PREPARING OURSELVES FOR WORSHIP

Psalms 24:1-10

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?

Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.

 Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors,
 that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory?
 The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

 Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors,
 that the King of glory may come in.  Who is he, this King of glory?
 The LORD Almighty he is the King of glory.

INTRODUCTION

Psalm 24 is a Psalm of praise. David wrote when he returned from retrieving the Ark of the Covenant and returning it to the Hebrew people.

This was an exciting time for these people. You see it had been almost 50 years since these people had been in possession of this ark. And now David had returned it to where it belonged. This was truly a time of great celebration!

 2 Samuel 6:5 tells us “David and the whole company of Israel were in the parade, singing at the top of their lungs and playing mandolins, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.”  (The Message)

Can’t you just visualize it in your mind this group of people parading through the streets singing and praising God with everything they had led by their King David. What a time of praise and celebration this must have been.

David knew how to worship, and he experienced the joy of worshipping his God.

Many people attend Church on Sunday. And they refer to the particular time they meet as their worship service. But the question is when we attend Church are we really worshipping or are we just killing time?  

You see worship is much more than meeting at some location on Sunday mornings. Yes it’s important to meet. The Bible stresses very clearly the importance of meeting together. Being a part of some Christian fellowship is important.  But there’s something more.

Worship and attendance are not the same.

You see it’s not enough just to meet. Our worship needs to be a time of refreshing. When we meet we need to feel we have come to a place that is safe from the outside world. A place where we feel we can put away all our troubles and focus on something more pleasant for an hour or so.

A place where we can enjoy healthy fellowship with people who share similar beliefs.  A place where we can laugh, sing, and cry, all in the same hour. A place where we can enjoy each other’s company.

Does that describe your worship?

We need to encourage each other we need to support each other and build each other up. We need to lift each other up in prayer. We need to be compassionate and loving.

Worship is entering in to God’s presence for the sole purpose of exalting Him. Worship is spending time in God’s presence.

People come and go from church every Sunday but sadly enough some leave feeling anything but refreshed. Some leave feeling no better than when they arrived. Sometimes even a little worse.

We come carrying our baggage and we might leave with even more. But we need to feel refreshed and revitalized.

Somewhere along the way some have got the idea that worship and attendance are the same thing.  

But God doesn’t bless us just for showing up. It’s not about perfect attendance. You see God is not like some school teacher who gives their student an A+ for attendance. Worship is more than perfect attendance.

Worship is when we enter into God’s presence to express our humility, our respect, our adoration, our gratitude, and our love for him.

Worship is an everyday experience. It’s 24/7. Our worship isn’t something we reserve for Sunday. So how do we prepare ourselves for worship?

We prepare ourselves for worship by…

MAKING GOD THE FOCUS OF OUR WORSHIP (1-2)

Some of you might be saying “There’s nothing new about that. I’ve known that for years.”"

But the fact is that what we say and what we do sometimes are completely different. David was excited about worship. Can’t you just picture David dancing through those streets praising God? Listen!

Verses 1-2 “ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.”(NIV)

David was focused completely on God. Nothing else, just God alone. That’s not easy is it? Sometimes when we sit thorough the service our minds are a thousand miles away. Yes we may be there in body but where are our minds?

We sit there in our seat and our mind just seems to drift off in every direction. We think about what have to do when we get home, what we have to do this week at work, the movie we watched last night or that big game that’s coming on tonight. Perhaps we’re focused on the baggage we’re carrying. I don’t know.

But David’s mind was focused. He wasn’t distracted by the things around him. He worshipped God with all his mind and body. He gave God everything.

We’re here today because God allows us to. It certainly isn’t because we deserve it. We don’t deserve to live in this beautiful world. We haven’t done anything to earn it. But God in spite of our faults still considers us to be His special creation. And He loves us everyone in spite of our faults and failures.

And when we like David focus all our attention on praising God then our worship will be different as well. We will have the same excitement that David had.

Does that describe your worship? Is your worship anything like that? When you worship do you realize that God is the one in control? Do you realize that if it wasn’t for God’s grace, you wouldn’t be here? Do you give him the praise and thanks He deserves?

Do you love God so much that you can focus all your attention on Him? Do you love Him enough to block out the distractions. Do you love God so much that you willing to be in control? Is God the focus of your worship?

How do we prepare ourselves for worship? We prepare ourselves for worship by confessing our sins and repentance.

CONFESSION AND REPENTANCE (3-4)

Verse 3, "Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?" (NIV)

The answer is found in Verse 4. “Those who have clean hands and a pure heart.” (NIV)

So what does this mean for us here today?

If we aren’t right with God then we aren’t spiritually prepared to worship Him. We can’t worship when we’re not right with God.

Are you right with God? What kinds of thoughts do you think? How is your attitude? What do you spend your spare time at? Do you have resentment towards your brother or sister? Are you jealous? Are you proud? Do you have anger in your heart? Is there something your holding on to that you just don’t want to let go of?

If there’s any sin in your life you need to confess it and repent of it now. You can’t worship with Sin in your heart. You can’t worship the Lord if you aren’t right with Him.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (NIV)

We need to give Him our baggage right now and begin worshipping. Sin makes us dirty on the inside. It makes us miserable.

Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."(NIV)

We need to feel God’s presence in our lives.

We need to prepare ourselves spiritually every day.

Once or twice a week just isn’t enough it has to be a daily thing.

We need to look into God’s word every day. We need to spend time in prayer regularly and if there are sins that need to be confessed we need to confess them. Don’t let the baggage pile up.

Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (NIV)

We need to prepare ourselves spiritually to worship and we must focus on God when we worship. How do we prepare ourselves for worship? It has to be our desire.

WE HAVE TO WANT WORSHIP (7-10)

It’s our decision nobody can force us. It has to be our desire. We have to want it.

Verse 7 and Verse 9 tell us” Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in."(NIV)

This is a reference to the gates of the Temple. The Temple gates were carved with beautiful sculptures, yet they were designed to provide protection from all enemies.

They threw upon the gates of the Temple so that God would come in.

God would provide all of the protection they needed

1 Corinthians 6:19 describes our bodies as being temples "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit..." (NIV)

God wants us to open up our hearts and allow Jesus Christ to come in through the power of His Holy Spirit. And if you’ve already Allowed Him to come in then you need to allow Him to be in control. It has to be our desire. We have to want it more than anything else.

If God’s Holy Spirit is going to be in control of our life we have to let Him. He wants to but he isn’t going to force himself on us.

Worship is all about love. Love for a Holy God. Love for his son Jesus Christ who died so that you could receive forgiveness from sin.

Worship is about us loving him back. It’s about giving him our all. It’s about letting Him take all our baggage. That’s how we prepare ourselves for worship

If we love Him He will be the focus of our worship.

If we love Him we will prepare ourselves spiritually to worship him.

If we love Him the desire of our hearts will be to worship him.

Are you willing to worship him today with all your heart?