Let's get ready to worship

Home Articles Media Storefront

Let's Get Ready to Worship

By David Block

Imagine, if you will, that you are about to have an important meeting with someone famous and important in our world today that you really want to meet. How would you prepare? Most of us would at least do the things that we would normally do in getting ready to go to work. But I'm guessing that we would do a lot more. We would think about what we were going to say and how we were going to act. We would study up on the person to make sure that we had something talk about so we wouldn't sound like a fool. Now contrast this with how you prepare to meet the Almighty God each Sunday morning. Is there a difference there? The sad fact is that most people would spend days getting ready to meet some trashy celebrity and very little time getting ready to meet their Lord in worship. What's even worse is that some people will completely rearrange their schedules to watch a TV show and then let something like their child's sports practice take precedence over attending church. This is why our worship of God in America is not what it ought to be.

Preparing for worship is a foreign concept to many Christians, yet the Bible mentions it in several places. But I would like you to examine one main verse that sums up our preparation very nicely. Hebrew 10:22 says, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

From this verse we see that to draw near to God (worship) we need a true heart. We need to be single-minded with all focus and purpose centered on the owner of the church, Jesus Christ. Our worship needs to be fully sincere if it is to be worthy. Practically, we work this out preparing our minds through prayer. Many people say that you should check your concerns at the door but that's not true. We need to pray. Ask God to help you not to think about your lunch plans or about the test you have tomorrow. Don't pretend that you don't have problems. Another good way to prepare your mind is to arrive early to church, read through the lyrics of the songs and hymns, read the Scripture references and then pray again. Also, going to a Sunday School class before worship helps to get your mind thinking about God.

Next we need to worship with a “full assurance of faith.” We are told in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” and in Hebrews 10:19, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.” We are to draw near the throne and enter the holy places with confidence. Why? Is it because you hold on to a “sinner's prayer” you said ten years ago? No, only because your faith assures you of the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. We need to trust in the work accomplished by Jesus on the cross and his resurrection. We need to count on the mercy of God.

Hebrews 10:22 finishes by saying that we need to have, “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Just as the holy instruments were sprinkled with blood and the priests washed in the bronze basin, we too need to be sprinkled and washed. Under the new covenant this takes place through confession of our sins and, as the Puritans put it, the mortification of our sins. Psalm 24:3-4 says, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.” We need to heed the command of Christ when he said, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23, 24). We need to have Psalm 139:23, 24 in our heart and on our lips. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me,and lead me in the way everlasting!” But in all the things that we do we must remember that it is the blood of Christ that purifies “our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14).

So when does our preparation for corporate worship begin? Does it start as you run into the sanctuary just before the service starts or maybe it starts on Saturday night? Through reading of the Psalms we find that our preparation ought to never stop. We should be reading and meditating on the Scriptures day and night (Psalm 1:2). We need to be laying our requests before the Lord in the morning (Psalm 5:3). Praise and blessing of the Lord should be in our mouths at all times (Psalm 34:1) and everyday, forever (Psalm 145:1,2).

Our God has called us to not only worship him one day a week when we all get together, but our lives are to be one spiritual act of worship. Our private worship is the key to beautiful public worship. If all the people that attend a church never open their Bibles or pray during their week, it won't matter how emotionally charged the service is, how loud the worship band is, or how pretty the “stage” is, the worship will stink like death before the Lord. To make sure we are offering worship that is good we need to be a people of prayer. The Bible ought to be our favorite book followed by commentaries and works of theology (yes, theology). When we are alone driving in the car singing to ourselves, Britney Spears should not be the first to come to mind. Hymns and spiritual songs should fill our minds with words that glorify our God. Any element of our public worship needs to be incorporated into our daily lives or we have become just a religious zombie going through the motions of “worship”.

So how do you compare next to what I just mentioned? Some of you may have never even thought of preparing for worship, and if that is the case I extol you, please consider to do so. Your satisfaction in the Lord will grow exponentially and your enjoyment of worshiping him will overshadow any concerns you have of liturgy or style. The worship of your local church will grow in beauty and strength when you, individually, submit to daily worship. To the rest of us that have started on the road of personal preparation, we need to remember not to give up. We have no idea how the Lord will use our personal growth to affect the rest of our congregation. We need to stay in the word, continually praying and worshiping our God with all fervor. We must not bow to false doctrines, worldly worship “strategies” or music that blasphemes rather than blesses God. It's a long road ahead, especially in America, but the reward is waiting for us and Jesus is calling us to it now.