The Old Covenant and its ways were past. The new worship had arrived, making every day special with continual praises, sacrifices and prayers (Acts 2:42-47; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Hebrews 13:15). Christians were often together (Acts 2:44, 46). When early Christians gathered for assembled worship, they did so for two primary purposes: to honor and exalt God, and to help each other grow more like Christ. For such spiritual purposes, expensive temples had no relevance. (Christians gatherings were usually in homes.) Christ’s new priests had no need of elaborate rituals or productions. Nor did they need the sights, sounds and smells of cultic worship, whether from the law or from the culture around them. In fact, biblical and historical evidences point to just the opposite.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul outlined the assembled activities: prayers, songs and hymns, messages and the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:26; 14:15, 26). Some members wanted to use their miraculous ability to speak in tongues (foreign languages). However, if no one understood their languages, Paul ordered them to stop because the mere making of sounds had no teaching value (1 Corinthians 14:28).
Notice the key words spirit and mind.
I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also…. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. (1 Corinthians 14:15, 19)
The New Testament does not go into detail about assembled worship. But its principles are clear. The assembly is not for doing whatever one happens to like. It is not for stirring feelings without knowledge. “Let all things be done for building up [the church]” and “so that all may learn and be encouraged” (1 Corinthians 14:26, 31).