Style and Attitude

Even when we worship the true God, our worship may still be unacceptable to Him if we offer it in the wrong style or with the wrong attitude.

The Wrong Style 

One extremely common type of deviant worship is worship of the true God in a self-styled manner. As we have seen previously, Nadab and Abihu, Saul, and Uzzah were all guilty of worshiping God in their own way without regard to His revelation. That is false worship just as surely as worshiping a stone idol is false worship, and God does not accept it. 

The Pharisees also tried to worship the true God with a self-styled system, and Jesus told them, “You yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition” (Matthew 15:3). Their worship was an abomination because it was built on their desires rather than God’s Word.

The Wrong Attitude

But a type of worship far more subtle than any of the three we have mentioned so far in this series is worship of the true God with a wrong attitude.

Perhaps you don’t worship false gods or images of the true God. And maybe you are not guilty of inventing your own way to worship. But do you worship with the right attitude? Is your whole heart in worship? When it comes time to give, do you give the best of all you have? Are you filled with awe and reverence? Not many can answer those questions in the affirmative without hesitation or qualification.

In Malachi 1, God denounces the people of Israel for the inadequacy of their worship. He says, “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar” (Malachi 1:7). They were treating the matter of worship with disdain and flippancy. By offering blind, lame, and sick animals (v. 8) instead of bringing the best they had, they were demonstrating contempt for the seriousness of worship. In verse 10, God says, “I am not pleased with you. . .nor will I accept an offering from you.” He refused to accept their worship because their attitude was not right.

Amos also gives insight into the intensity of God’s hatred of worship with the wrong attitude. In Amos 5:21, God says,

I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Hosea saw the same truth. Hosea 6:4–6 says,

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early. Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth. For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Israel was offering hypocrisy, not worship. Their offerings were empty. Like many today, they were guilty of giving God the symbol but not the reality.

Isaiah 1 contains the same indictment: 

“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle; and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen.” (vv. 11–15)

Read the minor prophets carefully. The frightening reality is that Israel’s and Judah’s destruction stems from the fact that they did not worship God with the proper attitude.

What Now?

Much of the world offers false worship—the kind of worship that focuses on a tortilla, on material things, on ritual form, or even on divine blessings. But even if we avoid those pitfalls, we tend to offer a self-determined type of worship designed primarily to please the worshipers. And still, in the best of cases, our worship is often offered with a wrong or half-hearted attitude. God will not accept such worship. The Bible is explicit on that.

We must seek a biblical understanding of worship. God has commanded it. Our ministry depends on it. It is crucial to our relationship to Him and our testimony in this world. We cannot afford to ignore it. Too much is at stake.

With this in mind, our series on worship will now turn from what Scripture forbids in worship to what it prescribes. Over the next few days, we will learn how the Bible describes true worship.