"Therefore I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, for this is your spiritual act of worship." - Paul
Not once in Paul's writing does he suggest that a person goes to church primarily to "worship." It couldn't be, because he held a view of "worship" that prevented him from doing so. Romans 12:1 shows me that worship involves my whole life- every word and action, and it doesn't matter where I am or what time it is.
And since all places and times have now become my venue for worship, I can't talk about Christians gathering together in church distinctively for that purpose. If I am a Christian, then I am already worshipping God, acceptably or unacceptably, in whatever I am doing. This doesn't mean that I don't go to church to worship- that's an added bonus!
In the rest of Romans 12, Paul tells us that the purpose of church is rather the "edification" (building others up) of its members through their God-given ministry to one another. Church, to Paul, was much more ministry than it was worship. Worship was what he did day in and day out: when he slept, when he swam to shore after a ship-wreck, when he was whipped "times without number", when he was stoned and beaten with rods, when he smacked his camel on the booty ... AND when he gathered with other believers to celebrate God's presence with them. Paul was all about worship- but he wanted the church to get the picture:
Worship every day of your life. And when you get together, proclaim the presence of the Lord through serving one ANOTHER, encouraging one ANOTHER, praying for one ANOTHER, taking the Lord's Supper TOGETHER, showing kindness to one ANOTHER. It's not about me. It's about God, and how he lives in you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and me... and how He longs to help us live out the life of Christ.
I hope this is making sense... it's just that I don't see churches today gathering often to minister to one another. Every member is a minister. If that is true, then maybe when we start to get it, we will see more people praying for each other when we gather together. We will see more hugs. We will see more people volunteering to serve, to smile, to welcome guests. We will see more people celebrating the grace of God in each other's lives. We will see Christ walking the halls of our gathering place-that is now Brooks Wester Middle School. And then we will see what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:25- an outsider walking in, falling on his knees and declaring, "God is really here among you!" How incredible will that be?
I hope it happens. And I pray it happens soon!
Kyle Walker
Community Pastor
Rockway Church
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The beauty of Home Teams is that it is the perfect place to build each other up- which is Paul's view of what the church is all about. We pray together, cry together, laugh and play together, we carry each other's burdens, we read and talk about God's Word. It's the best place to experience the life God wants us to experience. If you haven't joined a Home Team yet, connect soon, and you will see for yourself- life is better lived together.
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