Going to Church
Part Four - Let Your Words be Few
Ecclesiastes 5v2-3
6th March 2026
We've been thinking about Soloman's teaching on temple worship, which instructs us about church worship, in Ecclesiastes 5v1-7. so far, we've read:
Ecclesiastes 5v1
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
Go near to listen
rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they
do wrong.
Continuing from the thought that it is better to listen than to speak foolishly, Solomon continues:
Ecclesiastes 5v2-3
Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to
utter anything before God.
God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
A dream comes when there are many cares, and many words mark the
speech of a fool.
We should remember that when we come together for worship we meet not merely with each other but before God. There is a place for exuberant sung worship in church but the attitude of each person present should be one of quietness because of our reverence for Him - quietness of heart and of mouth. To stand before God is an awesome thing that we can regard much too lightly. Familiarity breeds contempt, as the saying goes.
The way the men leading the meeting behave can help us to remember that we stand on holy ground when we come together. If they behave with proper reverence then the congregation are more likely to do so. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of every one of us to come to God with reverent fear, not with informality.
I feel like I'm going against the grain when I write this. There has been a deliberate move towards informality in church worship in recent decades. This has, I think, been a reaction against stuffiness, formalism and boredom. But it is possible to avoid both the emptiness of formalism and the laxity of informality if we will remember two things: that everybody is welcome, no matter what their background, education, experience or clothing, and that we are in the presence of God Himself.
I suspect, though I can't prove, that the more informal, relaxed approach to worship, which was intended to make church more attractive to non-believers, is actually less attractive to them. They come looking for God, and expecting an atmosphere of awe and reverence, and can be disappointed if church seems more like a social gathering. Most non-believers are looking for a bit of formalism and seriousness.
We must balance this teaching with:
2 Corinthians 14v26b
When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of
instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything
must be done so that the church may be built up.
Who am I to speak in the presence of God? I'm a child of God (John 1v12, 1 John 3v1) and a servant of God (Romans 6v22). I am welcome to come before His throne. And each of us has a contribution to make to a worship meeting. Nevertheless, If I speak while we're assembled in God's presence, I must do so with humility and reverence. And:
2 Corinthians 14v40
... everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
Further, when we speak we should let our words be few. If we believe we have been given a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation we should bring that gift simply, without embellishment. We should let the words God has given us be heard clearly, not obscured by our own. And we should never put words in God's mouth which, as we've seen, breaks the Third Commandment.
Many words mark the speech of a fool.