Present Your Bodies

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29

 

Every once in a while I hear something that just sounds wrong.  I’m talking about “Christian” behaviors that make me wonder what the person, or people in this case, are thinking. Here’s one that has been eating at me for a few days. I already know what their defense will be.

Here it is: I know a few people who have been attending a very large church. This church is one that “streams live” on the internet on Sunday morning. In recent weeks, rather than getting up in time to get ready to go to church, these people are choosing to get out of bed and turn on their computers and “watch” the worship service on line. The person who told me about this said that they defend their action by adding that they are attending small groups at other times in order to have fellowship from within the body of Christ.

Does this sound a little off? It’s not like they are watching from home because they have a contagious illness and want to protect the rest of the body or that they live in the remote parts of an area where they would have to travel hours to get to a church building. Truthfully, I do not know their motivation so I cannot address that. I just know that they are not gathering to worship corporately, they are not participating in corporate worship of the Sovereign God of the Universe, and they are avoiding corporate worship in the sanctuary of the Lord. Check out the Psalms and you will see how important the sanctuary was to David and others. (Psalm 63:2, 68:24, 68:35, 73:16-17, 96:6, 150:1)

Jesus promises to be among us when we are gathered, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Matthew 18:20. I guess you could argue that if the family is all with you when you’re “streaming live” then you are with a couple of other believers and Christ could be there. So, I am finding it is difficult to completely bash this idea all together. I also do not believe that we need a separate building. The gathering of believers is a sanctuary of God, it can be in someone’s living room, a school, a restaurant, or a formal cathedral. He’ll be there when we gather to worship Him!

There are three verses that move me the most on this issue. The first is 1 Samuel 16:7, “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” And 2 Samuel 24:24 when David says, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” Romans 12:1 also comes immediately to mind.  “…present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,….”

It really doesn’t matter what I think about where or how someone else worships God. God sees the heart so this is a place I can trust Him to convict someone if He wants them in attendance in a gathering of His people for worship. But, if that describes you, or maybe for you it is a decision to have no membership anywhere in a body of believers but to watch preachers on TV or the internet every week without ever gathering for fellowship, what kind of an offering of worship is that to God? It doesn’t even cost the time for dressing or the ride to church.

The bottom line that has to be considered is whether or not God is honored, exalted, praised, and worshipped when we are sitting in our homes in our pajamas to “watch” a live service that we could be taking part in if we had enough interest in it to get there.  Romans 1:21  says, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Is God being honored or worshiped from the home of someone who could be gathering with other believers but chooses not to for convenience? Am I wrong on this one?