In most churches there is a commitment that the first priority of the church is worship. Other things are also necessary – evangelism, missions, discipleship, fellowship, service. Many programs are legitimate ways of pursuing our mission – Sunday school, youth ministries, women's ministries, etc. But we know that job one is worship and the most important program by far is corporate worship on the Lord's Day.

I want to encourage us about putting the most in and getting the most out of worship, but first I want to review two principles.

The first is that God has set aside a day for his worship and also given that day as a gift to us. This is the Lord's Day or Christian Sabbath, a day on which God calls us to rest from our labors and to devote ourselves to worship. The minimum of Sabbath keeping is that we should put our work aside and that we should gather with his people in worship. (By the way, my sons have found that they could say that they did not work on Sundays and could still get both part-time and full-time jobs.)

The second principle is that the primary means by which God's grace comes into our lives are the public ministry of the Word and sacraments. In other words, these are the means by which we become Christians, remain Christians, and grow as Christians. The Word is primary. We will do well to remind ourselves from time to time of the teaching of our Shorter Catechism: "The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation" (Q. 89). The sacraments come along with but behind the Word to picture the blessings of the gospel and to seal and confirm the promises to us.

To sum up so far, God gives us the Lord's Day so that we can worship him publicly and corporately and receive his grace. There is, in a sense, by divine design, something in it for God and something in it for us. It makes sense that if public worship on the Lord's Day is the first duty we owe to God and the primary opportunity to receive God's grace, we should put our best into it and want the most out of it. The question then is how can this happen?

Keep your confidence in the power of God-ordained worship. Not all the quiet times, small groups, dramas, bands, and dancers in the world can so glorify God and bless you as the public worship of God conducted in accord with the simplicity, reverence, and joy of biblical worship. We may feel alone at times in a world of seeker services and missional churches when we gather with God's people to offer him such worship and to seek his blessings. But we are not alone for we are worshiping with the church of the ages – the apostolic church that taught us how to worship, the Reformation church that recovered apostolic worship, and the church of every time that has proclaimed a powerful gospel and produced strong and stable Christians.

Put yourself in a position to put the most into worship and to get the most out of it. Do whatever it takes on Saturday, and especially Saturday night, to be rested and refreshed when you come to church on Sunday. Get up early enough Sunday to get yourself and the family ready and at church without feeling hurried or harried. Get to church on time. You are responding to a call from God himself to come into his presence with his people to worship him. This consideration alone should prevent tardiness at worship. Sit with the congregation in the sanctuary, not alone or with a few in the Fellowship Hall. We are having live and corporate worship, not remote and isolated worship. (Did you know that our Confession says that the Lord's Supper is to be given "to none that are not then present in the congregation" WCF XXIX: 3?) Stay for the entire service and teach your children to do the same. Arrange to take care of personal needs before the service, so that there is no need to leave before the blessing is given. The whole service from opening sentences to benediction is important because all if it is offered to God as worship and all of it is for your benefit.

Don't miss church except when providentially hindered. If worship is all we have said it is, then it is never optional either as a duty we owe to God or as a means of grace needed by us. If we really do owe God worship, then not to gather with the congregation in worship is to withhold from God something to which he has a rightful claim. If the public means of grace are the primary channels of God's grace flowing in our lives, then we rob ourselves of something necessary to our spiritual welfare.

Attend both services. I understand that, unlike past generations, two different worship services, morning and evening, are something with which many of us are not familiar. Many churches have abandoned evening worship, and newly forming congregations seldom include an evening service. Think about it. If public worship is the most important way we glorify God, and if it is the primary opportunity for us to receive God's grace, then two such opportunities each Sunday can hardly be too much. Far from a burden the second service is a blessing to God's people.

I hope these practical suggestions will prove to be helpful to all who want to put their best into worship and to get the most out of it.
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TE William H. Smith is senior pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Ala.

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