This week we think about a common question: Why is corporate worship so important? I’ll show you in a minute that this question is under consideration more than we might think at first glance. At Grace we spend a great deal of effort, about 75 minutes, from 10:30-11:45 every Sunday. Karen Sawyer and the worship team expend tremendous effort in preparation, rehearsal on Thursday night and Sunday morning, and in the worship service itself. Tag and I spend a significant portion of our week studying a text of the Bible to prepare a sermon. I can tell you that preaching is wonderful, and exhausting. Is it that important to do all of that?
Why worship is important?
This article is about why corporate worship is important, but that assumes the worship of God is important. The story of the Bible is really not, first and foremost, about us. It is about God. He made all things to display His majesty. He made us that we might enjoy Him, and appreciate His magnificence. Early on we were alienated from our Creator by our sin and rebellion, so a great deal of the story of the Bible is about God’s plan to make us His people. Worship is about the greatness of God- He is worth it (worthy!), He made us, He saved us, He cares for us- Let us praise Him! Much more could be said, and indeed libraries of books have been written about worshipping God. If you read through the one hundred and fifty Psalms you will see the themes I’ve mentioned. You will discover that many of them are poetry written in honor of God, some are about His glory in creation (Psalm 8, Psalm 150, some about His salvation (Psalm 32, Psalm 130), and some are about His care for His flock (Psalm 23). We call this care “providence.” Some of the Psalms have many of these elements (Psalm 103). The worship of God is important! We were made to know Him and enjoy Him forever.
Corporate Worship is a waste of time.
Many people who believe in Jesus Christ would say, in effect, corporate worship is a waste of time. It’s not worth any kind of regular commitment of my time and energy. I’m not talking about the fact that all of us experience the occasional flat worship experience. Sometimes it just doesn’t really happen for us at an emotional level. This problem is more than that in some circles.
Some believers, seeing many flaws in organized churches, have chosen to check out of the church and the corporate worship scene nearly altogether. While they tap into the occasional advantage of churches, more often they worship privately at home, and find that the occasional visit at a local church is all they need for their Christian life. These folks consider corporate worship and life together to be a waste of time. There are many things in the New Testament to warn of such a self-focused approach to life, but to our point, it shows an attitude about worshipping with other believers.
Other believers have a less decided aversion to corporate worship. They just put it low on their priority list, below hobbies and recreation, sleep, or convenience. Some are just burned out from a hectic life, and choose to make corporate worship a low priority. These people are not like the first group, they have no principle involved in their neglect of worshipping with other believers it just doesn’t seem urgent or important and some get out of the habit altogether. They believe in Jesus, but do it at home.
Why Corporate Worship is important?
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 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. Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV
As this verse above suggests, meeting together corporately is important to prepare us for the coming day of the Lord. But more importantly, all through the Bible the pattern of life for God’s people has included gatherings for worship in large groups. We see this in the wilderness wanderings and in the pattern of festival’s in the Old Testament. There were family aspects of worship (the Passover meal), but also large corporate worship elements built into the life then.
The New Testament church did not have large buildings or access to facilities for gathering large crowds. Yet it is clear that early on corporate life, including worship, was built into the life of the church. Notice this early account of church life:
(Act 2:42-47 ESV) 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
The vibrant community life (often called “body life” from Ephesians 4:1-16) included corporate worship. The description of this community Christian experience included enthusiastic worship that involved:
(Eph 5:19-20 ESV) 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We were made for community worship. We sing not to God or ourselves alone, but to one another. We were born into this new life in Christ to enjoy God together in worship. The worship in heaven that is pictured in Revelation 4 and 5 is massive corporate worship. That is the perfect church- all harmonious, in perfect unity, with great joy. In between now and the second coming, corporate worship is a part of God’s plan for us. It’s never as awesome as that which is to come, but is pretty special anyway!
The mess of church is part of the point of church.
I’m a realist. I’ve been a pastor now for more than half my life. Church life is sometimes messy, difficult, and painful. That affects our experience of corporate worship sometimes. If you are reading through 1 Corinthians you will learn that this is nothing new. Church life has always involved challenges and difficulties. We are not home yet. In the Biblical story of creation, fall, redemption and consummation…guess what? We aren’t to consummation just yet. So in the beauty and delight that can be corporate worship and corporate life, there are challenges to overcome. That’s part of what makes us long for heaven, and cry out for redeeming grace now!
I worship with people with whom I watched the work of grace go forward.
I’ve been the pastor of GCC for sixteen years now. When I worship on Sunday morning, I can look out and see people whose stories of redemption I’ve watched God write. I’ve seen them carried by the Lord through heartache and loss, sin and repentance, and victory and celebration. I look around me and see God’s redeeming love at work. If I worshipped at home (not a true option for me!), or changed churches every time there was a painful conflict or difficulty (some pastors do this), I would have missed the glory of God in His people. I can worship God on Sunday and see that the words we sing are true by looking around me and seeing restored marriages, recovering addicts, and redeemed sufferers.
There is so much more I can say about this, but let me stop there and thank you for reading on. Let me encourage you to make corporate worship a commitment and a priority. Sometimes it will be like a rich family feast and other times it may feel like stale crackers. We were made for this. We were redeemed for this.