Corporate Worship pt. 3

So the last 2 days, I have written about the ways we can prepare ourselves for the #1 activity we have the privilege of being a part of every week, the gathering of the body of Christ for corporate worship. But being serious about the Sunday events is not just about getting prepared but also taking the very event itself serious. So today I want to think through a little what we can do while we worship God corporately as a body and the actions we can take during the church service to make them that much more serious to us.

Simply put to take worship and church serious we must tend our hearts during the events themselves. First, as our mind drifts during the service (which happens to the best of us), we need to remind ourselves of the great privilege that corporate worship and gathering with the body is. We are meeting with the triune God of the universe and our very own soul, and we must never lose sight of that while we are in church. God is speaking to us through His very Word, both in song and in teaching, and Jesus is extending His grace to us through these wonderful events and opportunities to gather and worship Him. Nothing in all the world is more significant, momentous, and remarkable than to meet God with the rest of His people and hear from His very voice through His very Word imparted to us through His very Spirit.

Which brings us to the second way we can take corporate worship serious, in tending our hearts, while the events are happening to us, around us, and through us. We must be full engaged in the corporate worship service. We must sing along with the songs becasue that is one way God speaks to us through His Word. All of the good and glorifying worship songs are about God, to God, and praise His name for His glorious nature. And most of these songs are the Bible in poem form that tell the theological truths of the Word in song. We must sing these words one to another in all their beauty. Being fully engaged in the worship service also includes our very own set of Scriptures. We must have our own Bible's open, following along with the teaching time, and even taking notes and writing down things we are learning and that the Spirit is impressing upon us. Being interactive with the written Word, as the spoken word of the Pastor goes forth is key to taking the worship service serious. And lastly the clearest way we can engage in the corporate worship service is giving back a portion of the gift that God has given us through offerings. We must visibly show the rest of the church body we take God seriously, others seriously, and the spread of the Gospel seriously by surrender a portion of God's stuff back to the work of God's people.

Being prepared ahead of time is not the only way we show we are serious about corporate worship. Being serious during the worship service itself is a huge component to showing the world and more importantly God, that we are serious about His gathered body worshiping Him. So what do you do during the church service to show others your priority of this very event in life?