Think about it.
As Christians, we gather each Sunday as a testimony not only to our need of God but to the importance of regularly being with other redeemed sinners. God has ordained this for His people. We are to covenant together as a church family and to spend part of each Lord's Day in a reunion with our brothers and sisters. By coming together, we reject the belief we only need to worship God privately. We refute the notion Internet church is sufficient. Instead, we affirm that gathering with other saints is vital to our lives as followers of Jesus and worshipers of the one true God.
In addition, we meet together as Christians because of our relationship to one person. Our makeup as a church and our corporate worship are not based on our common interests, our common skin color, our common nationality, our common language, our common marriage status, our common schooling choices or anything else apart from our common Savior and the common confession that Jesus is Lord with all that declaration means. Our goal as a church in corporate worship is not to reflect any natural alikeness but the "every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues" (Rev. 7:9) of the heavenly gathering.
As followers of Jesus, we also gather to remind ourselves, not to discover something brand new. Our corporate worship is filled with calling to remembrance who God is and what He has done for us. The reading of Scripture, the singing of hymns and songs, the praying of the saints, and the preaching of the Word remind us week by week of what Christ the Lord has done for us and who we are in Him as a result. We need to remind ourselves of the gospel, and corporate worship is designed to help us remember.
May we remember each Sunday we gather not as captives of our culture but as captives of the Lord Jesus and His gospel of grace.
-- Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash
No comments:
Post a Comment