Between Sundays

Sunday Sideshow - Conclusion

Of course there is really no end to the sideshow. There are many more selections that could be highlighted such as the not-so-subtle whisperer who manages to commentate on various subjects throughout the hour and the busy-Bible reader who manages to find a text separate from the sermon passage and feverishly study as if he has to combine his quiet time with his public worship. Now over the years I have seen these sideshows and I admit that at first they are quite distracting, but they have never truly disturbed me. I know how it feels to desire God and battle distractions the whole hour. I know what it feels like to have heavy eyes and a constant twitch to move. I’ve crinkled candy and sketched on sermon notes. On occasion, I’ve even had to make my way back to the bathroom. When I think of myself and fellow believers in the midst of any given service my mind is drawn back to the words of Jesus to Peter, James, and John when he found them asleep in the Garden on the night of His arrest: “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” The desire of most Christians is to delight in the Lord and therefore with great anticipation the worship service is embraced and welcomed by most church members. What we fail to anticipate however is the challenges we will face when we enter a room with fellow believers and have to focus our attention on Christ. The world is not so easily left behind at the door. Our worries and anxieties don’t wait in the car. Our physical exhaustion doesn’t remain in the bed after we have risen. Our temptations don’t encounter some barrier that confines them to the church parking lot, and certainly our adversary the devil doesn’t take the day off as a holiday. This means that as much as we would love to enter a service and rest in the Lord, there is work we must do!
To see our desires match up with the direction of the service, we must be willing to prepare for worship before it begins. Rather than come at worship much like a booster shot we need to immunize ourselves from sin for the coming week, we need to build up an immunity to the world throughout the week as we worship God daily. This allows our worship of God throughout the week merely to transition to a worship of God with fellow believers during the weekend. In simpler words, worship is never to cease. Work to worship God throughout the week and worship on Sunday becomes much easier. We must take to heart the seriousness of Paul’s words in Philippians 1:27: “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.” If we live for the gospel throughout the week then on Sunday we come together and make minor course corrections. However, it is quite a bit harder to right the ship on Sunday if you have been sailing in the opposite direction the rest of the week.
Secondly, we need to prepare for the act of corporate worship itself by knowing how our flesh is weak and taking actions to reduce physical distractions. If you are prone to sleepiness, a good night’s rest can do wonders for your mind and body. Yet are you willing to forgo other activities to ensure that you are well rested and wide awake? If your mind tends to drift away into other activities or future events, find a way to help center your focus. Are you willing to take notes and follow an outline to help keep your thoughts on target? By identifying our weaknesses, we can develop a game plan that refuses to let these hindrances keep us from delighting in the worship of our God.
Finally, let us remember that we come together not only for self edification but for edification of the whole. So as we stand and sit and sing and listen we desire not only to keep ourselves focused on God, but to make sure we don’t prove to be a distraction for others around us. Our actions are rarely contained when it comes to consequences, and often we unwittingly include others in our own disruptions. Truly as we work at worship, we are working toward the worship of all. Scripture tells us in Romans 15:2: “Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.” In this we see the concern Christians have for one another and the love that leads us to build one another up.
There will always be some distractions on this side of heaven. Others will cause us to be distracted and we will cause others to be distracted. At some point we just have to laugh at ourselves and thank the Lord that by His grace we are being transformed. One day our worship will be perfect and there will be no more distractions to pull us away from the glory of Christ. There will be no weaknesses or temptations to deprive us of the delight of God. In that day, worship will be beyond wonderful, but until then let us work to see the glory of heaven here on earth!

posted by Eric @ 8:21 AM