Caution! Entering Worship Service

As we enter the worship of God in the gathering of his people we need to heed the caution lights of Ecclesiastes 5. We are entering the presence of the holy King of the universe and our Father through faith in Jesus Christ.  Such a high and holy privilege requires intentionality, putting away distractions and listening to God's Word shared in reading, singing, praying, teaching, preaching.  We are to worship God with reverence and awe.

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
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Transcript

Title:  Caution! Entering Worship Service

Date: March 4, 2026

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7; Hebrews 12:28-29

AI TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to Bible Insights with Wayne Conrad. God's Word is a lamp to our feet and a light on our path. 

Today's topic, Caution, Entering Worship. On Tuesday evenings, we gather for a Bible study. And last night, we were at the Book of Ecclesiastes. It's sort of a different book, different than any other book in the New or Old Testament, but it has a section in it that just all of a sudden hits you. You're reading along and it's talking about how people engage in various things in pursuit to find satisfaction in life. And the end result each time when you devote yourself to the wrong thing, which is anything besides the living God, you end up with just the wind blowing. You end up chasing a fog. But when you get to Ecclesiastes chapter five, you're suddenly in a different place. Listen to these words from, we suppose, Solomon in his older days. Ecclesiastes 5, the Christian standard Bible, which is the one in front of me.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Better to approach in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they ignorantly do wrong. Do not be hasty to speak and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven. and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

Just as dreams accompany much labor, so also a fool's voice comes with many words. When you make a vow to God, don't delay fulfilling it, because he does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow. Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you, and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands? For many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God."

When we read these words and we are confronted with this particular situation. We are entering into the house of God. Now, in Solomon's day, this was entering into the temple. Before that, entering into the tabernacle. So, the people came at least three times a year, the males, to worship before Almighty God and to present sacrifices. Though they could do so at other times of the year as well, voluntarily, but when you enter the house of God, I suppose it's Solomon who's writing these words, guard your steps, he says.

It's a caution sign. You know, when you're traveling the roads, you're traveling, say, in the city, and you come to intersections, especially where there's lots of traffic going back and forth, the light is green, says go, the light's red, says stop. But in between, there's a caution light. It's yellow, and often it's blinking. It's telling you things are about to change. Be careful. If you're needing to stop, then stop. Don't go under me but stop. I believe that's what the Word of God is telling us. We are approaching the presence of God.

Now, it's true that in This time, after the coming of Christ Jesus, we do not engage in temple worship anymore. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, and the sacrifices ended. And all of that's in accordance with God's plan, because Jesus himself is a fulfillment of both the tabernacle, or temple, and the sacrifices. but we still gather as believers. And when we gather as believers, this constitutes the house of God.

When believers are intentionally gathering together in order to present their prayers and praise to God, in order to hear his word read and taught and in order to respond with our hearts, with our offerings, with our lives. We call this public worship.

Now, it may take place in a home. You know, the early Christians, for the least 200 years, they met in believers' homes as groups. Maybe there's 10, 20, 50, whatever that home could accommodate, the people gathered there and received instruction and offered their worship before God. Later, when Christianity became legal in the empire, church buildings began to be built, and that seems to be the primary model today. But it doesn't matter where the people of God meet for public worship. It's not the place; it's the meeting and its purpose that makes all the difference.

Ecclesiastes says, guard your steps when you go to the house of God. I want to read to you a couple of paragraphs from a favorite preacher and author, Brian Borgman, in his book about Ecclesiastes concerning don't waste your breath or something of that nature. In chapter six, I believe it is, he writes the following. Going to church, guard your steps. This is a word of caution to the careless.

When you go to worship God, be prepared, be intentional, have a sense of both gravity and gladness. As you enter the doors, realize that what you have to say pales compared to what God has to say. Draw near to listen and listen with care. Those who draw near to listen also draw near to learn and to obey.

The fool bounces into the house of worship, holding a lamb on the end of a rope, that's obviously Old Testament, with one hand and his cell phone with the other, that's today. As he strolls into the house of God, he scrolls through the latest social media posts while thinking that he's performing his duty and that God will bless him.

Kohelo says he does not know that he is doing evil. It never occurs to him that God is not a commodity to be used. It never occurs to him that he is about to meet the king of the universe. Now, Cahilla, who's the one speaking in the book of Ecclesiastes, then gives us some directives and approach, the right approach to God in worship.

And I want us to just to consider those briefly. His first directive is to guard your steps when approaching and entering into the meeting of God's people with God to offer unto him acceptable worship, listening to his word and seeking to obey it with all of our hearts.

We call this public worship. We call this Christian worship. The first thing that he points to us is that we need to be aware of what we are doing. And that as we approach this meeting of worship, we need to be in tune physically, mentally, and spiritually. We need to know that we are there intentionally to worship God. You see, sometimes we go to public worship without the awareness that we're going to meet God, the king of the universe. But that's exactly what we're doing, whether we're aware of it or not.

When we enter into the public worship of God, it doesn't matter the location, but when you enter into it, whether a small group in a home, a small group in a church building, or a big group in a cathedral, or a big group in a big mega building, wherever it may be, the people are gathering before the God, the God of the universe, the almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we are called together to worship Him acceptably with reverence and with awe. I believe that's what the author of Ecclesiastes is telling us. Guard your steps when you go into the house of God. Now, better to approach, he says, in obedience than to offer the sacrifices fools do.

Now, what does that mean? Well, it means that people go into church without ever really considering what they're doing. And they're so preoccupied with self and self-activities that their mind is not even on God. They're busy, as he says in the writing that I read, scrolling through their social media. They're staying in touch with the world, so you're in touch with everything else, not focusing on being in touch with God.

And not only hearing from God and listening for God but presenting themselves before Him as those who are His children, His servants, and those who are in relationship to Him. He is our Father. we must show him utmost reverence. We must guard our eyes, guard our mouths, and guard our ears, not to shut out, except for the distractions, but to focus upon God, who is the object of our worship. We must not go in like fools. We are not ignorant people. We have been informed this is how we worship God, and we must do so with intention and with reference. Now, what the author of Ecclesiastes says to us is also reflected in other passages of scripture.

For instance, the Lord Jesus himself said that it's not necessarily the place, brother, he says, the woman asked him, should we worship God in Jerusalem, or should we worship God here on the mountains of Samaria? And Jesus said, paraphrasing, it's not the location of the building, it's the location of the heart. Because God is seeking worshipers who worship him in spirit and in truth. Listen to these words in Romans chapter 12.

The apostle Paul writes, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, brethren, brothers and sisters in Christ, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices as we engage in true worship. Our bodies are involved in worship, are they not? We see things, we hear things, we speak things, we sing things. It's our bodies, our minds, our hearts, our hands, our feet. All of us is to be engaged in the worship of God.

Hebrews chapter 12 underscores the importance of reverence before God and paying close attention to what we're doing when we worship God. When the author of Hebrews writes, therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And in this manner, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and all for our God is a consuming fire. I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but you know, worship is serious business.

It is our responsibility, it is our joy, it is the source of our strength as believers in God. So, it's utmost important that we not miss the gathering of God's people, that it be high on our priority list, that we make all our plans revolve around gathering with God's people every week when they gather. We do not make excuses. That is not the Christian way. That's not the biblical way. We do not seek for ways or reasons why we can't go.

We conform what we're doing to go because God expects us to meet with him in the gathering of his people. But as we go, we must go with a proper mind frame. and we must go with a heart that's being submissive to God. Now, sometimes that requires some work on our part. The work of repentance, prior to repentance, even before we come to the house of God, to the gathering of God's people. We must be then mindful in coming to worship, but we must be mindful in the worship service itself.

We must pay attention to the different segments, to the things that are happening, focusing our minds, our eyes on what's taking place. When we sing, we should sing. Read the words with understanding. Sing them. If there are words that are addressed to God's people, then we're seeking to encourage one another. If there are words addressed to our own heart, we're seeking to conform ourselves to the will of God. Or if there are words offered to God in praise or in a description of Him and what He does, we must take the learning of God's word so that we can grow on this spiritual food that God is giving us. We must present our offerings before God and our prayers before God. Now, prayers is speaking with God, speaking to Him. Too often, we often regard prayers as simply a laundry list in which we present God what we want, and we expect God to give it to us. And that's because we have a different conception of God than the biblical conception.

God is the great king. God is our gracious heavenly father. He is not a commodity. He is not someone we simply use as a resource. God is God. We must remember that we are creatures. We are children. God's the creator. God is the king. And God is our father. We must appear before God with readiness, with attentiveness, and with reverential awe. For the fear of God is the beginning to wisdom. Caution. We're entering the service of worship. The blinking light is there, yellow, telling us, guard your steps by guarding your thoughts and focusing upon God, not yourself and not the distractions of the world and its idols. 

This has been Wayne Conrad with Bible Insight.