The central work of the Holy Spirit is to bring order to the people and plan of God, and he does this work primarily through the Word that he inspired. This is no different for corporate worship. Paul stresses this in 1 Corinthians 14:36–38:
Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.
Paul was inscripturating direct revelation from the Lord here; carried along by the Holy Spirit, Paul was contributing to that “prophetic Word more fully confirmed,” the written Word of God, which always carries the final authority. Paul highlights this as well in the fact that prophecy given in a corporate worship service had to be tested (v. 29), a standard that was exactly the same for prophecy in the Old Testament (Dt 13:1–5, 18:15–22). The Spirit works in worship, as he does in all of his works, primarily through his authoritative written Word.
If we truly want our worship to be “Spirit-led,” then the way to ensure that happening is to fill our services with the Scripture that the Spirit gave us and through which he has promised to work. We ought not place priority in corporate worship upon the individual authentic expression of worshipers. Rather, the emphasis ought to be placed upon the corporate edification of the congregation as the Spirit speaks to us through his Word read, preached, prayed, and sung—everything about a Spirit-led worship service ought to mold and shape us into the kinds of people who will worship God acceptably each and every day of the week as the Spirit produces sanctified fruit within us through his Word.
Everything about a Spirit-led worship service ought to mold and shape us into the kinds of people who will worship God acceptably each and every day of the week as the Spirit produces sanctified fruit within us through his Word.
Build up the Body
Because of the influence of first revivalism in the nineteenth century, and then Pentecostalism in the early twentieth century, evangelical worship today has come to be defined primarily as private authentic experience rather than edification of the body. But understanding what the New Testament clearly teaches about the active role of the Holy Spirit in corporate worship, we ought to work to return to a more biblical understanding of worship itself.
In fact, modern evangelicalism tends to view salvation, sanctification, spiritual gifts, and worship as primarily private experiences. But what we need to recover is an understanding of how all of these works of the Spirit are connected to the corporate gatherings of the church. While the Spirit does absolutely work in individual lives, he does so through the body of Christ and by his Word.
In fact, the gathered worship of the Spirit-indwelt temple, the church, is the primary nexus of the Spirit’s active work today. The Holy Spirit does work outside of corporate worship to be sure, but the gathered worship of God’s people is where the Spirit accomplishes most of his work.
The gathered worship of God’s people is where the Spirit accomplishes most of his work.
In corporate worship, the Spirit convicts men of sin and assures them of pardon in Christ. In corporate worship the Spirit sanctifies his people, producing his fruit within them. In corporate worship, the Spirit’s gifts are manifested as believers exercise those gifts for the building up of the body. And the Spirit accomplishes all of this in corporate worship through the Word that he produced.
So if you want to experience the Spirit’s active work in your life, then look to the church. Join a faithful church, commit to faithful participation in all of its meetings, and actively seek to build up the body as God intends. In and through your active participation in the church of Jesus Christ, you will truly experience the Holy Spirit’s works in your life.
