The priority of corporate worship

Reflecting on Revelation 4-5 as a means of instructing the church about the nature of worship, Art Azurdia in his sermon "Bible Ministry" (Part 1) says this:

“In heaven, worship is undeniably corporate in essence. In fact, of all the worship scenes in heaven recorded for us in the Revelation, can you think of one, friends, can you think of just one, that shows the worship of God on the part of any one single individual or angel? Why is this the case? Because public glory brings more glory than private glory. Now please appreciate what I’m saying: I’m not suggesting that the Revelation records for us every possible kind of worship expression. I’m saying that in what it does record, there is nothing done in private, nothing done in secret, nothing done individualistically; all worship is public, corporate, congregational, No soloists singing independent of all the others, only choirs in symphonic praise.

“Now why do I draw this to your attention? My sense of things inclines me to believe that most evangelicals regard the corporate worship of the congregation as more of an aid to their own private worship experience rather than regarding their own private worship experience as an aid to the more important worship of the congregation. Which is why, then, it becomes increasingly easy and convenient to say, ‘Well, I’m going to stay at home this Lord’s day morning, because after all I can worship God all by myself. I can worship God in the garden, thank you very much. I can worship God on the ski slopes.’

“One writer has said it like this,

‘Congregational worship can be enhanced by private worship. However, corporate worship can never be replaced by private worship. Correctly understood, the two are complementary to each other, not unrelated competitors. Each supports, contributes to and draws from the other. But the push of Christian discipleship is always toward fellowship rather than away from it. Authentic worship on the part of an individual inevitably moves that person toward compassionate involvement in a community and conscientious participation in public worship. Within Christianity, congregational worship is primary.’

…We are first and foremost His community of saints. Yet failure to understand this has plagued the church with an evangelical narcissism. So that many of our people esteem their own individual selves are more elevated than the community. Which is why, then, so much of our singing when we gather on the Lord’s Day is in the first person singular — ‘I’ — rather than the first person plural — ‘we.’ We have our services of worship on the Lord’s Day, friends, not to service a bunch of isolated individuals with a privatized worship experience, but to provide the people of God with an opportunity to express their corporate hallelujahs. Individual Christians gather together to be part of the choir because public glory brings more glory than private glory.” [my emphasis]

Those final two sentences are worth reading again (and again) as we prepare our hearts for Sunday morning(s).