If worshiping is rendering homage and adoration, then believers have a glorious privilege of worshiping God, together.

God does indeed save individuals. In order to experience forgiveness and eternal life, we need to trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. This must happen personally. No one can believe for you. You must believe as an individual. While this is absolutely true, God did not merely save individuals, he saved a people. God redeemed the people of Israel in the Old Testament and called out a people for himself in the New Testament (1 Peter 2:9).

And as a people who have been redeemed, we have the privilege to gather for the purpose worship. As followers of Christ, we need both private worship (quiet times) and corporate worship (congregation). Here are some passages of Scripture that undergird the necessity of corporate worship.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25

Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise in the assembly of the godly!
Let the godly exult in glory;
    let them sing for joy on their beds.

Psalm 149: 1, 5

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:17-21

These verses indicate the need of the congregation to participate in worship. The gathered church is not an audience to be wowed or individuals to be entertained. The gathered church is the “assembly” of God’s people declaring praise to God and singing truths to one another.

In their book, Sing, Keith and Kristyn Getty remind us that the congregation is “the ultimate choir. The true beauty of such a congregational choir is that our voices and our hearts are knit together in praise.” (pp. 3-4).

They continue their emphasis on congregational praise:

It may sound like a rather obvious statement to make, but in the assembly each of us will not be in the majority. That means you are going to be singing songs you may not have chosen because they are not your favorite, to arrangements or with accompaniment that you may not have chosen because they are not your favorites. You are going to need to be willing to lay down your own tastes for the good of the wider assembly. For as long as we have the health and the ability, we are each called to sing with the people of God, and to love our people enough to serve each other in the way we sing.

Keith and Kristyn Getty, Sing, 15.

For our worship to be congregational, it needs to be participatory. Here are some ways we are trying to invite participation in our gathered worship.

• We emphasize congregational singing. While not all of our musical worship has to be congregational, the vast majority is. Remember, we are not an audience, we are a choir. We attempt to sing songs that are “singable” emphasizing the role of the congregation rather than highlighting special musicians or singers.
• We invite congregational participation. Through giving, quoting our monthly memory verse, praying together, and celebrating the ordinances, it is our desire that all attenders become participants in the worship service.
• We encourage note-taking. Worship must be Scriptural and following our Reformation tradition, expositional preaching plays a central role in our services. While we realize that hearing the Word preached can be passive, we encourage note-taking and internalizing Scripture. Several of our Sunday School classes now use sermon-based discussion questions for their curriculum which invites a deeper study and application of the weekly sermon text.

Congregational participation in worship is life-giving and God-exalting. If we are a people redeemed by grace, then our gathered experiences should show it. When we participate meaningfully, we bless one another. You and I need gathered congregational worship for our own souls. Our neighbors need gathered congregational worship to experience the validity of the gospel in lives of believers.

This is the first of ten posts on our worship values at Wilkesboro Baptist Church. You can see all the values listed in a previous post or here on our church website.

Reader, consider this your invitation to congregational worship. Would you return to gathered worship if you’ve been away for a while? We would love to see you this week.

Grace and Peace

What comes to mind when you think about worship? For many of us, we think of church services, songs, and the Bible. Do you realize that everyone (all people everywhere throughout history) is a worshiper? To worship is to render reverence, adoration, or homage to someone or something. While proper worship that is biblically practiced is always focused on the One True God who alone is worthy of our worship, people everywhere worship something.

Even unbelievers realize that everyone worships. In his book, How the Nations Rage, Jonathan Leeman quotes novelist David Wallace.

There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.

David Foster Wallace, This is Water.

The question that remains, “What/who will we worship?” In the coming weeks at Wilkesboro Baptist, we’re going to explore the subject “Revelation and Response in Biblical Worship.” This worship series will explore a variety of biblical texts to see God as he has revealed himself as the focus and object of our worship. We will also explore the proper response of the Christ follower through the applied practices and patterns of worship found in the Bible.

In the lead up to this series, I’ve been meeting with our musical worship leaders, Mike Matheney and Dustin Deal. In our studies, research, devotion, and reading, we’ve discovered ten worship values that should undergird our worship. These values are biblical and formative. These values guide our worship corporate worship practices and strategies. While they are not exhaustive, these values do inform and form our corporate worship at WBC. They are listed below for your review. In the weeks to come, I will be posting on one value a week for us to consider and practice.

1. Worship is THEOCENTRIC. Theocentric worship begins with God and is about God; it does not begin with us nor is it about us. Worship that is Theocentric is also Christocentric. It is about Christ and for Christ. It is Trinitarian: to the Father, for the Son, by the Holy Spirit. In this sense, worship in its revelation from God and response to God is inexhaustible because our Trinitarian God is inexhaustible. See Matthew 4:10.
2. Worship is CONGREGATIONAL. Congregational worship is corporate, for the gathered congregation to engage actively together in the worship of God. Worship occurs in the assembly of God’s people (Psalm 149:1) and is to be practiced regularly (Hebrews 10:23-25). Congregational singing and participation in worship are some aspects of this value.
3. Worship is RELATIONAL. Relational worship is the opportunity to interact personally and relationally with God (and others) through Jesus in the Holy Spirit. God knows us and allows us to know him. See John 10:27-30; 17:3.
4. Worship is SACRIFICIAL. Sacrificial worship is what we bring to God as a response to God. Because worship is Theocentric and begins with God, worship should cost us something. Worship that costs us nothing with regard to time, effort, energy, preparation, and sacrifice is not acceptable worship. See Romans 12:1-2.
5. Worship is SCRIPTURAL. Scriptural Worship is framed, guided, directed, and expressed through, by, and from Scripture. The Bible is our authority with regard to what we believe (doctrine) and how we live (devotion). That worship is framed by revelation, how God has made himself known through Christ and his Word, forms the foundation for Christian worship. See John 1:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
6. Worship is MISSION-ORIENTED. Mission-oriented worship reflects our mission to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus by replicating worship and worship leaders in the life of the church and by scattering the gathered congregation with the life-altering affects of experiencing God in worship. Biblical worship is not just about what happens in the room, but how what happens when we gather shapes what we do when we scatter. See Psalm 96; Matthew 28:18-20; Revelation 5.
7. Worship is HOSPITABLE. Hospitable worship is deferential and unifying rather than tribal and preferential. A regular refrain in the book of Psalms is to “sing a new song” to the Lord. Too many churches and Christians have become divided over worship preferences related to style and form. This ought not be because the object of worship is God and the goal of worship is God’s glory, not our preferences. See 2 Samuel 6:14-15; 1 Corinthians 14:26, 33.
8. Worship is PREPARED. Prepared worship is reflected in the intentional preparation of those who lead the gathered experience as well as the personal preparation of the worshiper. Prepared worship derives its value not primarily by the excellence of the event, but the prepared heart of the worshiper. God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), and expects believers to worship from a prepared and ready heart (John 4:23-24).
9. Worship is ETERNAL. Eternal worship recognizes that worship is not merely something we learn to do in our earthly lives, but it is the primary activity of Jesus followers in eternity. The glory, holiness, and greatness of God will demand our attention and focus in heaven. See Isaiah 6; Revelation 1, 4, 5.
10. Worship is GOSPEL-SATURATED. Gospel-saturated worship intentionally depicts and declares the gospel in our content (songs, sermons, scriptures) and liturgy (structure). Not only is the gospel to be the content of our worship services (1 Corinthians 2:2), but the gospel is to provide the framework and structure for our worship services (Colossians 3:16-17).

Reader, here’s what I’m asking you to do.

Gather with your local church over the next several months and worship with others. If you attend WBC, then do your best to worship with your church family weekly.

Read and consider these posts on our worship values. Evaluate your personal and corporate worship using these values.

Consider the greatness and glory of our Creator and Savior and give him the praise and adoration he deserves.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash