As Reformed believers, we are often busy with the biblical doctrine of the church. Attention is frequently focused on its marks (preaching, sacraments and discipline). Attention is also paid to its characteristics (unity, holiness, catholicity). At times consideration is given as well to the many literary images used in the Bible for the church (flock, house, tree, ship, race, people, nation, remnant – to name only a few).

One thing, however, that you do not hear a lot about has to do with the calling and the task of the church. Many may know what the church is by definition, but they have difficulty identifying its function. Yes, and that brings us to a very necessary and relevant – if somewhat irreverent – question, namely “what is the church good for anyway?”

Well, what is the sense of the church? Why has Christ Jesus our Lord been so busy gathering, defending and preserving it throughout the centuries? In coming up with an answer many things can be cited. From my perspective, however, there are three things that are fundamental and foundational.

The First Task of the Church - Worship the LORD⤒🔗

For openers it is important for us to realize that the first task of the church has to do with worship. The people of God have been called and kept in existence in order that the name of the Lord may be praised.

Is this not what we read over and over again in the book of Psalms? Psalm 92 urges its readers and singers:

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.

Psalm 100 encourages all people, “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.”

And then there is what must be the noisiest psalm in the Psalter, Psalm 150, “Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet...”

The thrust of these passages is simple: praise and worship are God’s due. Therefore they constitute the church’s first order of business.

Of course, such a conclusion often serves as a springboard to all sorts of other questions about worship and worship styles. “How shall we then worship? What is suitable, and permitted, and what is not?”

Without giving a lengthy treatise, some of the following questions need to be considered:

• is our worship purposely directed to the glory of God?

• are the elements or activities of worship rooted in Scripture?

• is the preaching of the Word of God central?

• are the sacraments faithfully administered?

• do the Psalms receive primacy of place in the singing?

Unfortunately much of what claims to be worship today does not ask these sorts of questions. Rather we live in an age where worship has much more in common with entertaining men and women, boys and girls, than it does with God. The sermons are often short and superficial. The elements are always changing. The songs are frequently repetitive and of questionable quality. The aim of the music has more to do with creating atmosphere and hyped-up emotion than with honouring God. Indeed, whenever the subject of our worship comes up for discussion we do well to ask ourselves whether our worship is in keeping with the words of Hebrews 12:28, “let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”

The Second Task of the Church - Equipping the Saints←⤒🔗

If worship is first, then it can be said that equipping the saints should never be far behind. In this connection I am almost always led to think back to one of my teachers during my seminary years, namely the late Rev. G. Van Dooren. One of the hallmarks of his ministry and teaching had to do with Ephesians 4 and the missing comma in verse 12 of the King James Version.

What is that all about? It has to do with the fact that the KJV gives the impression that it is the task of special office bearers to build up the church of Christ. “Wrong translation and wrong inference!” said Van Dooren. It is the task of the officers in the church to prepare the members for works of service, and then, it is the task of the members to build up the body.

In other words, what he was arguing for was a trained membership and an equipped body of believers. And he was right! The second duty of the church is to see to it that everything is done to prepare the members for service. The worship services may first of all have a praise function, but they also have an educational one. And that applies especially to the second service wherein the Word of God is preached as summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism.

It applies as well to the Catechism instruction that is given. Young people need to know the truth not simply to give them access to a store of religious knowledge, but to give them the tools (i.e. the truths and the principles) so that they can apply themselves profitably in church and world and kingdom.

Also, this has application when it comes to the study of the Bible. When members come together to delve into the Word they are doing more than involving themselves in a holy activity. They are to consider themselves to be in training mode. After all, does the apostle Paul not remind Timothy and us that this is what the Bible is all about when he says?

all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.2 Timothy 3:16, 17

We live not only in an age that turns worship into hype but also one in which a great deal of living is based on feeling. Oh, and then I realize that at times things have been too cerebral in the church but what we are seeing at the present time is a pendulum swing in the opposite direction. So much of what claims to be theology today is not determined by the study and application of the truths of Holy Scripture but by how it makes us feel. The subjective is in and the result is that fewer and fewer people who style themselves Christians believe that “training in righteousness” is even necessary. Giving form and substance to “the hope that is in them” is a daunting challenge to many. They have so little knowledge and understanding of the Bible to go by. They have not been equipped because the church has neglected its educational responsibility.

The Third Task of the Church - Witnessing to the World←⤒🔗

Having mentioned that the church has a duty to worship the Lord and to train its members, we come to a third duty, namely to bear witness to the world. In other words, the church does not exist for its own sake. It exists for the Lord, for the members and for the world.

In this connection, whether you want to call Matthew 28:19 and 20 the Great Commission or not, matters little. What matters is that here our Lord gives a crystal clear command to his church (and not just to his apostles either). The command is “Go!” But “go, where?” Why into all of the nations. But why should we go? The answer is threefold: to make disciples, to baptize and to teach. The church is there to bear witness.

Surely, this is not in doubt. The Lord Jesus does not call his followers “the salt of the church” or “the light of the room.” He is much more expansive than that. He calls them to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13, 14). Believers need to make the world their workplace. They need to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Needless to say, this represents a huge challenge. It is a challenge that the church has not always handled well. Often it has become confused as to its proper relationship to the world. At times it has opted for easy assimilation by taking over the message and standards of the world, while neglecting its radical witness. At other times the church has opted for rigid isolation in that it cut itself off from the world, fearing contamination.

Yet neither assimilation nor isolation is the true biblical answer to the world. No, the answer lies in participation, but then in critical participation. The popular but true slogan goes like this: “we are in the world but we are not to be of the world.” Our God expects us to let our light shine in the world, to let it shine brightly.

In conclusion, when people ask you “what is the church good for anyway? What purpose does it serve? What relevance does it have?” Then remember these three: worship, training and witness. Indeed, do more than just remember them; participate in them. Worship the Lord sincerely, faithfully and thankfully. Train yourself in truth and godliness. Witness to a world in darkness about the saving and transforming light of Jesus Christ, your Lord.