July 24 - 1 Corinthians 14: What God Longs For

Paul is moving us from the specifics of loving extravagantly (chapter 13) to specific instructions for worship (chapter 14).  This is a logical flow when worship is defined as the way we extravagantly love God (instead of narrowly defined as the musical time of a Sunday service).  Paul is particularly instructing on the use of prayer language (often referred to as praying in tongues).  Because I don't attend a church that practices the use of tongues in public prayer, it's tempting to skim this chapter believing that it applies to others and not to me.  But, if I look at the beginning and ending statements of this chapter, the applicability to all believers is unmistakable.

Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. (14:1-2)

Three things, then, to sum this up: When you speak forth God's truth, speak your heart out. Don't tell people how they should or shouldn't pray when they're praying in tongues that you don't understand. Be courteous and considerate in everything. (14:39-40)

If we take these verses as bottomline teaching on how to love (worship) God as a church, then we have been given invaluable insight as to what God longs for in our worship.  Personally, I'm being corrected in my approach to loving others - instead of letting myself off the hook by saying that I don't know how to love someone who is difficult, I'm told to actively pursue loving them, to be courteous and considerate, and to proclaim truth. God reminds me that there is no such thing as passive love or love that just tolerates someone.  There is also no love without the truth that we are all sinners, undeservedly loved by a God who sacrificed all for us, and I must communicate this in the way I relate.  And the basics of courtesy and consideration  are not to be ignored as old-fashioned or unnecessary.  This is especially convicting to me in setting my clamorous desires and agenda aside in order to be fully present and sensitive to the Holy Spirit when I'm with someone.

Crabb more succinctly speaks the same message, giving us another definition of what it means to love and worship God in the way we love others:

"I [God] long to enjoy My people's worship ... to be honored in their genuine commitment to encourage each other without displaying themselves."  (66LL)