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| Home > Books > The Lord's Service Questions - All of Life is Worship? Part 2 |
| The Lord's Service Questions - All of Life is Worship? Part 2 | | Date Created: Dec 09, 2005, 01:54 PM |
I addition to what I said in the first post on this subject, let me approach this question from another direction. It is not merely that we do things in worship that we don't do in every day life and work - kneeling, praying, singing, hearing Scripture read publicly in the assembly, sitting with the body of Christ at the Lord's Table, etc. More than that, if we believe what the Bible says about the significance of the worship of the assembled people of God, then we also confess that the Lord is present to his people in a special way in corporate worship.
The reality of God’s special presence with his people on the Lord’s Day has come under considerable attack in recent years. All of life is worship, we are told. God is present everywhere all through the week; therefore, what we do on Sunday is not really different than what we do on other days, not especially special. After all, everybody knows that God cannot be more present on one day or in one place over against another. Right? Have you guys that talk about the Lord's special presence in Sunday worship forgotten about God's omnipresence? He's present with me at home and at work just as he is when I go to church on Sunday.
What are we to think about this kind of reasoning? Well, first of all, it is true that God is present everywhere. But his omnipresence is not what I am referring to here. The systematic theological doctrine of God's omnipresence can be abused if it is used to deny the many explicit biblical references to the Lord's "drawing near" and "coming" to his people on special occasions and at special times. And then there are Jesus words that he will be present in the midst of two or three disciples gathered in his Name. At the very least these kinds of statements should make us cautious about logical deductions based on the doctrine of God's omnipresence.
God has promised to be present with his people in a special manner when they gather on the appointed day of worship. The one who skips church for the golf course or shopping mall or State park may not argue from God’s omnipresence to justify his not being in church. Sure, God is present on the golf course, just as he is present in hell. But this general presence of God doesn’t do the people in hell much good. God is present in heaven and hell, but he is not present in the same way in each of these locations. There is a huge difference.
Even if we cannot define it precisely, God is nonetheless present in a heightened special sense when his people gather as the church on the Lord’s Day. For one thing, he is present there pro nobis (“for us”). This is the place and time where he gathers his people around the Word and Sacraments. He has promised to be there for us when his people gather. It is not so much that God was not present in, say, China, when the pillar and fire led the people of Israel out of Egypt or when his presence filled the Tabernacle upon its completion; rather, the Lord was at these appointed places in a special, life-giving way.
The people of Israel were given singular signs of God’s special presence as they gathered around Mt. Sinai and the Tabernacle. Similarly, it is not that God is absent from the food court in the mall on Sunday; rather, he has promised to be present in a special way, the way of salvation and blessing, at the Communion Table in church. The bread and wine are singular signs designed to assure us of his special, gracious presence with us. To make this personal, God has not promised to be in the mall on Sunday for you. Actually, if you refuse to heed the Lord’s summons to gather with his church, he may be present there against you so that you could very well experience his judgment and curse, rather than his promise of blessing, life, and salvation.
Moreover, when we are in God’s special presence every week, receiving from him his promise through his Word and Sacrament, we can go forth out of church into the world with the full assurance that God will be with us and for us wherever we may be during the week. Without being in the Lord’s special presence we have no assurance of his omnipresent help in every situation and location (see Gen. 3:8; 4:16; Exod. 33:14-15; Deut. 4:37; Deut. 12:7, 18; 14:23, 26; 15:20; Judges 18:6; 2 Kings 13:23; 17:18-23; Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 5:4; 11:18ff.; etc.).
Go to All of Life is Worship, Part 3. |
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