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Worship is a spring that wells out of a redeemed person’s life. God alone prescribes what worship looks like and what it doesn’t. The Scriptures define worship as “honor, homage, reverence, adoration, praise, or respect given to God.” The Christian’s direct purpose is to honor God with a heart pouring forth His great majesty that spills out into a life that is seasoned by His grace. Paul exhorts us in Romans 12:1–2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (emphasis mine.)” Paul tells us that we need to live our life as a “holy sacrifice, that which is acceptable to God.” There is worship that is acceptable to God as well as unacceptable worship. The fear that grips my heart is whether we will approach God with unacceptable worship. Surely as Christians, our desire is not to do those things that bring reproach to Him. Am I or are you acceptably worshiping God? In our hearts do we take for granted the privilege that God has given us to worship Him and so do it in a lackadaisical way? God is clear in His Word what is unacceptable. Let me give you three examples.
Worship of false gods
In Exodus 34:14, God says, “…for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…” This is clear-cut. Idol worship was common in the Old and New Testaments. It is even common today. We might not make an idol out of material things, but we sure make idols from our hearts. An idol is anything that garners our attention more than our worship of God. Check your heart: Is there anything that you worship more than God? Your Job? Your Family? Your pursuit of money? A good indicator of whether you are worshiping idols or God is the issue of time. Where do you spend your hours? Are you consumed with God and His concerns, or is there something else that gets all your attention and may even make you forsake church?
Worship the true God in a wrong way
God will not accept worship that is offered to Him in an unacceptable way. So the way you worship God is important. Staying in Exodus, chapter 32, we see a great picture of this. Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the law from God. While he was gone, the people, under Aaron’s leadership, decided to gather all their gold together, melt it down, fashion it into a golden calf, and worship it. Now, it is important to note that they had good intentions. The golden calf was their representation of the Jehovah God. The God that had brought them out of slavery. But their good intentions led them to reduce God to an image, which led to them worshiping Him unacceptably. We know the rest of the story. Moses returned from the mountain and became angry, throwing the stone tablets containing the Law at the idol. Even God’s wrath was so great that He threatened to destroy the entire generation (v. 10); but He was gracious (v.14), and only 3,000 men lost their lives as they were executed on the spot (v. 28). The lesson learned in this passage is that it is unacceptable to reduce God to an image, material, an idol, or anything that is a result and product of one’s own thinking. Do you have God compacted in your mental box? Make sure it is the Scriptures that are shaping your mind and your heart regarding who He is. Don’t get caught up in a postmodern world that says that God is who you make Him out to be. This is a lie and unacceptable to God.
Worship the true God with a wrong attitude
If we eliminate all false gods, all images of the true God, and all our self-styled modes of worship; our worship will still be unacceptable if our heart attitude isn’t right. This hits us right where we live. Very few of us worship a false god or an image of the true God. And most of us don’t invent our own ways to worship God. We try to worship according to Scripture. But a question each of us needs to ask is, “Do I have the right attitude in my worship of God? On Sunday mornings or any other morning, do I have a heartfelt and genuine type of worship?” If you find that you don’t, your worship is unacceptable. Let me give you some Bible passages to back up this truth. First, in Malachi 1:6–7, the prophet indicts Israel by saying, “‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master: Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is to be despised.’” Do you understand what they were doing? They were treating their worship with disrespect. It was strictly a function, strictly a routine, strictly a ritual. Not only was their heart not involved, but they were also bringing to God that which was the least rather than that which was the best. Read the rest of the book. Their hearts were lazy, selfish, and guilty of just going through the motions. Christian, check your heart against the Scriptures. Do you enter the doors on Sunday morning to worship with a right-hearted attitude? This will come out through your voice. In how you sing. In how you worship. This will come out of your heart. So let us sing! Let us praise! Let us rightly worship this Holy God in an acceptable way!
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