Welcome friend to our Bible study program “In Search of the Lord’s Way.” I’m Mack Lyon. All this month Phil Sanders is studying with us about worship. Today’s message is about “Problems In Worship.” How we view our worship and how God views it, could be, well just may be quite different. Had you thought about that? Ohhhh! I think this message will do all worshipers good.
Thank you, Mack. Hello, I’m Phil Sanders and we’re here to search God’s Word for the Lord’s Way to worship. And that’s what we’re going to be studying all month. The Bible always teaches us the heart of God and how we can please Him; and that’s why we go to God’s Word for the truth. Thanks for spending this time with us. We love to hear that you’re watching. Thanks for letting us into your home every week.
Worship is a wonderful means of expressing our thanks, our love, and our praise for God. The Father in Heaven has so richly blessed us, and how could we not want to worship Him. What we offer God, however, should honor and glorify Him. We wouldn’t want anything to come between our Lord and us. God wants worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. And so I’ve been thinking a lot recently; and I wanted to share some things about some problems I see in worship to God. You see, sometimes people offer to God the kind of worship that actually offends the Lord, worship that He will not accept. Some people are actually surprised that God would reject their worship.
You know, if we should learn that our worship is not acceptable to God, what should we do? Should we get angry? Should we stop worshiping the God of Heaven and start worshiping maybe another god, or a god of our own making? Should we close our ears to the teaching of the Scripture and convince ourselves that it doesn’t matter how we worship? Should we go and find someone who will agree with us?
Well, let’s stop a moment. Wouldn’t it be better for us to take God’s instructions in the Bible, and take them to heart and to humble ourselves? If we learn that we’re not pleasing to the Lord, we should humbly turn from what displeases God to what pleases Him. Let always act with love and obedience if we wish to honor the Lord. Today we’re going to look into the Scriptures at some problems people have had in worshiping God acceptably and how we can please God in our worship.
Well, as always we offer the information on this program free. And this month we’re offering this special booklet free on “Worship” and we would like to send one to you. We’ll send it to you in a printed form or you can have a CD or tape of our study. Just mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or e-mail us. That’s searchtv@searchtv.org. Or, if you like, call our toll-free telephone number. That number is 1-800-321-8633. We also stream this program on our website at www.searchtv.org. Ken Helterbrand will lead the Edmond church in song in a few moments, and then we’ll read from Genesis chapter 4, verses 1 through 5.
Our reading today comes from Genesis chapter 4, verses 1 through 5. “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.” That’s a reading from God’s Holy Word. Let’s pray. O Father, may the meditations of our heart, the words of our lips, and all of our worship glorify You always. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Genesis 4 presents the very first example of worship in the Bible. The two brothers, Cain and Abel, came before the Lord with their different gifts. Now, we don’t know exactly what God required of them in their sacrifices. The Bible says, “So it came about that in the course of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.” We know that Cain tilled the ground and brought some of its produce. We don’t know if his offering contained the best fruit or his first fruit. The text suggests that he was just discharging a duty.
“Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.” Abel brought the first and best of his flock. And Hebrews 11 and verse 4 says, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he also obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” Abel apparently showed a faith in God that Cain didn’t show. Abel went out of his way to please God. And as a result, God regarded Abel as righteous, because he offered an acceptable sacrifice.
Now, the next verse says, “And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.” Did you catch that? God did not have regard for Cain or for his offering. There was something lacking in Cain’s faith. We learn from 1 John 3 and verse 12 that Cain’s deeds were evil, that is referring to his life, his offering, and his attitude. God, you see, made a distinction between an offering from a righteous and faithful man who wanted to please and an offering that was just merely a discharge of duty.
When God did not accept Cain’s sacrifice, well, Cain got angry and eventually killed his brother Abel over it. When people learn that they’ve failed to live up to God’s expectations, rather than getting upset they should repent and change their ways. No one likes to hear that they’ve failed, but Cain’s life would have been so much better if he had changed his ways.
In the book of Exodus chapter 32, the Bible tells of the rebellious Israelites who gave up on the Lord and Moses and they demanded idols. And, you remember that, Aaron took their gold rings and he made an idol in the form of a golden calf. They said that this golden calf that they fashioned into a god had brought them out of Egypt. Now, the next day they called a feast to the Lord. They sacrificed offerings, they sat down to eat and drink, and the Bible says they rose up to play. Now, they began behaving like the idolatrous nations that surrounded them with drunken dancing that was filled with sensuality. You see, idolatrous worship often ended up in sexually immoral behavior. They rose up to play, and they thought playing was worship.
You see, ancient idolaters thought their drinking and immoral dance was worship, and the Israelites said the calf that they made was the Lord. But they were wrong on both accounts, and the Lord grew angry at them. You cannot be on the Lord’s side and worship the way that the idolaters did. You cannot serve a holy God with impure behavior.
What they thought was worship was actually a great sin. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 6 and 7, the Bible says, “Now these things took place as examples for us, (that is, us Christians) that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must learn that only acceptable worship to the true and living God is right.
In Isaiah the prophet’s, in his day the people thought that they could worship God acceptably while they willfully lived wicked lives. And after a while God wearied of their sacrifices and feasts because of their iniquity. The Lord said in Isaiah chapter 1, verses 15 to 17 that, “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
Because they chose to live ungodly lives, God would not hear their prayers. Now, I realize none of us can live a perfectly sinless life. You can’t and I can’t. But God desires that when we do sin, we repent of our sins and humbly ask for forgiveness. David, after his sin, wrote in Psalm 51 and verse 17 that, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” But if we approach God unbroken and impenitent, how can we imagine God is going to accept us?
You know, as we turn to the pages of the New Testament, we find other problems with worship. The Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount devotes eighteen verses, eighteen verses, to the problem of displaying righteousness to be seen by others. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” And He described this behavior as hypocrisy. Now, hypocrisy takes place when a person pretends to be something that he does not intend to be. People in those days were pretending to worship, but in God’s eyes they were only showing off their righteousness.
The Lord applies this principle to three acts of devotion: giving alms, praying, and fasting. The hypocrites would blow a trumpet before the people to call attention to their gifts, their alms giving. Why they weren’t giving to God; they were showing off. The Lord teaches us in Matthew 6, verses 3 to 4, “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
The people also proved themselves hypocrites in their prayers. Hypocrites “love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, (the Lord says) they have received their reward. But when you pray, you go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew chapter 6, verses 5 and 6).
Third, when the hypocrites fasted they put on gloomy faces and they neglected their appearance, “so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. (Jesus said) Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6, verses 16 to 18).
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and others were tempted by the flesh to make a show out of their worship. I fear the same kind of thing is happening today. When people become enamored with Christian music stars, they’ve taken their eyes off of God. Even some preachers today believe their calling is to promote a health and wealth gospel. They promise blessings that have nothing to do with discipleship to Christ and it has everything to do with the crass materialism of our time. Other preachers believe that their calling is to be stand-up comedians, using the pulpit for their stage. This is not the Lord’s way.
God said through Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” My friend, it’s the Word, the gospel that saves (Romans 1:16). It’s the Word of Christ that brings faith (Romans 10 and verse 17). It’s the Word that nourishes our souls (1 Peter 2 and verse 2). We need the Bible to grow strong and spiritually healthy.
The apostle Paul warned the elders of the church at Ephesus that savage wolves would come in among them, not sparing the flock. And they will speak twisted or perverse ideas that will draw disciples away from the Lord’s way. This false teaching will split the church, he said. What did Paul recommend? The Bible says in Acts 20, verse 32, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” To follow Christ, we must have the Word and nothing else will do.
So Paul warns Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, verses 3 to 5 of the time when churches would leave sound or healthy teaching about Christ for ear-tickling experiences and myths. The Bible says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, (Timothy, you) be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
Some churches today have forgotten the importance of the Word and have replaced it by preaching comic routines, or having dramatic skits, or self-improvement rallies. We ask, “Where is the Lord in all of this?” Jesus did not waste His time showing off or trying to exploit people with outlandish claims. The Lord said in Luke 19, verse 10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” He preached a message of repentance, of love, and of salvation. Christianity is more than just another course in the power of positive thinking.
Some churches today separate their worship services into traditional and contemporary in an effort to please everyone. Perhaps they feel that pleasing people is more important than the unity of the congregation; or perhaps they’ve bought into a consumer mentality where the customer is always right. In the latter case what people want overrides even what God wills. Is it really the will of God that people worship and have they had their various desires, and that becomes more important than what God requires of us? Is pleasing people more important than pleasing God?
The Lord prayed to the Father in John 17, verses 20 to 21 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” God wants His people to be one. And if we cannot assemble with each other because we have so many different tastes in worship, why we become a house divided against itself.
In some churches women have taken a role of leadership in worship that God does not permit. Several denominations now have women pastors and preachers. In 1Timothy 2 and verse 8, the Bible still says, “Therefore I want the men (that is, males of full age and stature) in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.” Wherever the church meets, God expects men to take the lead.
God says in 1Timothy 2, verses 11 to 14 that, “A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.”
My friend, this is the Lord’s way for His people. And cultural change does not change the Word of God. The Lord desires men to take the lead in the worship of the church. And to support this, Paul appeals to creation and to the fall of Adam and Eve. Paul uses events from the beginning to show that this is a fundamental principle for all time and all cultures. It’s God’s will that men lead in the worship of the church. And so let’s commit ourselves to the will of God. Let’s pray. Father, may our hearts always set upon serving You in a way that pleases You and doing Your will. This is our prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen!
Showing God love and respect in worship requires listening to God to find out what He desires and requires. Cain lived on his own terms without due faith or thought about God, and so God had no regard for Cain or for His sacrifice. If we live life on our terms and lose sight of the Lord’s will for our lives, what makes us think God will accept our worship?
The Lord expects us to have our hearts right before Him if we are to approach Him in worship. As we’ve said, God did not accept the worship of Israel in Isaiah’s time because they were living wicked lives. You can’t live like the devil six days a week and expect the Lord to accept you when you approach Him to worship on the first day of the week. God expects His people to repent when they sin. He expects us to take our sins seriously and to forsake them.
The Lord said in Matthew 5, verses 23 and 4, “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”
Are you right with God? Perhaps today you need to establish a relationship with the Lord, because you want to worship and thank Him. To become His child you must have faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, you must repent of your sins, you must confess your faith before others, and you must be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. Today is the best day to get right with God. Worship with one of the churches of Christ served by this station and let them know that you want to get right with God. You’ll be so glad that you did.
We hope that you’ve been blessed by today’s study of God’s Word. We’re offering this wonderful little booklet on worship. It’s free of charge. It has all of the transcripts of this month’s work. And you can get them free by writing to us at In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or e-mail us at searchtv@searchtv.org.
Or, you can call the toll-free Search office, toll-free at 1-800-321-8633. Now, all of our programs appear on our website, www.searchtv.org. You can access them, and download them in a printed, audio, or video format. And we’re also now offering free study sheets with our programs. If you would like a free Bible Correspondence Course or you would like somebody to come by and study the Bible with you, let us know.
Please go by and worship with one of the churches of Christ in the area that’s served by this station or network. Ah, they love guests, and you’ll be glad that you visited. Mack and I will be back next week, Lord willing. So keep searching God’s Word with us and tell a friend about In Search of the Lord’s Way. Ah, God bless you and we love you from all of us at In Search of the Lord’s Way.
|