Worshiping God Is Never Canceled

In this unusual time when neighborly love prevents large public gatherings, many Christians have wisely chosen to not assemble for public worship. But while most church building doors remain locked, this is a good opportunity to biblically think through how we should worship God. Has worship itself been cancelled? To some, locking the doors of a church building imitates evil King Ahaz of Judah, who stopped worship practices by shutting up God’s temple in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 28.24). But unlike the time of the Old Testament, in which God commanded worship at one physical building (Deuteronomy 12.5, 1 Kings 11.36), disciples of Jesus are under no such constraints. As Jesus Himself told a Samaritan woman in John 4, “the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4.23). Since Jesus is now our High Priest and the one through whom we praise God, Christians can (and should) approach God anywhere and at any time. To some, the modern day church building is “the house of God.” Therefore, closing its doors cuts off a Christian’s access to God. But this attitude displays a fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus’ church. The apostle Peter taught that “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2.5). Paul likewise taught that Christians are God’s new spiritual temple (Ephesians 2.21-22). In many ways, the Jewish religion ended with the destruction of Herod’s temple in A.D. 70. But regardless of physical meeting places, Jesus’ temple (His people) will always be able to praise Him. Pandemics and social distancing cannot affect our ability to individually worship our God. This does not diminish the importance of regular congregational assembly on the first day of the week and at other times (Acts 20.7, Hebrews 10.24-25). Most of our lives, however, are lived outside of church assemblies. And since many Bible passages emphasize the importance of individual worship, we must not think of worshipping God merely as a congregational activity! Consider the example of two Christians worshipping in their jail cell: “ about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16.25). Consider the Hebrew author’s words: “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13.15). Are we making a daily habit of doing those things outside of an assembly? Are we praying to God as we mow our lawns and not just on the rare occasions when we sit on pews? Are we singing to Jesus with our children on our couches? In other words, is our Christianity limited to a very small part of our weekly schedule or does it fill up our entire lives as its Author intended? ~Nathan Combs