It is good to worship God in secret, where no one can see us except the Lord. In fact, the most effective secret worship is the most secret of secret worship, those times when we are truly alone with the Lord.
But it is also good and necessary to worship God in public, for God has things to accomplish in our worship that can only be completed when we worship with other believers. Matthew Henry says it well: “As secret worship is better the more secret it is, so public worship is better the more public it is.” That being the case, the most effective public worship is the most public of public worship. Donald Whitney says, “There’s an element of worship and Christianity that cannot be experienced in private worship or by watching worship. There are some graces and blessings that God gives only in meeting together with other believers.”
What are these graces? They are the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments (or ordinances, if you prefer), and the pursuit of Christian fellowship. These are means of grace that are experienced in an exclusive way or in a special way through the local church. They are a necessarily public component of our Christian lives in which we live in view of not only the Father but also our brothers and sisters.
