sermonette: Does God Always Accept Our Worship Of Him?

Clyde Finklea
Given 07-Feb-04; Sermon #650s; 15 minutes

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Webster's definition of worship is to adore, to pay divine honors to, to reverence with supreme respect and veneration. It also means respect, admiration, or devotion for an object of esteem. Now, a simpler understanding of worship is in the very root of the English word, which is worship, W O R T H S H I P. Which means quality or state of deserving. Now Jesus said in Matthew 4:10, For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. So we see that the only true object of worship is God. But does God always accept those who come to worship Him? Turn with me please to Matthew 7. Matthew 7 and verse 21. Very familiar scripture. So it's not everyone who says to me, and this is Jesus speaking, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesized in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Now the people Jesus are referring to here thought they were worshiping God and that they were acceptable to him. Tomorrow, millions of people will come together to worship God. But will he accept them? Uh, God will not accept their worship because of one thing, they are practicing lawlessness. By not remembering the true Sabbath and not keeping it holy. So now let's rephrase the question. Does God always accept our worship of Him? Those of us who have been called. By him and who know him and he knows us. Well, Let's go back to the beginning. Um To the first recorded worship service in the Bible in Genesis. The 4th chapter. And we began to answer this question with an Old Testament example. Genesis 4 will begin in verse 1. It says, now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore came and said, I have acquired a man from the eternal. Then she bore again this time his brother Abel. Now the phrase here and this is just a point of interest I want to bring out. The phrase then she bore again in the Hebrew literally means she added to bear. Now according to Clark's Clark's commentary. And I quote, in most cases where a subject of this kind is introduced in the holy scriptures and the successive births of children of the same parents are noted, the acts of conceiving and bringing forth are mentioned in reference to each child. Here it is not said that she conceived and brought forth Abel, but simply she added to bring forth Abel, his brother. So then it's very possible that Cain and Abel were twins. Now twins usually grow up liking the same things, acting and behaving in the same manner. And many times going into the same occupation. So in verse 2, or the last sentence in verse 2, Where it says that now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground, really gives us an indication that they were actually nothing alike, that they had actually gone into the opposite directions. Now verse 3, where it says, and in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the eternal. Again here, the phrase in the process of time in the Hebrew refers to a specific time. Uh, we know from the book of Exodus that 3 times in a year, all males are to appear before the eternal with an offering. So this was most likely a holy day. Now after Adam and Eve had sinned, God set in motion his plan for salvation. Now, which the whole today is actually pitcher. So Cain and Abel must have been instructed then to bring an offering on the special days. OK, this verse 4. It says Abel also brought the first point of his plot and of their fat, and the eternal respected Abel in his offering, but he did not respect Cain in his offering, and Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. Now we see that Cain and Abel both came to worship God. They knew who God was, and God knew who they were. But why did he accept Abel in his offering but not Cain in his offering? Now this This is usually where the commentators will begin to focus on the offering as part of the reason for God not accepting Cain. Some think that he brought the wrong offering, not being an animal sacrifice or for a burn offering, but the word used here for offering is Mina. Which means gift, offering, or tribute, and is usually bloodless and voluntary. So was it the offering that God rejected? As far as value goes, Cain's offering may have been more valuable than Abel's. Now let's look at the real reason that God rejected Cain. Let's turn to first. Excuse me. Let's turn to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Now this is usually a verse that they use to prove that it was the offering. Hebrews 11:4. Say by faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of His gifts and through it, he being dead still speaks. Now on the surface, Um, this verse seems to be referring to the offerings. But I believe the more excellent sacrifice was the sacrifice of Abel's life. King David said in Psalm 51, and I quote, For you do not desire sacrifice, speaking of animal sacrifice, or else I would give it. You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Oh God, you will not despise. Our contrite heart is a crushed heart, a repentant heart. Abel, like David, had a repentant heart. And the gifts speaking of here that God was testifying of. Were the deeds, the fruits, and the works that were evident in Abel's life, and God imputed this as righteousness and not the offering. OK, let's go turn further to First John. I John 3. And in verse 10 And this will actually give us the real reason that God rejected Cain here. First John 3:10. Where it says in this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another. The beginning, not the beginning of the church age, but from the beginning when man was created. Um, we were to love one another, not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous. Now Cain came to worship the true God, but God did not accept. His worship because Cain was yielding to and being influenced by the spirit of Satan. And his heart was filled with hidden agenda. Now his hidden agenda was bitterness and jealous envy for his brother Abel. Now let's go back to Genesis again. Back to Genesis 4. And we will finish up here in this Old Testament example. Genesis 4 and I think we are in 6, verse 6. He says so the eternal said to Cain. Why are you angry and why has your countness fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted, and if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Now this term sin lies at the door, actually pictures a four-legged beast crouched, ready to pounce on its victim. And as soon as you walk through that door, sin is pounced all over you and it will consume you. And this is what God was telling him. Now God was actually giving Cain the opportunity here to repent. But he did not, and his bitterness and jealous envy turned into hatred, and his hatred eventually led to the killing of his brother Abel. Now this example of Cain and Abel's worship of God teaches us that God does not always accept our worship of Him. Now let's look into the New Testament and see what's required of us today. Turn with me to John, the Gospel of John. This will be our final scripture. Gospel of John verse 4. No, excuse me. John 4:23. John 4:23. Jesus again is speaking, he said, but the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. Today we are commanded by Jesus Christ to worship God in spirit and truth. Now what does it mean to worship God in spirit and truth? First of all, God is composed of spirit, and we are not. Now we have a spirit in us. Uh, Mr. Armstrong called it a spirit essence. Now this spirit essence is what gives us the ability to think, reason, and create. He also said this spirit was created incomplete, that it needed another spirit. Uh, to be connected with, preferably God. Now, so worshiping God, first of all, if we are not connected to God's spirit, then we are going to be connected to another spirit. And what other spirit is there but the Spirit of Satan or the spirit of the God of this world. So worshiping God in spirit is yielding to and being influenced by his spirit. And again, if we are not yielding to and being influenced by his spirit, then we are going to be yielding to and influenced by the spirit of Satan. And the works that we produce will be the evidence of which spirit that we will be yielding to. Now, just like the example we have with Cain and Abel, Abel was yielding to and being influenced by the spirit of God. And in doing so, he was producing works that God imputed his righteousness. Cain, on the other hand, was yielding to and being influenced by the spirit of Satan. And was producing works that were evil. OK, therefore, when he came to worship the true God, God did not accept him. Now, we also must worship him in truth. Having knowledge of the truth is part of this, but we also have to have a heart that is true, a heart that has no guile, no deceit, and no hidden agenda. Jesus said, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now when we come to worship before God, we come to see Him spiritually. If we are not pure in our hearts, we will not see him. The pure and heart are void of hypocrisy. They have room for only one master, Christ. They never try to hide sin from God. They confess and forsake all known sin. In other words, they have a heart that has no hidden agenda. So does God always accept our worship of Him? I believe the answer is no. Because we do not always yield to his spirit. When we were in our part of the worldwide Church of God. We were on the surface obeying God. And we were doing his will. We, we were keeping his commandments, so it seemed. But our hearts for many of us was filled with hidden agenda. God showed us, showed us that he did not accept our worship of Him by spewing us out of his mouth. But he also has shown us that through repentance and returning to him that we can be acceptable to him. Jesus said to the lay of descends, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me. Jesus is basically saying, if you do well, if you do my will, will you not be accepted? Yes, we will. So in order for God to accept our worship of him, we must always be yielding to and being influenced by his spirit. Doing his will and have a heart that is true and pure and having a heart that has no hidden agenda.