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The mutual indwelling that God's people enjoy in corporate worship is essential to our growth personally, joy collectively, and witness culturally. God's people gather because, in the depths of their regenerated nature, the Holy Spirit gives them deep desires to worship God with his people. We want to see God's people, we want to hear of God's work in their lives, we want to know of ways we can lovingly serve them, and we want to be part of something bigger than ourselves that reaches beyond the mundane details of life and connects us all together despite our differences in age, race, gender, and income to seek and celebrate evidences of God's grace.

Regarding how God is to be worshiped, God must be worshiped as he wishes, not as we wish. The Bible is clear that God is to be worshiped in ways and forms that he deems acceptable. This explains why God judges those who seek to worship him with either sinful forms externally or sinful hearts internally. This is incredibly important. Some churches care more about what is in people's hearts than about what they do in their lives, whereas others are more concerned about doing things the 'right' way and care little about the motivations behind those actions. When it comes to worship, which is all of life, the God of the Bible cares about both what we do and why we do it.

From Doctrine, Chapter 11. Worship: God Transforms (pg. 351). Doctrine is out now.

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