God has always demanded that His worship be in order. Cain disregarded God’s order when he made his offering to God. The Lord, in turn, did not receive his sacrifice.

God showed Moses that He required reverence when He ordered the removal of his sandals before the burning bush. Moses was standing in the presence of God, so that the place where he stood, though deserted, was “holy ground.”

Very specific laws were given to the priest depicting what he should wear, where he should stand, and what he should do as he offered the sacrifices and ministered before the people at the sanctuary.

The general disposition of God toward His worship is summarized by Paul when he writes, “Let all things be done decently and in order” (). The saints of Corinth had grown too casual, too spontaneous, too informal in their worship. Their assemblies had become a chaotic circus. So Paul gave them some common sense commandments to return the orderliness and reverence for God to their services.

Some of the recent changes we’ve made in the order of our worship--the emphasis on promptness, the dimming of the lights as a cue to get settled, the entrance of those leading the worship in file rather than haphazardly, and the printing of this newsletter in lieu of lengthy announcements--all of these expedient changes are intended toward the end of making our services more “decently and in order.”

Order can certainly be overdone. Formality can give way to pomp and circumstance and vain ritual. But the great risk of our times is the Corinthian mind. If anything, men in our culture are too casual, too informal, too at ease in their approach to God. In fact, casualness is a celebrated feature of modern worship as men have gone in search of contemporary worship that appeals more to their fleshly senses.

We want to give God the best worship that we can offer when we assemble on His day. There should be nothing casual or informal or ordinary about assembling before the Creator, the Almighty, and the Redeemer of our souls. God is worthy to be praised and the fit object of our undivided attention as we offer Him our praises, our prayers, our memorial, our contribution, and our contemplation of His word. “Let all things be done decently and in order.”