At Holy Covenant Church, we are committed to the corporate and weekly gathering of God’s people to worship the Triune God. We believe that this has a positive shaping influence on us in the area of righteousness. As others have noted, we become like what we worship. But this does not mean that this is the only reason we gather to worship. We gather to be encouraged in our struggles against the world, the flesh, and the devil. We gather to pray for others and to be prayed for, on and on, the benefits of gathering together for worship are manifested.
For the reader perhaps all of what has been written up to this point is familiar and you are nodding your head in agreement. What I want to introduce you to now is the concept of worship as warfare. We use this phrase regularly in our circles and so it is helpful to discuss what is meant by it. It generally means that as God’s people gather for worship, it is a powerful weapon in the battle that christians are engaged in. Allow me to make the case for you from Psalm 149.
Psalm 149 is your typical call to praise God psalm. The psalmist calls upon the people of God to rejoice in him (v. 1), praise his name in song and through dance (v. 3), and to do it all times, even in their beds (v. 5). But what is interesting is what we read in verse 6 and following. In verse 6 the psalmist sings: “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand…” This establishes the fact that when God’s people gather to praise him, it is with a posture of war. This is played out as the psalmist notes the fruit of our gathering, which includes: executing vengeance and judgment on the nations/people (v.7), binding kings/nobles in chains of iron (v. 8), and executing judgment (v. 9).
As I round out this post, let me ask you, have you considered that when you gather with God’s people and offer up prayers of thanksgiving, petitions, and sing the songs of Zion that you are waging warfare against the enemies of God? The psalmist declares this to be the case. More could be said here and I would encourage the reader to see this truth in “real time” in the example of Jehoshaphat (II Chron. 20). But let me end it with the words of the psalmist in verse 9, waging war through worship is the honor of God’s people, so joyfully continue the good fight each Lord’s Day!