A Tract on Worship

The behavior required of Christians is no mystery; it is spelled out in scripture, but there is no need to make a list of duties, for there is only one reasonable service that God seeks, and it is worship. The Christian duty of true worship sets all other priorities in due order, for above all else, God is first. 

God has revealed His authority in scripture, and the humble will submit to His word in order to know what is pleasing to Him. Christ told the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well that God seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. The sons of Aaron, the first High Priest, sought to worship God their own way, but they didn’t live to tell about it because God struck them dead. Shall we, the children of no such noble birth, expect a different outcome if we worship God in an idolatrous way? Certainly not, for how shall we who are dead to sin expect to live spiritually while practicing false worship? True worship requires right knowledge of God and right sacrifice of all things that distract us from Him.

The religions of this world give honor to themselves by worshipping their gods with show and pomp. Many claim God as their motivation, but the character of their god reveals that they do not know the true God because they have embraced a lie. They do their religious acts to receive praise for themselves, but the worship of God’s children is the result of their experience of Him and His mercies. Their worship consists of giving themselves unreservedly to God because He is holy, just, and merciful. Those who participate in false worship receive the praise of the world, but those who worship God in spirit and truth are unified in His righteousness and receive the gifts of His Spirit.

Natural man does not have a spirit to worship God in communion with the Holy Spirit because he is unregenerate. The spirit of natural man was killed by the disobedience of father Adam, and as a result, Adam's offspring cannot understand spiritual things; they are foolishness to them, but those who are alive in Christ are described by the Apostle Paul as new creations who are called to continually give themselves over to God as living sacrifices.

If you have been given life by Christ alone, through grace alone, through faith alone, remember these mercies and give yourself, your thoughts, attitudes, intentions, and desires to God as an act of true worship which is reasonable and necessary. Do not be like righteous Lot who had new life but sought contentment from the ungodly world around him. Instead, seek contentment from God who will provide it to those who worship Him in spirit and truth.  

Lastly, in your pursuit of worship do not forget the maxim, "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." Those who are humble submit themselves to the whole counsel and authority of God as found in the Holy Bible. They worship God in the way He prescribes not according to their prideful feelings. True worship is primarily objective. When we obey truth, right feelings will follow, but when we follow our feelings, truth Is obscured. No man can serve two masterS. You cannot worship God and the objects of your lust.

John 4, Ephesians 2:8-10, 1 Corinthians 2:15, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Numbers 3:4, Romans 12:1-3, 2 Peter 2:7-10, Galatians 5:22-23