This is the second post in a series that I’m writing on “A Case for Corporate Worship.” If you missed the previous post, click here.
If you’re wondering why Sunday mornings should matter to you, you’re asking the wrong question. The proper question is: “Do they matter to God?” In other words, does the Lord command us to gather with His people weekly for worship? There are those today who would say you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. While I agree with that statement, in principle, it misses the point of corporate worship. We don’t go to church to be saved, we gather with God’s people to worship Him because we are saved - and because the Lord who saves us has commanded us to.
Some may call me legalistic for my stance on this subject and for some of the things I am about to say, but I will not apologize for endorsing what God has commanded. Neither do I accept the premise that it’s “legalistic” to say we ought to obey the Lord. For more on that, check out this podcast episode I did.
The most commonly cited passage that supports the idea that God commands us to gather for worship is Hebrews 10:24-25 which reads: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
We also see clearly in the New Testament that the Church gathered weekly on the first day of the week and called it “The Lord’s Day” (Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10). Not to mention that the Church, since the Day of Pentecost, has had a regular pattern of meeting together (Acts 2:42-47).
Can you worship God anywhere? Of course we can. And God has set aside one day every week on which we are to gather with His people for worship, prayer, the public reading and preaching of His Word, fellowship, and mutual edification.
Some will object and say, “I can worship God wherever and however I want! I don’t need the Church.” While you may worship God wherever, you may not worship Him however you want. God told the people of Israel at Mount Sinai in Deuteronomy 12:32 - “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” You and I don’t get to decide what obedience to God, or worship of God, looks like. We must worship and obey Him the way He has instructed us. I’ll deal with this point more in a future post in this series.
What’s more, when God saved you, He immediately made you part of His people. Your faith is not a private one. You have been adopted into the family of God and are to gather with other members of His family to worship Him regularly.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
2 Peter 2:9-10
This is not about a church building, this is about the God’s Redeemed people gathering to worship Him on the Lord’s Day. Corporate worship does matter to God because He has Redeemed His people that we might worship Him. Psalm 131 says “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” That’s a specific reference to God’s people united in worship to Him. It matters to God.
Not only does it matter to God, it’s all for and about God. “Going to church” as we commonly call it, is not about you getting what you need for the week ahead; it is about the Lord. He is the reason for and object of our worship and our public worship services. And that is the point we will discuss in the next post.