It is perfectly appropriate for Christians to meet weekly for public worship.
When we do this, we express together our authentic knowledge of the Trinitarian God and express the precious affections we have for all that God is to us in Jesus We contemplate with the eyes of our hearts the supreme beauty of God and his ways (Eph. . 1: 18). And we have begun to recognize the supreme value of this treasure (Mt 13:44; Fel 3. 8).
- And when we finish praying publicly to the glories of God.
- We continue to worship him in the thousands of daily tasks in which the supreme value of Christ governs our lives.
- That is what it means to be a Christian.
But it is not as if Christians are always willing to overflow with joyful praise as we gather to worship every Sabbath day; God is glorified in worship not only by those who arrive full, but also by those who arrive in desperate need and put all their money. hopes in the encounter with God, the same heart of worship that says, “Thank you?and “Praise be to God “when it is full, he says: I need God, I desire God, I thirst for God when it is empty. It is the same appreciation for God and both recognize God’s worth.
Public worship is not just an overflowing meeting, it can overflow. It’s worship. He who is thirsty comes to drink from the source of the invigorating Word of God; it’s also a cult. Glorify God as the one that is necessary and desirable. Those who hunger in their souls come to eat the rich feast of scripture. It’s also a cult.
Woe to the shepherd who rebukes those who come to receive and do not give. If what the hungry want to receive is God, their hunger glorifies the value of God’s beauty that satisfies the soul. If people come back week after week for fun, the pastor can find out why looking in the mirror, not people.
When David says, “Restore my soul? (Ps 23. 3, NVI), the implication is that the soul often needs to be restored. Therefore, we shout, “Give me back the joy of your salvation and support me in a voluntary spirit. “(Salt 51,12). Restore us, O God; make your face shine and we’ll be saved?(Psalm 80,3)?Will we restore, God of our salvation? (Salt 85,4).
This experience is universal among Christians. This is partly because we are sinners. Our old nature fights the soul and strives to destroy it (Gal 5:17; Cl 3. 5; 1P 2. 11). Part of this war is exhaustion.
Another reason we need restoration is that we are creatures, we will always be creatures. Therefore, we will always need the grace of God. Even the perfected and glorified saints will benefit from the ministry of other saints in the world to come where there will be no sin; otherwise, meaningful relationships would not exist. Therefore, as both sinners and creatures, we need help to preserve heart worship.
In light of this normal need for true Christians, has God created us to rely on other human beings to awaken, support, and strengthen our worship?Our knowledge of God and the recognition of his worth. There are many New Testament statements that clearly explain this.
First, God determined that there would be pastors and teachers in the Church (Ephesians 4:11). Did you demand that they be? (1 Tim 3. 2). This means that God has designed us to be helped by other human beings who are ministers of the Word, not only through our own private readings and prayers.
Second, Paul’s example in strengthening the churches he opened clearly shows that we need ministers:
And after proclaiming the gospel in this city and making many disciples, they returned to Lystre, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, ingesting them to stand firm in the faith; And showing that, through many tribulations, it is important for us to enter the kingdom of God?(Hch 14. 21-22)
Christians were not designed by God to be strong in faith and fervent in worship without other Christian ministers to strengthen their souls.
Third, our perseverance in holiness and joyful and faithful worship clearly depends on other Christians who repeatedly exhort us with the truth of God’s Word:
Brethren, be careful never to have in any of you a wicked heart of disbelief that draws you away from the living God; on the contrary, are you exhorted every day, during the time we call today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deception of sin?(Hey 3: 12-13)
To escape the hardness of the heart and persevere in the joyful faith that mortifies sin, we need the exhortations of other believers. We were not designed to survive without the ministry of the Word of others.
Fourth, we clearly need people to serve us, because this is how God conceived the body of Christ, and Paul says we need each other:
But God arranged the limbs, placing each one in the body, as He wanted. But if they were all one member, where would the body be?The truth is that there are several members, but only one body. I cannot say with my hand: we do not need you; not even the head, at my feet: Do I need you?(1Co 12: 18-21)
Paul’s use of the word necessity in 1 Corinthians 12:21 clearly shows that he does not see the Christian’s dependence on other Christians as a defect in our dependence on God. Relying completely on God’s grace does not mean no longer relying on God’s means of grace. If God wants our dependence on him to be direct and not mediated at times and sometimes indirect and publicized, we always depend entirely on God in both cases.
Our physical life depends on God and the food he gives us; our emotional resources to be patient depend on the Spirit and the invigorating sleep it gives us; our spiritual strength depends on the Word of God and the ministers he sends us.
Fifth, the scriptures clearly indicate that we need the ministry of the Word of other Christians because Paul commanded Timothy: “Preach the word?(2Tm 4. 2). This is not a meaningless commandment. Preaching is ordained because preaching is necessary.
Among all the other ways God’s people help each other to persevere in faith and lead a life of joyful worship, preaching is specially designed to play a leading role in public worship. When people unscreo together to express their knowledge of God and his love. For Him, preaching is specifically designed by God to shape that love for his exaltation and to serve both knowledge and love through exposure. Its content and manners are designed by God to restore and expand our knowledge of God and to restore and increase our passion for God.
Ordinary Christian life exhausts us. We were not made to live on the basis of yesterday’s mercy.
The Lord’s mercy is the cause of its not consuming, because his mercy has no end; There are new ones every morning; What is your loyalty? (Lm 3, 22-23)
Every day he has his evil that exhausts us (Mt 6:34) and every day he has his mercy that restores us (Lm 3:23). Therefore, public encounter is not only for Christians who go to church full of faith and love, but also for those who arrive in need, dry and desperate for a new mercy. And God organized the body so that these mercies may often come through the ministry of our brethren in Christ.
So come to church desperately to receive more from God and expect him to come and find you through his people.