Acceptable Worship
These past couple of months we have been observing what it means to try something new in worship using our bodies as a physical expression of our worship to God. This month I want to ask the question, does it even matter how I worship God? Is there an acceptable and an unacceptable way to worship? Let’s take a look into the scriptures to see if we can find any ideas about what acceptable worship looks like.
In Genesis 4:3-16, we see the very first reference to worship in the Bible. This is the story of Cain and Abel. We read that Cain was a farmer, and Abel was a rancher. Both of these men brought an offering to God from the products of their labor. Verses 3-5 say, “In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.”
The first idea about acceptable worship is that God has an opinion. We see in the scriptures that He has an opinion about worship, how we approach Him, our interaction with Him, etc. God gives us guidelines for worship which can be found in our road map, the Bible.
Did God favor Abel’s offering because it was from the blood of an animal? I do not believe that was the reason. Elsewhere in the Bible God rejects blood sacrifices when they offer out of their abundance (Isa. 1:4, 11 and Jer. 6:20). In Micah 6:6-8, the people of Israel had forsaken righteousness of the heart, justice, kindness, and humility and were seeking to attain it through prescribed rituals of worship. God bore witness of their righteousness or wickedness by accepting or rejecting their sacrifices. It was not the details of the offerings that were being inspected but the heart of the worshipper. The man was being judged rather than his offering.
Now back to Cain and Abel, we read, “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor” (Gen. 4:4-5). Notice it does not say that Abel’s offering was what pleased the Lord, but rather Abel first, and then his offering. In Hebrews 11:4 we read some insight into that, “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings”. God accepted Abel’s gift because of his righteousness.
By his rejection of Cain and his offering, God bore witness, not to an improperly detailed ritual of worship, but to the wickedness of the man. Centuries later John states that Cain “belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother… Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (1 John 3:12). Cain evidently sought to achieve righteousness by rituals of worship when he was evil in heart. Abel, on the other hand, did not make an offering to achieve righteousness. He was righteous already because of his faith. God bore witness to that fact by accepting him and his offering.
So worship is, and always has been, about the heart.
When we come to the worship service on Sunday, we should ask ourselves, “How is my heart today?” I must ask myself this question every week before I get up and lead. If my heart is not right with God, then it doesn’t matter what I do to go through the motions, God will not be pleased. On the contrary, if my heart is right, then everything else I do will glorify God. If my heart is right, it doesn’t matter if I clap, shout, dance, or even do a conga line, it will be pleasing to Him.
This week, and every week, make a special effort to be pleasing to God when you come in to worship Him.
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