Most religious people believe that man can worship God just about however he wants.  It seems people think that God is so thrilled to be worshiped that it does not matter how one does it.  Such thinking could not be further from the truth.

John 4:24 (ESV)
²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Notice the word “must” that Jesus used.  This makes worshiping God His way mandatory, not optional.  What is His way?  Jesus said it is “in spirit and truth.”  To worship God in spirit is to do it with the right attitude.  The word “spirit” is often used in this way in scripture (Galatians 6:1) Just sitting on a pew in a nice church building is not in itself worship that is pleasing to God.  Acceptable worship to God always involves a heart that is fully focused on Him.

To worship God in “truth” is to worship Him in accordance with the word of God.  The word of God is truth (John 17:17).  This is the area where many fail.  More times than not, man takes his own way instead of God’s way in worship and we know from scripture that when man does that it does not turn out well.

Genesis 4:3–7 (ESV)
³ In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Why did God not regard Cain’s offering?  We are not told specifically but when we consider Hebrews 11:4, we learn a lot.  The Hebrews writer tells us that by faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.  Since faith comes from the word of God (Romans 10:17), we know that Abel’s sacrifice was more excellent because he followed God’s instructions, whatever they were.  In contrast, Cain failed to do what God commanded.  He did what most do today—he took his own way instead of God’s.  This led to a vain attempt at worshiping God.  Today, when man worships according to the doctrines of men instead of God’s word, it too results in vain worship (Matthew 15:9).

When the church comes together for worship on the Lord’s Day, there are five avenues of worship.  They are the Lord’s supper, prayer, giving, singing, and preaching God’s word.   I will look at a few of these more closely in blogs to come but for now, I just want us to see the importance of engaging in these things according to truth, not just any way we see fit.  Paul tells us that whatever we do, we must do it in the name of the Lord, which means by His authority (Colossians 3:17).  This would obviously involve any act of worship in which we engage.  To worship God in an unauthorized way is to invite disaster.

Leviticus 10:1–2 (ESV)
¹ Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. ² And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.