Are You Prepared to Worship?

     What is true worship?  This question has been burning in my soul for over a week now.  I keep searching the scriptures to understand better how we may enter into His presence when we come together on a Sunday morning.  Most of us rush to and fro getting ready to gather in fellowship, but I wonder how many of us are really prepared in heart for this is where worship begins.
     When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, they discussed where to worship whether on a mountain or in Jerusalem.  However, Jesus made the issue clear:  "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" ( John 4:23-24).  Our Lord conveyed to her the importance of the heart that is changed by the Holy Spirit.  It is the Spirit that leads us into all truth as we enter into worship.  So how do we prepare?
     Daily Bible reading, prayer and praise are so vital to our preparation for Sunday worship services.  Growing closer to God through the pages of scripture opens our eyes and unstops our ears so we are ready to join in communion with other believers.  If we do not have a solid relationship with the Lord, going to church will not mean much to us.  It is like being married to someone you never talk to all week, and then expecting to spend an hour of intimate fellowship with your spouse one day a week.  I guarantee it will not be as meaningful as if we had spent the entire week sharing, talking and spending quality time together.  Many Christians do not prepare themselves for worship.  Therefore, they miss the intimacy with God that is their inheritance in Christ.
     Secondly, as we worship the Lord in spirit and truth, we are to glorify Him and enjoy His presence.  We come together corporately to encourage, build up and edify one another.  The Apostle Paul painted a good picture of Christian fellowship when he wrote this in his letter to the Ephesians:  "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ" (chapter 5:18-21).  When we gather in common worship, our goal is to lift high the name of the Lord with words, songs and behavior.  No discouraging words or gossip should be found there.  Likewise, it is my personal belief that dress should be modest.  In our current culture, it is not uncommon to see all types of inappropriate dress from pants that are pulled too low to tops that plunge.  Being brothers and sisters in Christ, our goal is not to draw attention to ourselves, but to focus all attention on the Lord.
     Another key element of worship is the preaching and teaching of God's Word.  This must be the central part of our worship service.  In the Westminster Confession of Faith 21.1, we read:  "The acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men,...or any other way not prescribed in Holy Scripture."  Certainly, the proclamation of God's Word is one of the major elements of true worship.  Also prescribed in Scripture is the administration of the sacraments, prayer, sung prayer and praises, and collections for the relief of the saints (Westminster Confession of Faith 21.5).  All of these elements nurture the soul and prepare Christians to go out in the world to proclaim the Good News.  There is nothing listed in the Confession of Faith that tells us to "hype" up the worship service to attract unbelievers.  What draws people to Christ is the proclaiming of the Gospel.  Gimmicks, fancy lighting, special bands or other dramatic activities may bring a crowd, but do people come for entertainment or for an encounter with the Living God?

     With these thoughts in mind, we need to begin now to prepare for the worship we will offer on Sunday.  God has promised that as we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.  What a blessing to be able to fellowship with our Creator and with one another.  We must remember that the heart of worship begins in our hearts.  Selah!

A Heart to Run the Race

     How exciting it was to see another thoroughbred win the Triple Crown of racing.  I have lived to see three in my lifetime:  Secretariat, Affirm and now American Pharaoh.  One of the news articles I read about the most recent winner was that the skill of the jockey kept the horse at an even pace so he would last throughout the race.  Then, when he needed speed, he had the reserve to finish the race well.
     My grandfather also followed this type of strategy when he drove his harness horses to victory.  He raised, trained and drove harness horses for many years while I was growing up so I had the opportunity to not only be around horses but observe many of his winning races.  The horse has to have a heart to perform, but the skill of the jockey or sulky driver is the key to victory.  In fact, the same is true for the Christian.

One of my grandfather's champion horses

     When we commit our lives to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God does some serious surgery on us removing our heart of stone and giving us a heart for Him.  This is a transplant which radically changes our perspective on life.  We are no longer in bondage to sin.  Instead, we desire to obey the Lord and learn more about Him.  However, we need to be guided, taught, instructed, convicted, and nurtured if we are to reach our full potential.  This is why the blessing of the Holy Spirit is such a gift from the Father to us as believers.  He fulfills all the roles just described, and acts much like a wise jockey who guides us along the path of life until we cross the finish line.  Without the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, we would find ourselves running off on many different bunny trails never going anywhere with purpose.
     In His final discourse with His disciples, Jesus told them that He would send them a "helper":  "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.  You know Him for He dwells with you and will be in you" (John 14:16-17).  Jesus also tells the disciples:  "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (John 14:26).  We learn, in these verses, that the Holy Spirit is our helper, the Spirit of truth, He dwells within us, He teaches us and brings to our remembrance all that the Lord has spoken.  Like a skilled jockey, the Holy Spirit is there to provide for us  all that we need holding us back when we need correction and letting us run at just the right moment.  How gracious is our Lord for His blessed provision!
     What we must remember is that we are never by ourselves as we make our way in this world.  When we read verses like:  "13Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14), we are encouraged to know that we are not running the race of life alone.   The Holy Spirit is prodding, nudging and guiding us every step of the way.
     American Pharaoh has won the triple crown, but in Christ we are more than conquerors who can lay claim to the crown of life with the help of the blessed Holy Spirit.  Thank God often for this gift  which will usher us into the winner's circle of heaven.  Selah!                                                                                        

A Moment in Time

     On our living room wall, we have a series of pictures done on canvas of our entire family.  This was a Christmas gift last year from our children who knew that family, following our relationship to God, was central in our lives.  The pictures represent a moment in time when we were all together.  Already the grandchildren have changed in appearance as they have grown, but for one day, we captured a slice of life that represents the gift of God that we are to one another: my husband and I, our four children, four precious in-laws and eight grandchildren.  It is a blessing to walk by this wall and reflect on the many joys that God has given us over the forty three years of our marriage.  However, not everyone sees life and family from this vantage point.
     In William Shakespeare's famous play "Macbeth", the main character (Macbeth) recites his understanding of life in Act V Scene V:  "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing."  While this was written around 1606, there are many today who would embrace this philosophy of life.  There is no hope expressed here.  In this view, life has little meaning and our "moment in time" simply passes on the stage of life like a brief candle.  No wonder there is so much sadness and emptiness seen in our culture today, and yet, this has been true ever since man's fall in the Garden of Eden.  Each generation has felt the immense sense of loss that comes from a broken relationship with God.
     By contrast, the Bible offers us a different picture of life and the means of restoration which God has accomplished on our behalf.  In the pages of God's Word, we learn that we were created a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5).  We were meant to reflect the glory of the Lord, and we were made in His image that we might rule over His creation caring for it (Genesis 1:26).  In the beginning, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in a perfect environment, but when they rebelled, it was like someone using a can of spray paint to mar the Mona Lisa.  The image was damaged and the relationship with our Creator was broken.
     From before the foundation of the world, however, God had purposed to redeem for Himself a people called by His name (Ephesians 1:4), and to this end, He sent His only begotten Son when the moment in time was just right (Galatians 4:4).  Jesus Christ was the second Adam (I Corinthians 15:45) who came to fulfill, in perfect obedience, the Law, to live without sin, and to be, for us, the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  To those who receive Jesus Christ not only as Savior but also as Lord, the curse of our sin nature is broken so that we are free to choose to obey God.  We are no longer slaves, and the emptiness of life expressed in the play "Macbeth" is replaced by the abundant life found in Christ.
     With fellowship in God restored, any man or woman can now walk day by day in communion with their Creator.  This is why our wall is filled with the smiles of our family.  Our home was founded on Jesus Christ whom we had professed faith in just three months before our marriage.  Each of our children in turn professed their faith in Christ and married a believer in the Lord.  This does not mean that our lives are without trials, temptations and heartaches.  Instead, it is a day by day journey with the Lord as He works in each of us to conform us into the image of His dear Son.  How sweet the adventure of this earthly pilgrimage has been as we do it as a family lifting up one another daily in prayer.  My prayer for each one of you reading this today is that you, too, might know the joy of walking daily with the Lord.  If you are already a Christian, you have tasted of God's goodness, but if you have never accepted Him as Savior and Lord, I invite you to experience "that moment in time" when you repent of your sins and receive Him as your Savior and Lord.  It makes all the difference for eternity.  Selah!