Page 28 - Pastoral Epistles student textbook

I grew up playing baseball with other young guys in our town. In the summer, almost
every boy played baseball. We would get some guys together and just play ball. We didn’t need
a coach. We didn’t need a rule book and we didn’t need spectators. We just played baseball.
Sometimes five on each side. Sometimes six. Sometimes four. Whoever showed up got to play.
Sometimes we played at the baseball park. Sometimes we played in the street. We
would have to wait for the cars to go through before we pitched the next ball.
Some of you may have played baseball the same way.
We never had official umpires. Whether someone was out or safe was usually up to their
own honesty. If there were arguments about whether the player was out or safe, we would
sometimes flip a coin. If we needed to flip a coin – one side was always happy, and the other side
always complained.
But when we played real baseball games, we always had umpires. Baseball needs
umpires - to hold us to what are called proper standards.

The church also needs to operate by using proper standards. Just image what a worship service would
be like if there were no guidelines and no rules.
1 Corinthians 14:40. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

1 Timothy chapter 2 gives us some of these proper standards about how we are supposed to conduct
ourselves in our worship service when we come together. Chapter 2 gives us rules and guidelines
about what we are supposed to do and not to do.

 Identify specific things that you do in your church service that you think are
unique to your church; things that most other churches probably don’t do in
their church.

Who serves communion?
Who reads Scripture?

Who leads the church in prayer?

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