WHAT KIND OF WORSHIPPER ARE YOU?

 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." - John 4:19-24.

INTRODUCTION

Everyone is a worshipper, but not all worship offered to God is acceptable to Him. Instances abound in Scripture where God either accepted or rejected certain people’s worship:

1.     Abel and Cain (Genesis 4:3-5).

2.     Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-2).

 The first requirement of anyone who desires to worship God and to walk with Him is obedience (I Samuel 15:22; cf. John 14:15).

God does not play with issues regarding worship, neither should man trifle with the most important assignment given to him.

 UNDERSTANDING WORSHIP

Worship is a very important subject matter because it determines whether we are going to be with God in the Holiday of Glory or not. Who you worship and how you worship are major determinants of where you will be in all of eternity.

By default, mankind are worshipful beings, however, on a grand scale worship is greatly misunderstood, leading to people to do all manners of things in the name of worship. Today, worship has become an all-comers affair.

 

By definition, “Worship” is the payment of obeisance to the one of worth. No one is worthy of worship except God, our Creator (Psalms 95:6-7).

Because men and women have an inborn desire for worship and because many do not know what worship entails, mankind have gone astray worshipping anything in sight - from galaxies to mere animals. 

God Almighty is the one who determines how mankind are to worship (Exodus 20:3-6). It is not the responsibility of man to decide how God is to be worshipped. 

Every worship both meaningless and meaningful has its object. To us the object of our worship is GOD, Creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the one who decides what to do to worship Him. The subject does not determine what the object wants but the object determines what the subject should do. 

Today, men seem to be deciding by themselves how God is to be worshipped. Worship is not doing what we cooked up, but doing what God instructed should be done (Exodus 8:27). 

WHAT KIND OF WORSHIPPER ARE YOU?

It is important to realize that Bible talks about various kinds of worships and by implication various kinds of worshippers. There are three kinds of worship: Ignorant, Vain and True worship. 

Ignorant Worshipper (John 4:22).

a) To worship ignorantly is to worship without knowing the object of our worship.

b)  Many people are worshipping ignorantly (Acts 17:23). They are just going through the motions of worship without substance.  

                            i.   One major factor that leads to Ignorant Worship is ignorance of the Will (Mind) of God as are revealed in Scripture (Matthew 22:29). 

VAIN WORSHIPPER (MATTHEW 15:7-9).

a.        “Vain” is anything without substance, empty. To say that peoples’ worship are referred to as vain, without substance and empty is too difficult to grasp.

b.        Vain worship is the result of three factors:

                      i.         The teachings of men (Mark 7:7-9).

                   ii.         Not abiding by the teachings of Christ (II John verses 9-10).

                iii.         Not subjecting to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:1-3).

c.  Vain worship results when people enthrone the tradition of addition into God’s Word and the subtraction from God’s Word. 

TRUE WORSHIPPER (JOHN 4:23-24).

a. God does not just accept any worship. He seeks for people who would worship Him in spirit      and Truth (John 4:23).

b. True worship is made up of two elements: Spirit (Human element) and Truth (Divine element). 

     SPIRIT

     - Worship is an outward expression of an inward sense of praise. No wonder we are told that we should love the LORD with all our hearts, souls, mind and spirit (Matthew  22:37-38). 

TRUTH

God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). To “worship God in truth” is to worship Him      according to His Word – His pattern (Hebrews 8:5). The pattern is seen in the way early Christians worshipped. How did they? (Acts 2:42, 46-47) we should follow their examples (Ephesians 2:20). 

 When early Christians assembled for worship they:

                            i.   Taught “Continued in Apostles teachings….” (Acts 2:4^a). 

             ii. Broke bread (verse 42^c; Acts 20:7).

             iii. Prayed (verse 42^d).

             iv. Gave of their means (verse 45; I Cor.16:1-2).

              v. Praising God (Sang, verse 47^a); cf. I Cor. 14:15; Eph. 5:19). 

CONCLUSION:

     Worship is what we give to God for Who He is and for what He has done for us in line with what He has commanded us. Many worship but they do so in ignorance, self-will and in vanity. Some, however, worship God according to His Word – the revealed will – in spirit and truth.

    We invite you to worship God with us in Spirit and in Truth at any Congregation of Church of Christ near you.