Acceptable Worship

Robert Meredith

Is there a pattern for acceptable worship?  Yes!  Man is not at liberty to do whatever he desires in worship.  Isaiah penned, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Jeremiah would write, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself:  it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).  In these two passages one learns that what men may want is not necessarily approved of by God, and therefore man should look to God for guidance through His word (Psalm 119:105).  Solomon would write, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).  Let us look at God’s word to see what is acceptable in worship. 

  Our Lord said, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.  God is a spirit: 

they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).  Jesus said that the Father desires true worshippers, those that worship in spirit and in truth.  God has specified what one is to do in worship, as we will notice.  However, He has not specified the exact order.  Many places have two songs and a prayer, then another song, then preaching.  There is nothing wrong with this tradition.  In 1 Corinthians 14:40, one is instructed that worship is to be done “decently and in order.”  But let us remember the order of worship is not binding, it is simply a matter of expediency.  The order can be rearranged as long as one is still worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

  The Lord has given commandments (1 Corinthians 14:37) concerning the acts done in worship.  Nadab and Abihu were priests of God during Moses’ day.  God destroyed these two priests because they disregarded His commandments (Leviticus 10:1-2).  The lesson for us is that our worship must be as God directs or it will lead to spiritual death.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17).

  There are five different acts that Jesus has authorized in His word:  congregational singing (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19), prayer (1 Timothy 2:8), observance of the Lord’s supper only on Sunday (Acts 20:7), the giving of our means (1 Corinthians 16:1-2), and the preaching of God’s word (Acts 20:7; 2 Timothy 4:2; Acts 2:42).  When one worships as God directs with faithful males leading in these acts of worship, the worship is acceptable to God.  Let each of us worship God in spirit (from the heart) and only as God commands.