O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
–Psalm 34:3
The unique mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. What does the local church do to carry out this mission?
Acts 2 describes the activities of the early church: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. . . . Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (vv. 42, 46–47).
Notice that the early church was “praising God” (v. 47). One activity of the local church is to worship God. Psalm 34:3 says, “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” The purpose of worshiping together is to magnify God. To magnify something means to make it look bigger. But is it possible to make God bigger? Remember, size is a matter of perspective. For example, if you look up at the sky holding a nickel in front of your eye, that tiny nickel can block out the entire sun. In the same way, if we focus on the problems we are bombarded with every day, those problems can block out our view of God. So there needs to be a time each week when we come together with other Christians to magnify God. When we lay aside the concerns that are blocking our view of God and turn our focus back to Him, He regains His proper place and proper size in our lives. That is the purpose of worship.
The local church also comes together for instruction. Acts 2:42 says the early Christians “devot[ed] themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” Today, we don’t have any apostles to teach us, but their teaching has been deposited in the Bible. And God has given every church a pastor to teach the Word of God. Ephesians 4:11 says, “He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers.” In Greek, “pastors and teachers” is one word: pastor-teachers. The pastor’s primary job is to teach the Word of God. Yes, we are to read and study God’s Word for ourselves, but that’s no substitute for sitting under the instruction of somebody who has been gifted by God to proclaim the truth of His Word. (D. Jeremiah)
