Not all worship is acceptable before God.  Part 2 of this worship series is about acceptable/unacceptable worship.

Tozer identifies several types of unacceptable worship before presenting his thoughts on acceptable worship.

• Cain Worship - Cain assumed to know God but really didn't know God.  He assumed he occupied a relation to God that he didn't occupy.  If he had truly known God and had relationship with Him (to be made "at one" - "atone"), he would have understood his need for cleansing.  Therefore, he came before God without being cleansed by the blood of the atonement and the fire of the Holy Spirit, and God did not receive His worship. Cain's worship was without the atonement. 

• When man assumes that sin, especially his own, is less serious than it is - This type of worship falls into the sphere that Dedrich Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace."  Jesus paid a very high price for our redemption, and when we do not take sin or the cross seriously, we cheapen the price He paid to set us free, to make worshippers out of rebels.

• Samaritan Worship/heretical worship - This is when man chooses what he wants to believe in scripture and rejects or discards the rest.  Every book in the Bible is about Jesus and God's great RECOVERY mission.  Many of the words that Jesus spoke during His life here on earth were quotes from the Old Testament.  We cannot just camp out in the book of John; we must respect the whole counsel of scripture.  When we pick and choose, we are giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down to God's very words.

Here's a little history.  The Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the tribe of Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh.  When the ten tribes were carried away in captivity to Assyria, the king of Assyria sent people to inhabit Samaria. (2Kings 17:24) These foreigners intermarried with the Israelites still in the area and at first worshipped the idols of their own nations.  Because of trouble with lions, this mixed race supposed that they had not honored the God of that region.  Therefore, they found a Jewish priest to teach them about the Jewish religion.  Though educated in Jewish customs and religion, they still practiced their idolatrous customs.  They embraced a religion that was a mix of what they found worthy in Judaism and their idolatry.  Because they had intermarried, the Jews considered them half-breeds and despised their worship practices.

• Nature Worship - This is when man chooses to venerate the creation and the creative nature of man instead of venerating the Creator.  We are more like God than any other creation.  He placed in our DNA creativity and giftedness because He Himself is the first Most Excellent Creative and Gifted One.  People who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of nature, music, poetry, art, architecture, technology, fitness, ethics, etc. without celebrating the goodness and generosity of the Creator are guilty of this type of worship. 

ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP

Jesus Himself explained the nature of acceptable worship.

(John 4: 23-24.)  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth,

for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

 

• Only the Holy Spirit can enable fallen man to worship God acceptably.  Only the Holy Spirit can enable fallen man to pray acceptably.  Only the Holy Spirit can enable fallen man to use his gifts acceptably.  These must be Spirit led.  I believe that is why Jesus asked the disciples to wait, to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high.  They would need the work of Holy Spirit in their life.  We need the work of Holy Spirit in our lives.  Everything else is wood, hay, and stubble.

 

• Only worship that presents the truth is acceptable to God.  Tozer identifies five areas of truth.  We must believe what God has said about these five areas in order to worship Him in an acceptable manner.

1. What God says about Himself
2. What God says about His Son, Jesus, the Christ
3. What God says about Us - all the good and all the bad
4. What God says about His grace and love and mercy, etc. - that all of these are as excellent as He says they are
5. What God says about sin

When we accept and believe the truth of God and when we are filled with and led by the Holy Spirit, our worship will be acceptable to God.

This is the second part of a three-part series.