Going to Church
Part Two - Go Near to Listen
Ecclesiastes 5v1b
20th February 2026
This is our second study in Ecclesiastes 5v1-7, in which King Solomon gives us advice about temple worship in his day, which can teach us much about church worship in our day. Last time, we read:
Ecclesiastes 5v1a
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
We continue:
Ecclesiastes 5v1b
Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who
do not know that they do wrong.
When we "go to church", when we come together for a worship meeting, we come to God's house, which is the assembly of His people. We go near to Him. Since He is God, we should go to listen to Him. I fear that many Christians, and many churches, have forgotten this. A church worship meeting is a place to learn, a place hear the word of God.
I'm a member of the sort of church that tends to be described as "charismatic". That term used to mean that we believe in, and exercise, spiritual gifts such as prophecy and speaking in tongues. In recent years, however, it seems to me that it's come to mean that we do a lot of singing. The first half or so of a Sunday morning meeting consists almost entirely of sung worship. I love sung worship, God deserves our worship, and the Bible tells us to sing in praise of Him, but there should be more to meeting in God's house than singing. When we're singing, the direction of communication is from man to God. We're not listening to God, we're speaking to Him.
It's true that in my, and many other, "charismatic" churches" opportunity is given to bring a spiritual gift between the end of one worship song and the beginning of the next. However, it seems increasingly true that much of what is said in such moments is telling a story or offering a reflection. Again, I think it's absolutely fine to do these things, but we're still speaking, not listening. Little genuine prophecy seems to come.
In contrast, when we read the Bible in church, we hear the word of God. It's good to begin a meeting with a Bible reading, so God gets to speak before we do. It's good to end a meeting with a Bible reading, so God has the last word. The sermon should be an exposition of a passage of scripture. Otherwise the sermon, too, is us speaking, not God speaking.
It's also very important to have moments of silence in church meetings. It gives the Holy Spirit a bit of "elbow room", if I may so express it. In silence, we can allow ourselves to listen for Him to speak to our hearts. Some churches are so intent of giving God our enthusiastic worship that we never pause to allow Him to speak.
We would do well to take more seriously the words of:
Psalm 46v10
... "Be still, and know that I am God..."
R. C. Sproul has observed that this passage would be better translated as "Shut up, and know that I am God". Certainly, it's good to be quiet and remember that He is God. It's vitally important that we let God speak, and attend carefully to what he says.
We'll think about "the sacrifice of fools" next time.