Year: 2019

For the sake of honoring God in everything that we do, and for the benefit of those who might be wrestling with this very issue this week, and for our general instruction, I thought it would be good to ask the following question for reflection and prayer before this coming Lord’s Day.

Here is the question: “Sunday is the Super Bowl in Atlanta. And I like watching the Super Bowl. But I also know that the game will be played on a Sunday. And part of me wants to stay home and watch the game and another part of me is still conscious of the Christian’s duty to sanctify the day by going to Church for the Worship of God. Like in the time of Elijah (1 Kings 18:21) I am limping between these two opinions. What should I do?  Is it okay to miss Sabbath worship once in a year to watch the great event of the Super Bowl or it is still an act of breaking the Fourth Commandment?”

If any one of you is wrestling with this very issue this week, I will first let the Prophet Isaiah speak to you from Isaiah 58: 13-14, and then share my Pastoral challenge and encouragement with you all.

But first, let’s let Scripture speak through Isaiah. “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways , or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

So according to Isaiah (the Scripture), the first danger that you need to be aware of as you wrestle with the dilemma of either using your Sunday for watching the Super Bowl or worshiping the Lord in His house is, if you end up staying home to watch the game than going to the public gathering of God’s people for worship, your act will be “going your own ways”, not the way that the Lord wants you go, especially regarding the fourth Commandment.  It will be you seeking your own pleasure than seeking for the greener pastures that are promised for you in Psalm 23:1. Have you noticed how Isaiah echoes the same promise that we have in Psalm 23:1 when we forsake everything that this world would offer for us in order to take us away from our spiritual nourishment? In Verse 14, Isaiah said, “Then… you shall take delight in the Lord and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.”

Hence, the implication that the preference of watching the Super Bowl on a Sunday over the worship of God has is that we forfeit the very spiritual food and refreshment that the Lord prepares for us in His house through the ministry of the Word and Sacrament.  These were both the promises and warnings that Isaiah expresses to us in Isaiah 58.  But what is sad about this important section of the Book of Isaiah on the Sabbath is, many people, including believers, tend to disregard it as an instruction and reminder that was given only to the people in the Old Testament but not to believers in the New Testament time.

People even argue that the Fourth Commandment is not applicable today and Christians in the New Testament era are no more bound by this Commandment.  If you happen to be one of those people, I encourage you to just remember two things.  First, what Jesus said concerning His relationship to the Ten Commandments and then, what James said about the relevance of the moral law in the New Testament time.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” (Matthew 5:17)

Now does this mean that because Jesus has fulfilled the Law for us we are no more obligated to keep the Law of God? No! Because James also said, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” (James 2:10)

What does this mean? Jesus kept the Law for us because all our efforts to keep the law for ourselves in order to be justified in the sight of God failed, and Jesus kept the Law for us and justified us by faith in His death and perfect obedience on the Cross. He then requires us to keep the commandments, not for justification, but to express our ultimate loyalty and love for Him.  Remember what Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my Commandments.”

To put it simply then, to make a brave determination to be in the house of the Lord to worship God, to be fed by His Word and the Sacrament, rather than choosing to be entertained by a temporal enjoyment of a Super Bowl event is to express your greater love to God rather than to another god. Not to do this means you do the exact thing that the first Commandment forbids you to do: to have another god before the Lord God who brought you out from the slavery of Sin.

And I know that people always makes this excuse in order to do what they want to do on a Sunday: It is just one day in a year. I still love God and He would understand if I miss Church just for this Sunday to watch the Super Bowl. Just one Sunday in a year… not a big deal… is it? Well, is it okay to steal once in a year? Is it okay to take another man’s wife once in a year? I don’t expect any one of you to say yes. I am sure you are saying OF COURSE NOT.  If that is the case, don’t you think it is biblical and fitting to say “no” to the notion that says it is okay to miss Sunday worship once in a year to enjoy the Super Bowl?

In the love of Christ I encourage you all to be like Mary this coming Lord’s Day. To choose the best part, of sitting under the feeding of God’s Word morning and evening and even partaking on the double blessing of being nourished by the Sacrament of the Lord Supper during the Evening Worship, rather than Watching Football which is not heavenly manna and the recording of which can be watched on a Monday.

“But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42)  Choose that good portion this Sunday!

In the love of the good Shepherd!

Your friend and Pastor,

Zecharias

As a pastor, there are many things that I always thank God for about Redeemer as a church or church family.  One of them is hospitality. Redeemer’s act of love and hospitality was one of the Church’s attractive qualities that drew me and my family to humbly accept the pastorate at Redeemer. Before and after we came to Redeemer, the hospitable and loving hearts and hands of you, the saints at Redeemer, has been overwhelming to my heart and the hearts of everyone in my family.  And so that you know, this testimony about the hospitable nature of Redeemer is not only the testimony of your pastor’s family. Recently, one of our new members told me that one of the reasons why he decided to become a member at Redeemer was the warm and gracious hospitality that he received from one of our members in the flock. How I thank the Lord for that hospitable member in the hospitable Church.

Hopefully, from my hearty testimony about the hospitable character of Redeemer in the preceding paragraph, you now realize that the intent and desire of my heart in writing to you an article on the ministry of hospitality in the Church is not to suggest to you in any way or form that hospitality does not exist in Redeemer, or to address you as beginners in the School of Christian hospitality. No, that is not the purpose of my article. And that is because you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, have proven by your own actions that you love hospitality and you always render it to guests and visitors joyfully.

Nevertheless, what has been said so far about Redeemer’s admired quality in hospitality does not mean that we are perfect in the area of biblical hospitality. It doesn’t mean we don’t need to be taught on how to cultivate excellence in providing hospitality in the Church to those who need it. As growth and increase is required in every aspect of the Christian life, Christian hospitality also demands an ongoing learning and growth so that whenever it is done it would display the grace of God to strangers.

With that thought in mind, I then would like to share some important matters of biblical hospitality in the Church.  But first, let’s ask the obvious question.  What is hospitality? As a general definition, hospitality is to welcome or receive a stranger (someone who does not belong to your home or Church) and make him feel at home.  In the context of biblical and Church hospitality, Christians in the household of faith (Church) receive and welcome strangers, not primarily on behalf of themselves or the Church to which they belong, but on behalf of Jesus Christ, who paid the ultimate price of dying on the cross in order to save them from the power of sin and eternal death and bring them into God’s redeemed community— the Church.

You remember the language that our Lord Jesus Christ uses in Matthew 25, the chapter in the New Testament in which he addresses believers about the purpose and motive of providing hospitality to the needy— the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, prisoner? Well, the qualifier word that he uses for why his followers welcome and help strangers is, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). Thus from Jesus’s explanation of what Christian hospitality is all about, the first component of biblical hospitality that we need to understand is that Christians show hospitality to strangers and the needy for the sake of Christ, or as if it is done to Christ.  That’s why Jesus uses the important pointing words, “You did it to me.”

Before we depart from Jesus’s call to genuine and practical Christian hospitality in Matthew 25, I want you to think about why Jesus refers to the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and prisoners in his compassionate heart and mind as his brothers. Why do you think Jesus calls strangers brothers? Think about it biblically and from Jesus’ perspective, my friend.

 The amazing answer to the question is that before the disadvantaged group in Matthew 25 that Jesus calls “my brothers” became his brothers, they were strangers towards him and the Father who sent him to find them and bring them home.  That’s the exact picture that Paul uses for those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ in Ephesians 2:12-13, “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the common wealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

So what do we learn from these words of the Holy Spirit through Paul in relation to biblical hospitality?  This is what we learn. Before our conversion, all of us who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and brought into the membership of Christ’s Church were strangers to God. And when God saved us by his Sovereign grace and through faith in his son Jesus Christ alone, he was receiving and accepting strangers and aliens into his own community or Church.

Hence, biblical hospitality originates not in the heart and kindness of men and women in the Church but in the eternal love and grace of God, who transformed their hearts and minds by the power of His Spirit, made them partakers of his divine nature and built them up as his house (Church) on earth.  Therefore, all the work of hospitality that the people of God offer in the Church must be the reflection of God’s gracious and loving character (disposition) towards people who have been alienated from him because of Sin.       

So every time believers in the Church provide hospitality to visitors (greet and welcome visitors to worship, help visitors in worship to feel at home and familiarize themselves with what goes on during worship, translate for them to avoid language barrier, provide nursery to infants and toddlers so parents can attend worship, sit with visitors during fellowship meal to share more of Christ and encourage visitors to come back to worship the Lord, invite visitors over to their house for a meal and Christian acquaintance and strategic evangelism) they act and behave in the same way that their heavenly Father acted toward  them when they were still strangers to him in order to draw them to himself by his loving and caring heart.  

That was the identical instruction that the Lord gave to the people of Israel after he delivered them from the hands of the Pharaoh of Egypt, “Love the sojourner therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19). By this command that the Lord gave to the people of Israel to be hospitable toward aliens and strangers in their land and home, he was reminding them that they themselves were strangers in the land and homes of the Egyptians but that the Egyptians and their king did not receive and welcome them as friends but as slaves and abused them in cruelty and harshness. But He (the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) came down from heaven to deliver them from the cruelty of the Egyptians and the bondage of their false gods and provide gracious divine hospitality to them.

What divine hospitality? The divine hospitality that started with delivering a people under the power of Egypt (which represents Sin) and who were strangers to the true God of Israel, then continuing by leading them through the wilderness, feeding them with manna from heaven and protecting them from all encumbrances on their way to Canaan, the land of the promise, that the Lord promised them as a resting home.  Moses has summarized this hospitable character of God for His people in a powerful and beautiful way in Psalm 90:1 when he said, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”

 In a sense Moses was declaring that God indeed has been very hospitable to His people.  And it is because of that eternal and unconditional love and care that God showed to us who were strangers to God’s salvation and family, that the Lord calls us to be hospitable toward all who are strangers to Him and His Church.  A brief recap of how God demonstrated His saving and fatherly hospitality to us former aliens would help us to put things in their proper perspective.

As you know from Scripture, the key to the unfolding of God’s gracious hospitality to us was God becoming human through the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary. In Theology we call that Incarnation.  And Incarnation is the process through which the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, took human flesh and became like us, through the conception and birth of a Virgin, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now keep this in mind: for God to become human and identify Himself with us sinners, He first had to leave His comfort zone in heaven above.

What God did for us through the incarnation of His son Jesus Christ and then the death on the cross in order to change our status before Him as strangers and aliens to God’s redeemed and holy people, was a sacrificial act of love and hospitality. All the humble and kind deeds that our Lord Jesus Christ performed during His earthly ministry (eating and drinking with sinners in order to call them to faith and repentance, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, helping the poor, showing compassion to the widows and bereaved, sharing a common room with His friends, loving the children unconditionally) were a living and striking examples of what a biblical and sacrificial hospitality is and should look like.

 Notice how Paul gives us a description of it in 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” This, my friends, was Christ’s act of priceless hospitality, and while doing all these things to strangers such as you and me, our Lord Jesus Christ never (ever) saw them as elements of inconvenience in His earthly ministry but fulfilled it graciously, unreservedly and without any word or sign of grumbling.  

If you, my friend, want to do hospitality in the Church and outside of the Church for God’s glory and as the prime expression of God’s gracious character towards undeserving sinners, Christ Jesus (and all who followed His model in offering biblical hospitality to strangers and lost sinners) are examples for you to follow.  Let me share with you some of the patterns and ways on how to follow their examples in showing hospitality effectively:

1. By the grace of God, provide hospitality to believers in the Church who need it and visitors in God’s worship with your Agape kind of love. The Agape type of love is the kind of love that Christ demonstrated to sinners by His death on the Cross. Relating to biblical hospitality, it means a sacrificial love. Remember, this is not just brotherly love, “phileo love”, which is exhibited in a close relationship, like between Christians in the same Church, but the highest form of love, “the love of the Cross”, that Christ showed to us by His sacrifice upon the Cross.  The good example of an Agape type of hospitality is the loving and sacrificial hospitality that the Good Samaritan extended to the Jew who fell among the robbers (Luke 10:25-37). The compassionate hospitality that the Good Samaritan showed to the Jew was an Agape type of love and care provided to a stranger. So let us provide hospitality that resembles the love of the Cross.

• By the strength that Christ gives us, let us leave our comfort zone in order to love and serve others in the love of Christ.  “Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (John 13:5)

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than    yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)

• Guard your heart that you do not view Christian hospitality in the Church as a matter of inconvenience.  Always remember Job. In the midst of his long and awful trials, the one thing that he never stopped doing was showing hospitality to strangers (Job 31:32). Isn’t that worth noting, my friend? In the case of Job, he was welcoming and entertaining strangers in his home at the time that he was inflicted physically and his situation was not suitable for providing hospitality to strangers passing by his house. So every time you are called to provide hospitality in the Church, consider Jesus leaving his glorious home in heaven, lying in a manger and washing his disciples’ feet, and Job being stricken and wounded but saying to the aliens who passed by his house, come inside and be refreshed in my house. Following the examples of Jesus and Job in the area of fulfilling biblical hospitality in the Church will help you not to see the ministry of hospitality in the Church as an inconvenience.

• Do hospitality primarily as a matter of the heart and to reflect God’s gracious love to the strangers, not as a technique or a task. Be mindful of this all the time, my friend. Biblical hospitality is not about our house or a smiling face to visitors but about our heart. The heart is the abode of an authentic and genuine hospitality and the authentic hospitality is rooted in the love of the Cross reigning in our hearts.  This means if hospitality is Christians acting to reflect the love of Christ to the strangers whom the Lord brings to them, it must flow from the heart and must be linked to the underserving and unmerited grace of God in our life. It was for that very reason that Paul exhorts believers about their love for one another and all people in this way, “Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9). You see, according to Paul, providing hospitality merely as a task or performance lacks effectiveness that comes from the love of Christ filled in the heart of believers, and can always be exposed to the frustration and discomfort that the flesh provokes inside of God’s children. So guard your heart from that. 

To summarize all the things that I have been telling you about a hospitable Church and how biblical hospitality should be understood and be done in the Church, let me restate to you what Christian hospitality is for God’s people.  For the people of God, the duty of hospitality comes right from the center of who God was for His people— that He made a home for His people and brought them there by His mighty and hospitable hand.  Then based on that, His people are called to reflect and extend His grace to others (strangers and outsiders) by providing hospitality for the glory of God and for the purpose of strategic evangelism.  

Again, I am thankful to the Lord that you, my brothers and sisters, are part of a hospitable Church. But still, because your ongoing spiritual growth in all aspects of the Christian life, including the ministry of Christian hospitality, is a matter of my pastoral goal and prayers for you all, I would like to encourage you to read this article prayerfully and with readiness to start doing the things that you haven’t started doing yet in the area of Christian hospitality in Christ’s Church.

In the name of the great and hospitable Shepherd!

Your friend and Pastor

Zaki

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” (Prov 19:17)

The Pastor who proclaims the word of God to the congregation from the pulpit every Sunday is the herald of Jesus Christ.  And who is a herald? In ancient times, a herald was a messenger who brought a message from the king to the people under the king’s subjection or rule.  In the New Testament, John the Baptist was known as a herald. But he was not a herald (messenger) of an earthly king but a heavenly King, who was Christ Jesus.

The Gospel writer John introduced John the Baptist in John 1:6 as a man sent from God to bear witness to the light and through whose message (heralding) about the light (who was Christ- the light of the world) people would believe and be saved.  From that language, we can conclude that a person who is called to the gospel ministry to stand in the pulpit of Christ’s Church every Lord’s day to preach and teach the whole counsel of God stands in the pulpit as a herald (voice) of Christ to instruct, encourage, comfort and perfect worshipers on the Church pews.

Additionally, in the New Testament, preachers who represent Christ in the office of the ministry of the Word are called Christ’s ambassadors who implore (beg) people to be reconciled with God (2 Corinthians 5:20). Thus, when a Pastor stands in the pulpit and preaches the Word of God to Christ’s flock, he does that as a herald and ambassador of Christ (the heavenly king and ruler) to deliver a message of repentance, salvation, peace and reconciliation to sinners. Consequently, this biblical truth about the King’s herald who stands in the pulpit every Sunday should call us to solemn duty.

We must hear and love the Word that is preached and is going to be preached to us each Sunday as a message from our King and Shepherd Jesus Christ through his herald (ambassador) the human preacher.  The preacher from the pulpit is a human instrument through which the Scripture is heard and received by God’s people.  That’s the reason why the pulpit is considered as a place of authority from which the preacher declares the whole counsel of God from God’s inspired and infallible Word.  The herald’s work from the pulpit is not suggestive but declarative.  And the duty that God has given to every hearer in the sanctuary is to hear the voice of his king and great Shepherd Jesus Christ through the mouth of his herald standing in the pulpit.

Do you recall how Christ distinguishes his own sheep (believers) from those who are not his sheep (unbelievers)?  We find the answer in John 10:3, “The Sheep hear his Voice” So, the distinguishing mark of true Christians is that they hear and believe the truth of the gospel.  In John Chapter 10, our Lord Jesus Christ makes it abundantly clear that the relationship between himself and his people is like a relationship between the Shepherd and his Sheep. And the distinguishing mark that defines that relationship is “they hear his voice”. They hear it, they believe it and they love and obey it.

In this week’s article I would like to talk to you all from my heart about how we all should hear the voice of our Shepherd Jesus Christ through the Word that is proclaimed to us every Sunday from the pulpit.

What do you think are the biblical characters of a good spiritual listener?

 I will share four good characters that the Lord has taught me in my life with you all.

To hear obediently:  In the gospel of Luke 8:18 the Lord Jesus Christ himself has given us the following exhortation.  “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

This sobering exhortation to the hearers of God’s Word comes directly from the King (Jesus Christ) and is related to how the preaching of God’s Word must be heard and be received by God’s people.

And by this serious exhortation our Lord Jesus Christ was saying “You need to be a good spiritual listener” which means, because it is a message from the heavenly King, you are bound to listen to it obediently. Consider with me what Paul said in Romans 1:5, “Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.”

You see, the Call that Paul is referring to in this verse is the Call of the Gospel or the preaching of the Word of God.  And according to Paul, God has given grace (favor and ability) to the one who preaches the Word of God to call unbelievers and believers to obey God by faith.

And where does faith come from, my friend?  Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ”.  So what produces faith and obedience in the life of God’s people is the proclamation of God’s Word.  And you know what? God has promised a blessing for those who attend the preaching of His Word with obedient heart.  

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” John 14:23.  

What a glorious blessing! When you hear the Word of God from the pulpit and obey it, the blessing that the Lord has promised you in his word is that you will be like a home in which God dwells as God the Holy Spirit, to fill you with every spiritual blessing that you need in life.  

So every Sunday before you come to Church for Worship say to yourself, “I will go to Church to hear the voice of my king through his herald and by the grace of God I will obey.”

To hear appreciatively:  Every time you seat in sanctuary to hear the Word preached to you, do you listen to it appreciatively?  You see, you hear obediently because obedience belongs to the essential nature of the Word of God that the preacher proclaims to you. The message originates from King Jesus and demands obedience from the Redeemed under his Lordship.  Then the preached Word must be received with deep appreciation and longing for divine visitation, nourishment and blessing by the hearer.

 Remember how the Psalmist appreciates the Word of God in Psalm 119:72, “The Law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” As you my friend know, gold and silver are the highest expression of the most expensive and valuable possession. Those who possess them in life suppose that they have got what are the most precious and excellent things.

Is that how we treat the Word of God that we hear from the pulpit every Sunday?  It is it more precious and valuable than gold and silver for you? And how is the preached Word more glorious and precious than gold and silver? Because however precious and pure gold and silver are, they are among the things of this world that are perishable (1 Peter 1:18) but the preached Word is eternal and by faith in the eternal Son of God, it gives eternal life (Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:24-25).  We all appreciate receiving gold or silver as a gift from someone who loves us. And it is a proper thing to do. But what about the gift of the preached Word from the pulpit which is imperishable and has eternal value?

So come to the sanctuary to hear the voice of Jesus appreciatively.  

To hear dependently:  When we hear the Word preached from the pulpit we are highly advised by the Scripture that we should never depend on our ability and intelligence to understand what is delivered to us from the human herald in the pulpit. We must come to Church to hear and understand our God speaking to us through his messenger (the preacher) depending on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul makes the indispensability of the Holy Spirit in hearing and perceiving the message of God’s Word very clear in 1 Corinthians 2:13, “And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”

 In a sense, Paul is telling us that what the preacher does from the pulpit in the sanctuary (the preaching of God’s holy word) is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit through the instrument of a human preacher. And the same Spirit gives to the hearer the ability to enjoy and understand the preaching of the Word.   That was the reason why Paul in 1 Corinthians 2: 10-12 said, “These things God revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depth of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the Spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”

You see, my friends, our ability and insight to understand the preached Word comes not from us but from the Holy Spirit. Hence, every time we leave our home for worship, let’s take a moment to pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit on us to understand the truth of God’s Word. Remember, the hearer without the Spirit cannot accept and understand the things that come from God (1 Corinthians 2:14).  So always depend on the blessed Spirit as you hear the voice of your great Shepherd from his under-shepherd, the preacher from the pulpit.

To hear responsively:  Isn’t that what our Lord Jesus Christ said? “My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) “They follow me” means they hear me and do what I tell them to do. On another occasion Jesus also said “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” (John 14:15) 

So according to Jesus, the distinguishing mark (quality) of Christ’s sheep is responding to the preaching of the Word of God with readiness and willingness to do his will being presented to you in the preaching from the pulpit. In the Parable of the Sower, our Lord Jesus Christ spoke about the kind of soil that produces nothing (hard soil, rocky soil and thorny soil) and the good soil that produced thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold. Then he explains the difference between the soils that produce nothing and the soil that is productive based on how the preached Word was heard and received.

According to Jesus the difference between the heart that produces nothing and the one that is productive after hearing the Word preached was the good soil (heart) that responds to the preaching of God’s Word in obedience and love, like Samuel who said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:10).

And as we know, Samuel heard but he also did all that the Lord commanded him to do by the strength that God gave him. And it is the same with you, my friend. You can respond to the preaching of God’s holy Word from the pulpit obediently, appreciatively, dependently and readily.  Just remember and believe in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me.”  

Friend, at Redeemer the Lord has given you two wonderful opportunities to hear the Voice of his Son Jesus Christ through his heralds each Sunday, the proclamation of his Word from the pulpit during worship, and the teaching of his holy Word during Sunday school hour.  In the love of Christ I encourage you all to come and listen to his voice in both times obediently, appreciatively, dependently and responsively.

May the Lord grant you his grace to do so!

Your friend and Pastor,

Zecharias

“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.” Ecclesiastes 5:1  

There are many things in life that we do, and enjoy them without any preparation. Things like watching a football game, cycling race, or watching a movie come to mind when I think about things we don’t need to go through a time of preparation for. And the reason why we don’t need to prepare ourselves for them prior to enjoying them is that we just want to be entertained by them. Things like that are designed for our entertainment and temporal amusement in life.

However, the worship of God is not one of them. An act of religious worship by the people of God requires a solemn and sincere preparation by the worshipers before the actual worship service in God’s house.  

Unfortunately, in most churches, today worship is viewed and treated as a means of entertainment to the people in attendance.  Its ultimate purpose is to make the people feel good about their life, with the music played in the service and by what the preacher says to the people from the pulpit. And because of that distorted understanding of worship, many people come to Church on Sunday unprepared and only as spectators.  

They come to the worship of the almighty God with a similar attitude that people have toward going to see a sport event. They go, but they go with their hearts saying, “Entertain me, move me, show me something amazing, or if you are a lousy preacher you will make me suffer.” That is the general attitude that people have towards worship today. Worship is about them, about what they need and what makes them feel excited and happy.

 Is that how you understand and treat worship, my friend? With no preparation at all or with an attitude that says, “Because it is my tradition to go to church on Sunday I will go, and I will go to be entertained by what goes on at the service, but if things become boring I will endure.”? Does this sound familiar to you from your own experience and how you observe people talking about their opinion on religious worship?

The above attitudes to worship should never be the characteristics of true worshipers of the God of the Bible. As you, my friend, join me in thinking and reflecting on how to prepare for worship through this pastoral article, the first principle of Christian worship that I want you to keep in mind and be convinced of is that Christian worship is regulated by God Himself, not man.

It is God who sets the rule for how He must be worshiped in the gathering of His people in the church, not the people who have been created by Him in order to be under His sovereign power and subjection.  Where do we see that? What is our ground for that? In the Bible, which is our only source of authority and rule for doctrine and practice.

It is in the Bible that we see God not only commanding his people whom He created and delivered to worship Him, but also to come to His worship prepared.  And there are many verses in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that attests to that, but the two main portions of the Scripture that I have chosen to show you God instructing His people on preparation for worship are:

1. Exodus 19:1-20, from that section the two main instructions that I would like to point out are:  Vs 4-6 “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”  Then Vs 13-14, “When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their garments.”

In the first instruction that the Lord gave to the people of Israel on how to approach His presence in worship, you should notice two important reminders:

1. The God to whom God’s people come in worship is the God who delivered His people from the power of sin in Egypt, the nation in the Old Testament that represents sin. In worship, the God who saved Israel (and you) is praised and glorified. For worshipers to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for God means for God’s people to consecrate themselves for God or separate themselves from things that entangle believers in sin in order to worship the holy God aright.
2. Because worship is a meeting between a holy God and sinful people who have been redeemed and forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ, the people who come to the presence of God in worship go to the throne of God in prayer prior to the day of worship to ask God the Holy Spirit to sanctify their hearts, minds, and motive to offer a pleasing worship to the Lord.

   This is the reason why Moses gives us the picture of the Israelites washing their garments before their meeting with God, as an outward symbol of the inside washing away of our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ and the cleansing of our Christian consciences by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:14, 10:22).

• Romans 12: 1-2, “I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  

In the second instruction that Paul gives to believers about worship and the importance of preparing ourselves for the worship of God, the Apostle describes the Christian life as both God’s work of mercy and as worshipful.  This means before we even think that the Christian life has everything to do with being merciful to people, we need to realize that it has everything to do with being worshipful toward God.  Do you see Paul exactly doing that? “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” By this Paul is showing you that before you give yourself away in mercy to other people, God first desires and requires you to give your whole being to Him in worship.  And for you to present your bodies, minds and hearts as a living and pleasing sacrifice to God who is holy and perfect, you need to wash the garments of your heart before you come to the sanctuary on Sunday to worship the Lord.

And how do you prepare your heart for worship before Sunday? What are the things (depending on the enabling grace and spirit of God) that you need to do prior to Sunday worship, in order to worship God according to His terms, not yours?  There are things that will liberate you from becoming a mere spectator in the assembly of God’s people for worship and help you to participate in worship using the elements of the Order of Worship in your hand (written on the Church Bulletin). Let me share them with you.

1. Prepare to meet with God: Many make a great mistake by viewing the Sunday Worship as an occasion for people who belong to one local congregation to meet on a weekly basis to just sing praises to God, hear a preacher teach and preach the Word of God and use the opportunity to meet friends in the Church.  Now bear with me, I am not saying that the things that I just mentioned above are not or should not be part of our Sunday Worship. But I am saying that the primary meaning and purpose of Sunday Worship is “a meeting/encounter between God and His redeemed people”. And people who enter into the presence of a holy God should do some preparation before they come to their maker and deliverer for worship.  Every time we receive an invitation to a wedding reception or an inauguration of a high rank official to a special office, we prepare ourselves ahead of time with what to wear for the occasion and how to appear before the one who invited us. We do all our preparation having the person who invited us in view. We start thinking about what pleases or might disappoint our host ahead of time. Frankly speaking, we take preparation for a reception or party very seriously. All that for an earthly invitation or encounter with a human host!  What about the invitation of a heavenly host? An invitation, not for a temporal earthly enjoyment, but a blessed encounter with the Maker of heaven and earth, to bless us with His presence, favor, spiritual food, hope, joy, and guidance for the future? I believe we should do much more preparation for such an invitation from our God. Especially when we keep God in view—His majesty, holiness, lovingkindness, forgiveness, eternal word, provisions in the means of grace (the sacrament of the Lord Supper), and power to protect and guide— we will be more encouraged and motivated to prepare ourselves to meet with our God. So pray beforehand that God would give you all that you need to meet with Him in a worthy manner (Romans 12:1-2).

• Prepare to listen: One of the distinguishing characteristics of God’s children is listening to the voice of Christ His son (John 10:27). In worship, God speaks to His people through the call to worship, the Scripture reading of the day and the preaching of the Word of God by the one who proclaims His word to the people. When God speaks to you through these means (His Word) you need to prepare yourself to listen to His voice humbly and eagerly. As the Lord’s Day approaches, you need to pray to God to enable you to listen to Him. And as you do that, go to the church’s website and read the selected Scripture Reading and Sermon text for the following Sunday prayerfully. That will help you to come to God’s Worship to listen to your God (Proverbs 2:1-5).

• Prepare to participate:  Christian worship is participatory. In the worship of God, worshipers are not passive, but must participate in the act of worship actively. How do you do that? You do that being led by the Holy Spirit and aided by the elements of worship that the Church puts for you on the Order of Worship. What you see on the Order of Worship every Sunday is prescribed for you by God in the Scripture.  The Call to Worship, Prayer, Scripture Reading, Confession of Faith, Singing, the preaching of the gospel, Offerings, the Sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, Fellowship and Benediction, are Scriptural (Psalm 100:1-2, Philippians 4:6-7, Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 5:18-20, Romans 10:17, Malachi 3:10, Psalm 32:1, Hebrews 10:25, Numbers 6:24-26). And all the elements of worship are for you to participate in the worship of God by listening, praying, reading, confessing, praising God in singing, heeding to the preaching of God’s word, giving to the work of God’s kingdom locally and beyond, benefiting from the Sacraments, and receiving God’s benediction. If you come to Worship being prepared to participate in these elements of Worship you will not be passive, or a church-goer who comes to be entertained, but a joyful and active worshiper.  Prior to Sunday, pray that the Lord would bless you with a participatory heart in Worship (John 4:23-24).

•  Prepare to receive: Before Sunday you need to prepare your heart to receive God’s blessings humbly and instructively. Yes, we worship God because of who He is and what He already has done for us in a saving manner, not to get things that we want from Him.  Nevertheless, God also has promised to bless those who will worship Him aright and with a right motive (Isaiah 58:13-14, Matthew 11:28-30). In worship, God blesses you with His presence, guidance, instruction, joy of salvation, assurance, exhortation, and spiritual nourishment. You need to come prepared to receive all these things from God humbly and with a desire to grow spiritually (Romans 8:32).

• Prepare to give: The worship of God gives you an opportunity to obey and please God in giving from what the Lord gives you to the work of Christ’s church in the form of offerings, tithes and diaconal gifts (1 Chronicles 29:9, 1 Corinthians 9:7, Acts 20:35). Thus, before Sunday, prepare your heart and hands to participate in God’s worship through giving a portion from what the Lord has given you to support the Church’s work of evangelism and shepherding.

• Prepare to fellowship: Worship also gives you an opportunity to spend your time with your fellow believers in the body of Christ for the purpose of mutual encouragement and edification (Hebrews 13:1-2, Romans 16:16, Acts 2: 42-45). The greeting that believers exchange with one another after worshiping together, conversations that carry on among worshipers in the sanctuary following worship, the fellowship meal, and providing hospitality to worshipers at your home after worship are part of participating in the ministry of encouraging and edifying God’s children (Colossians 3:16).

You see, beloved, Sabbath worship is not a time that you attend church to watch one or two men performing religious rituals. But it is a public gathering of God’s people. You are to be part of it to praise and glorify God through active preparation and participation of the above aspects of Christian worship.

These qualities of true worship will help you in fulfilling Ecclesiastes 5:1, which calls you as a worshiper of God to guard your steps before you go to the house of the Lord for worship, so that you will not offer the sacrifice of fools to God.  In the love of Christ, I encourage you, my dear brothers and sisters, in Christ to use these things that I shared with you regarding preparing your heart for worship before Sunday arrives, so that you continue to grow in how you worship and exalt the Lord each Sunday.

In the love of the great Shepherd,

Zecharias