Pray

Read: Ecc 5:1-7.

Meditation

As Solomon opens up his words of wisdom on worship, he starts with this basic instruction: come to listen. Verse one says: “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.”

In the first place, we know that Solomon is talking about worship because he refers specifically to the house of God, the Temple of God. It was the centre of worship in the Old Testament, the heartbeat of sacrifice, worship, and instruction in the Word of God. Let me make a parallel for us here. As you know, we do not worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. Under the New Covenant, worship is no longer focused on a place. It is focused in a people. In Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians 2:19-21 we are told that the temple is no longer made of bricks and mortar, but of living souls. As the Spirit of God dwells in the hearts of believers, it is believers who are being built up into the house of God. And in the First Epistle to the Corinthians 3:17 we also see this plainly: “you are the temple.”

What this all means is that, just as Israel gathered to worship in the physical temple under the Old Covenant, so as we gather together with God’s people under the New Covenant we are gathering for worship. There is a parallel between the Old Testament temple and the gatherings of the church in the New Testament. So then, Solomon’s advice applies to what we do in public worship together.

The first thing he says is this: “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.” Do not come to worship ill prepared. Do not come carelessly. Do not come without having considered what it is you are doing. Guard your steps. Guarding our steps suggests that we ought to be prepared for worship. We ought to be on guard, and one does not need to be on guard unless there are dangers involved.

Have you ever considered that as you come to worship God, there is danger? We will open up in these meditations what the nature of those dangers are, but let that sink in for a moment. You would not carelessly go bungee jumping or sky diving. You would not normally help as a volunteer firefighter without training and preparation. And yet we must ask ourselves: Do I come carelessly to worship? Do we prepare our hearts with prayer? Do we come prepared to engage in what we are about to do? If we are not on guard, then our defence is open to attack and we are vulnerable. Be prayerful, diligent, and ready for worship.

Worshipping God is serious. Our God will not be mocked, and he will not wink at sin. To be flippant in worship is to be foolish.

So you are prepared for worship, but prepared for what? Verse one says, “To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools.”

Two things stand out here.

You come prepared to worship, and one of the things you come prepared for is to listen. Has it occurred to you that as you come to worship, you come to hear the Most High God speak with you? Sunday meetings are no social club gatherings. They are a solemn, joyful, fearful meeting between the Lord of heaven and his redeemed people. Therefore come prepared to listen. Come to worship expecting by faith to hear from God. Pray in advance that God would open your eyes and the eyes of all who attend. Pray that he would show you clearly what he is saying. Pray that he would prepare your heart to receive his message and enable you to repent and change as a result.

Perhaps you leave church feeling bored sometimes, feeling there was nothing to interest you. Before you blame someone else, ask yourself, did you pray before you came? Did you cry out before the service that God would deal mercifully with you, that he would open your hard heart? Guard your steps when you come to the house of God. Prepare your heart to listen.

Listening does not only mean properly engaging while you are hearing what God is saying. Listening means taking it away, repenting, and taking action on what he has commanded you to do. The mark of sincere listening is sincere change in our lives. Take note of the application you receive each Sunday, and be diligent to put it into practice in prayerful reliance on the Holy Spirit.

There is another assumption here (i.e. the second thing of two I mentioned earlier). The assumption is that you will come. It is a terrible thing to be so careless with the worship of God that we view it as optional. It is a gross neglect to come to church only every so often when you feel like it. There are times when missing church is necessary, and to a degree that is a matter between each one of us and God. Yet it remains true that we must not be careless with worship. Gym enthusiasts make every session. Movie lovers attend the cinema every week without fail. We make time for the things we love. But what is our attitude towards meeting with the Most High God? If we are not regular in worship, it says something.

We have seen that the call to worship is a call to come and listen, but worship is not about listening only. The Reformed tradition has always understood worship to be a conversation. It is a conversation between God and his people. That is the structure of our worship. Do you come ready and prepared to listen to God speak in worship? SDG.

Prayer of Confession & Consecration

Holy God, we confess that we have often come into your presence carelessly, without guarding our steps or preparing our hearts to listen. We have treated worship lightly, allowed our minds to wander, and failed to tremble at your word or expect you to speak. Forgive us for offering you distracted hearts and empty words, and cleanse us from the pride and dullness that keep us from sincere repentance. By your Spirit, make us watchful, teachable, and ready to obey, that as we draw near to listen we may be changed and built up as your dwelling place. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Ep 140: Do you listen at Church? (Ecc 5:1-3).