by Dave Brown
Ye often hear it said ...
“It does not
matter how we worship God.”
but the Apostle John stated (Jn. 4:24) ...
“God is Spirit,
and those who worship him
must worship in spirit and truth.”
Otherwise, it just is not worship of God. It might be
worship of a god, but it is not worship of the true and living God. God has
specified how He wants to be worshipped, both in our formal worship of him
together in the church and in our personal daily lives. When we go outside of
what He has specified and call it worship, we should be assured that it is
worship of some god, which is idolatry.
Heb. 9:1: “Now even the first {covenant} had regulations
of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary.” God has always regulated the way
that he wants to be worshipped. Consider Col. 2:18, 23: “Let no one keep
defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of
the angels, taking his stand on {visions} he has seen, inflated without cause
by his fleshly mind, ...These are matters which have, to be sure, the
appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe
treatment of the body, {but are} of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
Indeed, they are the forerunner of the sins of the flesh, for if we cannot so
much as just worship God in the way that He wants to be worshipped, how are we
to obey him in the more difficult things of this life. The first step away
from God, as seen in Romans 1:21f is the failure to properly worship. The last
stage is total depravity. Worship is very important.