Writing (and no doubt reading) this weekly post once again reminds us how our days rush away. Since we last met for worship a week has faded away. It’s mildly unsettling. We are, of course, not the first ones to feel this way. Moses, the man of God, was struck by the brevity of life and wrote, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away…So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Ps 90:10, 12)

Has the Lord given you a heart of wisdom? For if we are mildly unsettled at how quickly our week has passed us by, we will surely be shaken to our core at the end of our lives. For then it will seem as though our life was but a moment. Will we then be able to say we had learned to number our days? Will we then be able to say we lived wisely?

Corporate worship is meant to teach us to number our days, to gain a heart of wisdom. For we have no more important or worthier task than to worship the God of eternity. Today many Christians think we go to church to be empowered to do what is really important, that is, living our life Monday through Saturday. Now, that is in some ways true. I don’t know how I would face my life apart from the graces I receive through the means of grace and the fellowship with my brothers and sisters in the Lord.

However, this is putting the cart before the horse! For how we actually think about worship is exactly the opposite of how we should think about worship. If we are indeed creatures destined for eternity, then our life Monday through Saturday is lived in the present and fleeting world that we may come and stand in the presence of the eternal God on the Lord’s Day. There in the presence of the eternal God our perspectives are corrected, our callings are renewed, and our hearts are retuned to vibrate not with the cacophony of this world, but at the sound of his voice. Lord’s Day worship is an oasis for weary pilgrims, a foretaste of heavenly glory, and receiving in a measure now the hope of glory to come. In other words, the Lord’s Day worship is the highlight of our week, and of our lives, as long as we live on this side of glory.

Worship, in other words, is not a means to achieving a worldly goal, no matter how noble that goal may be. Rather, worship is our goal, for all our worldly activities are meant to confirm and support our eternal calling as worshippers of God. So below are some points of consideration for you. Let me encourage you to reflect on them, and come to worship with prepared heart and body.

1. Remember that worship is the privilege of grace. Jesus had to be under the power of death, and then conquer death, in order to make us worshippers. So come with thanksgiving.

2. Remember that worship is about God, and not about you. The question to ask is not, “What did I get out of it?” but “Did I give God what he deserves?”

3. Remember that Lord’s Day belongs first of all to God, not to you, or even to your family. So don’t plan for the Lord’s Day things that will hinder your worship of God and service of your brothers and sisters. God comes first.

4. Your heart will not worship God well if your body is too tired. Go to sleep on Saturday early.

5. Pray for your pastor. The extent to which God’s word will minister to you is directly proportionate to your prayer for the fruitful ministry of God’s word.

6. Learn the songs beforehand, think about their meaning, learn the tunes, that on the Lord’s Day morning you will be able to focus on worship, not learning the song for the first time.

7. Pray with your family that God will be glorified in your worship.

The next three are to be done after the worship service on the way home, at home in the evening, and throughout the week.

8. Give thanks! Remember the privilege of worship is yours through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

9. Ask your children / spouse what they learned. Discuss what you learned together.

10. Pray for the needs of the saints you discovered Sunday morning.

Some General Comments About E–Books
Like many people, I began to dabble with reading books on electronic devices some years ago, first on my computer, then later on a Palm device (remember those?). But it was never more than dabbling chiefly for two reasons. 1. I found the reading experience both on the computer screen and the small screen of Palm to be very frustrating. 2. The selection of books were severely limited to old, public domain books, for example, available from places like CCEL or Project Gutenberg. That meant, of course, no new works. Come to think of it, there’s a third reason that made me ambivalent about electronic books: my vain lust for building a large personal library with bookshelves filled with serious books. I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I know I’m not alone in this. (You know who you are!)

But in the last few years I’ve had a change of heart about all three issues above.
1. The iPad has really changed the reading experience of electronic books. It is highly portable, and the screen size is just about right. Kindle, of course, blazed the trail of e–book reading, but I prefer the iPad for a number of reasons. More on this later.

2. With Accordance, and the advent of the Kindle Store and iBooks there is now a greater, and increasing, selection of works both old and new.

3. I’ve simply run out of physical space to store books. I have boxes of books that I cannot find space for. And I’ve carried (and asked others to) boxes of books one too many times. No more!

There are probably other reasons for my change of heart, but at the moment I am most conscious of these three. So for the last few years, if given the choice, I have been actively preferring e–books over physical books. And these are some of the benefits I’m enjoying:

1. No more lost or damaged books! One of the advantages of a physical book is that it can be shared with others. But over the years a number of my books came back damaged, or simply did not come back at all. So over the years I’ve become less and less generous with lending my books. Now, with e–books, with the exception of very limited lending of Kindle books, the whole concept of lending is gone. This may be a loss for some people, but I was practically there anyways. And no e–books will ever be damaged or lost. All e–book stores I use (Kindle, iBooks, Accordance) allow repeated downloads of purchased books at no additional cost. So if I lose a device, my library can be rebuilt with just a few clicks.

2. Search! Now it is possible to quickly search through multiple books for what I am looking for. There are some caveats here, but this is a great boon to someone like me who is constantly juggling many books at once, and struggle to remember just what is where.

3. Portability. A few months ago I was on a week–long teaching trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. For this trip I opted not to take my laptop, but took only my iPad. It was amazing that I could carry with me multiple English bibles, GNT, BHS, many lexicons, Calvin’s complete commentary along with complete Tyndale and BST commentaries, dictionaries, other reference works, all my sermons and notes, all of which would have filled several large bookcases. All in a device that I can carry in one hand and lasts all day on a single charge. We may not have flying cars yet, but this is the future!

Still, there are some trade–offs. In the next post I will go over the respective strengths and weaknesses of the three e–book platforms I use (Accordance, iBooks, and Kindle) and the specific ways they fit or don’t fit into my pastoral ministry.

But the word “catechism” comes from the New Testament, and means something like “careful instruction.” And, indeed, incorporating the Shorter Catechism into our worship service can enrich our worship and Christian life in a number of different ways:

1. It will enrich our worship as our spiritual horizon is greatly expanded through careful study of themes and topics we might not otherwise approach. In turn this will enrich our prayer life as well. Worship and prayer suffer when we are spiritually myopic. But they blossom when our hearts and minds are enlarged as we study the things of God.

2. It will help raise spiritually–minded children. Whether we like it or not, our children are being catechized. Their young and fertile minds are already soaking up and accumulating detailed information about TV shows, movies, toys, video games, sports, and celebrities. But parents who are not instructing their children in godliness are leaving them spiritually impoverished. But the world is only too happy to catechize our children in our stead! Young and fertile minds of our children need to be taught to store up their treasures in heaven. “Fading is the worldling’s pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show.” As a parent my greatest desire is for my children to know that I have loved their souls. Is this not what you want as well?

3. It will help us get more out of the sermons we hear. Listening to a sermon is a kind of a learned skill, which we cultivate through prayer and by learning the spiritual “grammar.” The Shorter Catechism will help develop our spiritual discernment as well as the ability to listen carefully.

Matthew teach us Jesus’ birth is the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham. The genealogy begins with “Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Now, of course, all self–respecting Jew would trace his genealogy back to Abraham, and some of them, if they descended from a particular branch of the tribe of Judah, could also trace their lineage back to David. But leaving aside Jesus’ relationship to David here, his relationship to Abraham is particularly important. D.A. Carson notes that this is to “prepare [Matthew’s] readers for the final words of this offspring from Abraham — the commission to make disciples of ‘all nations’” (Carson, An Introduction to the New Testament, 62). In other words, the gospel according to Matthew is bookended by God’s promises to Abraham. It begins with a declaration that Jesus is the son of Abraham, the promised seed. It then ends with “Go therefore make disciples of all nations…” And, of course, the promise that God made to Abraham was “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:3)

In other words, the Great Commission, the command to evangelize, to teach the nations to obey everything that Jesus has taught, is a command to bless the nations. It is also a command to declare to the nations God’s faithfulness to Abraham. These things surely ought to change how we think about evangelism and discipleship. Why do we shy away from blessing the nations? Why are we so reluctant to tell the world that God is faithful? On this note, I hope your new year resolutions include a resolution to proclaim the gospel!

People without God do not understand the purpose of history. They can only be mystified by the passing of time. But God’s covenant people understand that history is unfolding according to his predetermined plan to glorify himself, and us, in him. God’s covenant people are not so mystified by time as they are mindful of its passing nature in light of eternity to come. So when we look back, we judge our past in light of eternal glory. Did we live as people who trust God who said, “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” (Isa 40:6–8). Or did we live as people whose hope is only in this world? We will all answer this question differently. Some will be chastened by their memory; some will find their faith confirmed to the praise of God’s glory. What do you see when you look back?

But we also look forward. And we bless God who will not let our sin and foolishness have the last word. His grace is greater than all our sins. And not our “No” to him, but his “Yes” to us will be the triumphant and final verdict. So was the message given to Israel in Isaiah 44:21–23. At this point in Israel’s history looking back only filled them with a too–late realization of their sinful blindness. Their history was a witness against them before the holy God. But God’s message to them was the gospel of forgiveness, joy, and glory. “O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.” These are very appropriate words for us as we look forward to the new year. Let us together seek our God and gracious Father. Let us together reaffirm our covenant with him to live in light of eternal glory. Let us gather together and call upon him who has redeemed us.