Now “worship” can be a big word. It can refer to the entirety of the way we live our lives; the decisions we make and the behavior we exhibit. But I’m thinking more specifically of when we come to praise God, to pray to God and to listen to his word, whether that be personal worship or communal like we do each Sunday.
I would like to share with you about how to be prepared for these times of worship so that you can enter into it fully, freely, meaningfully and powerfully. I hope that this is something you can use as a tool to examine yourself; a checklist of seven items.
1. Have you dealt with disobedience in your life?
This is crucial because worship is about entering into God’s presence and experiencing the awesome power and love of who God is.
But when we harbor sin in our lives, this blocks our ability to know and experience God’s presence. It is like a wall that we build that keeps us away from God. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”
So as you prepare for worship, search yourself. What issues need to be dealt with? And you can even invite God to search you, as David prayed, “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!” – Psalm 139:23-24.
When you find an issue, deal with it. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Once we deal with our sin, we can enter into God’s presence.
2. Are you in right relationship with others?
Worship is about experiencing relationship with God. But when you have wronged others it affects your relationship to God. As we saw a few weeks ago, our horizontal relationships with others affects our vertical relationship with God.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.”
He is saying, if you have wronged someone, make it right with the one you have wronged, first, and then come to worship God. Do what you can, repentance and seeking reconciliation. (You can’t make them forgive you; but do what you are supposed to do from your end).
Ask yourself:
- Have I sinned against someone this week?
- Have I hurt someone through my words or actions?
If so, “first, be reconciled to your brother or sister.” Then you can enjoy relationship with God.
3. Have you given your distractions over to God?
This is a practical matter. Worship is about focusing on God. But its easy to get distracted so that you can’t focus on God.
In Luke 10:38-42 the story is told how Jesus came to visit Martha’s house. Her sister Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching” (v. 39). But Martha was busy trying to take care of hosting Jesus. She even wanted her sister to stop listening to Jesus so that she could help Martha with all that needed to be done.
Jesus came to visit, but Martha couldn’t enter in and be blessed. Why? Because she “was distracted” (v. 40) and she was “anxious and troubled about many things” (v. 41).
We also get distracted and are anxious and troubled about many things. We have our problems and worries, our plans for this week and all the busyness of our lives. Jesus is here among us, but all we can think about are these distractions as we try to worship.
Let us set these aside, or better, let us give our worries and problems to God. As 1 Peter 5:7 says – “Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Then we can focus on God. Then we can be like Mary and focus on what God has for us, just as she was sitting at Jesus’ feet, looking at him, listening to what he had to say.
4. Are you ready to make God the center of attention?
Worship is about lifting God up. But we have ways of making worship about us, so that it is self-centered. For instance:
We lift ourselves up in worship. Remember the man who came to worship in Luke 18? He prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” – (vs. 11-12).
We worship in order to be seen by others – Matthew 6. Jesus gives several examples of this. One is blowing a trumpet so that others will see you give an offering.
But if we really want to enter into worship; if we want to lift God up, we have to lower ourselves – and get out of the way! As Psalm 115:1 says – “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”
When we get out of the way, then we can lift God up.
5. Have you brought something to give to God?
Worship is about bringing a gift to honor God. In Exodus 34:20 the Lord says, “No one shall appear before me empty-handed.” This is how we ascribe honor to God, which is what worship means – to give or ascribe worth.
So we are to bring gifts to God:
- Offer up your “offerings,” that is, money and resources for the work of the kingdom. Paul calls one such gift – “a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God” – Philippians 4:18.
- Offer up the gift of praise. Psalm 50:23 says, “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.”
- Offer up the gift of your life. Lord, I am yours. I am submitted to you. What do you want me to do? What do you want to say to me today? This is what God is really looking for. In Romans 12:1 Paul appeals for us to “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Bring this gift and God will be truly honored.
6. Are you ready to put your heart into it?
Worship has to come from the heart. We do certain things as we worship, right? We sing songs, give offerings, pray prayers, and we listen to the Scriptures. But it must have more to it than that for it to be worship. In other words, you haven’t worshipped just because you sang a song, put money in the offering plate, prayed a prayer or heard a sermon.
The question is ‘Is your heart in it?’ Because if your heart isn’t in it, you are merely going through a dead ritual.
As Jesus said in Mark 7:6-7, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” In the same way, we can go through the motions. Our lips are saying the right things as we sing, but our heart is far from God.
And God doesn’t receive that kind of worship. As Amos 5:23 says about such “Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.”
And sometimes we think, if we just sing loudly, or clap or use a certain kind of songs, that this makes it authentic. But all this can become dead ritual as well. However we worship, it has to come from the heart!
7. Are you expecting great things?
Worship is about God transforming us – making us whole as we enter God’s presence. We seek for God to move among us, to lift our burdens, to encourage and strengthen us, to speak to us and guide us. As Hebrews 4:16 says, we “draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
But, if you don’t expect anything, well . . . you will get what you expect. As Jesus said, “according to your faith be it done to you” – Matthew 9:29. What will you get based on your faith, your expectation for what God can do this morning, next Sunday, in your personal times of worship? Expect God to move, and God will do his work in your life as you worship.
William Higgins
Christian teaching 