The reason for this is because I believe that God could actually use this principle to transform the life of our church. Honestly. Really.
In an age that scoffs at and scorns anything that smacks of tradition, the inherent danger is that often in the pursuit of something fresh and new, we toss away things of infinite value and worth. One such grace that has been unfortunately jettisoned whole sale from the church is the idea of intentionality when it comes to preparing our souls - and the souls of our families - for corporate worship.
Since words like discipline and intentionality sound eerily like "legalism", we run as fast and as far away as possible, often under the rubric of "walking in the Spirit." Christ has set us free for liberty, not bondage, right? Rules and regulations sound like the antithesis of such freedom, and so, ignorantly believing the lie of the serpent, we cast away anything and everything that might lead to legalism.
By experience, I have found these principles outlined by Beeke to be extremely profitable. But even above my own experience, I want to show how biblical the idea of intentional preparation for worship on the Lord's Day is for those who call themselves Christians.
Why should Christians come on Sundays as a "people prepared"?
1. The Importance of Preaching
John Calvin often instructed his congregation about rightly hearing the Word of God. He did so for two reasons: first, he believed few people listened well to sermons; second, he had a high regard for preaching. Calvin, in agreement with Scripture, saw preaching as one of the primary means that God used to bestow salvation and benediction. For him, the Holy Spirit is the "internal minister" who uses the "external minister" of the preached Word. Thus, faithful gospel proclamation is one of the chief means by which the Spirit does His saving work of illuminating, converting, and sealing sinners.
If this is true, why do we often come to church so tired and weary, complacent and indifferent, so absent-minded and aloof, so concerned with anything and everything but the preached Word? When we come so nonchalantly to church, we do so at great peril to the well-being of our souls.
In Luke 8:18, Jesus warned His listeners to "take heed how you hear." Why? Because when we don't hear well, what is preached "will be taken away." That is scary. How many sermons we've sat through, all for naught! [notice the preceding context of how many "seeds" never take proper root in the "soil" and bear fruit]
When we 'listen' to sermons with indifference; when all we can do is but stay awake in sermons; when we 'listen' merely to critique the pastor; when our minds are wandering off to the cares of the world; when we 'listen' with bitterness in our hearts; when we 'listen' carelessly, we run the risk of having that very Word taken away from us, the way a bird devours the seed scattered by a faithful farmer.
If we are honest, we must admit that the reason we can't recall so many of the messages given on Sunday is not because it was a poor message, or because the message was delivered poorly. The primary reason we forget so many sermons is because we don't come with our "soil" properly prepared.
So here is my challenge to us as a church: let us endeavor to be more disciplined and intentional in preparing for church on Sundays. In the words of the Westminster Larger Catechism,
It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer, examine what they hear by the Scriptures, receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the Word of God; meditate, and confer of it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.For starters, let me give you two practical applications to put into practice THIS WEEK:
1. Go to bed early enough on Saturday night so that you won't wake up rushed on Sunday morning. It's hard to "worship the Lord with all our minds" when they're barely awake and we spend more time trying to not fall asleep than to feast on the Word as it's read, prayed, sung and preached. Moreover, when we sleep in, often - to avoid embarrassment - we get all worked up about not being late. Instead of devoting the morning to God in worship, our minds are elsewhere (I'm positive most of the arguments in the car on the way to church have to do with being late). If we can wake up every other day to get to work by 8, is it too much to wake up enough to make it on time to worship the Lord with His people one day a week?
2. Intentionally make the first thing you do on Sunday morning is get in the Word. Don't read the newspaper, check the weather, check Facebook or your email. Prepare your heart for worship. After setting the standard for the day, I will then try to either meditate on Scripture, or listen to God-exalting music while getting ready for church. By the way, if you neglect #1 above, #2 is virtually impossible.
Next time we will look at Preparing for the Preached Word
In Christ, and for God's glory in the church,
Pastor Ryan
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