Worship is Warfare

990 Sundays. Almost 1000. That is how many times I've worshipped the Lord with the people of God on a Sunday Morning. I could figure it out quite easily, because I started going to church in the middle of August, 2005, when I was first saved. And there have been 994 weeks since then. And because I have only been absent from church 3 or 4 Sundays in my entire Christian life, the math was pretty easy. Worshipping the Lord on Sunday with the people of God has always been a non-negotiable for me. And I hope it is for you as well.

But that's not my main point here. Almost 1000 Sundays I've worshipped the Lord now. That's a big number. I can't remember all those Sundays. And yet some of them are very memorable. Some of them hit me like a lightning bolt and left me permanently changed. And some of them passed by as quietly as a summer afternoon. And yet all of them made a difference. However boldly or subtly. Every Sunday, when we worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth, we experience the powerful work of God in human history, and the world is never the same. I say the world is never the same, but it starts with you. You are never the same. You and I are changed Sunday by Sunday.

You have probably heard the saying, "you are what you eat". Well, that is not only true physically, in the sense that the cells of your body are composed of the matter that you take in, but it is true spiritually as well. Who you are spiritually has everything to do with what you eat spiritually; that is, what your spiritual diet is, and if you are well fed or not. If you go to a cotton candy church for 10 years, it will show. And it won't look good on you. The pale complexion and hollow eyes will tell the story of malnourishment. But conversely, if you eat hearty biblical meals for 20 years, it will show. And it will show in spiritual health and vitality. If you miss church all the time, it too will show. It will show in your spiritual dullness, disunity with other believers, and an overall disconnectedness. I mean you are starving yourself after all. We would do well to not underestimate what God does in us when we gather with His church to worship Him. We would do well to heed the words of Hebrews 10 – And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25).

There is a biblical "got to" when it comes to church attendance, but O how much more is it a "get to". We get to worship the True and Living God together with our brothers and sisters. It's an amazing privilege. It is an awesome reality.

I believe that if we understood better the power of our gathered worship we would be more committed to it, and we would be encouraged and fired up about it. Do not undersell what it is that happens on a Sunday morning. When we gather together, it isn't without consequence. It is no inane thing we are doing. No, on the contrary, worship is warfare. The Scriptures speak of our ministry with martial terms. Paul says this about the church in 2 Corinthians 10:

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

Notice something there. He doesn't say, "our weapons are not of the flesh but spiritual". No, that's what you'd expect him to say. But Paul surprises us. "Our weapons are not of the flesh but have divine power". It's not mainly a contrast between physical weaponry and spiritual weaponry, although it is that also. It is a contrast between the weaker weapons of the world, and the stronger weapons of the Lord and His church. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). Again, consider what Paul said. He did not say that all warfare is wrong, and that we as Christians are supposed to live harmless and peaceful lives tucked away in the Shire. No, the church is waging war. Our worship, our proclamation of the truth, our defense of the gospel, our unrelenting mission – it is warfare. And we are playing to win.

As we worship the Lord Sunday by Sunday, that worship is warfare against our own sinful flesh. It is warfare against the kingdom of darkness. It is warfare against the world system and the demonic powers behind it. Sunday by Sunday we gather here in our city to declare the world-transforming truth that there is a Resurrected Lord who has all authority in heaven and on earth. He has the dominion, the power, and the victory over the darkness. As we proclaim these truths, receive these truths, confess these truths, sing these truths, and taste these truths, we are strengthened as believers. Worship strengthens our faith.

But it doesn't stop there. Our worship proclaims to all visitors, neighbours, and even lost people in our midst that same truth of the glory and power of God. We proclaim that there is a King, and that every knee will one day bow before His Lordship (Philippians 2:10). Week by week we push back on the darkness, we shine the light, and we make a tangible difference in this place. The Word never goes out in vain, and it never returns void. Paul said,

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

What encouragement there is in those last three words: not in vain. My brother and sister, believe that. Know that. Be encouraged by that truth. Hear it another way from the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁰ "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

The Word never returns void. It doesn't come back empty. And don't miss the last line. It shall succeed. O do we ever need to hear that. We might not see how it is all working. Our metrics of success are often flawed and too skewed towards the short-term. But the truth is profoundly encouraging – God's work through us, His church, shall succeed. The war will be won.