We might recognize that our purpose when we gather is to worship, but what exactly is that? Is worship merely a duty to perform? Is worship simply expressing hearts of praise to God? Is worship an emotional experience?

So far in this series I have established the importance of grounding our theology and practice of worship in the sufficient and authoritative Word of God. Then remainder of this series will address the natural next question: What is that theology and practice of worship that the Bible prescribes? And in this post I will begin address the first important theological question, according to Scripture, what is our goal in corporate worship?

For some today, the main purpose for which we gather is evangelism; every service is designed to bring in seekers and move them toward conversion. For others, the purpose of our gatherings is revival or fellowship. Others see the goal of our gatherings to express praise to the Lord, others want an emotional experience, and for some, the gathering is simply a duty to perform. So what does the Word of God identify as the central goal of our corporate gatherings as a church?

A passage of Scripture that I believe beautifully pictures God’s intent for his church is Ephesians 2:11–22.

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

In this portion of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he is describing the nature of the gospel, which we will discuss more in a moment, but notice the goal of the gospel at the end of this passage—Paul says that as people come to faith in Jesus Christ, they are brought near to him and built into a temple, a dwelling place for God.

This temple metaphor is not coincidental; the gathered NT church is the dwelling place for the Spirit of God in this age in the same way that Israel’s temple was God’s dwelling place in the OT economy. The Bible also teaches that each individual believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19), but in this passage the focus is on the collective church; notice verse 21: “in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”

And this way of describing the nature of the church is not unique to Ephesians 2. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:19, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” Again, it is important to recognize that in this verse the pronouns are plural—you all are God’s temple, and this is in the context of discussing the church. Paul says the same thing in 2 Corinthians 6:16—we, the church, “are the temple of the living God,” and Peter says in 1 Peter 2:5 that Christians plural “are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Read More