Basic Christian Worship

(Acts 2:42) "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."  (ESV) 

Worship in the modern church seems to have gone astray.  It often includes elements that are not Biblical.  So let us go back to the early church to see what their worship was like.  

The early church was first of all devoted to the apostles' teaching.  This would be the Bible, God's revelation to us.  The Scripture is foundational to all Christian worship.  It is the literal word of God without error.  A true Christian church must preach and teach the Bible.  

Next we see the early church was devoted to the fellowship.  This involves partnership and sharing.  We are partners with Christ and other believers.  What makes Christian fellowship "Christian" is Christ himself.  He is what we have in common.  We gather together to focus on and worship God.  The focus should not be on ourselves.  Christian fellowship is much different than a social gathering.  

We also see the early Christians devoted to the breaking of bread.  This is the Lord's supper.  All Christians are to observe it. Should it be observed every week?  Maybe, but at least it should be observed more often than it is in most modern churches.  The two ordinances of the church are the Lord's supper and baptism.  Finally the early church was devoted to the prayers.  This included individual and corporate prayers.  Prayers should include praise and thanks to God, confession of sin, and our seeking to be in line with the will of God.

Unfortunately much of modern worship is not regulated by the Bible.  The modern church often bases it's worship on the desires of people instead.  The focus is on man instead of God.  Often worship in modern evangelical churches devolves into entertainment and triviality.  We are not very serious and so the world does not take us seriously.  We lack a sense of the holiness of God.  We seem to think we have encountered our chummy, buddy God.  When in reality it is the Holy One Of Israel that we have encountered.