Sunday Mornings we have a five minute countdown displayed on the media screen to remind the congregation how much time they have before the worship service.  I build them trying to make them as interesting as possible.  Sometimes they are trivia tests others are thought provoking scriptures. They are highly animated and should provide a prompt to the congregation to gather and prepare themselves for worship.  This Sunday I went out to the foyer of the church and discovered about a quarter of the congregation was not moving into the sanctuary.  When the counter reached double zero and Pastor started to speak, these languishing sheep paid little attention to the timeliness of the Pastor.

Brash and loud as I am, I said in a very loud voice, “Time for Church.”  And they reluctantly moved into the place of worship.  I think next time I will use a cattle prod.

Part of our preparation for worship ought to be reminding ourselves of who God is—the holy, sovereign Lord. In Exodus 19, we read in verse 16:

Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

When the trumpet sounded and the moment arrived for the people of Israel to draw near to God, every person in the camp trembled. Unfortunately, few people respond to God in worship like that anymore. Many have forgotten how to tremble before Him, for they do not regard Him as holy. How different their response would be if they could see Him as He revealed Himself to the Israelites:

“And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now, Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. Exodus 19:17-18

Over and over again God invited the people, “Come near to Me.” But that invitation was balanced by what God said following the deaths of Nadab and Abihu: “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy.” We are commanded by God to come into His presence—to come near to HIM. Not only that, we may come into His presence, as Hebrews 4:16 makes clear. But there is a difference between coming boldly into the presence of God and coming arrogantly. When we come boldly into His presence and draw near to Him, we must always remember that we are to regard Him as holy.

We also must remember that we have no right to come into God’s presence on our own. No amount of preparation that we can do is enough to make us fit.

I really think we need a smoke generator to move the people into an attitude of worship. At least that is what God thought was appropriate.