Does it really matter how we worship? - Joey Ferrell
This week, Kristie and I are at a lectureship in Branson, MO. On the way here from our home, I had several hours to think about an article. At first, as we passed through rural Tennessee and Missouri, some of the “brands” of church buildings caught my eyes and thoughts. I have heard of many of the ones that were seen, but there were some new ones I had not…and I thought that would be an interesting exploration for an article. However, after hearing a very educational lesson during the lectures by Dave Miller, this topic seems much more pressing at this time.
We all should want to worship God. There are enough verses in the Bible to signify the importance, command, inference, and desires of God Himself for us to see that He indeed wants us to worship Him and Him alone! Even in the early days of man, God desired sacrifice - a part of worship. In the days of Noah, Moses, Elijah and the prophets, He described and desired worship. He expected His children to worship Him in the form, fashion, and example as is described throughout.
Think about the tabernacle. The intricacy of design for this particular time in history in which God was to be worshiped. Their were clear instructions from God regarding how and what to use to build it. Then you move to the temple. There were certain items that had to be used in the worship in the temple. While we do not have those types of definitive ideas about our “buildings” and places of worship today, we still have to understand that there is an element that God still designs worship in His own way!
Think about the story in John 4. Jesus meets the woman at the well. They have a discussion. She states that they worshiped in the traditions of their forefathers, but what does Jesus say? Take a look:
“The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 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.””
(John 4:19–24)
Jesus said that “all” would worship the way of the Father and not the ways of tradition. It isn’t about the place, or even the various items that we may add through tradition (that are not opposed to the commands of God), but it would be the way God wanted worship that would be accepted!
Fast forward a few decades and guess what happens…we start to see things stray from what God’s design and desire are. Look at what Paul addresses in the letter to the church at Colossi regarding some of the “self-willed” worship that was happening:
“These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
(Colossians 2:23)
Did you see that? The phrase “self-imposed religion” comes up. Who imposed? SELF. Not God, not Jesus, not even the Apostles in the “Apostles’ Doctrine” as is stated as viable in the book of Acts. Self…men and women deciding what is best for them…emotions…feel-good…lifting-up…praises of men. What a shame!
And, here we are, some almost 2,000 years later and what a mess we might see today. Think of the self-imposed items of the day:
hand-clapping
waving of arms
praise teams
instrumental music
unauthorized leadership roles (women, non-Christians)
statues or other idol types of devices taking “center-stage”
This list could go on and on with the variants of what man has decided that he knows better what God wants than what God knows it would seem. Why? Because it makes them feel good. It helps draw a crowd. It doesn’t offend people. It is what “everybody else” is doing. Yet, it is NOT what God has designed.
When Jesus told the Samaritan woman that worship would be in spirit and in truth, He was not saying it would be spirited to help aid truth. He said IN Spirit and IN Truth. We have no right to speak on behalf of God to add these types of things to our worship to “make us feel good!”
The idea comes up often about Nadab and Abihu submitting unauthorized fire as an example of adding to the worship of God…and rightly so. These men were told how to get the fire, what type of fire, and what to do with it…and they ignored God. Why? Maybe it was inconvenient to get what was required…maybe it was quicker…maybe they felt like it didn’t really matter. Boy were they wrong!
Worship to God matters. It matters when we do it, how we do it, and what we do it with.Let’s be men and women of God and respect His authority and not our own desires. Souls will be in the same punishment as Nadab and Abihu for their disobedience to God. Let’s put aside the “feel-good” ideas and just worship God the way He wants.
To paraphrase something that Dave Miller said - “If someone is bored with the worship designed by God in the Bible, the problem is with the person and not the Bible!”
You can view this lesson by Dave Miller that was delivered at the 8th annual Show Me State Lectures here.