By Dylan Ocorr
Every 5th Wednesday at Koinonia we come together for a night dedicated to singing praise to God. We are excited to prepare for our upcoming Worship Night on January 29! In the process of planning for this evening, I was reminded of a sermon that I gave a while ago. How we enter determines our encounter. As we (the musicians) prepare for the worship night, you can prepare as well – by building up thankfulness in your heart.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Psalm 100:4
Last summer I went to Boston because my brother was working there, and it just so happened that the Boston Celtics were playing the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals. The night that I was there, they had a home game at the Boston Garden, so my family and I decided to walk by the arena.
The streets were totally blocked off and filled with people. It was a sea of green jerseys and it’s three hours before the game even started. At the gate of the stadium there was a drum corps playing really loud.
It got me excited for the game, and I’m not even a Celtics fan. Those fans knew how to enter the stadium. Their demeanor was fitting for the occasion. They knew the magnitude of what was about to happen.
They were probably excited and anticipating the game throughout the whole week. It was the epitome. It was the peak of their expression of Celtic fandom.
That’s the way Psalm 100 says we should enter church for a worship service. We should be ready to make a joyful noise to the Lord, to come into his presence with singing.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Let’s enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. Come in ready to cheer for the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.
Notice that the Psalm doesn’t begin with us in the temple, and starts with us on our way to the temple. When we’re on our way to church, we should already be lifting our hands and shouting. He doesn’t say sing in his presence. He says, come into his presence with singing.
That’s the attitude we should have when entering the Church of God. It’s about entering into a sweet intimacy with God
How we enter church determines what we encounter there. How you enter the courts of God determines your encounter with God.
The courts of God in the Old Testament refers to the tabernacle, the temple, the Holy of Holies, the place where God is present.
When an Israelite heard the phrase “his courts” he immediately thought, that’s the closest to God I can get. He’s thinking of a place. He’s thinking of the nearness to God. He’s thinking of God’s glory. He’s thinking of the holiness. He’s thinking of the atoning work of the animal that he’s bringing for sacrifice.
He’s also thinking about all the work he did to get there. He had to find either an ox or a sheep, a lamb or a pigeon, and it had to be a male without spot, without blemish.
He had to walk it to the tabernacle, through the gate, into the court, to present it to the priest, and wait for the priest to examine it to make sure it was a legitimate sacrifice
The Israelite had to kill the animal himself, and the priest would burn it. This was a tiring process. It required knowledge. It required effort, it required foresight and preparation.
You know why? Because the principle of God is that public praise requires personal preparation.
When they were entering the courts of God, they had to be fit. They had to have the prerequisites that God outlined in Exodus and in Leviticus. They had to obey those laws. Otherwise they were totally unfit to render worship to God.
How we enter determines our encounter. Because how you enter church renders you either fit or unfit to encounter what God wants to give you, what God wants to speak to you, what God wants you to receive from him. It could be revelation, or encouragement.
Our identity is that we are part of the body of Christ. Jesus taught us to pray to our Father, not my Father. It’s so important that we understand our collective identity in Christ for all who have been born again.
When we value that, when we see that God has redeemed a people for his own possession, not a person for his own possession. When we truly see that, our gathering together is going to be way better than a Celtics final in Boston.
My brothers and sisters in Christ are more than just people I know. They are my eternal family. Out of all the people in the world, these are the only ones who I will know 10,000 years from now.
I will have communion with you in 20 million years, and in 100 million years, in a billion years. And that ought to excite us. That ought to drive us to prepare to have the greatest possible worship experience.
Let your mind imagine the things God could do in our sanctuary at Koinonia. Because even as the Scripture says, as much as you can imagine, it’s nothing compared to what God wants to do. Search the scriptures to see what God does in the midst of the congregation. It is unbelievable. Dream about it.
Let that biblical dream drive your preparation. Let it inspire the way that we enter the sanctuary of God.