By Pastor Brian Phillips
Preparation & Gathering
While not a part of the formal liturgy, we should note that there must be specific effort to prepare for worship on the Lord’s Day.
In Genesis 2, with the heavens and the earth “finished,” God rested on the seventh day. He then blessed the day “and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (v. 3). By blessing and making the day “holy,” God set it apart from other days, establishing it as the pattern and rhythm of life for man. Work, then rest and worship.
This pattern is made plain in Exodus 20, when the Lord delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses. The Fourth Commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (separate). Why? “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” In the Creation week, God not only created the heavens and the earth, but also created the pattern/rhythm for our lives.
If we are to obey God’s command and faithfully keep the pattern He has woven into life and creation, then we must intentionally prepare ourselves to do so. One clear example of this can be found in the gathering of the God-given bread (manna) in Exodus 16.
“On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded: “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.”’ So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, ‘Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none’” (vv. 22-26).
Do your work, gather your stuff, prepare your food, so that you may rest and worship on the Sabbath. Put simply, they had to plan ahead so they could keep the Sabbath.
In Leviticus 9, where God delivers His prescribed liturgy to Moses and Aaron, we are told that Aaron and his sons “brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord” (v. 5). Both the priests and the congregation had to make very specific preparations before coming to God’s house. Both the worshiper and his sacrifices had to be made ready.
The Psalms model another aspect of preparation for worship. The Psalms of Ascent (Ps. 120-134) were sung en route to Jerusalem for worship and the observance of the feasts. This means the worshiper had to do work before beginning the trip to God’s house. They had to prepare themselves by knowing (memorizing) the Psalms to sing. Further, in the content of the Psalms of Ascent, there is intentionality in remembering who God is, what He has done, and on the innumerable causes His people have for worship. In other words, the Psalms of Ascent represent inward and outward preparation for worship.
“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 121:1-2).
“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” (Ps. 122:1).
“To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us” (Ps. 123:1-2).
“Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! May the Lord bless you from Zion, the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!” (Ps. 134).
When we gather for worship on the Lord’s Day (Sunday, the Day of Resurrection, the Eighth Day – see part one), we are not just gathering in earthly sanctuaries, but “to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12:22-24).
And we should prepare ourselves accordingly.
How to Prepare for Worship
It is hard for us to treat things as sacred because we live every day in a culture that treats nothing as sacred. Everything is casual. No distinctions are made, no honors given. Every day and every place are the same. There is no holy time and no holy space. And, while it is true that every day and every good thing is a gift of God, it is also true that God has set aside holy days and holy spaces for us.
Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27). We need the day of worship and rest that God has given to us. And, God knows we need it; that’s why He has given it. But the idea that the Lord’s Day is sacred is foreign to our culture. The idea that one day is set aside for worship and rest is strange because nothing is sacred.
The end result is that we now live in a world with no rest. You know it. You feel it. You feel the weight of it. There is no rest. Nothing turns off. Nothing slows down. No one slows down.
But, if we look to the Lord to shape our days, we find rest. Every day builds to the high point of the Lord’s Day. Receive it as a gift that God has given to you. Prepare for it and embrace it gladly. How do we do that?
Consider the gospel logic of the liturgy. While we will address this in more detail in later essays, it bears mentioning here that the liturgy (as given by the Lord in Leviticus 9 and continued today) stands as a whole. There is no a la carte option for worship. No one was allowed to take part in the peace offering/meal without first offering the sin offering. To put it another way, we do not eat at the King’s table with unwashed hands.
For the purposes of this essay, this means that we need to settle in our minds that we need worship, and we need all the parts of worship. As we prepare to God to the Lord’s house, we should go with the realization that we need to be welcomed and called into His presence. We need to confess our sins and be forgiven. We need to submit to His Word, to learn from its wisdom, to gain its guidance. We need to take our prayers to Him, to offer thanksgiving to Him. We need to be fed at His table, to commune with Christ. And we need His blessing and peace upon us.
Being unprepared, habitually late, absent-minded, or inconsistent in worship is to (unintentionally) proclaim a false or incomplete gospel to ourselves.
No more excuses. Corporate worship is commanded. It is a day of holy obligation and, as such, the decision to go to church is a one-time decision. The Lord’s Day arrives on Sunday every week. It does not change. I dare say your church begins at the same time every week. Yet, too many Christians are willing to be late for worship (or miss it altogether), for reasons which would never cause them to be late for or miss a wedding, funeral, sporting event, or job.
Ascending to the heavenly Jerusalem into the presence of the Lord deserves our commitment and preparation.
Be intentional. It could be said that the first act of worship takes place before worship. Just as the Psalms of Ascent focused the heart and mind of those ascending the Temple Mount, so we should intentionally do the same. Look over the liturgy beforehand. Arrive early enough to settle your mind and think about what you’re doing. Pray. Review any song selections which may be unfamiliar to you. Make sure the car has gas, the kids have clothes and shoes, everyone has their Bible, etc. It is the Lord’s Day, but He has given it to us as a gift, so let us be good stewards of it.
To be continued…