, Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed. Then goaded by minions of darkness and night They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed. So look to that bright shining day by and by, Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn. Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry, and I no longer see those foul cows in the corn. AMEN!
"Then, if I were to do only verses one, two, and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn."...
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church.
He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the farmer, "it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses?" said his wife, "What are those?"
"Oh they¡¦re okay. They¡¦re sort of like hymns, only different," said the farmer.
"Well, what¡¦s the difference?" asked the wife.
The farmer said, "Well it¡¦s like this - If I were to say to you: ¡¥Martha, the cows are in the corn,¡¦ well that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you: ¡¥Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, Martha, MARTHA MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN¡¦!!! ¡¥Oh, Oh, Ooooooooh, yes, it¡¦s true, the whole herd is in the awesome corn, yes, it¡¦s true, the whole herd is in the awesome corn, --- weeell, it¡¦s true, the whole herd is in the awesome corn!!! Alleluia! - That would be a praise chorus."...
o You might think that there are no steps prior to hymns with the organ ¡V after all, wasn¡¦t that how Jesus worshipped??? But in fact, I want to step back even further than that; we find a time where a worship service began early Sunday morning with singing and praying for at least an hour, then a pastor preached for AT LEAST an hour and a half (anything less would have been viewed as a sign of great laziness), then everyone had a break while they ate the lunch they had brought with them and then regathered for the rest of the afternoon, when all the people took turns talking about the message and how it applied to them.
o We could step back further, to a revolutionary time when Charles Wesley re-wrote many of the words to the songs that were sung in the bars and turned them into hymns.
