Scripture provides believers in churches with solid reasons not to replace their Lord’s Day evening services with small groups. This post presents a key line of biblical reasoning that supports this view.

The Importance of the Psalms for NT Believers

The apostle Paul instructs believers that they are to use the Psalms as a key part of Scripture with which they are to minister to one another:

Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

 ¹⁹ Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

 ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Given this explicit apostolic direction, believers rightly need to base their views about worship on what God reveals about worship in the Psalms. Although there are many key passages that need to be considered, Psalm 92 is a premier passage because it is explicit inspired instruction to believers about worshiping the Lord on a day of the week that He has especially consecrated for worshiping Him.

What Psalm 92 Teaches Believers about Worshiping God 

For OT believers, God set aside one day of every week as a day that was to be distinct from all other days of the week. Psalm 92 explains what God’s perspective was about His people worshiping Him on that day:

Psa 92:1 <A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.> It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:

 ² To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,

 ³ Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.

 ⁴ For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

The Sabbath was a day on which giving thanks to God and singing praise to Him was a good thing (Ps. 92:1). Obviously, doing these things on the other six days of the week was also a good thing; nevertheless, God’s saying that it was good to do these things on the Sabbath highlights the goodness of doing so on His day.

The Psalmist specifies that these things were to be done at two periods in the day: in the morning and at night (Ps. 92:2). This explicit divine teaching instructs believers that worshiping God in the morning and in the night on the Sabbath was a good thing.

Not only did the Psalmist reveal that God was to be worshiped in those two periods, but also he added that worship was to include instrumental music using several instruments (Ps. 92:3). Psalm 92 thus plainly teaches believers that corporate worship in the morning and evening that includes singing and playing instruments in worshiping God is a good thing.

Application of Psalm 92 to the Lord’s Day

The NT reveals that the Lord’s Day belongs to God in a unique way that goes beyond what was true about the Sabbath. It is unthinkable, therefore, that God expects less from NT believers on the Lord’s Day (worshiping Him only once a day) than He did from OT believers on the Sabbath (worshiping Him twice a day).

The NT further reveals that God has specified that an entire church assemble itself in one place to worship Him through the combined ministry of all the believers in the church (1 Cor. 14:23-25). Furthermore, Scripture does not provide any passages that document that believers ever met in small groups on the Lord’s Day, either in the morning or in the evening, instead of meeting corporately to worship Him.

Of all the days of the week, believers should be the most diligent to base what they do in worshiping the Lord on the Lord’s Day as much on the Scripture as they possibly can. Based on the combined teaching of Ephesians 5:18-19, Colossians 3:15-16, Psalm 92:1-4, 1 Corinthians 14:23-25, and the many passages that show that the Lord’s Day belongs uniquely to the Lord, believers can have full confidence that worshiping the Lord corporately on both Lord’s Day mornings and evenings is a good thing that God wants them to do.

Conclusion 

The biblical line of reasoning presented above gives believers clear biblical direction to assemble themselves together both in the morning and in the evening on the Lord’s Day to worship Him corporately. The believers in a church should meet together in one place and worship Him through singing accompanied by musical instruments on both Lord’s Day mornings and evenings.

Furthermore, believers should not follow the ideas of so-called church marketing “experts” when those ideas lead them to abandon worship practices that have solid biblical basis. Churches should not replace evening services with small groups!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Numerous evangelical ministries have replaced certain weekly services with small groups. Other churches are also following suit. Clear teaching by the apostle Paul shows us, however, why churches should not replace these corporate worship services with small groups.

Essential Elements of Corporate Worship Services

First Corinthians 14 is one of the premier passages in Scripture concerning corporate worship. In vital teaching concerning the glorious efficacy of corporate worship that is done properly, the apostle Paul presents some essential elements of corporate worship:

1 Corinthians 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? ²⁴ But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: ²⁵ And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

We must give thorough attention to this apostolic instruction and heed what it says.

First, Paul speaks of a gathering of the whole church (“If therefore the whole church . . .” [1 Cor. 14:23]). By definition, choosing to meet in small groups requires the splitting up of the people of a local church into several groups, none of which are the whole church. The teaching of 1 Corinthians 14:23-25 about corporate worship, therefore, does not apply to whatever takes place when believers meet in small groups.

Second, not only does Paul specify that the whole church is coming together, but also he states that the whole church is coming together into one place (“If therefore the whole church be come together into one place . . .” [1 Cor. 14:23]). Although many modern translations (for example, NAU, NIV, ESV, CSB, and NET—see below) leave out the words “into one place” or some equivalent rendering, the original text of the passage (regardless of which major manuscript family of Greek texts we examine) has these words and they must not be left out:

^SCR 1Co 14:23 ἐὰν οὖν συνέλθῃ ἡ ἐκκλησία ὅλη ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, καὶ πάντες γλώσσαις λαλῶσιν, εἰσέλθωσι δὲ ἰδιῶται ἢ ἄπιστοι. οὐκ ἐροῦσιν ὅτι μαίνεσθε;

^BYZ 1 Corinthians 14:23 Ἐὰν οὖν συνέλθῃ ἡ ἐκκλησία ὅλη ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, καὶ πάντες γλώσσαις λαλῶσιν, εἰσέλθωσιν δὲ ἰδιῶται ἢ ἄπιστοι, οὐκ ἐροῦσιν ὅτι μαίνεσθε;

^BGT 1Co 14:23 Ἐὰν οὖν συνέλθῃ ἡ ἐκκλησία ὅλη ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ πάντες λαλῶσιν γλώσσαις, εἰσέλθωσιν δὲ ἰδιῶται ἢ ἄπιστοι, οὐκ ἐροῦσιν ὅτι μαίνεσθε;

^KJV 1Co 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?

^NKJ 1Co 14:23 Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

^NAU 1Co 14:23 Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?

^NIV 1Co 14:23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

^ESV 1Co 14:23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

^CSB 1Co 14:23 Therefore if the whole church assembles together, and all are speaking in other languages, and people who are uninformed or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

^NET 1Co 14:23 So if the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and unbelievers or uninformed people enter, will they not say that you have lost your minds?

Explicit apostolic teaching shows that the corporate worship that Paul is talking about here requires that all the believers of a local church meet together in one place—not separately in small groups in many different places, even in one town. Because small groups meet in differing locations, the teaching of 1 Corinthians 14:23-25 about the vital efficacy of corporate worship does not apply to whatever takes places in small groups.

Third, Paul repeatedly stresses that it is the combined ministry of all the believers present together in one place that has the spiritual efficacy to bring needy people who come into their midst to be convicted of their sinfulness, repent, and worship God:

1 Corinthians 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? ²⁴ But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: ²⁵ And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

Clearly, Paul is highlighting how God uses proper corporate ministry by all the believers of a church to bring people to worship Him aright!

Because an approach to believers assembling that employs small groups necessarily splits a church into groups, it automatically precludes any such combined ministry of all the church from taking place. Only God knows how many needy people have not received the vital ministry that He would have given them had churches had corporate worship services instead of small groups.

Discussion

Many churches have abandoned Sunday evening worship services and replaced them with small groups. The discussion above shows that doing so is a terrible mistake that precludes the church from enjoying the full usefulness that God would choose to make of that body of people were they to heed His explicit revelation in 1 Corinthians 14:23-25.

Some will argue that their church does meet corporately in one service a week but chooses to do small groups in place of other meetings that they might have had. Because we are not all-knowing so that we know when God would providentially direct needy people to our churches, churches should not choose to forfeit the additional opportunities for such ministry to needy people that these other regular services would provide—they should meet corporately in one place for their services on both Lord’s Day mornings and evenings.¹

Believers who want to avail themselves of the potential benefits of meeting in small groups should do so at other times during the week because meeting in small groups is not a biblically authorized replacement for corporate worship services.

Conclusion

Plain apostolic teaching provides believers with vital instruction about the essential elements of corporate worship and the glorious efficacy of such worship in meeting the needs of needy people who come to one of those services. Scripture does not provide any such explicit teaching for small groups having that same efficacy.

Believers should heed the explicit instruction that the Spirit has provided them about corporate worship in 1 Corinthians 14:23-25. Churches should not replace services with small groups!

¹ I intend to treat why churches should not replace a mid-week prayer service with small groups in another post.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.