WHEN YOU COME TOGETHER

A Study of the Purpose of the Christian Assembly

by Ervin Bishop

(The material in this paper was published in a slightly different form as a series of six articles in the Firm Foundation March 6 & 13, June 19 & 26, August 7 & 14, 1973. Another article incorporating much of the same material appeared in the Restoration Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4, 1975.)

Table of Contents

Chapter One:
New Covenant Worship
Chapter Two:
New Testament Words for Worship
Chapter Three:
Worship -- the Old and the New
Chapter Four:
The Importance of Assembling
Chapter Five:
Mutual Edification
Chapter Six:
Building Up the Body

Chapter One

New Covenant Worship

This study will deal primarily with the intended purpose of the Christian assembly as seen through an examination of the New Testament writings. Since most Christians today probably consider the purpose of the assembly to be worship, the first part of the study will focus on that subject.
The term worship has become almost synonymous with the Christian meeting. A sign outside almost every church's building announces the time that “worship” begins. Expressions such as “the worship service” or “going to worship” reveal an underlying concept of the assembly as a gathering for worship, and their continued use promotes the idea that Christian worship is limited to and equated with the Christian assembly. Such expressions, however, are not Biblical, and the view of worship that they imply is completely foreign to the New Testament, as this study is intended to show.
Hundreds of years of Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant tradition have strongly influenced present-day thinking about worship. Most Christians are hindered in any attempt to get back to the Bible on this subject, because they view it through glasses borrowed from generations past. Even while rejecting a number of specific traditions, almost every Christian today has assumed the very principles that lie behind those traditions.
One of the most basic presuppositions shared throughout the Christian world involves the very nature of worship -- what it is, where and when it takes place. The idea of a “worship service” is almost universally accepted among Christians, few realizing that it is a concept more Jewish than Christian and has no New Testament basis. It apparently evolved from a false analogy between the Christian assembly and Jewish temple worship.
Although the “worship service” concept is not found in the New Testament, the idea did develop very early in Christian history. In a letter written by Clement of Rome late in the first century we find the seeds of this development in his defense of the office of presbyter and of certain prescribed ordinances. Clement based his argument on a comparison with the Old Testament priesthood and its liturgical duties (1 Cl. 40ff). Such reasoning prepared the way for a revival of Jewish concepts of worship in the following centuries. The Didache, a Christian document of the early second century, shows evidence of this same kind of thinking. It refers to the “prophets” of the church as its “high priests” (Did. 14). Accompanying the continued expansion of these ideas in the second century, there was a thorough-going return to Old Testament concepts of worship associated with the temple and its sacrificial ceremony. The result of this transfer of Jewish ideas to Christianity is most evident today in the elaborate sanctuaries and ceremonies of the heirs of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. (For example, the adornments and accompanying rituals inside a typical Greek Orthodox naos, or “temple,” bear a striking resemblance to the Biblical description of the Jewish tabernacle.)
Many Christians today are interested in discovering and restoring the simple faith and practice taught in the New Testament. This requires a willingness to examine inherited concepts and traditions and to discard those that are found to be in conflict with New Testament teaching. Some have made good progress in clearing away many of the ecclesiastical and ceremonial practices that have accumulated over hundreds of years of Christian history; but, even for us who imagine that we are free of such non-Biblical traditions, an honest examination of our thinking might well reveal that we are holding on to the same concepts that produced those traditions. Such inherited patterns of thought sometimes make it difficult for us to see the clear teaching of the New Testament.
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The True Worshipers

Jesus' discussion with the woman at the well in Samaria (Jn. 4) is a customary beginning place for studies on the subject of Christian worship. It serves this purpose well, but when people approach the passage with a preconceived idea of what should be said on the subject, they are programmed to miss the revolutionary character of what Jesus says. The full context of Jesus' statement in verses 23 and 24 should be carefully studied. Up to that point in the discussion, Jesus showed a very personal interest in the spiritual welfare of this Samaritan woman. He does not abandon his evangelistic concern when the discussion suddenly moves to the subject of worship. He uses the woman's mention of “worship” in much the same way that he treated the subject of “water” in verses 7ff. The undergirding theme continues to be salvation, which is specifically mentioned in verse 22. This is a reference to Jesus' own Messianic mission (cf. v. 25). The new kind of “worship” about which Jesus speaks pertains to this salvation, because it involves mankind’s new relationship with God.
Jesus answered the woman's implied question regarding the God-ordained place of worship, but not in the way that she must have expected. He revealed to her that the time had come for the shadowy types of both Samaritan and Jewish temple worship to end. Worship in the new age would be of an entirely different character -- not limited in reference to place or time, or to such formal acts as are bound by place and time. In verses 23 and 24 the nature of this new worship is described: “The true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
At the mention of “worshipers,” most Christians today, influenced by traditional views, probably imagine people inside a “church,” performing certain “acts of worship.” However, the context shows that Jesus is here contrasting “worshipers” in the new age with worshipers in the Jewish (or Samaritan) temple. This demands consideration of the fact that in the New Testament the “temple” is represented not by the “church building,” but by the church, the body of Christ (John 2:21; cf. 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16). What corresponds to the temple ceremony is not a Christian “worship service,” but first, the redemptive work of Christ (Heb. 9:11-14) and second, the new life in Christ (Heb. 10:19-25; Rom. 12:1; 1 Pet. 2:5). The worshipers in the Old Testament temple or tabernacle find their New Testament counterpart in those who have been “cleansed” and thus “have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:14, 19). Jesus characterizes them as the “true” or “real” worshipers, because they worship in the “true tabernacle” (Heb. 8:2; 9:11, 24). Christians “worship” in this “heavenly tabernacle” in the same way that they are present in the “kingdom” in both an actual and potential sense (Heb. 12:28; Col.1:13).
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Worship in Spirit and Truth

The worship that these “worshipers” of God perform in the new and genuine “temple” Jesus describes as taking place “in spirit and truth.” In considering the meaning of this phrase, it is important to recognize that Jesus uses it to contrast worship in the new age with the kind of worship that was familiar to the Samaritan woman. The phrase describes characteristics of Christian worship that make it different from either Jewish or Samaritan worship. This fact would eliminate certain meanings that have been suggested for these phrases. For example, if Jews were supposed to worship “with the proper spirit” or “with the right attitude,” then this would not be what Jesus intended with the phrase “in spirit.” Or, if Jewish worship was to be “in keeping with the truth of God’s word,” then this meaning would be eliminated as a possibility for the phrase “in truth,” since it would not indicate a distinctive characteristic of Christian worship. With this point in view, “in spirit” probably means “spiritually” or “in the spiritual realm” (Rom. 1:9; 2:29; Phil. 3:3 KJV, RSV, NEB), in contrast to the physical confinement of temple worship. However, it may also include the new relationship of God's Spirit to his “worshipers” (Phil. 3:3 NIV, ASV, TEV; Rom. 8:9, 26; Eph. 2:22; 5:18, 19; 6:18). The main point of Phil. 3:3 is that “worshiping by the Spirit of God entails a rejecting of all ‘confidence in the flesh’” (Ralph P. Martin, Worship in the Early Church, p. 13). God's Spirit lives in our bodies, making us temples where God is glorified or worshiped “in spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Eph. 2:21, 22). This kind of worship -- worship that involves an intimate relationship with God himself -- was impossible under the conditions of the Old Covenant. It is unique to the age of the Spirit.
As for the phrase “in truth,” there are several possible meanings. In view of other passages where it occurs, two ways it is used stand out as fitting here. If Jesus is comparing Christian worship with current Jewish (or Samaritan) practice, “in truth” could mean “in sincerity,” in contrast to the formalistic and often pretentious character of Jewish observance in Jesus' day. In Matt. 22:16 and Mk. 12:14, the meaning of this same phrase is “honestly” or “sincerely.” In Phil. 1:18, as the opposite of “in pretense,” it is “in sincerity.” In 1 John 3:18 (cf. 2 John 1 and 3 John 1) it means “in reality” or “in sincerity.”
It is more probable, however, that Jesus is intending to compare worship in the new age with all worship under the old covenant. In this case, the meaning “in reality” fits the context better. This would present Christian worship as “true worship,” in opposition to the earthly and symbolic nature of Old Testament tabernacle or temple worship. For this idea of true worship (“in reality”) in contrast to the physical and “shadowy” (symbolic) character of Old Testament forms, see Heb. 8:1,2,5; 9:1,8-11,23,24; 10:1; Col. 2:16,17. In the 1 John 3:18 passage mentioned above, John's stand against the hypocrisy of mere verbal or feigned love is reminiscent of Jesus' frequent criticism of the Pharisees' hollow formalism (cf. Matt. 23:23). Jesus often echoed the rebuking words of the prophets against the substitution of ritual giving for right living: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:10-13; 12:6, 7; cf. Hos. 6:6; Amos 5:21-24; Isa. 1:10-17). He saw “vain worship” not as the performing of the wrong acts but rather as living in rebellion to God's moral law (Matt. 15:4-9, 5:23-24). Although Jesus showed respect for the temple as his “Father's house,” he clearly recognized its temporary nature (Jn. 2:18-22). In general, his attitude toward the ceremonial worship of the Jews of his day was unsympathetic, and it was against the background of contemporary Jewish practice that Jesus set the stage for a new era. In this new age God's people would serve him, not with solemn ceremonies within elaborate buildings, but “in spirit and truth.”
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Chapter Two

New Testament Words for Worship

A study of worship-related terminology in the New Testament is essential to a clear understanding of Christian worship. The New Testament writers used words that were already familiar to people of the first century. Words associated with worship were borrowed from both Old Testament and pagan sources; but in the New Testament these words undergo striking changes in meaning. The old words are used in a new way to make them fit a totally new and different view of what worship is.
Leitourgia -- “liturgy”
The word leitourgia (“liturgy”) does occur in the New Testament, but infrequently and not in its modern sense. For this reason, “liturgy” is not found in most English versions. The basic meaning of the Greek word is “service” and can refer to service of any kind (2 Cor. 9:12). Most often, however, it refers to the duties of priests in the Jewish temple service (Lk. 1:23; Heb. 10:11), as in the Septuagint (Greek version of the Old Testament), where it is used almost exclusively of priestly service. In Hebrews this sense is extended to Christ's work as high priest (Heb. 8:2,6). In one passage, Acts 13:2, it is used figuratively to refer, apparently, to the “service” of prayer offered by several leaders in the church.
Paul makes an extraordinary use of this term in reference to his own “service” of proclaiming the Good News. In Romans 15:16 (cf. Phil. 2:17), using Jewish sacrificial terminology, he pictures himself as a priest performing the “liturgy” of proclaiming the Good News, that his “offering” of the Gentiles might be acceptable. Also, in 1 Cor. 9:13,14 evangelistic work corresponds to the priests' leitourgia in the temple. (This usage may be related to the terms of the Great Commission in Lk. 24:47 and Jn. 20:23. Whether leitourgia refers to the “service” of proclaiming the gospel or the service that the Jewish priests performed in the temple, in both cases it has to do with God's way of dealing with man's sin.)
It is of interest that this word played a role in the development of the Christian clergy and the sacramental concept of worship. It is the term leitourgia that Clement of Rome used to compare the work of bishops and presbyters to the priestly duties of the Old Testament. This usage became more and more common in the following centuries. H. Strathmann notes that “the final result was a thoroughgoing transfer of the Old Testament concept of the priest to the Christian clergy.” The terms leitourgos and leitourgia “are thus used to denote the cultus, and important cultic actions, especially the eucharist. Old Testament cultic concepts celebrate their resurrection” (TDNT, IV, pp. 228, 229).
Eusebeia -- “Godliness”

The word eusebeia is rare in the New Testament and for most readers would seem to be unrelated to the idea of worship, but it is of interest because of the way its usage contrasts with that in Greek literature. The popular Greek view was that religious piety consisted of honoring the gods, especially in worship paid to the gods in cultic acts. Paul's use of the verb in reference to the “worship” of the Athenians in Acts 17:23 was fitting. When used in reference to the Christian faith, however, eusebeia does not “consist in cultic acts as in the Greek world, not even in acts of congregational worship” (W. Foerster, TDNT, VII, p.183), but refers to a Christian's manner of life (1 Tim. 2:2,10; 4:7,8; 6:3,5,6; 2 Pet. 1:3).
Threskeia -- “Religion”

The lexical definitions of the rare term threskeia relate it to the “external ceremonies of religious worship” (K. L. Schmidt, TDNT, III, p. 157). It is defined as “religious worship,” “cult ritual” (Liddell-Scott), “the worship of God, religion, esp. as it expresses itself in religious service or cult” (Arndt and Gingrich), and “denotes more specifically the ceremonial worship of religion” (Trench). Its very scarcity in the New Testament supports the view that Christian worship is not expressed primarily in outward ceremonies. Paul uses the word in the sense defined in Col. 2:18, referring to “the worship of angels.” But James defines it in terms more closely identified with real Christian worship: “The kind of worship (threskeia) that our God and Father considers to be pure and without fault is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering, and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world” (James 1:27; cf. Is. 1:17).
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Proskuneo -- “Worship”

The word proskuneo is the usual term for worship in the Septuagint (Greek version of the Old Testament). It is also the word most often translated “worship” in the English New Testament. It is a concrete expression which carries with it the idea of falling down before an object of devotion. It “demands visible majesty before which the worshipper bows” (H. Greeven, TDNT, VI, p. 765). For this reason, its use in the New Testament is mainly limited to the Gospels, where Christ is visibly present among men, and to Revelation, where he is again visible to those who worship him as the exalted Lord. The word is not used, however, in reference to the worship that Christians are to offer to God in the era of the church. An exception is its use in John 4:20ff. Here Jesus' choice of words is governed by the context, in which the Samaritan woman had made reference to formal temple worship. This reflects the use of the word as a technical term for the religious pilgrimage of Jews to Jerusalem (Greeven, op. cit.; cf. Jn. 12:20; Acts 8:27; 24:11). In Jesus' answer to the Samaritan woman, however, the word is used in a way that raises it to a new spiritual sphere. Here it is applied to a revolutionary concept of worship that contrasts sharply with the kind of worship inherently implied by the word itself. Proskuneo is avoided in the Epistles, except for two Old Testament quotations (Heb. 1:6; 11:21) and a verse in 1 Cor. (14:25). There it describes the visible response of an unbeliever convicted of his sin and overwhelmed by the sense of God's presence in a meeting of prophesying Christians. Elsewhere, its absence is conspicuous and indicates that, because of the concrete ideas associated with the word, it was not well suited for expressing the kind of all-encompassing spiritual worship intended for God's people under the New Covenant.
Latreuo, Latreia -- “Worship”

The significance of this word group for Christian worship is obscured from the English reader because it is more often translated “service” than “worship.” The difficulty translators have in deciding on the proper English equivalent is compounded by the fact that, for most Christians today, “Christian service” and “Christian worship” represent two distinctly different ideas. In the New Testament, however, no such distinction exists. As A.B. MacDonald says in reference to the New Testament idea of worship, “ . . . we are sensible of the absence of any clear line of demarcation between ritual worship proper and the service of God in practical things” (Christian Worship in The Primitive Church, p. 18). Although this word means, first of all, “to worship cultically,” and “in the Old Testament its primary reference is to the sacrificial cultus,” in the New Testament its meaning is elevated “to a total view according to which the whole life of the Christian is fundamentally brought under the concept” of worship (H. Strathmann, TDNT, IV, p. 64).
Old Testament usage appears again in those New Testament passages that deal with Jewish temple worship (Lk. 2:37; Heb. 9:1ff.; 10:2). However, when this word group is used to refer to Christian worship, it is given a spiritualized force that includes the believer's total relationship with and service to God (Heb. 9:14; 12:28; Phil. 3:3). Latreia, in this sense, finds its highest expression in Romans 12:1. Although the truth in this verse is stated figuratively in the language of temple ceremony, it serves as the New Testament's best definition of Christian worship: The offering of self as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God -- this is spiritual worship.
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Chapter Three

Worship -- the Old and the New

So far, we have seen that Jewish, pagan, and even traditional Christian ideas of worship contrast sharply with the concept of worship presented in the New Testament. A look at Jesus' teaching on this subject reveals that worship in the New Age is not to be limited to special acts performed at any particular place or time. Instead, New Covenant worship consists of the “true worshiper's” total relationship with and service to God. This new and revolutionary concept of worship is taught consistently throughout the New Testament, as confirmed by a study of the worship-related vocabulary used by the New Testament writers. These writers borrowed words for “worship” from Jewish and pagan contexts of formal, ceremonial, temple worship. However, whenever these words were applied to Christians, they referred not to a “worship service” but rather to a life of service.
Temple and Sacrifice

A Jew or even a pagan of the first century would very naturally have associated such terms as “sacrifice,” “priest,” “priesthood,” “temple,” or “tabernacle” with ceremonial worship. The New Testament writers, however, consistently avoid applying these words to anything resembling what we call a “worship service.” Instead, they use these words in reference to Christ's work of redemption or to the Christian's saved relationship with and service to God. The letter to the Hebrews is a beautiful example of how the language of temple and sacrifice is given new spiritual meaning in the New Testament. According to Hebrews, Christ is a “high priest,” superior in every way to “those high priests” (Heb. 7:26-27). Christ serves in the “sanctuary, the true tabernacle (temple) set up by the Lord, not by man” (8:1-2). “He is the mediator of a superior covenant, and it is founded on better promises” (8:6). This new covenant is not like the old one. In reference to this new covenant God says, “I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (8:10). Only in Christ could the terms of God's covenant be fulfilled (Jer. 7:31; Rom. 8:3), so only through Christ can man approach God directly to worship him “in spirit and in truth.”
The Way into the Holy Place

Hebrews 9:1-14 describes the Jewish tabernacle and its service of worship in contrast to the “true” worship made possible by Christ under the New Covenant. Verse 8 shows that the main lesson intended for us in this description is that “throughout the age of the old covenant there was no direct access to God.” (F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 194). The reason is simple: Those temporary, ritual ceremonies, which related only to outward purification, were powerless to “make the worshiper perfect in conscience” (vv.9,10; 10:1-4,11). But this situation was only temporary, “until a time of reformation.” The Old Covenant system was only “a shadow of the good things to come” (10:1). Shadow would give way to substance, symbol to reality, prophecy to fulfillment. And this is, in fact, what happened “when Christ came as high priest of the good things to come.” “He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation” (9:11). “Through His own blood, he entered the Holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (9:12). This was the decisive moment for those desiring to enter into the presence of God. Not only did Jesus himself enter this spiritual “holy place,” but he opened the way for us to follow him there. We have a hope “which enters inside the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us” (6:20). “We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh” (10:19-20). This fact is symbolically proclaimed by the tearing of the temple veil from top to bottom at the instant of Jesus' death (Matt. 27:51). We can now “draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our body washed with pure water” (10:22). The worshiper under the Old Covenant who had been “defiled” by contact with a dead body, had to be cleansed with water containing “the ashes of a heifer” (9:13). If such ritual washings and “the blood of goats and bulls” were effective in removing physical defilement, argues the Hebrew writer, “how much more will the blood of Jesus, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God” be effective in cleansing the conscience that has been defiled by “dead works” (9:14)! And what is the purpose of this cleansing? So that we may enter without fear into the “holy place” “to worship the living God” (9:14). (The usual translation of the verb latreuo in verse 14 as “serve,” instead of “worship,” causes most English readers to miss the point of its relationship to the noun latreia, “worship,” in verses 1 and 6, and to latreuon, “worshiper,” in verse 9).
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God's House

Just what is this “holy place” or “sanctuary” where God dwells and where Christians worship Him? The mention of “a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands” in 9:11 brings to mind several other New Testament passages. In reference to the Jerusalem temple, Stephen proclaimed that “the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48), and Paul informed the Athenians of this same fact (Acts 17:24). Christ promised to replace the Jerusalem temple with one “made without hands” (Mark 14:58), and John tells us, “He was speaking of the temple of His body” (Jn. 2:21). Paul applies both of these figures, the “temple” and Christ's “body,” to the church. To the Corinthians he writes “Do you not know that you are the temple of God?” (1 Cor. 3:16-17). Later, he uses this as an argument for purity of life, declaring, “we are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16). Paul proves this statement with Old Testament scriptures that refer, first of all, to the original tabernacle (cf. Ex. 25:8, 29:45). He also uses, still in reference to Christians as the temple of God, the very words of Jeremiah with which the Hebrew writer (Heb. 8:10) described the New Covenant: “And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Cor. 6:16). God not only chooses to dwell with us (Jn. 14:23), but, more properly, he has drawn us into his presence, into the “true tabernacle” into which Christ opened the way for us. As Paul says, “He raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). Related to the figure of the temple is that of God's house or household. Hebrews 3:6 states that we are God's house, and in 10:21 it is identified with the “holy place” where Christ serves as “a great priest over the house of God.” Other New Testament writers are consistent in identifying God's house as God's people, “the church of the living God” (1 Tim. 3:15; cf. Gal. 6:10; 1 Pet. 4:17, et al.). In Ephesians 2:18-22 Paul assures the Gentiles that they, as well as the Jews, have “access in one Spirit to the Father.” He continues, “... you are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” With the New Testament writers we should limit ourselves to this spiritual usage and avoid referring to any physical structure as “the Lord's house.”
Acceptable Sacrifices

In other places, the concept of the church as the house or temple of God is expanded to include the idea that Christians are priests who offer sacrifices to God in this sanctuary: “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5; cf. Rev. 1:6). The Hebrew writer indicates that these sacrifices are of two types: “Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb. 13:15-16). Both God-directed praise and man-directed service are considered acceptable offerings of worship. Neither type is confined to any special time or place. We are always in God's temple, so we offer these sacrifices “continually.” Paul uses the same sacrificial ideas in an even broader sense in Romans 12:1. There he opens the practical section of this great letter with the key words, “offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” These “sacrifices” that Christians offer as worship to God are not sin offerings. They are thank offerings. Old Testament worship did involve offerings for sins, and was a means toward a right relationship with God. Under the New Covenant, however, such worship is obsolete, because the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ ended the need for it. A Christian's right relationship with God has been secured by Christ “once for all.” So Christian worship is not for the purpose of being made right with God. The proper basis and motivation for a Christian's life of worship is to show gratitude to God for blessings received in Christ. As Hebrews 12:28 says, “since we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe.”
It is almost impossible to avoid the influence of the sacramental view of worship so common in traditional Christianity, but it is important to identify the ways in which it has impacted our thinking and take measures to counteract it. This view of worship is a seedbed for legalism and is limiting to our freedom in Christ. It is a throwback to the Jewish system, whereby the sacrifices and offerings for sins in the temple had to do with making one right with God. The Hebrew letter clearly teaches that, for the Christian, this right relationship has been secured once for all through the sacrifice of Christ, who opened the way for us into the “holy of holies.” There we worship God day and night, living continually in his presence.
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Chapter Four

The Importance of Assembling

Continuing our study in the book of Hebrews, in chapter 10, verse 23, we read these words: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” This is a recurrent theme in the book of Hebrews (see also 2:1, 3:6-14, 4:11, 6:11). Along with this frequent exhortation to remain faithful, the Hebrew writer suggests a way this can be done. If we as Christians are to remain firm in our hope, we must recognize the need for mutual edification. As Hebrews 10:24 says, we must “consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” If we are to help each other in this way, we obviously must have opportunities to be together. So we are urged not to make the mistake that some were making in “neglecting to meet together” (v. 25) but rather to “encourage one another” (v. 25). Such mutual encouragement will help us remain faithful and avoid the terrible consequences of falling away described in verses 26-31. Hebrews 3:6-13 provides a striking parallel to these ideas presented in 10:19-26. We are God's house, “if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end” (3:6, 14; cf. 10:23). To accomplish this goal we need to “encourage one another day after day” (3:13; cf. 10:24,25). As in 10:25 there is an appeal to the brevity of time: “ . . . as long as it is still called ëtodayí” (3:13). There is also a warning against continuing in sin: “ . . . lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (3:13; cf. 3:12, 10:26). All of these points are intended to emphasize the indispensable role of regular meetings for mutual encouragement in maintaining Christian faith. This is consistent with Paulís instructions to the Corinthians regarding the goal of the activities in Christian gatherings, which he insists is the edification or “building up” of the body (1 Cor. 14:1-26; cf. Eph. 4:11-16).
Acts of Worship?

How do the activities that are sometimes called “acts of worship” fit into these assemblies for edification? First of all, we must keep in mind the fact that the New Testament concept of worship is in no way restricted to any special acts, but rather involves the Christian's whole life offered as a sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 12:28; 13:15, 16). Consequently, whatever he does should be performed as an “act of worship” to God's honor and glory (cf. Matt. 5:16, Col. 3:17). The idea that there is a set number of “acts of worship” to be performed on certain occasions is the result of reading back into the New Testament the traditional concept of the Christian assembly as a “worship service”; but this concept is completely foreign to the New Testament. (Here we recognize the influence of our Catholic and Protestant heritage.)
Not only is worship not restricted to a certain set of “acts,” but, according to the New Testament, these “acts,” with one notable exception, form a regular part of the Christian's life outside the assembly as well as in it: “. . . let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb. 13:15,16). This admonition encompasses three of the “acts” usually associated with the traditional “worship service”: praying, singing, and giving.
Prayer, including songs of prayer, is unique among the “acts of worship” in that it is the most direct expression of worship to God. (Other activities, such as “doing good,” are just as certainly offered to God, but less directly). The Christian should be “devoted to prayer” (Rom. 12:12). He is to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17), “always giving thanks for all things” (Eph. 5:20). Being constantly present in the “temple,” he has uninterrupted access to God's throne.
Whatever can be said of prayer applies as well to singing, whenever it is addressed to God. In addition, singing is an important means of edification and encouragement among Christians. It is significant that instructions concerning singing occur in passages that have to do with the Christian's manner of life: “Be careful how you walk . . . making the most of your time . . . be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord: always giving thanks for all things . . . and be subject to one another . . . .” (Eph. 5:15-21). A similar passage is found in Col. 3:12-17. It closes with this important principle: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” Singing, like praying, is presented in the New Testament as an integral part of the Christian's daily life.
“Doing Good and Sharing”

Giving is another act of worship that must not be restricted to the congregational assembly. Christians are to be characterized by generosity, both as congregations (cf. Acts 4:34, 35; 11:29; 2 Cor. 8:1 ff. ) and as individuals (cf. Acts 20:34, 35; Rom. 12:13). Giving is a proof of our love (2 Cor. 8:8, 24; cf. 1 Jn. 3:17) and of the sincerity of our faith (Jas. 2:14-18). The wealthy, in particular, are instructed “to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share” (1 Tim. 6:18); but every Christian is to work “in order that he may have something to share with him who has need” (Eph. 4:28). In the New Testament, both group and individual giving occur according to need. And the people giving are made well aware of the specific need for which they are encouraged to give. “Let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful” (Tit. 3:14). This is to be done “as we have opportunity” (Gal. 6:10). Every act of generosity toward others is a “sacrifice” to God (Heb. 13:16; cf. Matt. 25:40). It is an exhibition of our love “shown toward his name” (Heb. 6:10), and results in his glorification (2 Cor. 9:11-13). Preaching and teaching, like giving, are among those acts of worship that are not offered to God directly, but nevertheless, result in his glory (2 Cor. 4:15). They must not be restricted to the regular assembly, although teaching, in particular, finds its most usual application in gatherings of Christians. Both of these activities, whether aimed at evangelism or edification, were practiced by New Testament Christians daily, both publicly and privately (Acts 8:4; 20:20).
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The Lord's Supper

The Lord's Supper, unlike other Christian activities, is restricted, by its very nature and meaning, to those occasions when the “body” is together. It is a group function. According to the New Testament, it was an important part of the purpose for which Christians assembled on the first day of the week (cf. Acts 20:7; in 1 Cor. 11:20 Paul's criticism, “when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper,” implies that it should be).
It may well be the Lord's Supper that gives special meaning to Sunday as a day of meeting. Although the evidence is not conclusive, Oscar Cullman has made a case for viewing the Sunday meals which Christ shared with his disciples after the resurrection as a necessary background for understanding the joyous Agape-Lord's Supper celebrations of the early Christians (Early Christian Worship, pp. 14ff.). The apparent reference to Sunday as “the Lord's day” in Revelation 1:9 may indicate a connection with the Lord's Supper, since these are the only two phrases in which the word kuriakos (“Lord's”) is used. What is the meaning and purpose of the Lord's Supper, according to the New Testament? Although Protestants have generally rejected the traditional Catholic view of the Lord's Supper as a sacrifice, the sacramental concept of “Holy Communion” has certainly influenced the thinking of the whole Christian world. An attitude toward “the elements” as holy or consecrated is not uncommon. The table, in many instances today, has been elevated to a kind of altar. The whole “Communion Service” as a special act of worship has taken on the character of sacred ceremony. This is not how the Lord's Supper is characterized in the New Testament.
The Lord's Supper is rightly accompanied by prayers of thanksgiving (1 Cor. 10:16; 11:24) and certainly evokes a response of praise. However, its purposes, as they are presented in the New Testament, are not basically God-directed, but are rather aimed toward the edification of the body. Both Luke and Paul present the remembrance of Christ's sacrifice as a basic aim of the Supper (Lk. 22:19,20; 1 Cor. 11:24). As a weekly “reminder” (anamnesis) of the central truth of the “new covenant” -- that Jesus died as the payment for our sins -- it serves to strengthen our faith and renew our hope. Contrary to the view implied by the traditional treatment of the Lordís Supper as an offering or a sacrifice, it is we who need to be reminded, not God.
Secondly, Paul says that the Lord's Supper is a proclamation (1 Cor. 11:26). Sharing in this visual proclamation of the gospel serves as an open confession of our faith in the Lord's death and in its meaning for us. It is an expression of faith that is mutually edifying to all who are present.
Thirdly, we can recognize the idea of anticipation in the words “until he comes” (1 Cor. 10:26). The Lord's Supper should intensify our expectation and hope of Christ's second coming.
“Recognizing the Body”

Finally, Paul sees the Lord's Supper as communion (koinonia, fellowship), not only with Christ (1 Cor. 10:16), but also with his body, the church. Paul writes, “Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread” (10:17). The Lord's Supper should manifest the unity of those who share the cup and bread, which represent the blood and body of Christ. But this was precisely the problem at Corinth! There were “divisions” among the members of the body there (1 Cor. 11:18; cf. 1:10ff.; 3:3ff.; 12:25), and this is the problem to which Paul addresses himself. Paul's criticism is not so much directed at the way in which they were actually partaking of the Lord's Supper as at the way in which they were completely disregarding each other in the meal preceding it (vv. 21, 22). By thus “despising the church of God” (v. 22) they were failing to “discern” or “recognize” it as “the body” of Christ (v. 29; for the meaning of “body” here, compare 10:17; 12:12ff., 27). Their actual attitude toward “the body” (the church) made the Lord's Supper as “communion” impossible (v. 20). Their hypocrisy destroyed its meaning. Paul admonished each one to “examine” his own attitude toward “the body” before he took part in the Lord's Supper, so that he might do it in a way “worthy” of its intended meaning (vv. 27-29). Paul insisted that the Corinthians change their attitude and demonstrate this change by eliminating their practice of discriminating against certain people at their common meals (vv. 33, 34). Otherwise, their coming together would result in “judgment” (v. 34; cf. v. 29).
In summary, the Lord's Supper, in its Biblical meaning, epitomizes the very character and purpose of the Christian assembly. As “communion” it portrays the spirit of mutual love and fellowship that should characterize Christian assemblies, and all of its purposes coincide with the primary aim of these meetings, which we have seen to be the “building up” of the body of Christ. The end result of such edification is that God is glorified in the lives of his people.
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Chapter Five

Mutual Edification

In the preceding lessons of this series, an attempt has been made to distinguish between Christian worship and the Christian assembly. The New Testament concept of worship as a life of service offered in sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1) bears little resemblance to the common misconception of Christian worship as a “worship service.” When we as sinners were cleansed by the blood of Christ, under the terms of the New Covenant, we entered into the “true tabernacle” “to worship the living God” (Heb. 9:14). This life-encompassing worship we offer “spiritually” and “sincerely” (Jn.4:24). Our new relationship to God as “true worshipers” (Jn. 4:23) in the “true sanctuary” (Heb. 8:2) has been established and at no time do we cease to be worshipers, unless we reject the sacrifice of Christ and leave the “sanctuary.”
Strength in Community

To avoid this possibility, that is, to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering” (Heb. 10:23, 26ff), we need help. And the Hebrew writer suggests regular Christian assemblies as an answer to this need. The intended purpose of these meetings is made clear in his admonition to consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, . . . encouraging one another” (10:24, 25; cf. 3:13). The “love and good deeds” in this passage are like the “doing good and sharing” mentioned in Heb 13:16. Such practical activities as these are “sacrifices” (worship) with which “God is pleased.” So Christians get together, not primarily to “worship,” but to encourage one another toward a life of worship. Such meetings are not viewed as optional. They are essential to the maintenance of Christian faith.
An Atmosphere Conducive to Fellowship

There are at least two ways that Christians can fail to comply with the demands of Heb. 10:24, 25: First of all, by neglecting to have regular meetings, or secondly, by neglecting the intended purpose of these meetings -- mutual encouragement and edification. The first of these is not a common problem today, but the second one is. There seems to be a tendency to emphasize goals for the regular assembly that interfere with the goals indicated in the New Testament. One of the most common of these is the attempt to achieve a “reverent service of pure worship.” This is the “devotional” idea, often characterized by a misapplication of the verse, “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” The desire to “create an atmosphere conducive to worship” seems on the surface to be a worthy and proper objective, but what is usually meant by this is not a scriptural ideal. Because it fosters an atmosphere characterized by solemn silence, it often works against the spirit of celebration and mutual sharing encouraged in the New Testament.
The demand for silence has stifled much meaningful communication. A mistaken idea of “reverence” has caused some to adopt extreme measures, such as locking the doors to “irreverent latecomers,” lest they disturb the devotional mood of the “worshipers”! Are we not to take seriously Paul's admonition in 1 Corinthians 11:33 to “wait for one another”? Even if the circumstances were different, he was trying to correct the same selfish lack of concern for their brothers and sisters (cf. 11:22). Would not a genuine feeling of joy at the arrival of my delayed brother or of understanding concern for the mother of an unruly child be more appropriate in an assembly of Christians than a feeling of resentment for having been disturbed? The “atmosphere” of the assembly is to be characterized more by joy, fellowship and sharing (cf. Acts 2:42-47) than by a silent and solemn “reverence.” “Reverence” and “awe” in the New Testament refer to the proper response of believers to God's working in their lives (Acts 2:43). These qualities relate to our daily worship of God (Heb. 12:28) in the “real tabernacle,” and not to an artificially contrived “atmosphere” in a building “made with hands.”
The Body of Christ

The goal and nature of the assembly are evident in the idea of the “body” (cf. Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:12ff; Eph. 4:11-16). Each part of the body, in performing its necessary function, receives the benefit of the whole. There is mutual respect for the function of every part. “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly.” (Rom. 12:4-6) Isn't it reasonable that these functions be exercised within the assembly as well as outside of it? Isn't the most natural time to do them the occasions when the whole body is together?
It has already been observed that one of the main purposes of the Lord's Supper is to express the unity of the body: “Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17). In this context the Lord's Supper epitomizes the basic character of the assembly as koinonia (“communion”), that is, communication, fellowship, sharing. To say the least, this idea does not usually find expression in the solemn, ritualistic observance of the Lord's Supper so common today. As Ralph P. Martin has observed,“The thought that the church at worship is an accidental convergence in one place of a number of isolated individuals who practice, in hermetically sealed compartments, their own private devotional exercises is foreign to the New Testament picture.” The key term which gives the lie to such a false picture is ‘upbuilding’ or ‘edification.’ (Worship in the Early Church, p. 133)
In 1 Corinthians 14 the apostle Paul indicates that edification is the basic criterion for determining the content of the Christian assembly (1 Cor. 14:4, 5, 12, 17, 26). He concludes, “What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification” (14:26). Although this verse does not define the exact content of today's assembly, it surely gives us the basis for deciding the content. The aim of the assembly here agrees with that indicated in Heb. 10:24, 25 -- mutual encouragement and edification.
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Speaking To One Another

In the New Testament, encouragement and instruction seem clearly to be reciprocal and are the responsibility of a plurality of persons. Mutual edification is the rule, and this applies not just to singing. Paul wrote to the Colossians, “And we proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Col. 1:28). He uses exactly the same terminology when he urges them to mutually accept this same responsibility: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom” (Col. 3:16). The object of this mutual instruction is spiritual maturity -- to “present every man complete in Christ.”
Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome: “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another” (Rom. 15:14): He instructs the Thessalonians to “encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thess. 5:11) There was no one person in any congregation considered so qualified as to be given sole responsibility for the instruction and admonition of God's family. Even when Paul was present, he was joined by “many others” in both teaching and preaching (Acts 15:35).
Gifts that Differ

This is not to say that every Christian is equally qualified to teach or to admonish. Paul writes, again to the Roman believers, “And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness” (Rom. 12:6-8). Not every part of the body has the same function, just as the whole body is not an eye (cf. 1 Cor. 12:14ff). But every part does have an important function in the growth of the whole body, and there are many functions intended to be exercised when the body is all together. When only one or two members “perform,” growth is stifled, and the body is crippled (Eph. 4:16). As Eduard Schweizer has correctly observed, “It is completely foreign to the New Testament to split the Christian community into one speaker and a silent body of listeners.”
It is assumed that those who speak in the assembly, whether to teach, to admonish, to encourage, to rebuke, or to correct, will not speak their own personal ideas, but will have prepared themselves with “Scripture” (2 Tim. 3:16). They should be able to “speak, as it were, the utterances of God” (1 Pet. 4:11). The prerequisite for Paul's command to “teach and admonish one another” was “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16). Paul considered the Christians in Rome “able to admonish one another” because they were “filled with all knowledge” (Rom. 15:14).
The assemblies of the church today, if they are based on the character and content of New Testament assemblies, will provide opportunities for informal fellowship and communication, for the direct expression of our love, devotion and praise to God in prayer and song, for the strengthening of our common faith and of our love and fellowship in the one body through sharing the Lord's Supper, and for mutual instruction, admonition and correction. All of these activities are aimed toward the “equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12).
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Chapter Six

Building Up the Body

We have seen that the central aim of the Christian assembly in the New Testament is edification (1 Cor. 14:26). The assembly should be characterized by love, joy, and fellowship and should provide opportunities to “stimulate one another to love and good works” and for “encouraging one another” (Heb. 10:24, 25). The reciprocal character of mutual edification encourages “the proper working of each individual part,” aimed toward “the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph. 4:16). Every part of the body has an important function, whether he “shows mercy,” “teaches” or “exhorts” (Rom. 12:4-8).
“Pastors And Teachers”

Every congregation of the Lord's people owes its existence and growth to a progression of divinely-appointed ministries. “And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11, 12). Working on “the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20), evangelists “preach the gospel” and “make disciples,” establishing churches. Although the evangelist may also be engaged in “building up” the new congregation for a time (Acts 14:21,22), the main responsibility for edification eventually falls to spiritual leaders chosen from within the group. These are the “pastor-teachers” or “teaching pastors” (Eph. 4:11).
Acts 20:28 tells us that Paul gave the responsibility for the spiritual welfare of the church in Ephesus into the hands of the pastor-teachers. In verse 17 they are called “elders” and in verse 28 he refers to them as episkopoi (“bishops” or “overseers”). Their responsibility is to “pastor” or “shepherd” the church. For the exercise of this function he commended them “to God and to the word of his grace” (v. 32). It is this “word,” he reminded them, that is able to edify and thus to ensure salvation. The elders, then, as spiritual pastors, must be capable teachers (1 Tim. 3:2). Those who exercise this primary responsibility by working hard “in the word” and “in teaching” are especially “worthy of double honor” (1 Tim. 5:17; cf. Gal. 6:6). Paul again referred to the function of elders as pastor-teachers when he wrote, “appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction” (1 Thess. 5:12).
In the so-called Pastoral Epistles it is clear that the pastoral duties of Timothy and Titus are temporary, since they are both instructed to appoint permanent local leaders who would take over these responsibilities. For example, although Paul certainly expected Titus to be involved in both exhorting and reproving (Titus 2:15), he just as certainly expected him to appoint elders in Crete, who would take over these functions: “Holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching,” these elders were to “be able to exhort with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict” (Tit. 1:9; Note that the word translated “refute” here is the same as that translated “reprove” in 2:15). Surely, then, elders are to be selected with these spiritual responsibilities in view and according to such scriptural qualifications. They should be the recognized spiritual leaders in the congregations they serve.
“Equipping The Saints”

Elders are to be “shepherds” of the flock (1 Pet. 5:2), accountable for the spiritual welfare of the church (Heb. 13:17); and one of their main responsibilities as “pastors and teachers” is the “equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11, 12). So edification is an important function of the elders. A natural opportunity for the exercise of this vital function is the regular assembly of the church. Today, however, this work of spiritual feeding required of elders has been almost completely relegated to times other than the assembly.
The fact that an elder must be able to “teach” and to “exhort” and to “refute those who contradict” implies that he should not delegate these responsibilities entirely to someone else, but that he should take advantage of the times the flock is together to fulfill these responsibilities. It would be easier, of course, for todayís elders to do this, if we had the kind of atmosphere in our assemblies that would allow a simple man of God to talk as freely to his “spiritual family” as he would to his own family. Paul indicates that an elder's ability to “manage well his own household” directly relates to his ability to “take care of the church of God” (1 Tim. 3:4, 5). This implies that he should be able to function in the assembly just as he does in his own home.
Speaking in the assembly is, of course, not limited to elders, as noted already in this study. Anyone especially prepared to teach, encourage or provide something of worth to the congregation should be encouraged to exercise his gift. However, since the main responsibility for the spiritual welfare of the body lies with the elders, they should take full advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the coming together of the body for the fulfillment of their role.
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The Assembly and Evangelism

It should be noted that the very meaning of the word “edification” restricts it to “the body.” The aim of the assembly is the “building up” of the body of Christ, preparing it for service, for the worship and glorification of God in the lives of those who make up the body. It is not, therefore, directed toward those who are not of “the Way.” The meeting of the saints was designed to meet the needs of the saints.
The relationship of evangelism (“preaching,” in its Biblical sense) to the assembly is that it is one of the inevitable results of the encouragement and edification that take place in the meeting. In the book of Acts there appears to be a distinction made between the activities of “preaching” and “teaching.” It is the same distinction as that between “evangelizing” and “edification.” Generally, “preaching” takes place outside the Christian circle “in the synagogues” and “in the marketplace.” But “teaching” most often refers to the edification of the disciples. In Acts 9:19 Paul, newly converted, after spending some time with the disciples, went out to proclaim (“preach”) Jesus in the synagogues.
A pattern seems to appear in Acts, which may possibly be described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:6: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” In his record of the growth of the early church Luke often describes an initial evangelistic effort that results in the planting of a church, followed by a period of edification or “watering,” which results in increased evangelistic activity and rapid numerical growth. This pattern is in keeping with the terms of Jesus' command to go and “make disciples..., baptizing them..., and teaching them...” (Matt. 28:19, 20). The apostles themselves were ready to evangelize only after an extended period of preparation. In Acts 11:22-24 Barnabas is sent to edify the church in Antioch which had resulted from an initial evangelistic effort by Jews from Cyprus and Cyrene. The result of this edification was a rapid increase in numbers. Both Paul's second and third journeys were for the purpose of “strengthening the churches” (Acts 15:36, 41; 18:23). The aim of this edification is evident in Luke's report that “the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily” (Acts 16:5). Paul spent two years teaching the disciples in Ephesus, with the result that “all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 19:9, 10).
Throughout the New Testament, evangelism takes place, as a rule, outside the meeting of the saints. The assembly is reserved for and aimed at the spiritual nourishment of the body. Outsiders can be present, but it appears that, in the New Testament assemblies at least, their presence was not encouraged. (The only example of non-believers in a Christian meeting is the hypothetical case in 1 Cor. 14:23, where Paul asks the Corinthians to imagine what might happen if some outsiders were to wander into their assembly.)
The fact that evangelism is to be done at times other than the regular assembly puts the burden of “proclaiming the good news” more clearly on every part of the body. Of course, there are still “evangelists,” whose gift is presenting the message of salvation in an effective way to those who have not heard it. But New Testament evangelistic efforts usually met the sinner in his own environment. This encourages every Christian to invite people to Christ rather than “to church.” This is important at a time when it is increasingly more difficult for a Christian to get his neighbor into the church building. How much easier to get him into a home! There he can approach his neighbor in a way adapted to his particular needs and interests. And in this way the Christian himself will grow through the sharing of his faith.
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“To the Praise of His Glory”

The ultimate aim of all edification is worship -- the glorification of God in the lives of his people. The Lord's Supper, for example, in reminding us of Christ's sacrifice, the ultimate expression of God's love, evokes an immediate response of praise and thanksgiving. But the effect of this edifying reminder of God's grace extends beyond the walls of the church's building. If the purpose of that reminder is achieved, we leave with an intensified “gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service (worship) with reverence and awe” (Heb. 12:28). Motivated by love, we present our very bodies “a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.” This is our “spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1).
The worship and glorification of God encompasses the whole of our existence. God's word to Isaiah, “I created them for my glory,” indicates the intended purpose of our lives. Paul wrote to the Corinthians regarding their decision concerning eating meat and drinking wine, “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). This has implications for everything we do. The ideal is that every decision we make be governed by a single consideration -- the glorification of God in our lives.
Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). There are several ways specifically mentioned in the New Testament in which we may glorify God with our lives: Confessing Christ glorifies God (Phil. 2:11). Bearing “much fruit” (Jn. 15:8), keeping our bodies pure (1 Cor. 6:20), the preaching and spread of the gospel (Gal. 1:24; 2 Cor. 4:15), our generosity (2 Cor. 9:11-13), harmony among brethren (Rom. 15:5-7), and our spiritual growth (Phil. 1:9-11) are all presented as ways of bringing glory to God. God called us and saved us that we “should be to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:11-14). The Christian assembly is intended to help us in the fulfillment of this purpose in our lives -- the worship and praise of God. “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Pet. 4:10,11).
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