Section 8: The Church
Week 4: Life in the Church
Day 3: Corporate Worship
Heb. 12:18-29
Earlier we noted that worship encompasses all of life. As a result, everything we do as individuals is an opportunity to worship. However, worship isn’t only an individual thing. The Church is also intended to gather together and celebrate all that God is and all that he has done for us. There is thus a corporate dimension to worship as well.
What do we do when we come together as Church body to worship? Yes… we sing songs and listen to the sermon. But why? On a fundamental level, we come together to focus on God. As we focus on him, we get a clearer vision of who he is and what he had done for us, and our hearts naturally want to praise him.
That can happen anywhere though. It can happen when you’re in your car listening to the radio or in your backyard as you’re staring up into the night sky. So why do we come together to worship? Why don’t we just do it on individual basis and leave it at that?
Remember, God’s plan doesn’t just involve saving random individuals from hell. His plan is to bring about a new creation. A major part of that new creation is God’s people gathered together enjoying his presence. When we gather together as a Church body to celebrate the joy we have in God, we become a “sneak preview” of what that new creation will be like.
That’s why God delights when we gather together to worship him. It’s not because he has a massive ego that needs massaging. He delights in our worship because he delights in seeing his plan for a new creation being realized even now in the Church.
Reflection Questions:
Do you think of your corporate worship times as a “sneak preview” of the new creation? How does it make you feel to know that God delights in worship? Would he take as much delight if we only worshiped him on an individual basis? Why not?
Challenge:
The next time you’re at church, look at the other believers around you and reflect on the implications of the fact that you have all come together to worship.
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