“But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; “
Titus 1:3
If you don’t like to be rushed, it can seem like Sunday worship services are the biggest offenders when it comes to hurrying. The amount of people, variety of responsibilities, and the order of worship all are very carefully planned by the pastor to target what people need. But what can you do when you feel like you need more time in that special place of corporate worship?
Church is not like any other event
I hope you have learned (by observation rather than experience) that people need more than ‘content’ to fill their lives. Checking off the box labeled “church” will not inherently give satisfaction. The church is not a place merely to hear odd songs and quaint Bible lessons, it is a place to receive orders for living. A content-driven society looks for what they can get out of church; a Christ-centered mind seeks what they can give into church. That is not to say there is nothing to be gained from going to church, but it may account for why you never get fulfillment when you only seek to hear “some new thing.” The philosophers who faced Paul at the Areopagus felt the same way- and they were all lost!1 Believers by far fall into the trap that James warned of, being “hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”2
Church is more than the sermon.
Added to this misperception of church, a man may try to make up for the lack of fervor by leveraging a fairly recent technology: the recorded audio sermon. It works as a means to preserve the data, but just how good is it really? You would certainly think it strange if you fell out of love with your wife, to drive around in the same kind of Dodge vehicle that you did when you first met her, and hope that your relationship will regain its warmth. Has that ever worked? Do machines take the place of the stabilizers of relationships: time, communication, intimacy? The undeniable answer is, “no.” And it won’t fix a disconnection with God either! Another sermon-on-ice won’t fix the fellowship problem.
Church is more than the accommodations.
Extra activities only contribute to the burn-out. The well-meaning fellowships, youth activities, banquets, and such like are add-ons to draw people to Sundays. At their worst they have the disjointed ability to pull people away from church. At the very least they scramble the priority of first-day-of-the-week worship, mixing it with all of the other activities. The church was bought for more than activity: she was bought by the blood of Jesus Christ for His adoration. As I once heard a chief of police comment: “A corpse twitches. Just ’cause it can move doesn’t make it alive.” Salient.
It’s About Time
The key words of Titus 1:3 are “due times.” There are scheduled occasions for preaching. But by default that must mean there are times NOT for preaching. Give me a second to explain.
While a church-raised, Bible-fed Christian may recite several verses praising the virtues of preaching, you won’t find one verse that recommends a non-stop intake. As important as your seat in the church pew is, your feet on the sidewalk are more. “Faith cometh by hearing”3 yes, but “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out… obeyed.”4 How can you adequately obey the exhortation of one sermon, when you are chain-smoking sermons back to back to back? Why do you need a second serving when you have not fulfilled the mandate from the first? “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;”5 is the bar exam for a preacher to pass, “But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”6 is the voir dire of the Christian.
Due times means when it’s time, it’s time. If you miss it, you can try to make it up, but it won’t be due times. Sure, as a preacher you want to be instant in and out of season, but “in season” does not equal “due times.” There is a time to hear and there is a time to act. As Ecclesiastes balances it: “A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.”7
Reclaim the Day
For most believers in the world, Sunday is THE day. It is the first day of the week on every printed calendar I have seen. Jesus rose on the first day of the week. The apostles met to pray on the first day of the week. Paul encouraged gathering and giving on the first day of the week. If Sunday is the first day, then Sunday is the day God would want us to meet together. Pile on the emphasis of Hebrews 10:25– “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching”– and you have a weighty case for making it top priority. It’s a day you don’t want to miss.
So, how can we make the best use of it? Try these five ideas to stretch the typical Baptist Sunday schedule into a worthwhile and longed-for holy place.
Before Church
1. Show up 30 minutes early; before scheduled time.
Even if you are not staff, have not been voted in, or do not actively volunteer, you have a responsibility. That responsibility is to BE PRESENT TO WORSHIP. Thirty minutes is good time to ensure you are present mentally as well as physically.
This is such a good practice that I promise if you start, no one will have to remind you of it. You will become addicted to it. The sanctuary before the normal crowds arrive is a perfect setting for prayer. You will be surprised how rich the time will be spent with God before hearing a message about Him.
But after prayer, casual conversation is a close second reason to be early. There are people you pass by when you are just on-time finding your seat that have plenty of help to give. You have more in common with them than you dreamed. A few minutes to really get to know a brother or sister in Christ could change the course of your life.
I know, you’ve put it off. I realize you think they think that you know their name, and if you admitted to being clueless, it would ding your pride. You have two choices. Keep up the act, and fake a smile ’til they stop looking your way. OR, you could get over it, swallow your pride, and just stick your hand out and start over. Regardless of the awkward knot in your stomach, you need close fellowship more than you need dignity. Plus, they are probably gaining the time to catch your basic info, too. Make it easier on everybody: be early and meet someone. If you hate first meetings, recall these three words: write it down! You’re not a caveman, you can take a note. (If we have to have THAT argument now, stop. Use your phone for something other than a brain rack.)
You could ask the pastor what he is planning to preach on that day. Knowing that will tie together the whole service in a much more memorable package. It makes you a spiritual participant, less a spectator.
During Church
2. Activate your mental recorder.
Ever had your mind wander so forcefully that you felt fatigued at the end of service? For me, the temptation to play Super Mario Bros along the pew backs is a constant temptation. I want to pay attention, but I just can’t! It doesn’t seem to matter how upbeat or somber the singing, preaching, or praying is. If this is you, maybe it’s time to trick your brain into rewriting its standard operating procedures.
When something is novel, it sticks in your memory better, according to social research.8 In order to reinterest your brain in a regular activity, you must change something about yourself. This is about ramping out of the ruts that make church seem boring and long. Here are some ideas I’ve tried that work:
- Sit somewhere new- migrate to the other side of the aisle. Go from the back to the front.
- Use the pew Bible (if there is one), or a Bible you’re not familiar with to find verses.
- Take notes on paper.
- Narrate the service as it progresses in your head.
Some other suggestions are:
- Switching the wrist you put your watch on,
- Driving a different way to church, or
- Planning to eat lunch at home instead of out (or visa versa).
It doesn’t have to be a big change, but the point is, YOU must change. Wanting a new feeling, yet depending on others to give it to you leans toward the self-centered. Let’s lean away from that.
This one is dangerously open, because trying something new can be a distraction to you and other congregants. So be considerate. But it doesn’t take a big change to make a lasting memory. Try it!
Warning
The mind’s ability to remember is killed by viewing, using, or depending on a smartphone. The blue light,9 the disturbance of the medium,10 the ads, and the appeal to your impatient nature11 have all been medically proven to harm the brain as a muscle, not enhance it. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind–” not the erasing of it. Leave it in the car in honor of the place. Your brain will thank you.
3. Choose to agree with the first harsh truth presented.
Consider this a worldliness check. Often a whole sermon is wasted on me after the opening statement because I challenged it. I became so consumed with the argument in my head that I missed the point, the invitation, and possibly a once-in-a lifetime call of God… over a truth I was slow to accept.
Look, the pastor has spent an extraordinary amount of time proving all things from the Bible. He has prayed over it, tested it in his own life, and felt so compelled about it that he brought it to your attention, finally. A disagreement from one who hears it for the first time doesn’t really count for much. If you took the time to study, pray, and prove as he has, you may just come to a similar conclusion. In fact, you may be even more convicted about it than he is!
To the point, choose to agree so that the full effect of the message may be felt. Believing the negative about others is easy. Make the most of your time (and your pastor’s time) by taking it for granted that he knows what he’s talking about.
Afterwards
4. Respond to what’s offered.
Even in the most regulated orthodox proceedings, there is an expectation of a response. And don’t expect God to be a salesman. I’ve witnessed powerful sermons gain no traction because it wasn’t ‘sold’ during the invitation. The truth is always worth buying, and since you came to church searching, seal the deal. “Buy the truth.”12
The most becoming gesture to the extended grace of the Lord Jesus through His ambassador is to kneel. “Present your bodies a living sacrifice.”13 But there are a number of other appropriate replies. A raised hand. A pledge prayed. A bowed heart. Maybe the preacher asks for some other sign. In fact, there are over 65 ways to give a good evangelistic invitation. God’s plan to manifest His word in due times is perfected when His word is believed and received. Plus it will make your hour worth every minute.
5. Debrief, don’t leave
You want more? You can spare ten minutes. And the time directly after the service is something you don’t want to miss.
In any sized congregation, there can be numerous grand victories on a Sunday morning. The ministries all work together for a common goal. Most leave from church never knowing the full effect of the spiritual toiling. Compliment the musicians on the song service. Find out if anyone got saved. Ask the pastor where he found the inspiration for his message. Help straighten chairs or songbooks. Become inseparable from the work of the ministry. This is what you came for, now relish it.
Time given in good measure gives a hearty return
We are quick to apply the principal of giving to time, talent, and treasure. Imagine what this verse means in relation to literal time, not just categorical time. “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:38)
I’d love to grasp the concept Paul used of “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”14 The similitude of Luke 6:38 is as close as I’ve come to nailing it down. It speaks of days that are more than filler, but weighty. Not content, but substance. If I could just get another sacred hour, or minute, or second of true worship this side of eternity, I’d take it. Wouldn’t you?
Postscript
David had much pulling him into different arenas as king of Israel. Political infighting, territorial wars, family disputes, coupled with his own flesh, his aching memories, and his aging frame. But there was a place where he could leave all that outside and enter into the presence of his personal Shepherd. David had one complaint, only one thing that he longed to change about his Tabernacle visits: to have just a little more time. This was his one desire until the day he would forever enter the Sanctuary in Heaven.
“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to enquire in his temple.”
Psalm 27:4
- Acts 17:21 ↩︎
- James 1:22 ↩︎
- Romans 10:17 ↩︎
- Hebrews 11:8 ↩︎
- 2 Timothy 4:2 ↩︎
- James 1:22 ↩︎
- Ecclesiastes 3:7 ↩︎
- https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/behavior/podcast-495-wish-you-had-more-time-what-you-really-want-is-more-memories/ ↩︎
- Cowgill, Aaron, Satan’s Devices, 2022 ↩︎
- Clark, Benjamin, Strangely Dim, 2024 ↩︎
- Cowgill, Aaron, M.D. Thou Art Mad, 2025 ↩︎
- Proverb 23:23 ↩︎
- Romans 12:1 ↩︎
- Ephesians 5:16 ↩︎
Discover more from Spiritual Reload
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
