Last week’s sermon looked at how corporate worship helps us ‘bring glory to God by calling all to delight in him as their ultimate treasure’. The curious thing about last week’s sermon passage – Psalm 95 – is it ends on a note about rest. The inference is that if a Christian does not see the Sunday service as a form of rest and refreshment, then they’re not worshipping properly. If a Christian decides to skip church, because they’re too tired, or too busy, then they’ve misunderstood corporate worship. They’re viewing church as a ‘work’ required to make God happy.
Yet true worship is simply focussing on the excellencies of God until they explode in our soul. And the number 1 excellency of God is that through Jesus, ALL my Sin is atoned for. Church is therefore not a religious box I have to tick to earn God’s favour; for I already have God’s favour … in Christ.
When the gospel of grace truly sinks in to a Christian’s heart, then church becomes the high point of their week. It is the one place where we can truly rest. We no longer work for our status; we simply praise and thank God for the status we’ve been given (for free) in Christ.
Perhaps the reason we’re not ‘calling all’ to come to church is because something in us sees it as a religious burden, which we don’t want to inflict on our loved ones. Yet if we see church as the ultimate form of rest – i.e. enjoying God and praising Him for his excellencies – then it will be hard to stop us from calling all to ‘come and delight in God’s worth’!
Brendan McLaughlin
