Preparing for Worship
Psalm 24, James 4:8a
When you read the Old Testament, you cannot help but see the importance of worship in the lives of the people of God. Abraham worshipped. (Gen. 22:5) Jacob worshiped (Herews 11:21), Moses worshiped (Ex. 34:8), Joshua worshiped (Josh 5:14) and David worshiped (2 Sam. 12:20) and a host of others. Worship is an integral part of the lives of the Jews. Is there any wonder? For the first commandment is, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…” Exodus 20: 3-5 And then the fourth commandment is the command to keep the Sabbath as a day of rest and worship. So from the beginning of time, God made it clear that we are to worship Him and worship Him only and woven into the fabric of creation is a specific day of worship. We find in the New Testament that worship is just as important. The disciples worshiped the Lord, (Matt. 28:9) and the New Testament church worshiped regularly (Phil. 3:3). And each time we get a glimpse into heaven, we see worship happening, “the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever.” Rev. 4:10 And at the end of time when God completes his plan of salvation, worship will be all there is as we live in God’s presence.
So our highest priority as Christians is to give glory to God, to exalt him by giving Him worship. We are created and called to worship. That’s the reason we gather here today and every Sunday. But here’s what I want you to understand: our worship should begin long before we enter this sanctuary. That’s the mistake too many Christians make because they arrive thinking that worship begins when the service starts or when they arrive. It’s also the reason why so many have worship experiences that fall far short of what God intends for us in worship. In short, we come unprepared. Remember our definition of worship a few weeks ago? Worship is our response both personal and corporate to God for who He is and for what He has done expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live. You cannot give and experience great worship corporately on Sunday morning without having individually worshiped Him through the week. Corporate worship is important but it hinges upon our individual worship. And the devil knows that if he can distract us from individual worship, it will hinder our corporate worship. And it will impact how we approach worship on Sunday morning. Owen Bourgaize writes, “It’s all too easy to go to God’s house without preparation of thought and prayer and self-examination. If I went to my services as carefully prepared as I went to work, my ministry and worship would be far richer.”
So how do you prepare for worship? Our Scripture passage today is believed by most scholars to have been written not long after David had captured the city of Jerusalem. David’s desire was to build a religious and political center for his kingdom in the city of Jerusalem, a permanent place of worship for God. So David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, sets it upon Mount Zion and asks, “Who can ascend to the hill of the Lord?” to worship. Who can meet with God? Who can come before him in worship? In other words, what makes us worthy and ready to approach God and worship Him? The Scriptures make clear that to come before God demands one be prepared. What we find is that there are four keys to personal worship.
First and foremost, you have to take personal responsibility to arrive ready and prepared to worship God. That means you have to become intentional about developing an intimate relationship with God and that begins with your commitment to worship him outside of Sunday morning. It’s God’s desire to always be close to His children. It’s His desire to be worshiped by you personally. No one is going to improve your worship other than you. I am not. Ms. Adrain and Committed aren’t. You just can’t show up here on Sunday morning and start worshiping. If you do, your worship doesn’t reach its potential. And so you come to worship cold and unprepared and it takes time for you to get warmed up and in the right frame of mind.
When I was a kid in Kansas City, we lived next door to a family who owned a publishing company. They had an old 4 door Mercedes that they would let their son drive to school. He was 3 years older than me and also named Tim. On those winter mornings when the temperature had dropped below freezing, I would walk next door to their house and find the car sitting in the driveway with the engine running to warm it up. Tim would turn on the car and let it run for 15 minutes to warm up the car and engine and get the fluids thawed and running. One morning though, Tim overslept and in his rush to get ready, he forgot to turn on the car. We got inside the car and it was freezing. We backed out of the driveway and headed to school and the car was just spitting and sputtering. We didn’t know if the car was going to get there or not. It took almost the entire ride to school for it to get warmed up and running at its peak capacity. And that’s exactly what happens when we come to worship unprepared. It takes forever to warm up our hearts, focus our minds and free our Spirits so that we can enter worship prepared to encounter and honor and glorify the King. If we don’t take the time to prepare before worship on Sunday morning and to worship individually throughout the week, then it takes most of the praise time or even more to get to a place to worship our Creator and Redeemer. And some of us never even get to that place. And then we walk out say, “That’s wasn’t a very good service today when in reality the worship we gave God was very good to begin with. Worship is both personal and corporate and there’s something unique when you are in the presence of a group of people who have take responsibility to prepare themselves form worship.
Second, you have to make the time to spend with God. The reality is that very few of us have extra time on or hands. But our tendency is if we are going to step up and spend time with God worshiping him and developing our relationship with him, it is to try to squeeze God into our lives. That doesn’t cut it. You can’t just keep adding things into your life. You’ve got to choose and prioritize. In other words, you’ve got to give something up. If you don’t spend time with God or anyone else, you will never develop your relationship. You can’t just come and spend time with God for one hour on Sunday morning. It has to be more than that! If this is the only time you read the Word, the only time you pray, the only time you sing praise to God, if this is the only time you worship, then you’re in trouble. If you want to get closer to God, have him at the center of your life, make a kingdom impact, be salt and light in the world and have your life be an offering for him which impacts not only the lives of others but their eternal destiny, then you’ve got spend time in worship of him daily! And that leads us to our third point.
Third, worship him. Personal worship can take many forms and so for the remainder of this message, I want to share with you 8 practices of worship which can not only draw you closer to God but can lead you into greater and deeper worship of Him. This we know. We are not all wired the same. What may work for one person will not another. Only you can decide which are the best practices of personal worship and connecting with God. And the only way to do that is by trying them out.
First, reflect on what God is doing in your life. How has He blessed you? How has he guided you? How has He corrected you? What opportunities has He opened fro you? What wisdom has He shared with you? What new insights, decisions or changes has He prompted, encouraged and empowered you to make? Too often we go through life at breakneck speed and we fail to see and acknowledge that God has been moving in our lives. We need to recognize these things and when we do, it will move us to praise and thanksgiving. Second, reflect on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. We often speak of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We acknowledge it through wearing crosses, singing about it, adorning our churches and sometimes even our homes with crosses but do you ever take the time to really consider the magnitude of the fact that Jesus went to the cross for your sins personally. And that he who was sinless took on your sins, was whipped, beaten, mocked, scorned and eventually hung on a cross which slowly suffocated him to death over a period of several hours. Madam Guyon in a letter to her daughter encouraging her to do the same then wrote, “Offer yourself to him that he may do with you and in you what He pleases….be (in) absolute submission to the whole will of God.”
Third, recall the character of God. Meditating on God's character can give us deeper insights into His divine nature that will enable us to know Him more intimately, and to trust Him more fully, even in desperate times. J.M. Farro writes, “When my husband, Joe, had a heart attack last year, meditating on God's goodness gave me great comfort. As I sat in a hospital waiting room, awaiting some news of my husband's condition, I reminded myself of the verse which says: "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him." (Nahum 1:7 NIV) Over and over I said to myself, "The Lord is good." My situation certainly wasn't good, but I wasn't focusing on my situation--I was focusing on my God. I could have easily fixed my mind and heart on the disturbing sights and sounds that surrounded me. Instead, I chose to go deeper, and to remind myself of the truth--that God is a good God. And because He's a good God, He has promised to work all things together for my good.”
Fourth is pray. The Bible says, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Over 20 times we are commanded in the NT to pray. Pray and you’ll find peace of mind in the midst of the storm. In the nmidst of all the noise, you’ll hear the voice of God. Fifth, read God’s word. Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, then you’re really my disciples.” Nothing says to God, “You’re important to me!” than reading His word for our lives. And nothing reveals God’s will for your life more than God’s Word. This is our manual for life. It’s your soul food. But it’s also your worship of God because in those moments when you read His word, you’re honoring Him,.
Sixth is worship and praise. Usually when we think of singing God’s praises, we think of corporate worship. But in the last two decades, there has been a swell of Christian worship on CD’s and on iTunes which can enable you to sing and worship on your own. I often have my worship as I drive to work each day. That can be up to 35 minutes of worship that I offer up to God each day. And with iPods, you can worship God anywhere, anytime. I have a personal preference of live worship CD’s because then you are joining in a worship experience and the praise seems so much more alive with the crowd and congregation joining in. If the only time you sing His praises is on Sunday morning then just recall how thankful you are of God’s blessings and how in awe you are of His love and character and you will be drawn into worship.
Seventh is serve and witness Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” And then, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do it with gentleness and respect.” 1 Peter 3:15 Jesus called us to be servants and His last words to us were to make disciples. This reminds us that all of life is our worship of God as we make our bodies “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” If you want to be empowered and prepared for worship on Sunday morning, do it because you saw God move during the week as you served others and shared the Good News with them. When we participate in God’s plan of salvation and see His hand and His goodness at work, we can’t wait to give him thanks and praise. Eighth, yield to God’s will. Each day offer yourself to God and His plan for your life that day. Surrender to Him no matter the call and no matter the sacrifice.
Jeff Ingle tells the story of spending four days with 75 other pastors in a Pastor’s Prayer Summit in Wisconsin. “He writes, ”In my time I’ve been to many camps, conferences and retreats but never have I been to anything like this. For four days, we met together with no agenda but worshiping God. There were no sermons, no bulletins, and no set program. We simply gathered in a large circle and waited for God to speak to us. Sometimes we sang together, sometimes we bowed in silent prayer, often we prayed together. On the second day, the leaders put a chair in the middle of the circle and offered pastors a chance to ask for prayer for their personal needs. I saw pastors weeping over their sins and grown men embracing each other with words of healing and forgiveness. It was an awesome experience for me personally. On our last night there, someone spontaneously prayed, “Lord, wouldn’t it be great if what happened here could happen everyday to every man when we go back home.” And then he writes, “It would, wouldn’t it. Why can’t we have an experience of God every day? Whatever answer you give to that question, just remember that God is not the problem. He’s always ready to meet you day or night.” And we get a chance when we worship Him daily and spend time with Him daily.
