BY Pastor John Giarrizzo
Is it okay for a local church to cancel its worship service when Sunday falls on December 25?
If churches prefer to allow families to celebrate the birth of Christ on Sunday, what’s wrong with canceling the corporate worship services for that week? Is it appropriate for public worship to be sacrificed for the sake of family worship, when the unforeseen emergencies of God’s providence do not call for it? Do churches have to provide public worship services every Sunday of the year? What does the Word of God say to such questions?
The Book of Psalms sheds a lot of light on the importance of corporate worship. One text in particular that addresses God’s preference for public worship is found in Psalm 87:2,
“the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob” (ESV).
A careful study of the Psalms reveals that the various references to Jerusalem, Zion, Mount Zion, or the Holy Mountain, often represent God’s chosen people in community as a corporate entity (Ps. 20:2; 48:1-2, 9-11; 122:1-2). When we look at Psalm 87:2, we discover that a comparison is made between “the gates of Zion,” and “the dwelling places of Jacob.” This is not a contrast, whereby the LORD loves the one and hates the other. Rather it is a comparison, where he loves them both – but so happens to love one more than the other. What is important to see in this text is that both the “gates of Zion” and the “dwelling places of Jacob” are used figuratively to represent two different forms of worship – one of which is public and the other private. “Zion” represents the corporate worship of God, where the church gathers together before his presence in the public meeting place for worship. The very next verse of this psalm (87:3) is the text that inspired John Newton to pen his enduring hymn, “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” which is a celebration of the Lord’s goodness to the Church. (Hymn 60 of the Olney Hymns, Third Edition, London, 1783.) Seeing Zion as the place of public worship also is shown in Psalm 84:4–7,
“Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.” (ESV)
Therefore, we can understand the gates of Zion as the God-appointed meeting place for corporate worship. And the dwelling places of Jacob represent the private residences of the God’s people, where family worship and private devotions were offered. Ps. 87:2 reveals that the LORD loves the place of corporate worship more than all the private places of personal or family worship. Because the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places, we can see that he prefers public worship over private. [Based on: “Public Worship to be Preferred Before Private,” The Works of David Clarkson, Vol. 3, (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1988).] Therefore, it would be wrong to close the gates of Zion on the Lord’s day in preference to the dwelling places of Jacob, and thus cancel church worship services on Sunday, December 25. On Sundays, corporate worship at church always takes priority over family celebrations at home - even on Christmas! What we do in Sunday worship is far more important to the Lord Jesus Christ, than what we do at home in family worship, for Christ always prefers public worship over private. To help us see this, here are…
5 reasons why Christ wants us to place public worship over family Christmas:
1. CHRIST IS GLORIFIED MORE IN PUBLIC WORSHIP THAN IN PRIVATE
When we pray “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” the Lord’s Prayer, we are making a request that God would cause more and more people to respect, honor, and praise his name. The name of God often refers to his reputation, fame, renown, or personal character. And where is God’s Name most respected and praised, but in corporate worship? “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! (See Ps. 96:6-9; 107:21-32)
One of the best ways to honor a person is by public acknowledgment. Suppose your church officers wanted to honor you for all your service to Christ at your local church. They could privately mail you a certificate of appreciation and gratitude. But it would be far more honoring if they handed you that same certificate in public and before the standing ovation of the entire congregation. More honor is given when it is done in public than in private. Likewise, Christ is more honored and glorified in public worship than in private. It would be robbing the Lord of our obligated honor and the glory due his name if we canceled the corporate worship of the church for the sake of Christmas. Not only would it give honor to Christ, but it would further enhance family Christmas to be able to discuss the morning sermon at the family dinner table.
2. CHRIST TAKES MORE DELIGHT IN PUBLIC WORSHIP THAN IN PRIVATE
If churches took the trouble to find out what God’s thoughts on this issue might be, they would discover that the Lord has clearly expressed his mind on the matter, and has prescribed how he wants to be worshiped. He calls his people to worship him as he directs, not as we imagine. For example, Psalm 149:4 says, For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. The opening verse of this Psalm shows the context to be that of public worship. This reveals that Christ takes more delight and finds greater pleasure and joy in public worship than he does in private. He is most glorified when his worship is most public and according to his prescription.
Suppose you are a grandparent with several sons and daughters, and a whole boatload of grandchildren. But they all live out of state, except one son who lives nearby. Even though you may get to see that one son weekly, wouldn’t you find the greatest delight when they all come to see you for the Thanksgiving holiday? To have all your children and grandchildren together, at the same time, in the same place, brings the greatest delight. Likewise, it pleases the Lord when we go to him in private prayer or at the family altar, but he reveals that his greatest delight is when all his children gather together at the same time to worship him in corporate assembly.
3. CHRIST’S PRESENCE IS GREATLY MANIFESTED IN PUBLIC WORSHIP
The attribute of God’s Omnipresence means that God is everywhere presently. But there is a sense in which God is pleased to make His presence more manifest in certain places than in others (see Gen. 4:16; Ps. 51:11; Jonah 1:10). In Matthew 18:20 Jesus promises that where two or three are gathered in his name, that there he will be in the midst of them. This promise is given in the context of the corporate assembly of the saints. Certainly, God is present with each of us when we close the door to pray to our Father who sees in secret (Matt. 6:6). But the Lord promises his presence in an extra special way, when we are gathered to honor him in the public assembly (Ps. 95:2; 100:2; 1 Cor. 5:4). As the psalmist says: “O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells” (see Psalm 26:8; 27:4; 73:16-17; 84:1, 2, 10; 116:18-19; 122:1). In Psalm 34:8 David says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” This verse is also found in the context of public worship, showing that the best place to taste and see the goodness of the Lord, is in the public worship service. Therefore, public worship takes priority over private worship, even on Christmas, because it is in the corporate service that we experience more of the Lord’s presence. Christ walks among the golden lampstands, which are his churches (Rev. 2:1).
4. WE RECEIVE GREATER SPIRITUAL BENEFITS IN PUBLIC WORSHIP
Many churches who cancel Sunday worship on Christmas may not realize that they are depriving their people of the public means of grace. The public means of grace are the channels through which the Spirit of Christ communicates his blessings in order to strengthen us in our Christian walk. In Chapter 14 of our Second London Baptist Confession of 1689, we are told:
“The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word; by which also, and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened.”
The public worship service is where the best meal is served to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. The public reading and preaching of God’s Word, along with the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism are all public ordinances of the Church. The Lord’s Supper is not a private matter, but a public ordinance to which believers should always avail themselves. Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper for our spiritual nourishment and growth in him. It is where we receive a communion with Christ that cannot be enjoyed anywhere else – not even at the family table on Christmas. Clearly, Christians forfeit numerous blessings when they forsake the corporate worship service of the church.
There are far more spiritual benefits to be received by the saints in corporate worship. Our Lord designed it this way, which goes to show that he wants us to place public worship before family Christmas. The psalmist says it well in Psalm 84:10, For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
5. PUBLIC WORSHIP IS THE CLOSEST WE GET TO HEAVEN ON EARTH
Did you know that the corporate gathering of believers in worship resembles heaven more than anything else? If you study all the passages of Scripture which speak of heaven or give us a glimpse into that holy place, you will not find anyone worshiping in private or secretly. Show me just once where you find anyone doing anything privately in heaven—you won’t find it! That’s because everything we read about heaven is public! Hebrews 12:22-23 says:
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”
When you read the description of heaven, in Revelation 5, you read of 10,000 x 10,000 angels circling the throne along with the 4 living creatures & the 24 elders in public worship and praise. When we enter into the glory of heaven, we will enter into this corporate worship service. If a person doesn’t like attending corporate worship at church now, they won’t like heaven. There are two characteristics of heaven that can be found every Sunday in church: God’s presence; and his people gathered together in corporate praise.
Clearly, the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. And if the Lord loves the public worship of his people, shouldn’t we love it too? The Lord warns against “neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some” but we are to be “encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10:25). This text is quoted later in Chapter 22, paragraph 6 of our Confession of Faith, . . . God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth; as in private families daily, and in secret each one by himself; so more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly nor wilfully to be neglected or forsaken, when God by his word or providence calleth thereunto. So, when we have the opportunity to worship the sovereign Lord of the universe on Sunday (the one day a week he has given for corporate worship), but chose not to attend when we could, we have violated Hebrews 10:25 by intentionally forsaking the assembly of ourselves together for that week. God has not given the Church yearly holidays, like Christmas, that must be observed outside of the first day of each week. It would be a travesty to cancel what God has commanded (corporate worship), in favor of what he has not commanded (family Christmas). These two options need not be in competition, provided the one bows to the other. The throne of Christ is over the manger and so is the empty tomb. Both must receive their proper honor every Sunday in corporate worship.
Christ has not made the way to his corporate worship service hard and toilsome – “His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). Let us remember on Sunday, December 25, that Christ loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. May the Lord give us grace to love these gates too, that we may never forsake or abandon them, not even for a holiday that celebrates our Savior’s birth. Our Savior Himself neither requires nor approves such a thing.
Christmas certainly gives occasion to gather with the extended family and reflect on the birth of our incarnate God. But when Christmas falls on the Lord’s Day, the corporate worship of the Lord must not be sacrificed in favor of the personal celebration of the family.