SECTION 1: The Benefits of the Worship Service in Christian Growth

Section Introduction
In my experience, the most important factor in whether or not a newborn babe in Christ grows into a mature Christian or whether they die spiritually is their attendance at the Public Worship Services. If you want to grow as a Christian and succeed in being pleasing to your Lord and Master Jesus Christ the righteous King, then you will put attending the worship services of His Church first. By this I mean, you will plan everything else around the scheduled worship services of the local congregation. You do not plan vacations unless you have checked ahead of time to make sure you can be at the worship services of a faithful congregation of the Church. You will not accept work which may interfere with being able to partake of the Communion every Lord’s Day with Brothers and Sisters of like precious faith.

I have noticed a pattern of success or failure in Christian growth, in the 40 years since I first began teaching the gospel. If the newborn babe in Christ does not understand the importance of the spiritual meal that is the Sunday morning worship of the Church, within a year, they have left the Church and fallen by the wayside. I have also noticed the habits a newborn Christian develops after they were baptized into Christ stays with them for the rest of their lives. If you do not make serving God the very highest priority when you begin serving him, you will find it extremely difficult to change. I have seen many newborn babes fall into a dangerous pattern of worship. They fall away, come back, repent, confess their sins before the brethren and God, and have the brethren pray for them then they turn right around and go back to their old ways. They repeat this pattern time and again. I am reminded of the verse in 2 Peter 2:22 where it says “The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” Why do they continue in this destructive pattern? I believe it stems from the patterns and habits they set when they first obeyed the gospel. It appears to be very difficult for people to change later. This is not a Biblical fact I am stating, but I have seen it happen over and over again.

Steadfast and heartfelt worship is the food on which our spirits live. A good spiritual diet is necessary to keep one strong and healthy. If an infant does not receive a steady diet of nutritious foods, it not only affect the child’s physical growth, but their mental growth as well. They also develop poor eating habits which may last the rest of their lives. In the same way, a spiritual newborn that is not fed properly in the beginning of their Christian life may suffer as a result and never grow to be a strong, healthy, and mature Christian.

The public worship service was designed by an all-knowing God to be a well-balanced spiritual meal. It is designed to feed babes in Christ who have just obeyed the gospel. They need spiritual milk. It is also designed to feed the mature Christian who loves to gnaw on spiritual meat. However, unlike a physical meal, where it does not really matter what you are thinking about or the effort you put into it, the spiritual meal that is the worship service depends quite heavily upon the thought and effort Christians put into it. There are a multitude of spiritual benefits and spiritual blessings which are available in the public worship services. God has planned for you to receive these benefits and blessings, but it ultimately depends upon the effort you put into the worship service.

Whenever I hear someone complaining about how they did not get anything from the public worship service, I am reminded of a story I read many years ago. In this story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, this man, John Carter, is transported to the planet Mars and several books are dictated supposedly by John Carter recounting the stories of his adventures to Mr. Burroughs. In one of these books, John Carter recounts a story about this culture on Mars where they executed their prisoners by putting them in “The Pit of Plenty.” The prisoner was lowered into the dark pit and after they were safely at the bottom, the lights would come on and they would find themselves surrounded by tables covered with the most delicious food and drink. But whenever someone reached for the food to partake of it, they would find an invisible barrier in the way. The horror of this means of execution was that surrounded by mountains of food and drink, the prisoner would slowly starve to death. This is what happens to many Christians. When they are surrounded by an immense amount of spiritual food, they slowly starve to death spiritually because they either are not taught properly to recognize these spiritual foods or they simply refuse to reach out, pick up the spiritual food, and feast. In essence what they are admitting is they did not put any effort into the worship service if they did not get anything out of it.

God has placed a big responsibility upon the leadership and teachers in a congregation to make an effort to ensure the needs of both the individual members and those of the entire congregation are met by making sure a well-balanced spiritual meal is provided. But ultimately it is the responsibility of each member of the congregation including teachers and leaders to make sure they are putting their whole heart into each part of the worship service in order to strengthen the other members of the body of Christ and in turn each member is fed. Christ did not come down from Heaven to get anything for himself. He came to give his life for our sins and to provide for our needs. As Christians, we are to follow Christ’s example and to be more concerned about what we can put into the worship service to strengthen others than what we can get for ourselves from the public worship service. But this in turn causes us to be strengthened. So in reality being unselfish benefits one more than being selfish. So it could be said the unselfish person is actually being more selfish, since they are receiving more blessings.

Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

The writer of Hebrews teaches us the same thing, Christianity is not a selfish religion. We are not to be as concerned about what we can get out of the worship service as what we need to put into it in order to strengthen our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. This is one of the reasons we as Christians should not forsake the assembly of the Church because how can I exhort or strengthen you, if I am not at the assembly with you? How can I know how to provoke you to grow in love and good works, if I do not know you what your strengths and weakness are? What your needs are?

1 Corinthians 12:11-26 "But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it."

Another important fact is the worship service was designed by God to be the means a congregation uses to strengthen one another, sometimes referred to as “the one another principle.” Contrast that with today’s culture of instant gratification in which people have come to look upon the worship service as Entertainment. If they have not been entertained they do not believe they have been spiritually uplifted and spiritually fed. If you have ever visited one of these “so-called” churches, you will see nothing like the simple, but elegant design you find in the Bible. Each part of the worship service is designed by God for each Christian to encourage and strengthen each other by using the talents God has given each of us, as members of His Son’s body. Each of our talents work together to bring out the best in each of us and to strengthen us.

As we will notice further on in this section of the book, God has designed each part of the public worship service to be a combined effort of each member rising up as sweet incense before him. In my mind’s eye, I picture the public worship service as a symphony with Jesus as the conductor. In the same way it takes every member and their instruments playing at their best to do the musical piece justice, so each and every member of the congregation putting their emotions and mind into each item of worship is necessary to provide the spiritual meal that is first and foremost pleasing to God as well as uplifting to each member of the congregation.