Going to Church

You’ve probably heard folks promote “a lifestyle of worship.”  They say we Christians worship God through a variety of activities.  Example: caring for the poor or creating art can be acts of worship.  That is good and true.  But, it is important to note that those activities don’t replace worship in church.  Worship in church is an important part of “a lifestyle of worship.”  Worship in church has a few important qualities that shouldn’t be lost.

First, worship in church communicates that God is worthy of praise just because God is God. When we come together as a church for Sunday worship, those worship times have one purpose: communicating the end-all-be-all worth of God. There is no other goal, no other agenda. While a lifestyle of worship honors God with the way we accomplish a multitude of tasks, worship in church worships God for God’s sake.  Worship in church treats the worship of God as a good in and of itself.

Second, worship in church gives Christians the opportunity to glorify God together. Much of our world emphasizes our individualism. In our devotional lives, we use terms like “personal devotions” or “prayer closet.” Such phrases can be undergirded with the assumption that connecting with God involves withdrawal from other people. That assumption is false. We are called to worship Jesus together and apart. In church, we get the chance to worship together. Once a week we have the opportunity to say, “For this hour or two, we as a people are going to focus on Jesus and tell Him that He is of the highest, end-all-be-all value.” We can do this individually all the time, but we get to worship together in church!

Third and finally, worshiping God (1) as an end, (2) together, empowers us to live a lifestyle of worship. Christians have worshiped on the first day of the week for centuries. This practice allows us to keep “first things first.” We proclaim God’s ultimate worth on the first day of the week. This then gives us the correct perspective for the rest of the week.  So when we care for the poor on Tuesday, we are drawing on the resources of Sunday (worship). When we are gracious with the rude waiter on Friday, we are drawing on the resources of Sunday (worship). The lifestyle of Christian worship draws on, and is empowered by, the worship of Jesus’ Church.