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Corporate Worship & The Glory of God
Corporate worship must be unto God. When properly performed, it is unto God. It is oriented to the glory of God rather than the blessedness of man, and it aims at man’s blessedness only as a means to the end of God’s glory.
All that the Christian does must be done to the glory of God. That holds even of his eating and drinking (I Corinthians 10:31). But in nothing does he glorify God as directly as in worship, and in nothing does the church glorify God as immediately as in its corporate worship. It stands in the very presence of God. it is overawed by the holiness and majesty of God. It prays: “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9, 10). It chants in adoration:
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
Now, if ever, it has an eye single to the glory of God.
Nor is that all. Not only does the church glorify God in its services of worship, but through those services its members are stimulated to do all their living to God’s glory – to serve God not merely on the Lord’s Day, but all the days of the week; not merely in God’s house, but also in their homes; not merely on the day of rest, but also in their daily work; not merely when partaking of the holy supper, but also when eating their daily bread; not merely when singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, but also when listening to the symphonies of Brahms; not merely when praying, but also when playing.
And, pondering the phrase, “for the glory of God,” they sing:
This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for lesse be told.
– R.B, Kuiper, The Glorious Body of Christ, pp. 351, 352
5 Pt. Salt 
True dat…
May it be, that when His people gather on the Lord’s Day, it is for the glory of our Lord. We – myself – fail far too often. I long for the day when sin no longer inhabits my flesh, when my adoption is complete and my body is made new and free from sin. Maranatha!
This is why I don’t like singing patriotic songs or “happy birthday” in Sunday worship service.
I agree with the post & with Manfred’s assessment but church in america is not about the glory of God. This is the reason why people in general will not go to a God-honoring church… you have to use beer, bling, and Bon Jovi to get goats into a pen.