Sunday Worship

I grew up a preacher’s kid, and I had a “drug” problem. I was drug to the church any time the doors were open. Youth group? I was there. Potluck? We were there. Special events? We were there. Even if it was a women’s event, for some reason we were there. If I was sick, I could get a pass. Even if I was tired from a long week, I could occasionally get out of going to the extra events. When it came to Sunday mornings though, there were no excuses. Sunday morning worship was a non-negotiable in the Kelley house. You better be running a fever or on your deathbed if you were going to miss church on a Sunday morning.

Some would say this is too militant or overkill, but it did something for me, as a child, that I needed. It instilled in me the importance of being with the Church every week. When COVID hit in 2020 and we had to go online with services for a couple of months, I was devastated. I remember crying (which rarely happens in my life) over how terrible and wrong it felt to not be with my church family on Sundays. My “drug” problem taught me something very important. We need each other. Worship together isn’t an option, it’s a necessity in the believer’s life.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. 
Hebrews 10:24–25

There are a lot of people who will say, “I don’t need to be part of a church to be a Christian.” Honestly, that’s not possible. How do you practice tithing, teaching, and service without other people? How are you part of the “congregation” (Hebrews 2:23) or the “brotherhood” (1 Peter 2:17) if you do “Christianity” alone? Christianity is communal. It’s done within the scope of fellowship.  As far back as Genesis, we see that God never intended for us to be loners. He wanted us to live in community.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Genesis 2:18

God knew from the beginning that we can’t make it on our own. We need the help of others. Sunday Worship is the perfect picture of that. It is a group of people coming together to facilitate a worship experience for the whole assembly. In our context, singers and instrumentalists lead us in worship through music. Tech team volunteers give us lighting to see and sound to hear, while other tech volunteers give us lyrics to read as we sing. In a way, they are leading us in worship as much as the people on stage. We have people who prepare communion for us so we can celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Others are greeting people as they walk in. Even others make sure that the church utilities are working properly, others make sure that we have a clean facility to worship in and even more who clean up our parking lot when bad weather hits. Children’s volunteers pour into our young ones to share the love of God and the gift of Jesus. We have preachers teaching us. We have elders who lead us. The Church is a living, breathing entity that provides the opportunity for all of us to worship the Most High God as a collective body.

It is also in that fellowship that Christ Himself joins us as we worship Him.

"Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
 Matthew 18:19–20

I also genuinely believe that God deserves our firsts. He deserves the first ten percent of our pay. He deserves the first moments of our day. I also believe He deserves the first day of the week. We need to take one day each week to be focused on worship. If we are busy 7 days a week with everything under the sun, how can we find a day to focus on God? In the Ten Commandments, we read…

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” 
Exodus 20:8–11

The Sabbath is probably the most ignored commandment in the Bible. That in itself is crazy when you consider that this command (notice, it’s not a suggestion) comes BEFORE honoring your father and mother, murder, stealing, committing adultery, coveting, and bearing false witness. There are also more words used in this commandment than any other. God doesn’t accidentally do anything, and He didn’t put this in the commandments to be ignored.

Sunday is to be a holy, set-apart day, and we need to make it our priority to be part of the assembly of believers. We have been called to be different, and we are to do it together.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9–10

We are a “set apart” people. We need to be in the presence of other “set apart” people. Don’t avoid the assembly of the people of God.  Instead, relish it, soak it in, and rejoice that God has given us the blessing of His Bride, the Church. Make Sundays a non-negotiable in your home and enjoy the worship of God’s people together each week.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. 
Hebrews 10:24–25