Keep Thy Foot When Thou Goest to the House of God Ecclesiastes 5:1 “When thou goest to the house of God, says Koheleth, take heed to thy step, well reflecting whither thou goest and how thou hast there to appear.” Worshiping God is serious business.

To draw near to hear is better than the sacrifice of fools (5:1). One may come to worship God to relate to Him, to hear His instruction. Or one may come to go through motions, to offer up meaningless sacrifices.

The idea is that merely showing up is what is important. Just doing the stuff God has said to do is all that matters. The result is ignorance that results in the doing of evil (5:1). The whole point dealt with in 5:1-7 is casual, ritualistic worship.

Sanctify the people (Exod. 19:10-11, 14-15). –The people were going to appear before Jehovah. –They were to make ready. –I know that the commands given in these passages had to do with ceremonial cleanness, but even those laws had the idea of emphasizing how special it was to come before the Lord. Therefore we need to think about how we come before the Lord.

What does your personal efforts to worship reveal? One’s dress. –When I come to worship God, do I give Him the honor I would give if I went for a job interview, or a wedding, or a funeral? –Does this mean I must wear a suit? No.

But neither do I need to look like I am ready for a hog-killing, or a basketball game. Sometimes someone comes straight from work, and it is either come in what they have or do not come. By all means come. But, you see, in the one case the clothes worn show that one puts the worship of God above all else. In the other case it indicates that the worship of God is no big deal, and there is no need for me to make it special.

Attendance. –Some people only come on Sunday morning. –Some have the attitude that Sunday morning is the only service that is important because that is when the Lord’s Supper is observed. –Thus the singing, praying, studying God’s word that are done otherwise are not deemed of enough importance to bother with.

Every worship opportunity is a matter of honoring God. Therefore it should not be viewed as a “do I have to” thing, but as a “do I get to” thing. We need to be very careful that we do not put sports or entertainment on an equal level or ahead of worship. If we are not careful we will show that what is supposed to be first is really second or third.

Some people drop in only for the Lord’s Supper and then they are on their way for the fun activities that will occupy the rest of the day. The problem here is first that we are treating what we owe God as a hurdle or an obstacle to the fun day we have planned. Conscience bothers just enough that one feels guilty not to take the Lord’s Supper, so he drops by, does that, and, Presto, he has fulfilled his obligation to God.

God’s response would be: “When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts?” (Isa. 1:12). The Lord’s Supper should not be treated as a good luck charm that if I have it nothing else matters.

Being late. –There are things that happen by accident that make one late. Obviously I am not talking about those things. –I am talking about people who are ever and always late. –They are late for worship, they are late if they are teaching a class.

This kind of lateness is the result of habit, and can be corrected only by changing the habit and the attitudes that underlie the habit. Our worship of God needs to be special enough that we plan for it so that we arrive on time.

When one is not on time, it is a distraction. He has missed the opening words of the lesson, or the first acts of worship engaged in. He has not had time to prepare his mind for worship.

During worship. Health problems sometimes require one to go out. That is understandable. But often it is only five minutes into worship or five minutes before it is over that we have to get up and go out. It is distracting, and there is usually a lot of it.

Again, if it is because of a health problem, or to take care of a baby, don’t you hesitate to go out. But examine your attitude. Are you really engaged in the worship? If you are going out to relieve monotony, then it is an attitude thing, not a health thing.

I think that our parents do a good job of caring for their children during the worship services. I do strongly think one thing needs to be said: By the time children are up to 7 or 8 years old, unless they are sick, they should not be allowed to sleep during service, or to read little fiction books, or to play. The longer they do this, the more they are being trained to believe that worship is for grown-ups and not for them.

Conclusion: In all that I have said, the emphasis is that we think about the matter of coming before the Lord, and we ask how our behavior reflects our attitude toward worshiping God. Our worship needs to be a privilege and a joy rather than a requirement and a drudgery.