Where is "worship" one of the purposes of the assembly?

Acts 18:12-17 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.

Clearly Paul was teaching and preaching worship of God by His people.

Romans 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Clearly here, Paul is teaching that God is to be worshipped. If not by the corporate body, then by who?

 

Everything the church does is worship.

 

I am tempted to ask another question first: Where in the NT does it speak of "church" as being something to go to? It is as strange as saying that my foot "goes to" my hand, for we are told several times in the NT that the church is a body, and the individual Christians are members.

 

PrimePower, before we can have a meaningful discussion of your O.P., we should arrive at a common understanding of what worship is. Since it is your post, I will defer to your concept of worship if you will tell us what that is.

 

I don't know of anywhere in the NT where worship is defined the way we generally understand it, as being a corporate thing.

 

Revelation shows that after the Church is removed from the earth, people will gather to worship the image of the beast.

We are to serve one God and one God only. If we will not serve Him before the catching away of the Church, we may find ourselves worshiping the image of the beast.

 

IMO, corporate worship without personal worship is not really worship, but just going through the motions. A big danger in practicing corporate worship is that by just going along with everyone else, people think they are worshipping God.

 

The first church in Acts sure sounded like they worshipped accordingly "going to worship" so to speak...

41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

 

Actually, I worship God daily and not just when I'm with other believers. Whether or not there is scripture that says, "You must gather together to worship the Lord", I think it should be an important part of the time we are together. As the song leader, I like to start the singing with a praise or worship song that recognizes the greatness of our wonderful God.

 

Unfortunately, we have gotten in the habit of calling a building a "church", when the
church" is a "called out assembly of believers." WE as believers are the church--not a building. That is simply our meeting place. The "church" can meet in a home, outdoors, anywhere. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst." We don't need a large congregation or even a building to be the church, because WE are the church. Actually, wherever I am there are two, because I have the Holy Spirit within me. So there are the two needed for the Lord to be there, because He is one of the two. That's the way I see it anyway.

 

Jhn 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Jhn 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.

Jer 26:2Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:

BBob,

 

Hebrews 10
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

 

You have taken Scripture out of context Bob. We don't live under the law, nor are we Jews. We don't worship at the "Lord's house," referred to in Jeremiah as the Temple. The temple in the NT is the body (1Cor.6:19,20)

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

It says clearly that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you.
We, personally belong to God.
Though we occasionally meet in a building, that is not the church. The church is composed of the believers that assemble in the building or in any other place that they may choose to assemble. The church is the people, the believers of that particular body.

Our worship there is very limiited.
Christ (and the apostles) put far more emphasis on private worship than on corporate or public worship. Even Christ himself set the example for us.

Mark 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Christ got alone with God and worshipped. It is private and personal, He taught he disciples to do the same thing:

Matthew 6:6-7 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
--Again the worship is private. It is private and personal. Christianity centers around a personal relationship with Christ, not a building. You can worship without a building, but you can't worship without Christ. If you have no personal relationship with Christ you have nothing. Your worship must be primarily with Christ and Christ alone.

The gathering together at the local church is more for instruction than for worship. There is some worship there, but not much. There is generally more teaching and preaching than actual worship. The singing and praying (the worship part of the service) doesn't take up the major part of the service--at least not in our church. It plays a minor role compared to the importance and centrality of the Word of God.

Worship is done privately and primarily at home, alone with God.

 

Scripture that supports this? Our lives are to be in constant worsip, individually and corporately.

 

Re-read my post. I gave you plenty of Scripture.

 

You are correct. It is a shame that the word church, in English, has come to mean both the body of Christians and the building. It is really a shame we do not have another term for the building.

 

Hbr 10:1¶For the law having a shadow of good things to come, [and] not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.



Why don't you study some more DHK, before condemning what I posted, sheesh......

BTW; didn't Jesus teach in the synagogues??????????

Mat 9:35¶And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people

Act 7:38This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and [with] our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

Act 14:23And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.


BBob,

 

We do, it's called the Sanctuary