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In the Christian Jewish Bible, verse 4 speaks to two reasons for going to the house of the Lord.
The tribes have gone up there, the tribes of Adonai, as a witness to Isra’el, to give thanks to the name of Adonai.
Psalms 122:4 CJB
They go to witness and give thanks.
Charles Spurgeon writes…
“We should go up to the house of God, then, for two purposes, first, “unto the testimony of Israel;” that is, to hear what God testifies to us, and also publicly to testify our confidence in him; and, next, we should go up “to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.”
Charles Spurgeon
It is no surprise that we engage in the same actions when we gather together corporately. We go to hear what God testifies to us (sermon) and we go to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord (worship). There is much debate these days over what the church should look like. Some say it should go back to a simple meeting in houses. Others cling to the traditional corporate gathering.
Psalm 122:4 emphasizes that church life is not about the structure or the building but rather the people. No matter where or how we gather, the priority is hearing God’s Word testify to us and praising God’s Name together. There is a way to gather which is not glorifying to God. Paul addresses it in 1 Corinthians 11.
In the following instructions, however, I do not praise you, because your meetings for worship actually do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I have been told that there are opposing groups in your meetings; and this I believe is partly true.
1 Corinthians 11:17-18 GNB
When gathering shifts from being about God to being about us, that time becomes useless. We must keep God at the heart of our gatherings!