Worship and the purpose for the assembling together

Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. … But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.   God [is] Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
John 4:21-24 (Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well)

Jesus was saying that worship is not to be confined to a specific geographical location, and true worship has to be “in spirit and truth.”  This must be saying that the worship must line up with the truth God has revealed in his word and be properly motivated and not just a ritual to be performed, thinking incorrectly that it’s the ritual that pleases God.

If we understand worship as Jesus said, then worship can be done at anytime, anywhere. 

Some will make the point that Sunday morning worship is corporate worship, that it is worship in spirit and truth but corporately (worship as a body of people).   Obviously, corporate worship would have to be done corporately. 

I believe the word “worship” signifies that expression of recognition of who God is, being our Creator and the One we have a relationship with through what we call “salvation.”

Yet I can worship God without assembling together with other believers, but I can’t edify (build up) and exhort other believers without some sort of contact with them. How can I build up and exhort other believers, if I do not assemble with them? I know, we have the internet and other communication forms, but they are limited.  In Hebrews 10.24-25, there is a reference to assembling together that gives us its purpose: And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,   not forsaking the  assembling  of ourselves together, as [is] the manner of some, but exhorting [one] [another], and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. This text says the purpose of assembling is to stir up love and good works and exhorting one another.  I can’t do this if I do not assemble with others.

We also find the aim of the assembling of believers in Ephesians 4 and First Corinthians 14:  Eph4.11-13: And He Himself gave some [to] [be] apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  12  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,  13  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…   1Cor14. 26  How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.

The purpose of the assembling together is to edify (build up) and exhort the church using those unique gifts/ roles that the believer has.    The traditional, historical worship service does provide for this to some degree, but maybe more-so in smaller informal group settings. The traditional Sunday Morning service is limited, because other than the songs that are sung, the focus is on the sermon the vocational pastor delivers, making the church experience more like sitting in a lecture class.  Probably most people prefer it this way.  Maybe that is the best way to maintain order in the church and its morning service.

I’m not sure how the church could function, if it had a plurality of teaching elders, instead of the traditional vocational elder we call “the pastor,” unless they took turns, or maybe 2 or 3 could each have 10 or 15 minutes of teaching during the service, or they or others could just give a word of encouragement or exhortation to the assembly.  But could this work well in a large assembly of people?  

Since worship is not confined to a place and can be done anywhere and at any time, it seems the primary purpose of the assembling of believers (as a church) is for what Hebrews 10, Ephesians 4 or First Corinthians 14 says.  Because an individual cannot by himself, do what these Scriptures say. And though he may be able to have some interaction using social media, it’s still not able to satisfy what the assembling together can provide.  But if our assembling together is just a corporate worship-type-thing, I don’t think what the assembling together was meant to accomplish will happen very well.  And this may be why some Christians don’t get much out of the assembling together.  It may be why some go off on their own to start something new, or they want bible studies outside the church.  The Sunday Worship Service is not fulfilling the need and purpose of the assembling together.  

I have no expectation that the long-practiced tradition of the church will change. I suppose the traditional Sunday Morning Worship service is the best way to get the largest turnout, and maybe the smaller group meetings outside the Sunday service are where more of the interaction, edification and exhortation can occur.