Our Time Together/ Your Part to Play

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If the average church worship gathering lasts 90 minutes (that’s actually on the long side) that translates to less than 1% of our time each week. Assuming we never miss a week over the course of a year, we will have spent 78 hours of our 8,760 hours worshipping together with other Christians. Of course, this doesn’t account for other weekly Bible studies or missional projects that for which we gather. In addition, there are many ways that we can worship all week long, even when we are alone. But this does emphasize just how limited our time together is, and how important it is that we not take it for granted or waste it.

As many times as the church gathers throughout the week or a person worships privately, most of these will not have such intentional focus as our Sunday morning gathering. When we gather in homes over meals or Bible study, fellowship and discipleship are most often the modes of worship. Movie nights for school kids, feeding the homeless, even evangelizing the lost all provide great opportunity to serve and honor God. But there are few other times the church gathers together with such an intentional vertical focus. At The Way, we take this seriously.

Not only are we being selective about the songs we sing, but also we are very particular about how we use our time together. The methodology has changed as the church has changed, but we are no less intentional today than we have ever been about our time in worship. As we strive to organize each worship gathering, we strive to fill it with Gospel proclamation and opportunity for each person to respond to God’s life-giving grace.

This perspective informs everything we do. There is no moment of our time together that your leaders have not considered in light of our first priority. For example…

  • We are a Gospel-centered church. That means we exist because of the Gospel and are motivated by the Gospel. As we gather, we seek to proclaim God’s message of grace and life (the Gospel) over and over. The songs we sing proclaim the Gospel. The sermons preached proclaim the Gospel. Even the liturgy we follow, (A.C.T.S.) encourages us to respond faithfully; as we ADORE the Creator who became our Savior, CONFESSour sin and need of His salvation, THANK Him for the work He did on our behalf, and offer up prayers of SUPPLICATION (requests for His continued work) on each other’s behalf.
  • We haven’t always taken Communion every week. Since we have, our time together has become that much more precious. We strive to proclaim the Gospel in our music and our teaching as we seek to emphasize God’s grace expressed through Jesus’ sacrifice. But few words paint as clear a picture as the observance of Communion. Each week as the sermon closes, our time together comes to the pinnacle when we are reminded what Jesus did so that God could offer us so much so freely.
  • One last example is passing offering plates during our time of response. By actually passing plates during this specific time in the service, we emphasize our giving as an act of worship and not something that is done without thought. Rather, it is an intentional act of worship in honor of the God who saved and to facilitate His mission in the world. You may give online, but passing that plate to the person beside you allows you to remember that what you give is just as much an act of worship as those putting cash or checks in the plate.

Intentional plans are imperative in order for us to use our limited time as wisely as possible, but they won’t accomplish anything without intentional participation.

Your Part To Play
Do you remember how A.W. Tozer compared Christian worship to pianos that are all being tuned to the same tuning fork? Regardless of the songs we choose or the detailed attention given to each moment of our time together, one final component has to be fit into place: your intentional participation. Showing up and checking a box on our list of tasks for the day doesn’t do it. Following the crowd around you, standing when they stand, sitting when they sit, half-heartedly singing along as well as begrudgingly taking Communion or putting money in an offering plate out of guilt aren’t the same as intentional participation.

God is going to be glorified; His name will be praised, regardless of what we do. There will come a point in which every, not some, but every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Until that day comes, Sunday Morning Missionaries recognize their opportunity to respond to God in worship because of the Gospel.

Sunday Morning Missionaries intentionally take part. They celebrate together in worship, they give generously, and they observe Communion gratefully because they know this is the mission. Sunday Morning Missionaries know that God gave us the Gospel to reconcile our relationship to Him so that we could receive good gifts from Him and offer real honest worship to Him. Evangelism exists to facilitate worship. Discipleship exists to facilitate worship. Ministry exists to facilitate worship. While these are modes of worship in themselves, the Sunday Morning Missionaries know that to take part in God’s mission, we must also at times intentionally set aside time to worship Him together. As we do this, God is glorified, we receive His blessings, and those among us who don’t know Him are shown Him.

This Sunday morning whether you sing as loud as the person next to you, or whether or not you raise your hands or clap, let me encourage you to live for this moment in the mission. Come ready, come willing, come with specific intention to direct your body, mind, heart, and soul to honor God in the way He deserves. After all, this is what He created and saved you for: His glory and your good.