If all of life is worship, why go to church?

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 is a well-cited verse in which the Apostle Paul teaches us that all of life is worship. The Westminster Shorter Catechism uses it as Biblical support for the very first question:

1. What is the chief end of man?

Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

The Christian’s whole life should be lived in worship to the Lord.

But using “all of life is worship” as a guiding theological principle has raised an interesting question in today’s modern world:

If all of life is worship – eating, drinking, working, talking, driving, sleeping – do you have to go to church? After all, can’t you worship Him from the comfort of your home just as easily as you can in the pew?

All of life is worship and yet at the same time, the church is foundational to our worship as Christians.

1 Corinthians 10:31 is often shared in an effort to remind people that their faith in Christ doesn’t begin when they walk through the church doors or end when they leave. Faith in Christ should guide everything in a believer’s life, not turned on and off like a light switch.

And this is obviously true. Just because someone makes it a point to attend a church service doesn’t mean they’re actively trusting in Christ for their salvation.

However, this has created an even bigger problem, leading many people to profess faith in Christ while simultaneously ignoring or outright rejecting the church. After all, someone can be a Christian and not go to church, right?

In an effort to get people to see the all-encompassing nature of their Christian faith, pastors, teachers, and church leaders have made the mistake of downplaying the church to the point that people actually believe it’s not necessary.

Church attendance is nothing more than icing on the cake because it’s the inward condition of your heart that matters. Therefore, church attendance is not required and provides no real spiritual benefit. You’ll even hear well-intentioned folks make the comment that “it’s all about a relationship; not a religion.”

But an overemphasis on “all of life as worship” has led to indifference towards the church.

A Day for Worship

However, the Lord in his sovereignty has set aside an entire day for worship. The fourth commandment instructs us to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).

Christians are to spend time in worship before the Lord because we believe He is worthy. When God gave the fourth commandment He certainly wasn’t imposing tortuous legalism upon believers in order to punish them.

The Lord gave His people the Sabbath in order to give us rest. It was given to His people to be a blessing, not a curse. Over and over again, Scripture informs us that the Sabbath is a wonderful thing!

This was precisely Jesus’ point in Mark 2:27 when he said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” We’re even told in Genesis 2:3 that God blessed the Sabbath.

Sabbath rest is a gift and blessing from the Lord. It’s an opportunity to rest in Him by turning our minds to eternal matters by spending focused, concentrated, thoughtful time in worship before the Lord.

Corporate Worship Benefits Your Soul

Not only are we instructed to worship on the Sabbath (or what the New Testament refers to as the Lord’s Day), but the Scriptures also teach us that we receive nourishment for our souls in corporate worship.

The primary way we’re blessed through corporate worship is through the ordinary means of grace. We receive from the Lord through His Word, Sacraments, and in prayer. It’s through these ordinary means Christians are encouraged, convicted, and blessed.

It was for this reason that the early church made it a point to gather together for worship as we still do to this day (Acts 2:42).

An often neglected benefit of gathering together for corporate worship is the fellowship of the saints. Believers are accountable to the Lord and also one another. The Apostle Paul makes this point both in Galatians 6:1 when he said, “...if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.”

Worshiping with other believers on a regular basis is also encouraging. After all, we’re supposed 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)

The Bible stresses and emphasizes the importance of corporate worship, which runs contrary to those who argue that they don’t need to go to church because they worship Jesus in their car, at their work, or in their house.

Corporate worship isn’t just icing on the cake. The Lord established it for our spiritual benefit.

After all, the church isn’t a man-made institution; it was established by the Lord Jesus Himself (Matthew 16:18).

Anyone who professes faith in Christ and denies the importance of the church is either ignorant of what God’s Word teaches or has made an insincere profession.

An Important Distinction

All of life is worship, but every waking moment isn’t concentrated, focused worship.

“All of life is worship” should begin each week with a time of focused worship on the Lord’s Day.

Rather than seeing all of life as worship and the corporate gathering as competing against each other, we must see them as complementing each other. Broadly speaking, we worship the Lord in everything we do, but we worship Him in a more narrow, concentrated way in Lord’s Day worship. The corporate worship service is the fuel to get us through the week.

People’s intentions are often very good when they say “all of life is worship.” And the point that they want to drive home is good as well; going to church isn’t what makes you a Christian.

But instead of characterizing it that way, perhaps Christians should characterize it in another way. Rather than leading people to believe that the church is irrelevant to their Christian walk, Christians should be far better about emphasizing the importance of the local church by reminding folks that because all of life is worship, they should spend as much time focused on the Lord as possible, which would certainly underscore the importance of corporate worship.

1 Corinthians 10:31 and 4th commandment are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they complement one another.

Our whole lives are worship in a broad sense, but the Lord has set aside a day for us to focus our attention on Him and give Him praise, honor, and glory.