The Proper Worship of God Part 5 - Acceptable vs. Unacceptable Worship

We learned in the previous sections of this study that God requires us to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23) and that our worship must be a sign of our commitment to Him (Matthew 10:38).  God has always been clear about how He is to be worshiped, but sinful man has not listened.  Man continues to worship the Lord in worldly ways that are unacceptable to Him, at his peril. We are to "see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

God has always been clear as to how He is to be worshiped; acceptable and unacceptable ways of worship are spelled out in the Scriptures.  The Old Testament account of Cain and Abel is but one example.  Cain and Abel both worshiped God, but Abel did as God directed.  Cain, in contrast, tried to worship God as he saw fit.  Scripture tells us the outcome: "So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.  And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.  And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offerings; but for Cain and for his offerings He had no regard" (Genesis 4:3-5). 

Why did the Lord have regard for Abel's offering, but reject Cain's sacrifice?  "By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts" (Hebrews 11:4).  Notice the difference; Abel offered his sacrifice "by faith", whereas Cain did not.  We know this because "faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17).  Faith comes from the Word of God, and Abel offered his sacrifice by faith; according to the word of God.  If we are to worship God by faith, we worship as the word of God directs.

Abel offered the firstborn of his flock "by faith", and it was accepted because his worship was according to the instructions of God.  Cain, for his part, chose to ignore God's instructions and sacrificed instead to God an offering of the fruit of the ground.  Cain chose to sacrifice to God in the way he saw fit.  Cain did not offer his sacrifices according to the Lord's instructions, so God rejected Cain's worship because it was not "by faith".

From this example we learn that our worship must be "by faith"; that is, "by the word of God".  We learn from Scripture that whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Therefore, if our worship is not by faith, if it is not according to God's word, then our worship is sin and will be rejected as Cain's was rejected.  It is a very serious matter if God rejects our worship; we will be condemned if He does: "For as rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you" (1Samuel 15:23).  To insure that our worship is acceptable to the Lord, we must humbly conform ourselves to His will.

To accept anything that teaches otherwise is to accept false doctrine.  The diligent follower of Christ knows that to go against the word of God is to sin (Matthew 16:23), and obeying Him means doing what God says to do, when God says to do it, in the way God specifies, and for the reason God gives.  If what we offer to God in worship is not according to His word, then our worship is vain and useless, displeases the Father and will be rejected.