The Proper Approach Towards Worship (11-4-18)

The way that Christians today are allowed to worship God or what constitutes acceptable worship to God, has clearly been given to us by divine inspiration through the authority of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:1-2 establishes Jesus Christ’s authority for it says, “God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” This point about Christ being the authority on how to worship our God is also highlighted by the Apostle Peter in Acts 3:22-23, “For Moses truly said to the fathers, The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren, Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.” That Prophet that Moses is prophesying about is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.. In Matthew 28:18, shortly after His resurrection from the dead, Christ declared, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” What we practice or do when we worship must be done in the manner that Christ has authorized and we must honor and worship our God in truth and in the proper frame of mind or with the right attitude every first day of the week as Christ has commanded, Acts 20:7, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread,” (please read 1 Corinthians 11:17-33). Colossians 3:17 states, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” The phrase, “in the name of the Lord,” means by the Lord’s authority. Therefore, we are commanded by God to go and assemble ourselves together as the called out body of believers, (the church) to worship our God as He has directed us in His word. We as Christians should respect the seriousness of this command, Hebrews 10:25-26 and should not ignore or neglect our responsibilities to assemble and worship our God every first day of the week. The word “worship” in W.E. Vines’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, is defined as, “to make obeisance, do reverence to, It is used of an act of homage or reverence to God.”Jesus Christ in His discussion with the Samaritan women at Jacob’s well simply explains how our worship should be, for He says in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Our worship that we offer on the first day of the week must not only be done according to truth or how God has authorized, but it must also be done in “spirit” which means that it must also be done in the proper attitude (disposition) or frame of mind. When we offer up worship to our Lord it should originate from man’s inner nature which is referred to as the heart, the spirit, or the soul. In scripture, Proverbs 4:23 says “Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.” Hebrews 4:12 also confirms this for it says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Please keep in mind, that no act of worship is acceptable to God, though it may be indeed offered in harmony completely with the Truth of the Gospel, which is not offered in the proper disposition, frame of mind, or “in spirit.” In like manner, any attempts to worship God by following tradition or teachings that violates scripture is also vain and unacceptable worship to God, i.e., mechanical instruments of music or not practicing all the 5 elements of worship as identified in the New Testament.  Jesus Christ condemns the Scribes and the Pharisees for a false practice. They were making an accusation against the disciples stating they had sinned because they violated the tradition of the elders because they did not wash their hands before they ate bread.  Jesus says in Matthew 15:8-9, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me, And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Jesus Christ, our Lord will not accept the worship from any person or “church” who claims to be religious that are teaching and practicing false doctrine either by adding to or taking away from God’s word, (see Galatians 1:6-9, Revelation 22:18-19). For emphasis, in 1 Corinthians 3:11, the Bible says, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Earlier, I made reference to 5 Acts of worship as authorized by Jesus Christ under the New Testament Age that we are now under as Christians.  There are five authorized acts of worship unto God according to “truth.” These are (1) singing (Matthew 26:30; Acts 16:25; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16), (2) praying (Acts 2:42; I Timothy 2:8), (3) Partaking of the Lord’s Supper each first day of the week (Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 11:17-33, Matthew 26:26-29), (4) Giving (1 Corinthians 16:1-2) and (5) Teaching/preaching God’s word (Acts 2:42; 5:42).  These 5 acts of worship as listed are biblical and should not be changed by mankind.  They are not listed in any order of precedence or sequence and does not mean that each church must have the same sequence of acts of worship. The decisions of the order in how these acts of worship are carried out are up to each local congregation of the Body of Christ. As emphasized earlier, we should take our worship to God very seriously and respect the inspired authority of the Scriptures, and do only those things which are commanded.  All human opinions and “inventions” must be eliminated when it comes to deciding what we should do in worship to the Almighty God.  Currently in our society we find many religious organizations and even congregations of the Body of Christ who have changed or altered their worship services to give it more entertainment value to attract numbers, or they feel that the authorized biblical acts of worship are boring and out of touch with the trends and traditions of this day and age. These are very severe mistakes that will lead to eternal damnation, Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Our God has the divine right and authority to specify how He wishes to be worshiped, as we recall from the early time of worship of Cain and Abel, the scriptures clearly show that Cain’s worship was rejected by God because it was according to his own way. (see Genesis 4:1-16, & Hebrews 11:4.)

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