Why go to church?

This question is increasingly being asked. By 'church' I do not of course mean a building. I mean why bother to gather with God's people?

When people become real Christians they are very soon aware that true worship is not primarily to do with Sundays or outward ritual. The essence of true worship is heart delight and satisfaction in God which is expressed in praise, thanksgiving and obedience to him in all of life. If worship is really a matter of the heart, why not just simply pursue the worship of God on your own? Pressurised people, hassled by the demands of their jobs, long for peace and quiet at the weekends. Church and meeting other people can seem less than inviting - hence the question.

Actually, regular corporate services of worship are meant to be normative for Christians. We ought to gather in the local church. There are a number of arguments to substantiate this claim.

The pattern

If we open the Bible we find a pattern of weekly corporate worship in the Old Testament which is translated into the New Testament church.

At creation God established the Sabbath day when having finished his work of creation he reflected on creation's goodness, Genesis 2.2,3. For Old Testament Jews this became the weekly day for rest and worship (Exodus 20.8), and so we find that it was the regular custom of the Lord Jesus himself to participate in the Sabbath synagogue services of his home town (Luke 4.16). The early church, under Paul's missionary endeavours, sprang from a synagogue background and to some extent was patterned on it. On the first day of the week the risen Christ repeatedly met with his gathered disciples (John 20.19,26). The day of Pentecost seems to have been a Sunday too. So although there is a change of day between the dispensations the weekly pattern is sustained.

Some reasons

What are the reasons behind this pattern of regularly gathering together as God's people?

First, although personal, individual worship is good, there is a sense in which corporate, unified worship displays more of the glory of God than individual acts of worship. John Piper, in his book Let the Nations be Glad, uses the analogy of a work of art. If it is only appreciated by a narrow group of people it is probably not great art. Its qualities do not touch the deep universals of the human heart. But if the work wins admirers wherever it is shown then its greatness is manifest. Just so, when God is praised not just by one individual with his or her inevitable narrow focus, but by a whole gathered group of people all rejoicing in the same truth and experience of God, then the Lord's glory is more clearly displayed. That is why the final, perfect worship of the age to come is envisaged as corporate worship, Revelation 7.9-11: 'There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb . . . and they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God,
Who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb".'

Second, gathering as God's people is an expression of the reality of the gospel. The gospel is about love. In his love for us Christ has died for our sins. We are saved through faith which expresses itself through love, Galatians 5.6. If we avoid even meeting with other Christians then surely there is no love between us and the world could rightly conclude that the gospel is a sham (John 13.35; 17.23).

Third, worship is meant to be the overflow of a heart rejoicing in God. But in the real world Christians are not often like that. Our own remaining sin, the world around us, and Satan himself all do their best to dampen our desire and love for God. Part of the answer to this is meeting with other Christians. 'Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another...' Hebrews 10.25. The old analogy is still a good one. Bring the coals together in the fire and they will keep each other burning. But take a coal out of the fire and it will soon lose its heat and go cold.

Some good reasons why Christians should

The pattern

Some reasons

JEB

John Benton

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