Thursday, July 18, 2013

The Family at Church, Part 2 (Preparing for the preached Word)

Beeke gives 5 simple, yet practical things Christians, especially fathers, ought to do in preparation of the preached Word on Sunday:

1. Before coming to church to hear God's Word, prepare yourself and your family with prayer.

The Puritans said that just as we dress our body with clothes for worship, we should likewise dress our souls with prayer.

Pray for the conversion of sinners, the edification of believers, and the glorification of God's triune name.

Pray for children, teenagers, and the elderly. Pray for listening ears and understanding hearts.

Pray for yourself, saying: "Lord, how real the danger is that I will not hear well! Lord, help me to concentrate on Your Word as it comes to me. Let it have free course in my heart. Let it be accompanied with light, power, and grace."

Pray that you will come as a needy sinner, ready to cling to Christ and the cleansing power of His blood.

Pray that your pastor receive the unction of the Holy Spirit. Pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to convict, quicken, humble, comfort, and regenerate through the preached Word.

2. Come with a hearty appetite for the Word.

"Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation." (1 Peter 2:2)

A good appetite for the Word means having a teachable heart ready to do God's will. It is foolish to expect a blessing if you come to worship with a hardened, unprepared, or worldly-minded heart.

The Puritans said preparation for worship should start on Saturday evening. Just as people baked bread on Saturday evening so that it would be warm on Sunday morning, so believers should study the Word on Saturday evenings so that their hearts are warm for worship on Sunday morning.

If you know the passage to preached upon, spend time studying, praying, and meditating over it. It's amazing how the message will come alive when you have already been chewing on it for a while.

3. Meditate upon the importance of the preached Word.

The high and holy triune God of heaven and earth is meeting with you to speak directly to you. Of gospel preaching, Thomas Boston wrote, "The voice is on earth, but the Speaker is in heaven."

Since the gospel is the Word of God, not the word of man, come to church looking for God. Though you should deeply appreciate your pastor's efforts to faithfully bring you the Word of God, pray that you see "no man, save Jesus only" (cf. Matthew 17:8). Do not focus on the messenger, but the message.

Teach your children that every sermon counts for eternity. Salvation comes through faith, and faith comes through hearing God's Word (Romans 10:17). As one Puritan wrote, "The nearer to heaven any are lifted up by gospel preaching, the lower will they sink into hell if they heed it not."

Furthermore, remember that every Lord's Day you are receiving spiritual food and supplies for the coming week. The Puritans called Sunday "the market day of the soul." As the Puritans went to market each week to stock up on material supplies, so we should stock up on our spiritual goods for the week by listening well to the sermon, then meditating upon it throughout the week to come.

4. Remember that when you enter the church, you are entering a battleground.

Many enemies will oppose your listening to the preached Word.

Internally, you may be distracted by worldly cares, lusts of the flesh, cold hearts, and a critical spirit. Externally, you may be distracted by the weather, the behaviour or dress of others, even people arriving late.

Remember that Satan seeks to oppose your listening to God's Word with might and main, knowing that if you truly hear it, you will bear righteous fruit to the glory of God (cf. Matthew 13:23).

Therefore, make sure that you and your children get enough sleep on Saturday night. As willing as the spirit might be, how we receive God's Word often is strongly linked to how rested our 'flesh' is (cf. Matthew 26:41).

5. Finally, coming with an expectant faith.

Come pleading the promises of God, that because He is not man that He should lie, His promises will not return to Him void or unfulfilled (cf. Isaiah 55:10-11).

Come with reverential fear of God and His majesty.

Come, believing that He delights to show mercy and grace to those who ask. 

Some of the most condemning words in all of Scripture are when Jesus tells people, "May it be to you according to your faith."

May this not be true of us when we gather to hear and feed upon the living Manna of Christ.


In Christ,
And for His glory in His church,
Pastor Ryan

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