“Do not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:25
Corporate worship is an integral part of the Christian faith. And while most in the church know that believers should not neglect to worship together, it is often seen as an add-on (something extra that helps). While the Bible does tell believers to worship and pray privately (Matthew 6:6), God expects fellow Christians to come together to worship him.
Christians are told in Hebrews to not neglect to meet together (Hebrews 10:25). Donald Whitney clarifies that “meeting together” means worshiping God in the physical presence of other believers (Spiritual Disciplines, 92). He explains the original words mean just that, and the Hebrews could not have understood it any other way. They had no other way to meet in their day. They had to be face-to-face. So Christians today watching a worship service on TV or streamed on the internet from the privacy of their home does not fulfill what God says. Believers must worship with other believers.
But corporate worship is more than a duty. It is a public display of declaring God’s worth and mutual need of his love and grace. It is the right, proper, and joyful response to God who is our Creator, Savior, and Consummator. It gives to Him whom deserves all praise and glory. And each local church is called to worship him on earth as he is in heaven, and together be a witness to a world what Christ has done.
God calls his church one body with many members (1 Corinthians 12:12). The members together, as the body, is also called the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:32), a household (Ephesians 2:19), and a building (Ephesians 2:21). All of these metaphors explain the relationship between believers who are together. In other words, the Christian life is deeply personal but it is never private. It includes, among other things, worshiping with other believers.
God does something special when the church comes together to worship. It’s something that cannot and will not happen when we are alone. We witness God’s grace working in other lives. We are strengthened by our joy in Christ being multiplied. We are given the same love and peace and hope to keep going. We are reassured of our faith. We are sanctified and encouraged and corrected together. We are humbled through fellow believers sharing, leading, and teaching us. The members need to be together, in a corporate setting for public worship.
Private worship is good and necessary, but it’s never supposed to replace worshiping together. Public worship gives the most complete, the most satisfying, the most joy-filled experience God has in this life for those he has brought together as the body, his bride.
So, let’s not neglect to worship together for God’s glory and our good.