Introduction. The study of worship is also a study of respect for God’s authority and a trusting submission to His instructions. Who else but God can tell us what pleases Him? “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isa. 55:8-9). Nothing reveals our awe, fear, reverence and respect to God more than when we “trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; (Prov 3:5) in our worship.
In the Beginning. We learn from the first recorded offerings that God is very discerning and precise in how He accepts our worship. This example is important because it gives both a how and a how not to of worship. As the young men approached God with their offerings, “the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering” (Gen 4:4-5).
In the Beginning. We learn from the first recorded offerings that God is very discerning and precise in how He accepts our worship. This example is important because it gives both a how and a how not to of worship. As the young men approached God with their offerings, “the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering” (Gen 4:4-5).
Later, God explained exactly what made Abel’s actions acceptable. His “faith” made the difference. It was “by faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” Faith was the missing ingredient in Cain’s sacrifice. Because God respected Abel for his faith, “he obtained witness that he was righteous,” for God was “testifying of his gifts.” Even to this day, Abel, “being dead still speaks.” The question for each of us as we too seek God’s respect for our gifts is “are we listening to the what Abel is still saying?”
Cain’s “works were evil and his brother's righteous” (1Jn. 3:12)! The righteousness God had testified of Abel when He respected his offering also testified that Cain’s works were evil. Cain’s method of worship was evil! To worship God without faith is evil because it is an insult to ignore God’s instructions in favor of our own. Since “faith comes by hearing the word of God” (Rom. 10:17), Abel’s submissive hearing made him righteous while Cain’s failure to listen and submit made his worship evil.
The logic behind this is obvious. A gift is given to please the recipient, not the giver. If a husband wants to please his wife he gives her what she wants and not something he wants! If our five-year-old son is having a birthday party we invite his friends and play games he enjoys. We do not invite our friends and play games he cannot understand! If our worship to God is for our pleasure and not His, how is it any different? How could it not be evil when we substitute what we want for what God asked us to do call it worship?
Still True Today. Jesus was firm when He quoted Isaiah. “And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mt. 15:9). If we modify His instructions and reject faith and submission, we create a new doctrine of our own which is just another “doctrine of men.” Anything we offer that He did not ask for makes worship both vain and evil. It is not of faith and it is not from God’s word.
If we want to truly show God our gratitude and reverence, Jesus showed us the way. “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4:23-24). Jesus knows God and what He seeks and with an imperative stressed it MUST be done only that way. From these words it is evident that nothing has changed since the very beginning.
Conclusion. So how do we worship God? Have we carefully studied the Scriptures to find all of God’s instructions? Like Abel have we carefully followed these instructions as precisely as possible to manifest our faith and worship in truth? We must resist the cultural shift that seeks to make worship enjoyable to the audience without any study or attempt to comply with Scripture. The “if I am happy, God is happy” philosophy was tried by Cain at the very beginning. It failed then and it will fail now.
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Cain’s “works were evil and his brother's righteous” (1Jn. 3:12)! The righteousness God had testified of Abel when He respected his offering also testified that Cain’s works were evil. Cain’s method of worship was evil! To worship God without faith is evil because it is an insult to ignore God’s instructions in favor of our own. Since “faith comes by hearing the word of God” (Rom. 10:17), Abel’s submissive hearing made him righteous while Cain’s failure to listen and submit made his worship evil.
The logic behind this is obvious. A gift is given to please the recipient, not the giver. If a husband wants to please his wife he gives her what she wants and not something he wants! If our five-year-old son is having a birthday party we invite his friends and play games he enjoys. We do not invite our friends and play games he cannot understand! If our worship to God is for our pleasure and not His, how is it any different? How could it not be evil when we substitute what we want for what God asked us to do call it worship?
Still True Today. Jesus was firm when He quoted Isaiah. “And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mt. 15:9). If we modify His instructions and reject faith and submission, we create a new doctrine of our own which is just another “doctrine of men.” Anything we offer that He did not ask for makes worship both vain and evil. It is not of faith and it is not from God’s word.
If we want to truly show God our gratitude and reverence, Jesus showed us the way. “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4:23-24). Jesus knows God and what He seeks and with an imperative stressed it MUST be done only that way. From these words it is evident that nothing has changed since the very beginning.
Conclusion. So how do we worship God? Have we carefully studied the Scriptures to find all of God’s instructions? Like Abel have we carefully followed these instructions as precisely as possible to manifest our faith and worship in truth? We must resist the cultural shift that seeks to make worship enjoyable to the audience without any study or attempt to comply with Scripture. The “if I am happy, God is happy” philosophy was tried by Cain at the very beginning. It failed then and it will fail now.
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