Get Ready For Sunday
“God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
In this post, I want to focus on the practical steps you and I need to take in order to prepare ourselves for weekly Sunday gatherings. I believe that these basic, yet profound, actions will help us give to God what He truly deserves, and will also lead to our greatest joy and satisfaction both personally and corporately.
To be clear, in this post I’m not making the case for why we gather for worship, which you can read more about here. Nor is it an argument on how to worship biblically, which you can read more about here. Rather, my focus in this post is to briefly help you think through what you need to do in order to best prepare yourself (and your family) for this highly anticipated encounter with the living God on Sunday night.
Why prepare for it?
Because God desires for us to fully engage our hearts and minds as much as we engage our bodies in attendance. Consider how the early church practiced worship in Acts 2:42-47:
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
“We are worshipers who gather to worship. ”
What is meant by worshipers? In John 4, Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman at the well who was trying to ask Jesus (whom she rightly recognized as the Messiah) where is the appropriate place to worship God. Rather than confirming the correct location, His response penetrated the legalistic desire to check off the box of religious duty, and went straight to the heart of the worshiper. What did He say? “Those who worship [God the Father] must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Was Jesus disregarding the corporate gathering of God’s people? By no means. He was pulling back the curtain of the heart of the individual to reveal whether or not they are filled and led by the Holy Spirit (Greek “pneumati”) and obey the truth in their heart (Greek “alētheia”). How does this apply to our weekly gatherings? It means that if you want to be a worshiper that God the Father truly desires, you must be filled with and led by His Spirit, and lead lives of genuine obedience from the heart everyday. This is how we can most fully glory our merciful God (Romans 12:1-2) and remain faithful to the local body where He has sovereignly placed us (Hebrews 10:25, Acts 17:26).
The Problem
Yet how often do we live however we want throughout the week and then find ourselves unprepared and unengaged for the Sunday gathering? Or maybe we seek God most days of the week but we stumble into the Sunday gathering with so many distractions and sins that we end up failing to engage. How often do you find yourself in either of these scenarios or a variation of them? Think of how it grieves God when we show up physically but our hearts and minds are far from Him (Matthew 15:8). Jesus railed on the Pharisees for such an attitude (Matthew 23:27-28). So let us be true worshipers.
How can you prepare?
Consider these three things as disciplines to help you prepare for weekly gatherings.
SELF: Keep your head and heart right with God by spending time daily studying God’s Word and repenting of sin in your life as the Spirit reveals it. (Psalm 32:5, 51, 119:9-11, 139:23-24; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
SCHEDULE: Plan your schedule to make sure you’re physically, mentally, and emotionally ready for Sunday worship. This means that you should get plenty of rest Saturday night and avoid watching or participating in activities that dishonor God (which should be the goal every day). Clear your schedule on Sunday (if possible) to spend time in God’s Word and prayer (alone or with your spouse or family) leading up to the gathering. Make it your Sabbath day of rest if possible. (Matthew 12:7-8; Colossians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 9:24-27; Ephesians 5:15-17)
SETUP: Prepare all that you need to fully engage in the gathering and family meal afterward. Arrive early to talk with folks, both regular attenders and new people. Learn the music we sing. For example, you can familiarize yourself with the songs we’ll sing by checking out the Weekly Playlist on Spotify. For the sermon, you can read over the text since you know we practice expository preaching. We will typically go section by section each week. Lastly, plan to bring food to share for the family meal. Zack normally sends out a weekly email signup. If you don’t currently receive it, just ask him about it.
Again, the foundation of these practical steps is a life of worship in spirit and truth outside of the weekly worship gatherings. And just think of all the breathtaking benefits you get from preparing yourself to worship God rightly! There are many that could be mentioned, but here are just a few:
God the Father “seeks” you (John 4:23)
God gets the ultimate glory from us (John 17:21-22)
You get ultimate joy from God (Acts 2:43)
So let us as true worshipers take these vital steps to prepare ourselves and our families to worship God rightly in our weekly gatherings for His glory and our good.
For more study on the heart posture of a worshiper, check out John Piper’s article here.