Preparing to Worship the One You Love
How Christians Can Distract Themselves and Keep Their Heart From Grace
Good Morning,
Coaches will tell you that you play as you practice. Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect, or as Vince Lombardi would say, focusing on doing the fundamentals correctly is what allows you to do the extraordinary well. Much of the time the reason why we do not get anything out of worship is because we not only haven’t prepared for it, but we are not engaged in it while it is happening in front of us. It’s hard to learn from the pastor if our mind is absorbed in Candy Crush. We do not feed on the word by faith if our heart is being nourished by FB messenger during the pastoral prayer. These kinds of things can sound corny, but they are true. As Jesus notes, we have not because we ask not. The Pharisees wanted a sign, and ignored the one right in front of their face.
As we discussed last week for today’s look at the Westminster Directory of Public Worship we’ll hear what they have to tell us about how we are to behave in the Lord’s Day morning and evening worship. When we read that word behave we think of being forced to sit still and not be heard as a child. However, that’s not really what the aim is in this section. I tell weary parents all the time that the wiggles and the giggles testify that our church is alive. Children hear more than we realize, and they also see more than we recognize. The little ones are going to learn a lot from what they see the adults doing and accomplishing in worship. If you want them to be at ease and engaged in worship in the pew it probably helps if mom and dad are as well.
Let’s look at a couple of quotations from the DPW as we get more into this question:
The publick worship being begun, the people are wholly to attend upon it, forbearing to read any thing, except what the minister is then reading or citing; and abstaining much more from all private whisperings, conferences, salutations, or doing reverence to any person present, or coming in; as also from all gazing, sleeping, and other indecent behaviour, which may disturb the minister or people, or hinder themselves or others in the service of God. . .
Let all enter the assembly, not irreverently, but in a grave and seemly manner, taking their seats or places without adoration, or bowing themselves towards one place or other. . .
Each of these quotations probably need some explanation. The latter is mostly concerned with the people in Seventeenth century England, Scotland, and Ireland not genuflecting (bowing down and doing the sign of the cross) as they enter the sanctuary. While we believe the room in which we worship is to be honored (no playing dodgeball in the pews) and treated with care it is not a specially holy room where you need to wash your hands or ask God’s permission to enter.
Neither are we to charge rent for the best pews nor are we to be actively engaged in showboating our way to our cushion making a big deal about our presence. Another thing to note is that when it says we are to . . . enter the assembly, not irreverently, but in a grace and seemly manner it is not directing us to shut our mouths and silently go to our seat before the service begins. There may be some utility to you making ready in your heart to be in the presence of God in His praise. However, there is nothing unseemly about asking your neighbor how they are or welcoming any visitors who may be present. This is of course as long as the conversation is geared toward what you are there to do on the Sabbath Day. We should keep our voices together in assisting one another to prepare for what is about to take place within the house of God, which gets us into the larger of the two quotes.
It's interesting to me that in a document penned four hundred years ago that there is concern about people reading things other than the Bible at the 11 o’clock or 5:30pm hour. It is not like Thomas Manton or whoever was concerned about iPhones and tablets. You’d have to be pretty brazen to just bring in a whole book to read while the pastor is expositing the text you are supposed to be looking at. Historically this section is talking about the Episcopalian or Anglican Prayer Book. While again there can be some utility to having pre-written prayers and forms in worship the concern here is with the attention of the hearer. The heart and head being engaged at the same time is vital to the application of the means of grace. Yet, since this isn’t a huge problem in most of our churches let’s ask how we can apply this to today, and taking in a couple other clauses will help us do that.
This concern with other things being read can be associated with . . .abstaining much more from all private whisperings . . . sleeping, and other indecent behaviour, which may disturb the minister or people, or hinder themselves or others in the service of God. The focus here again is less on the actions and more on what they do to those around you in worship. How can you show love to your neighbor who is trying to pay attention when you are giggling and showing memes to one another in the pew? Likewise, is commenting on Facebook, or sharing things on social media during the preaching of the word benefitting you, the person you are distracting, or more importantly do you think this is honoring to Christ? Using your phone/tablet as your Bible can have some positive benefits, but is it causing your mind to wander to notifications and the like that pop up? There are things we do not need in worship, nor does our sinful side need help in keeping us from the glory of God. Sadly, the truth is we can use devices as an opportunity to help us be distracted, to get us through an event we don’t really want to be at in the first place.
In closing, where does this kind of attitude come from? First of all it comes from a lack of attendance to the gospel and the first commandment. If we truly believe that Christ is dead for us what could possibly be on our phone or device that’s more important that hearing His voice on the Lord’s Day, either from the minister or from your seatmate as you sing His word in praise? This attitude is a direct result of not preparing to be in the house of God and is a sin against the second and third commandment as much as the fourth or even the fifth. If we love Jesus then it will be illustrated in the attention and honor that we give His worship. The amount of energy we give to being ready, willing, and organized beforehand, which includes showing up on time, will go a long way in helping us to gain strength from this means of grace given by our Lord.
Last word:
https://clearlyreformed.org/preparing-for-sunday-worship/
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church