• In the west, as distractions have increased and discretionary time has decreased, people skip worship. For most of us, all sorts of things qualify as sufficient reasons to skip worship, but worship itself hardly ever qualifies as a reason to skip all those other distractions. Oddly enough, if we were under persecution, those of us who had made the decision to continue worshiping no matter what would show up every week, at the risk of our liberty and maybe our lives. Circumstances, forcing the question, would have refined both our thinking and our resolve.
• Let me offer three reasons to be in worship this week, the first being (really) the only necessary reason.
1. You can find the first reason in the word itself, which comes from the Old English “worth-ship” (like “citizenship”) meaning “worthiness” or “acknowledgment of worth.” This is an either-or proposition. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive… honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12). You may not think Sunday-morning services are the best means of expressing His worthiness, but say what you will, weekly worship was the documented habit of both Jesus and Paul (Luke 4:16; Acts 17:2 et al), as it has been with all God’s people time out of mind.
2. The joint service this Sunday (9:30, Pickering Barn) is our intentional effort to continue to bind the Body together and build one another up in Christ. This isn’t about what we will take away from worship, but about what we bring, coming to encourage, love, and support others. This is part of our “reasonable act of service” (Rom 12:1), seeing ourselves as sacrifices — not receivers but givers.
3. This (above) is probably the most challenging shift for Americans. Our national founding documents, and certainly our culture, are organized around the self — “inalienable rights” and the personal freedom to pursue “life, liberty, and happiness” — a response to bad monarchies, not Scripture. While anyone who follows Christ must, by his command, deny himself. Lord willing, we all figure out eventually that a life that sacrifices the self, rather than serving it, is infinitely more rich and satisfying. That journey begins in worship, where we humble ourselves before One greater than ourselves, serving Him, serving His people.