More Than an Hour Long Service: The Art of Preparing to Worship

We have recently been studying the life of David, through our Summer Wednesdays, and on a few Sunday evenings. We will continue that through the end of his life - but I want to look at a portion of that story this morning that felt impressed of God to share on a Sunday morning.

You will find our text in the Old Testament book of 1 Chronicles 29.

David the Shepherd boy, Goliath slayer, King and Sweet Psalmist of Israel is coming to the end of his life.

1 Chronicles 29 gives our last written record of David’s final public act as king.

It involves his personal contribution for the building of the Temple -

They were still worshipping out of the Tabernacle a portable tent like structure - it was time to go to something a little more permanent.

So David gives a substantial gift for the building of the Temple -

If you remember he wanted to build the Temple - but God told him “No” as he was a man of war/blood

So he began to save, store up, purchase items for this building project

1 Chron 29:1-4 talks about this:

1 Chronicles 29:1–4 KJV 1900

1 Furthermore David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great: for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God. 2 Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. 3 Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, 4 Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal:

I want us to get this:

David Gave:

3,000 talents of gold (from Ophir).

7,000 talents of refined silver.

Ancient Weight Conversion

A talent was a large unit of weight used in the ancient Near East.

1 talent ≈ 75 pounds (34 kg).

So:

Gold: 3,000 talents × 75 lbs = 225,000 lbs of gold.

Silver: 7,000 talents × 75 lbs = 525,000 lbs of silver.

Modern Value (This morning’s prices )

Gold price ≈ $3,680.70 per ounce.

Silver price ≈ $42.68 per ounce.

Total Value of Gold: (Today USD)

$13,250,520,000 USD. (thirteen billion, 250 million,5 hundred &20 thousand)

Silver:

$358,512,000 USD. (358 million, 5 hundred & 12 thousand)

Total Value of David’s Gift

$13.6 billion USD (in today’s terms).

This was just David’s gift - he lead a huge giving campaign and the people gave willingly and liberally.

David wasn’t just bragging, or exaggerating his contribution -

He had literally

1 Chronicles 29:2 KJV 1900

2 Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God ...

Now you may not have $ 13 Billion to give - you may not have 1$ to give and I’m not out for your money anyway -

But I do want us to think this morning of - Preparing With All Our Might For The House of God!

Or understanding Sunday Morning is more than just a thing to check off our todo list -

I want to talk to you about a subject that has been on my heart lately -

We should prepare for our worship service

In a little sermon I’ve titled...

More Than an Hour Long Service: The Art of Preparing to Worship

Somethings about worship:

Worship is a spiritual activity

What is the essence of worship? It is the celebration of God! When we worship God, we celebrate Him: We extol Him, we sound His praises, we boast in Him.

Worship is not the casual chatter that occasionally drowns out the organ prelude; we celebrate God when we allow the prelude to attune our hearts to the glory of God by the means of the music.

Worship is not the mumbling of prayers or the mouthing of hymns with little thought and less heart; we celebrate God when we join together earnestly in prayer and intensely in song.

Worship is not self-aggrandizing words or boring clichés when one is asked to give a testimony; we celebrate God when we boast in His name to the good of His people.

Worship is not irrelevant thoughts or fragmented elements, silly asides or unconnected directions in purpose; we celebrate God when all of the parts of the service fit together and work to a common end.

Worship is not grudging gifts or compulsory service; we celebrate God when we give to Him hilariously and serve Him with integrity.

Worship is not haphazard music done poorly, not even great music done merely as a performance; we celebrate God when we enjoy and participate in music to His glory.

Worship is not a distracted endurance of the sermon; we celebrate God as we hear His Word gladly and seek to be conformed by it more and more to the image of our Savior.

Worship is not a sermon that is poorly prepared and carelessly delivered; we celebrate God when we honor His Word with our words, by His Spirit.

Gordon Borror, “Sunday Morning And Beyond,” Discipleship Journal 12, no. 4 (July-August), WORDsearch CROSS e-book: Under: "Special Section: Enjoying Worship".

Alfred P. Gibbs made a statement concerning worship - that I find helpful to a healthy interpretation of it - each of these elements can overlap - and should not be only narrowly defined as Gibbs does here - but I do see what he is saying - and it helped me differentiate a little more between the three worshipful activities of prayer, praise and worship

Prayer is the occupation of the soul with its needs.

Praise is the occupation of the soul with its blessings.

Worship is the occupation of the soul with God Himself.

—Alfred P. Gibbs

DO you realize our Sunday morning service and worship depends largely on what we all do Monday - Saturday?

Sometimes it is difficult, on a Sunday Morning Worship service - when we are “lumbering through the fifth verse of a hymn” or you’ve heard the preacher say, “in closing” three times already - it can be hard to imagine doing it again next week - let alone forever in heaven.

But worship isn’t about having the perfect people up front - worship is about what do each of us bring to the table.

I know its not for everyone - but potluck dinners and buffets have always been a treat for me.

You have a variety to choose from - and if one dish isn’t to your liking something else will hit the spot.

What makes potlucks better than buffets - is that I usually know the people who have made the dishes

I know that they have done their work of looking up the recipe or remembering how Grandma did it

I know that they mixed carefully each ingredient - cooked it for the necessary amount of time - and presented it as an offering and labor of love.

They didn’t just get up Sunday morning and scramble through their fridge and pantry and just throw things together - there was thought, there was intentional planning,

And when we set down to the feast - we all are typically fed really well

But a potluck isn’t a meal by one person - or by a particular chef, or restaurant

It is a contribution of everyone pulling together - giving of their time, money, energy, food,

Just as a potluck is a smorgasbord of personality, culture, culinary creativity.

So a Worship service is the combined contributions of each of us - for good or for ill.

The Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church in Lancaster, Ohio in 2015 had a potluck picnic. One of the contributors and faithful attenders of the church brought in some homemade potato salad. The potatoes had been home canned improperly and unbeknownst to them had allowed the bacteria that causes botulism to grow. Of the 50-60 that attended the picnic 29 were hospitalized and one died from the botulism poisoning.

Now I am not here to frighten us away from potluck dinners - but I am here to remind us - that what we bring to the table - effect everyone else - for good or for bad - at the little house - but even more importantly here in the Sanctuary.

We can’t be toxic all week and expect to enter into worship the moment we start singing

We can’t fill our minds with only secular things through the week and come to church and expect someone to give us our spiritual vitamin for the week

I saw a little cartoon drawing the other day, I believe it was a Gary Larson work - but of a man in his hospital bed - who had obviously been giving the nurses trouble about taking his medicine. To the side of his bed were two nurses - one was in this contraption that had a shield around her head with a gun like barrel in her mouth -the other nurse was in front of her holding the trigger end of the gun - scrawled on the side of it was its name - something like “The Pill Shooter 5000” and she was telling the man on the bed if he didn’t take his pills - she would shoot them down his throat.

Sometimes I think we want our worship to happen that way - but it isn’t going to work that way.

Worship takes preparation - and preparation begins before you ever enter those doors.

In the Old Testament at the giving of the Law we find where God told the people to prepare

Exodus 19 gives us the story - they were to prepare to come into his presence, or near His presence. They were to consecrate themselves today and tomorrow

Three days of preparation - they were to wash their clothes, and that implies themselves, they were to be ready for the third day - because they were going to have an encounter with God.

Before we ever set foot in the sanctuary on Sunday morning - we should be preparing for an encounter with God - or have we gotten so used to just winging it - that we forget - who we are here to represent and worship?

It doesn’t take too long in reading the Old Testament that you find there was a certain way to worship - but there were also many rules regulating what you did before you ever came to worship

Worship is a spiritual activity - remember Jesus telling the woman at the well - “John 4:23–24 “23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

What are some practical ways we can prepare for worship?

Planning to Be Here:

I know there are all types of situations and things that occur and can occur at random and unexpectedly - but sometimes it is simply poor planning

Poor planning is giving the message (it doesn’t mean it is intended but it is implying) that church doesn’t matter - who cares about worship - its just something we have to do - I don’t really have to do it- nor do I really want to do it

Again, I am not accusing anyone of thinking this way - but if we aren’t planning for church - before five minutes before start time - we are implying that to others

It’s good to know what you are going to wear to church Saturday night before you go to bed - have it hanging up and ready to go

We plan a light simple breakfast on Sunday morning -

We like big meals on Sunday for lunch - but we try to do meals that can be cooked in the crockpot or prepared ready to be put in the oven Sunday morning - so we aren’t rushing around preparing for lunch before church.

Do what you can to be on time - I know this is a hard one sometimes - and I have been late - but nothing says -church isn’t important as coming in late to church or not coming at all -

We’ve turned church into convenience - worship is a form of sacrifice - praise is a form of sacrifice. - not just when I want to - or when its convenient -

We make choices and decisions that either help or hinder us getting to the church services.

It’s a little harsh and perhaps a little manipulative - but I think there is a smidgen of truth in it:

"Those who come to church on Sunday morning love God.

Those who come on Sunday morning and Sunday evening love God and the church.

Those who come on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night love God, the church and the pastor."

I know - I get the irony - so says the pastor who can’t make it to Wednesday night service…

It is recommended by most discipleship and church growth experts that - the one of the best ways to prepare for church is to be here in enough time that you can be in your seats five minutes before start time. - that is a great way to prepare

That is hard - I know it is - but David said - “I prepared with all my might for the house of God” He didn’t just say here give me all the gold - he had to fight some battles for that gold - he had to invest for some of that gold - he had some of it stored in savings for years -

But it’s not just about being here - we prepare by being here (and doing what it takes to do that) BUT ALSO BY BEING PRESENT WHEN WE ARE HERE!!!

We can be physically at church - but our minds are on our to do list tomorrow, what someone else is wearing, or what the kids are doing, or why did my phone just buzz, or we could go on and on

I remember hearing as a kid - I believe it was a Your Story Hour production - and this is from memory so may not be exactly as they portrayed it-

In the long running theological journal from Dallas Theological Seminary Bibliotheca Sacra in an article by H. H. Marlin he states it originated from a cartoon drawing...

A little girl is sitting in church during a sermon. As she looks around at the congregation, she is startled that she can see shocking and often humorous "visions" or thought bubbles above people's heads.

She looks at the congregation’s faces - who look like they are intently drinking in every thing going on in the service - but above them - she could tell their minds were far from what was going on.

She sees a man who is dressed in his finest suit, but his thoughts are of a business deal he's working on and the money he hopes to make.

She looks at another gentleman - setting so spiritually looking in his pew - even an occasional “Amen” escaped from his lips - but his mind was on the hearty roast he would have as soon as the preacher would hurry up and finish.

She sees a young couple, but their thoughts are of an upcoming party and not on the sermon at all.

Another wore a rapt expression as though he heard the herald angels sing, but he was thinking of the next time he would get to see his sweetie.

Another looked as though he had found a firm seat on the rock of ages, but he was thinking of the 25% profit he had made on his last big business deal.

Still another, a young lady, had a radiant look as though all the song birds of the sky were nesting in her heart, but actually she was thinking of her new hat, how perfectly killing it was, and how becoming, and / of the real bliss she found in the jealous stares of her friends.

Now I’m glad we don’t have that ability to see thought bubbles above each other’s heads - this morning - but I wonder if we are here in the present or do we let our thoughts drift off - a part of preparing for worship - is to bring every thought captive to Christ

But preparations for worship - don’t begin on Sunday morning - they start Monday Morning - or even Sunday Night as we are preparing for the oncoming week -

David said - I have prepared for the house of God with all of my might -

that means he put everything he could into it

Can we say that we prepared for this service that way?

Have we come to worship - prepared with all of our might?

God help us to worship God - not just as an act we have to do- but to prepare for worship

Whatever that all entails for you - be ready - be here - be present.