Sometimes I think we’d do better to choose our words more carefully. Case in point . . . is there a difference in meaning between “when you go to church” versus “when you come together?” The whole I idea of “going to church” is sort of inaccurate. We’ve taken a term originally designed to describe the living body of Christ and turned it into a reference for an animate structure constructed by the hands of men. We’ve diluted the wonder associated with a called out people . . . a spiritual house . . . a royal priesthood . . . a chosen generation . . . a holy nation . . . a people for God’s very own possession . . . because we take the word that refers to the Bride of Christ, the church, and use it to talk of a place to go . . . rather than a people to be.

So what’s got me going down this path this morning? I’m reading the latter portion of 1Corinthians 11. And what jumps out at me from the ESV text is the 5-time repeated phrase “when you come together.”

“. . . when you come together it is not for the better, but for the worse . . . when you come together as a church, I hear there are divisions among you . . . when you come together it is not the Lord’s supper you eat . . . so then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another . . . so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.” (1Corinthians 11:17, 18, 20, 33, 34 ESV)

So I’m thinking that God doesn’t see us as “going to church” . . . that the Son doesn’t care a lot about what time we start or finish the program . . . but that there is an interest from the balconies of heaven in what it’s like when we “come together.” When we assemble as the body of Christ, it can be for the better or the worse. It can be in a way that builds up the members of the body of Christ or in a way that tears down some of those for whom Jesus died. It can be all about me and what “I get” from “going to church” or it can be about “one another” and what encouragement I can bring to someone else as we “come together.” And (shudder!) our gathering can be something that brings God’s blessing as He is glorified or, “doing church” can bring God’s judgment as He loves us to much to let us just go through the motions or, worse yet, put on a pretense of piety when in fact we care only about our own body and not the body of Christ.

Paul says that “anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (11:29). While it could refer to remembering that the bread of the communion table represents the body of Christ offered for sin, I have understood it to mean that I should recognize that those who are gathered around the table with me are the living body of Christ . . . members for whom Jesus died. That the Lord’s table is not just about me remembering the Lord but it’s about doing so in the context of others . . . fellow sinners saved by grace . . . brothers and sisters in the Lord. That it is about corporate worship . . . and occurs only when we come together.

So, when we come together . . . when we assemble . . . when we gather with each other . . . singing songs of praise to the redeemer . . . receiving the word of God as it is proclaimed from the pulpit . . . taking of the cup and bread at the Lord’s table . . . engaging in fellowship over a cup of coffee before going home . . . when we come together, it is about so much more than going to a place or engaging in routine activities. It should be about “one another”.
The awe of recognizing in one another the church that Christ is building — not of bricks and mortar, but of living stones fashioned into a spiritual dwelling place for God through His Spirit. The joy of reconnecting with one another as we share triumphs and set backs of the week. The refreshing that comes as we encourage one another to keep on keepin’ on by His all sufficient grace and for His all deserving glory.

Yeah, I think words make a difference. Going to church is fine . . . but coming together? . . . that’s when it really happens . . . for our blessing . . . and for His glory.