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What the Bible says about How we Worship
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Psalm 99:5

Knowing our strong tendency to imitate what we admire in others, God wants us to worship Him because of what He is and what He does. He wants us to worship Him because of His attributes and what they produce.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Why Worship God?

Malachi 1:7-13

The halfhearted service, the halfhearted obedience, and the profanation are evident. The sacrifices that were being offered to God were being done in a way that was not acceptable to Him.

There is no indication that what these people were doing was deliberate. It seems that it was not a reasoned conclusion that it should be done this way. They were not purposefully worshipping God this way. It was not in their heart to do it! But it was nonetheless being done that way. They were treating God as though He and the things of the altar—the service and the sacrifice of the altar—were less important than other things. The way they performed the ritual showed that in their hearts they considered it a secondary matter. Other things were squeezing out what should have been their first priority.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fourth Commandment (Part 4)

Malachi 1:10

He is saying, "Go through the temple rituals and perform all your sacrifices. It does not mean a thing to Me because your attitude is rotten! You do not realize who I am. You are just going through the motions!"

John O. Reid
Tithing

Matthew 15:3

If there is indeed a "war on Christmas," then let Rome defend it, for it was Rome that co-opted the Bacchanalia of the winter solstice and inserted the unknown birth of the Messiah. Christ-mass is wholly indefensible when one looks beyond the traditions of men and searches the Bible.

That really is the bottom line: The citizens of this nation can only disagree on how Christmas should be kept because the nearest thing to a central authority on the issue—a powerful papacy—is long gone. Should Santa Claus be included in the same scene as baby Jesus? Should gifts be exchanged? If so, how many? Where is the line between acceptable and shameful consumerism? Should mistletoe be displayed, or is that too pagan? Is a "traditional Christmas" of today more correct than a "traditional Christmas" of 1905? Or vice versa?

In the absence of clear instruction from God, such as exists for His annual holy days, the matter is entirely up to personal interpretation and the changing traditions of an ungrounded culture. Without authentic biblical roots, there is nothing to define and describe how traditions such as Christmas should be observed. Each person has a different "reason for the season." Who is to say that one interpretation of a pagan celebration is "more right" than another?

In Matthew 15:3, 6-9, our Savior speaks emphatically on the subject of honoring man's tradition over the Word of God. We humans are creatures of habit, and traditions are not inherently evil. Sin enters the picture, though, when what man wants to do, or what he has always done, is given more credence than God's instructions.

Contrary to popular Christian belief, we are not free to worship God in any way we see fit. The story of Cain and Abel teaches us that He does not accept worship that is contrary to His instructions, and the result is disastrous. God has already defined the way He would have man venerate Him: in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). But truth is certainly absent in the celebration of Christmas.

The debate over Christmas is probably not going to end anytime soon, and no matter the outcome of the current conflagration, Satan will be the real winner. Although the specific applications may vary, the underlying "reason for the season" is man—not God. If you want to test this, try crusading for the celebrating of God's clearly defined and described holy days. The probable result will be cessation of cultural hostilities just long enough for the warriors to chase you up an evergreen tree and set fire to it. God has already given the answers to how He is to be honored. But this season, with or without the religious veneer, is all about man's insistence on doing things his own way without regard to truth.

David C. Grabbe
The Rea$on for the Season

John 4:24

The second commandment deals with how we worship. The worship of God involves the totality of life, and thus we cannot confine it to a particular location or concentrated in a mere hour or two on a given day.

Our focus in worship should be on imitating Him in the totality of life. We are to use no material aids in doing this because no one can capture in a work of art what God is. God wants us to concentrate on what He is, not on what He looks like. However, given human nature's powerful attraction to the physical and material, it is difficult for a person to renounce their dominance over his life. A person's first step backward from conversion is often to become grudgingly willing to share time and energy that should go to God with someone or something else.

When asked what the first and great commandment of the law is, Jesus replied, quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). Anything less will affect the quality of our worship. This is a high pinnacle to reach for, requiring a lifetime of growth in wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and character built by overcoming the world, the flesh, and the Devil.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fourth Commandment


 




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