07 Jul The 2nd Mark of a Complete Christian: Worships God Corporately
THE SECOND MARK OF A COMPLETE CHRISTIAN IS THAT HE WORSHIPS GOD CORPORATELY.
While we are to worship God individually, as we saw last week, the Christian life was never meant to be lived alone. Therefore, a complete Christian worships God with other Christians, and integrates his entire life with other believers.
We were created by God to be Three Musketeers, not Lone Rangers. The motto of the Three Musketeers was: “One for all, and all for one.” That sums up the Christian ideal pretty well.
Humans are social beings because God is a social being, and we are created in His image. The God we worship is a Trinitarian God. That is, He is three, and yet one. Therefore, our highest good is realized as we live as God lives… in harmony and community with others.
When it comes to worshiping God corporately, we gather together for at least two reasons. One is to call public attention to the greatness of who God is and what He has done (Revelation 4:11, 5:12- 13). Another is to encourage one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24-25).
In addition to worshiping God corporately, our entire lives are to be integrated with other Christians. The Bible has a long list of things Christians are to do with, and for the benefit of, “one anther.” Beyond that, the Bible likens Christians together as a body… the body of Christ (Romans 12:5). It is no less incongruous for a Christian to function apart from the rest of the body of Christ than it would be for a member of the physical body… an arm, or a leg, or an eye… to function apart from the rest of the physical body.
In fact, every act of our life is to be lived as an act of worship to Him. Romans 12:1 says, in the NASB, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Living as a “living sacrifice” is an act of worship.
Benjamin Franklin once said, speaking of the dangers the American colonists faced at the hands of the British, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we will all hang separately.” The same is true of Christians, and becoming increasingly so as the world becomes more and more hostile to the message of the Bible. Because the Christian life was never meant to be lived alone, we must all hang together (spiritually), or most assuredly we will all hang separately.
Next week we’ll look at The 3rd Mark of a Complete Christian: Grows in Biblical Knowledge.
For an in depth look at all of the 7 Marks of a Complete Christian and what it will take to cultivate your spiritual well being in a culture driven world, get my book, Brave New Discipleship.
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