{"id":11449,"date":"2015-11-17T01:00:30","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T09:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=11449"},"modified":"2015-11-16T18:23:35","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T02:23:35","slug":"theology-and-practice-of-corporate-worship-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2015\/11\/17\/theology-and-practice-of-corporate-worship-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Theology and Practice of Corporate Worship (Part 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Pastor Jim Kang<\/em><\/p>\n

Where to Worship Corporately?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently there\u2019s been a popular saying amongst Christians that goes something like this: \u201cYou\u00a0don\u2019t go to a church, you are a church!\u201d<\/p>\n

The point is church is not a building but people. I get it. Certainly I understand it.\u00a0Such saying is a reaction against people who have sentimental attachments to a physical church\u00a0building more so than people. So I understand the context in how such popular saying came\u00a0about.<\/p>\n

But the problem is that there are too many people today who use popular sayings without discerning\u00a0them biblically. People just say things without thinking. And saying things without thinking is\u00a0dangerous.<\/p>\n

I agree with Michael Horton, Carl Trueman, and others that a slogan like \u201cYou don\u2019t go to a\u00a0church, you are a church\u201d have encouraged selfish and individualistic view of Christianity. The\u00a0fruit of such a view prompted many people to have a low view of church attendance, church\u00a0membership, accountability to the local church, and many other issues.<\/p>\n

I agree with that slogan to a certain degree, but church is also a place where God\u2019s people\u00a0congregate. You don\u2019t have a church (or be a church) if people don\u2019t congregate. And people\u00a0can\u2019t congregate if we don\u2019t have a place. Hence, we assemble at a certain time and a place with\u00a0a certain address to worship together as a local church. It is because the word of\u00a0God mandates his church to do all things with decency and order (1 Cor. 14:40).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we don\u2019t do \u201cchurch on wheels.\u201d We don\u2019t say to people, “if you want to know where\u00a0we would meet next, follow us on Twitter.” So, church is both people and place.<\/p>\n

One of the important themes in the redemptive history is the land, namely God\u2019s Promised Land.\u00a0The promise is given to Abraham in Genesis 12:1. But the descendants of Abraham did not get to\u00a0the Promised Land until they first experienced God\u2019s redemption from Egypt. After the exodus\u00a0from Egypt, the people of Israel set out to the Promised Land. In their journey, the people\u00a0received various laws, including how they should live and worship as God\u2019s redeemed.\u00a0However, none of the laws contain an instruction for the people to live and worship however\u00a0they desire. Rather, God gave specific commands related to what, how, when, and where they must\u00a0worship. Hence, where God\u2019s redeemed people worshiped matters. This also applies to sacraments or\u00a0ordinances.<\/p>\n

Where God\u2019s people worship also includes where sacraments or ordinances are served. For\u00a0instance, if I want to be baptized, I can\u2019t just ask someone off the street to baptize me in my\u00a0bathtub just because I want to. Also, just because I want to have the Lord\u2019s Supper, I can\u2019t ask\u00a0someone off the street or have one of my friends to perform it at my home. Just as there is no\u00a0private baptism, there is no private communion. Rather, sacraments or ordinances are served in\u00a0the context of the local church by the local minister.<\/p>\n

The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) has something to say on this regard. For example:<\/p>\n

Question 75.<\/strong> How art thou admonished and assured in the Lord’s Supper, that thou art a\u00a0partaker of that one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished on the cross, and of all his benefits?<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> Thus: That Christ has commanded me and all believers, to eat of this broken\u00a0bread, and to drink of this cup, in remembrance of him, adding these promises: first, that\u00a0his body was offered and broken on the cross for me, and his blood shed for me, as\u00a0certainly as I see with my eyes, the bread of the Lord broken for me, and the cup\u00a0communicated to me; and further, that he feeds and nourishes my soul to everlasting life,\u00a0with his crucified body and shed blood, as assuredly as I receive from the hands of the\u00a0minister,<\/strong> and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, as certain signs of the\u00a0body and blood of Christ.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also, the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) points out how the sacraments or ordinances are served in the context of the local church.<\/p>\n

There are only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say,\u00a0Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord: neither of which may be dispensed by any, but by a\u00a0minister of the Word lawfully ordained<\/strong> (27.4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Likewise, the London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) shares the same conviction.<\/p>\n

These holy appointments are to be administered by those only who are qualified and\u00a0thereunto called, according to the commission of Christ<\/strong> (28.2).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although a Christian can pray and sing individually (even read the Bible individually), the\u00a0sacraments or ordinances are done in the context of corporate worship in the local church.\u00a0Hence, for a church to be a church, it needs both people and place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Pastor Jim Kang Where to Worship Corporately? Recently there\u2019s been a popular saying amongst Christians that goes something like this: \u201cYou\u00a0don\u2019t go to a church, you are a church!\u201d The point is church is not a building but people. I get it. Certainly I understand it.\u00a0Such saying is a reaction against people who have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastors-corner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11449"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11489,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11449\/revisions\/11489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}