Why Gathering In Person Matters
The Importance of Gathering In Person for Weekly Worship and Discipleship
There is no Christianity other than an embodied Christianity.
What is meant by this phrase? The entire Christian faith is predicated upon embodiment. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:4). Jesus, the Christ, has been made manifest in bodily form. God is embodied in the form of Christ.
In the same way, His church is embodied. The Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ is Head of His Body (Colossians 1:18). And the Scripture informs us that the church is His body (Ephesians 1:23). And the fact that the Scriptures describe Jesus’ church as His body is very telling.
The Body of Christ is made up of many parts (1 Corinthians 12). And these parts are designed to function in an embodied expression with instructions not to forsake assembling together in person (Hebrews 10:25), to encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11), to stir one another up for good works (Hebrews 10:24) and build one another up in love(Ephesians 4:16). You cannot do these things sitting in your Lazy Boy laid out before your flat screen in your pajamas on Sunday morning. You cannot be the Body of Christ without your embodied presence among Christ’s Body.
As we taught recently, there is no such thing as online worship (skipping in-person worship and watching the service online) because Jesus’ people are instructed to forsake modern forms of Gnosticism (an old heretical teaching that separates one’s spiritual development from the body) and come together on the Sabbath to magnify God in body as Christ’s Body (And, as I also shared in a recent sermon, if you are ill or caring for an ill or ailing loved one, know that your Pastor and church family loves and prayerfully supports you as an online Sunday morning viewer of worship gatherings).
What is the primary reason for gathering? To glorify God as His Body. Our primary reason for gathering in person on the Sabbath is to magnify the Lord as the Lord’s people! Think with me as you read the sobering words based on George Barna’s research:
“For most Americans worship is to satisfy or please them, not to honor or please God. Amazingly, few worship-service regulars argue that worship is something they do primarily for God; a substantially larger percentage of attenders claim that attending worship services is something that they do for personal benefit and pleasure.”
As we ponder these weighty matters, may we reflect on the following words from Dr. Richard Swenson concerning the true nature of worship:
“We cease reaping for our own cupboards and instead bring an offering to Him. The Sabbath rest is not simply the pause: it is the essence. We rest not because we are tired. We cease our labor not because it is finished. We worship not because there are now grapes on the vine and cattle in the stalls. We rest and worship one day in seven simply because He is the Lord.”
And because He is Lord, He is worthy of our worship in body as His Body.
