Three Great Things That Happen Every Sunday

by Mark Roberts

Sunday is coming.  For some people that means a day off work, or all day NFL games, or even (unfortunately) another day to work.  For Christians Sunday means something else.  It is our day to worship.  Acts 20:7 still speaks with quiet force when it says “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread . . . “ Centuries later I thank God that disciples still gather upon the first day of the week because some truly wonderful things happen here every Sunday.

For example, the Lord is worshiped.  We do this with such regularity that, regrettably, it can become almost ho-hum.  Some fail to grasp the wonder of worship so badly they willingly stay home and miss out on worship.  Yet few seem to consider how our lives would be without worship.  What if you could not worship?  We could look around and easily deduce that there is a Master Designer.  We would want to praise Him for the grand creation He has made. We would want to know Him better.  We would to thank Him for all that He has made so wonderfully that we enjoy so much.  Yet even if we attempted some kind of worship activity we would still be discouraged and uncertain: who is God and does He accept what we are doing?  Does this bring joy to Him?  Isn’t it magnificent that not only are we allowed to worship but God directs our worship through His word so we can know it pleases Him?  That is truly wonderful!

Don’t forget as well, that when we worship we encourage others.  Joining with those “of like precious faith” has first and foremost a vertical dimension, the pleasing of God.  But God’s worship is so designed (isn’t it wonderful!) that not only does it please and honor Him but it builds us up as well!  That is why the Hebrew writer tells his audience “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:24-25).  The reason the Hebrew writer wants his readers “in church” each week is not to get a perfect attendance record but because worship has a positive effect on each one of them.  Together they stir each other up, they encourage one another, they help each other serve the Lord.  I need to come to every worship service ready to encourage you, to reach out to you, to sing to you, to edify you, to serve you.  As we all look to others we are all built up in our mutual efforts.  That is wonderful!

Further, the wonder of worship doesn’t end when the last “amen” is said on Sunday morning.  Worship affects us all deeply, and permanently.  As Isaiah was a different man for having seen the Lord (Isaiah 6:1ff) so we, who by the eye of faith have beheld our Lord, are different as well.  We are more aware of sin, we are more ready to repent, we are more certain of the value of holiness, we long for heaven more, we are centered on our Creator and serving Him.  Such life-changing stuff should not be taken lightly, should it?  Worship is a wonderful encounter with God that has the power to remake us into the image of His Son.