by John Ayers
When we go to work, to the store, or on a trip, do we not prepare? If you were going on vacation for a week, would you not spend a fair amount of time planning, packing, and making sure that everything was in order? How do you prepare for worship? Do you have a list of things that you do in preparation prior to going before a holy God?
Do you confess your sins in prayer? Do you pray for the time of worship? Do you pray for the pastor? Do you pray that you would be obedient to the living God? Do you pray for the lost? Are you praying for the church and the spiritual growth of your brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you seeking to submit to the teaching and preaching of the Word? Worship is the most important thing that we do each week and we should prepare our hearts to give all we have to God.
There is a saying that you get what you put in and that is applicable when talking about takeaways from worship. Worship is something that we give to God in adoration and awe of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done. At the center of worship is the preaching and teaching of God’s word. Gene spends many hours preparing for worship so that he can fulfill his calling to shepherd us, rightly handling the word of truth as the agent the Holy Spirit uses to apply the Word to our hearts. We are called to show up prepared, eager to give our full attention to the teaching and preaching of God’s word ready in anticipation to be obedient to the Spirit’s application on our hearts.
It is the wrong attitude to enter worship with the mentality of trying to get something out of the service. Our worship is something that we offer to God and it is for Him. When we put all we have into worship, He does bless us. As a result of our offering ourselves up to Him, we take away three key things from worship: Deeper Relationships with both God and each other, Joy, and sanctification.
The expository preaching (to expose the meaning of the Bible, verse by verse) that is the center of our worship each week not only gives us more knowledge about Scripture but also more knowledge of who God is. As we learn and gain more understanding of His nature, character, and the His amazing works, our relationship with Him should grow also. He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures so that we might know Him better and experience a deeper relationship with Him.
That deepening in relationship with Him extends to our relationships with each other. Through our Christ-centered fellowship, we grow in our knowledge and love for each other as well. We share our lives with one another, the good and the bad, praying, laughing, and sometimes crying. Then we collectively set aside everything that is happening in our lives to give praise to the Lord for His greatness displaying the unity Jesus prayed about in John 17.
Our increased knowledge of God and deepening of relationships brings about the joy that produces greater adoration for God. This is a joy that is based not on circumstances but on what God is doing inside of us. After the reading of the Law in Nehemiah 8, the people were convicted because of their sin, and they were encouraged to rejoice in the joy of the Lord because they were His and He loved them. We too should be convicted but, in that conviction, rejoice in God’s love for us.
That joy should increase our desire for sanctification. Our lives should be changed by hearing the word preached. We should joyfully submit to that preaching and grow in the likeness of Christ. If we put the amount of preparation we do into ordinary activities, how much more should we prepare for what should be a life-changing encounter with the living God each week?