BEN F. VICK, JR.
Many people identify or refuse to identify with a congregation on the basis of the worship services of the church. Certainly this ought to be a major criteria for such a decision, for the vitality and life of the congregation is derived to a great degree from its worship. A model church is one that worships as God has directed in the New Testament.
The word “worship” in its noun form means “reverence tendered a divine being or supernatural power; also: an act of expressing such reverence.” Worship is more than a mental act. It involves the mind, but it is an act of devotion expressed or paid. If worship were a mental act alone, the whole church could worship together in mind and never assemble together. But the early church did come together to worship God (Acts 2:42-47; 4:31-32; Heb. 10:23-25).
Peter said, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 2:5). From this we gather that not all sacrifices or worship is acceptable to God. An example of this is seen in the contrast between the worship of Cain and Abel. The writer of Hebrews said, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Heb. 11:4). The allusion in this verse is to the account in Genesis 4. There we are told that Cain offered the fruit of the ground, but Abel offered the firstlings of his flock. God had respect unto Abel’s offering, but unto Cain’s he did not have respect. Cain’s worship was not by faith. If there is any lesson for us in this account, it is that not all worship is acceptable to God.
The New Testament teaches there are different kinds of worship, all of which are not acceptable to the Lord. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:23-24). By implication we learn there is false worship. If there can be true worship, then, in contrast to it, there can be false worship.
Our worship can be vain. Again, Jesus said, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines and commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9). The Pharisees tried to bind the washing of hands, cups, pots, brazen vessels, and of tables on the Jews. Jesus said they were guilty of vain, or empty, worship. Some things which are right in everyday living are not necessarily obligatory as a worship to God. A thing which may be right in and of itself could be wrong if incorporated into one’s worship to God. For instance, it is a good practice to wash one’s hands before he eats; but one is not spiritually defiled if he does not wash his hands. If I were sitting at the table with him, I would prefer that he “pass” the biscuits rather than that he “hand” me one. But that does not mean that he was spiritually defiled.
It is possible for one to worship in ignorance. “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you” (Acts 17:22-23). The numbers are myriad who fit into this category. They may be sincere and honest, but they are sincerely and honestly wrong in their worship.
Then, there is that kind of worship which is called “will worship” by the apostle Paul: “Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh” (Col. 2:23). “Will worship” is translated from one Greek word in the New Testament (εθελօθρηρօκεια). Thayer’s lexicon defines this Greek word in this fashion: “voluntary, arbitrary worship…,i.e., worship which one devises and prescribes for himself, contrary to the contents and nature of the faith which ought to be directed to Christ;….” It means “self-chosen worship.”
A model church worships as God has directed in the New Testament. True worship is outlined in John 4:24: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” First, our worship must be directed to the right audience, i.e., God. We are not to worship ourselves or anything else but God. “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan” for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matt. 4:10). Second, our worship must be done with the right attitude, i.e., “in spirit.” If our minds are not centered on coming before the throne of God in worship, if they are a million miles away, if they are thinking about dinner, a ball game, a job, etc., then our worship is unacceptable. Thus, worship involves concentration. The less distractions in our worship the easier it will be to center our minds on spiritual matters. Third, our worship must be carried out in the right way, i.e., “in truth.” In truth means according to God’s word. Jesus said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Any act of worship that falls below one or more of these three essential items is not authorized nor acceptable to the Lord.
Worship, as previously stated, involves reverence paid or expressed. It involves an act or acts. When Abraham was going to offer his son Isaac upon the altar, he told his servants to wait and he and the lad would go yonder and worship. In his mind, he had already offered his son, “accounting that God was able to raise him even from the dead” (Heb. 11:9). However, if everything we do in life is worship, then Abraham’s preparations for worship and his journey, too, were as much worship as the offering itself. But he said, “I and the lad will go yonder and worship.” They did not worship as they were going to worship. They traveled in order to worship.
[To Be Continued]