Entertained by Strange Fire vs Worship in Spirit & Truth

God is Seeking True Worshipers, but His Body is Bringing Strange Fire to His Altar by Presenting the Flesh to God

Apr 25, 2024

My family and I have been seeking a new church home for the past few months, and the fresh exposure to a wide variety of churches has opened my eyes to the nature of true worship through music. I’ve had multiple discussions with my wife and kids as well as other Believers about this and decided to do a bit of a deep dive into what the Word has to say about true and false worship to God.

As I’ve studied and reflected on this, I have seen the following four kinds of worship which I would like to frame here in terms of the Biblical principles of the fire of the Tabernacle and “spirit and truth” from John 4:

Leviticus 6:13 Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out.

John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Four Types of Fire at the Altar

I’ve seen the following types of worship in the churches we have visited (highlights/Tl;dr for those who don’t want to read the whole article!):

Abominable Fire = False spirit + No Truth
- Worship of false gods (idols & demons) or the true God in the wrong form (i.e. golden calf at Mount Sinai)
- Celebrity Preachers and Musicians who use the stage to receive glory for themselves.
No Fire = No Spirit + Some Truth in words only
- Lifeless, passionless, Spiritless rote music sung or mouthed by passive, distracted spectators ticking the box of their religious duty.
- They know the truth about God, but their hearts are far from Him.
Strange Fire = Spirit + No Truth
- Worship that has good intentions and desires, but bringing the “best of the flesh” to worship God, violating God‘s commandments, pattern, and truth.
Fire of God = Worship in Spirit + Truth
- Live & Walk by the indwelling life of the Spirit
- Know the truth about God and know the true God
- Worship God with your whole being
- Putting no confidence in the Flesh

Abominable Fire - False spirit + No Truth

Abominable fire comes in two forms: the worship of false gods (idols & demons), or the true God in the wrong form (i.e. golden calf at Mount Sinai). In both cases, men are guilty of creating a god in their own image which is really no god at all and failing to understand the nature of the one true God.

We have been visiting churches in the Kansas City area during the 2024 Super Bowl for the Chiefs. There were a number of congregations far more excited about the Chiefs Kingdom than the Kingdom of God, with football game watch parties in the church that drew more passionate worshippers than on Sunday mornings. The reality is that sports in America and around the world is idol worship, and we in the church make little separation between serving a holy God and worshipping the game. I know that I probably offended half of the American church in what I have just written, but I wonder if God is offended more than they are by what His people do in His name?

Here is the test for an idol: anything that we seek satisfaction, rest, and joy in other than God.

Football? Movies? Food? Social Media? They are all satanic substitutes for God if we give them the place in our lives.

Romans 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Exodus 32:8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!'"

Jeremiah 2:13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.

Revelation 2:20-23 'But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

Beyond this, I have watched as pastors and worship leaders take center stage and soak up the attention of the audience, stirring up the crowds like a comedian, or a worship leader wowing the people with showy singing. I’m actively avoiding the more overt mega-churches because of this, but I still see it in the smaller congregations.

“Entertainment is the Devil’s substitute for joy. The more joy you have in the Lord the less entertainment you need.”
- Leonard Ravenhill

I cringe because I fear for them that they are stealing glory from God and are falling into the snare of the devil. Man was not created for the stage, to receive glory from men, and is inevitably corrupted by it and falls into pride and self-glorification, just like Satan when he sought the glory and worship due only to God.

Satan’s Sin

What was Satan’s primary sin? Pride. He took the glory that had been given him by God for the worship of God, and he instead proclaimed himself worthy of glory. In other words, he set himself up as an idol in the place of God to receive worship. Ever since this time, Satan’s primary goal has been to take glory and worship away from God and receive it for himself. Christian worship and music is high on the order of what Satan seeks to distort and twist.

Ezekiel 28:17 [speaking of Satan] "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.

Revelation 9:20-21 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

1 Timothy 3:2,6-7 An overseer, then, must… not [be] a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Psalm 115:1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.

James 4:4-7 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

No Fire - No Spirit + Some Truth in words only

Lifeless, passionless, Spiritless rote music sung or mouthed by passive, distracted spectators ticking the box of their religious duty.

I’m amazed when I look around and see the church mouthing hymns and songs that hold such amazing truths, but there is no true worship in their hearts, and no recognition of the reality of the God they profess with their lips. These churches are often doctrinally sound, with nothing overly objectionable in their teaching, but are devoid of the life of the Spirit.

Isaiah 29:13 Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.

Matthew 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

Revelation 2:2-4 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

How can we profess to know the living God and lay claim to eternal life where we will worship Him forever, and be so half-hearted in our worship. It reminds me of this quote from A.W. Tozer:

“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”
- A.W. Tozer

We haven’t lasted too long in these churches because I have had enough dry, dead religion in my life. I see very little in the Word about this kind of church because this isn’t the nature of a church that serves living God and a risen Savior - the New Testament Church is filled with life! As a good friend once told me:

“I’d rather restrain a maniac than resurrect the dead!”
— Paul H.

I’d rather have a messy, living church than clean, dead religion.

I’d rather sanctify the worshiper than replace a heart of stone.

Praise God, He is in the business of both!

Strange Fire - Spirit without Truth

“Worship is no longer worship when it reflects the culture around us more than the Christ within us.”
— A.W. Tozer, A Man of God

Worship that has good intentions and desires in serving the Lord, but ignorantly violating or ignoring God‘s commandments, pattern, and truth.

This is the most common form of worship I have seen. People can more easily discern abominable fire, and our culture is moving away from obligatory, dry, dead religion (although there is still plenty of it out there).

I’ve seen churches where they know, or have known, what true worship looks like and have experienced a true move of the Spirit, and they desire that there be a genuine move of God in their worship. But they make the mistake of trying to generate a move of the Spirit through the flesh.

They try to “copy” the Spirit through an excellent and emotionally moving musical performance, excellent singers, the right lighting, with soft piano background music for a well-crafted prayer. But by doing this, we have simply replaced the fire of God and a genuine move of the Spirit with the strange fire of entertainment, an exciting atmosphere, and worldly music techniques and performances designed to elicit and emotional response. We are more focused on entertaining a crowd than leading worshippers before the throne of God. This fleshly offering to God will always be rejected by Him, and often with serious consequences for the offender.

Romans 10:2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge

In the Old Testament, we see multiple situations where worship and offerings were given to God, but not according to what was ordained or the pattern God had prescribed.

Abraham’s Ishmael

After receiving the promise that Sarah would have a son, Abraham offers Ishmael (the product of his fleshly attempt to please God) to God to be the fulfillment of His promise.

Genesis 17:18-19 And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Saul’s Agag

King Saul’s rejection by God centers on this issue of obedience to the truth and worship of God. After receiving a command to utterly destroy all the Amalekites and all of their animals (a type of the flesh), Saul keeps their King Agag alive along with the best of the livestock to "offer to God." I’ve included the passage below, and as you read, I want you to notice the following and see if you can recognize the parallels to our worship:

Saul defeated the Amalekites but kept the best (of the flesh - surely our beautiful voice and eloquent speech is acceptable to God!) and only destroyed what was despised and worthless (the stuff that we don’t want to see on stage anyway).
God was grieved over Saul’s disobedience while Saul proclaimed his obedience.
Saul made a monument for himself (not the Lord).
Saul kept the best (of the flesh) to offer as a sacrifice to God, but Samuel rightly calls this an act of selfish greed and lust.
Obedience to the command of God and walking by the truth is more important to God than our worship. Sinful, fleshly worship is not pleasing to God.
Rebellion is akin to divination, and insubordination like idol worship. Far from worshipping God, God says this is the worship of demons.
Saul feared man more than God and only wanted to worship God with Samuel to look good in front of the people.
Though Saul repented and worshipped God, he no longer referred to the Lord as his God, but Samuel’s God.

1 Samuel 15:7-31
So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands." And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.
12 Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal."
13 Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD."
14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"
15 Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed."
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak!" 17 Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel, 18 and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.' 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"
20 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 “But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal."
22 Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. 25 “Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the LORD." 26 But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." 27 As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you. 29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind."
30 Then he said, "I have sinned; but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God." 31 So Samuel went back following Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

What is tragic about this story is not only did God utterly reject Saul, but ultimately Saul’s demise on Mount Gilboa came at the hand of an Amalekite.

2 Samuel 1:6-10
The young man who told him said, "By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and behold, Saul was leaning on his spear. And behold, the chariots and the horsemen pursued him closely. When he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me.
And I said, 'Here I am.'
He said to me, 'Who are you?'
And I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.'
Then he said to me, 'Please stand beside me and kill me, for agony has seized me because my life still lingers in me.'
So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that he could not live after he had fallen.

Nadab & Abihu’s Strange Fire

In the case of Nadab and Abihu, it seems that they had the incense of God, but they brought fire from outside the Tabernacle, not the fire of God from the brazen altar.

The fire of the Tabernacle was first lit by the fire of God (Lev 9:24), and the priests were to keep it burning continually (Lev 6:12-13). God would only accept heavenly fire (of the Spirit), not of any other source (the flesh) in their offering of worship and incense before Him.

Leviticus 10:1-2 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

Uzzah & The Ox Cart

For Uzzah, this unfortunate fellow was with the crowd of worshippers with great intentions to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, but lacking reverence for God’s holiness and proper handling of the holy Ark, he was struck dead for touching the Ark as it was tipping - in the middle of a worship celebration!

2 Samuel 6:5-7 Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of instruments made of fir wood, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals. But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God.

Good Intentions

In all of these examples - Abraham, Saul, Nadab & Abihu, and Uzzah, we see what we from the outside and often call “good intentions,” but God looks at the heart and sees rebellion, selfishness, reliance on the flesh, and lack of faith in His Word. God will never honor the flesh or its works. In every case in the Old and New Testaments, God rejects and calls for the flesh to be crucified. We must in like manner reject the fleshly attempt to mimic the work of the Spirit in the flesh, even as this will inevitably lead to

Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Fire of God - Worship in Spirit and in Truth

I’ve discussed the many ways we have distorted and twisted worship that doesn’t glorify God, but I’d now like to present how true worship can and should be done within the Body of Christ - in Spirit and in Truth.

It is one thing to be able to rightly criticize and point out all the things people do wrong. But it is quite another thing to build up and edify the Body to pursue what pleases God. I recognize that this is likely going to make this a lengthy article, but I don’t want to split this into “part 2” as I don’t like to separate what should be rightly torn down from that which needs to be built up.

A key passage which explores the nature of worship is from the conversation of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s well.

John 4:21-24 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

The remainder of this paper will explore these themes in turn: Spirit, Truth, & Worship

In Spirit

What does it mean to be and worship “in spirit?” John’s Gospel is full of this emphasis on the Spirit. We see that the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit supersedes and brings a new life and relationship wholly different and greater than:

The Water of Baptism - John 1:26,33, 3:5
The Water of Purification - John 2:6
The Flesh, our First Birth and Life - John 3:5-6, 6:63
The Water of Jacob’s Well - John 4:7-26
The Water of Healing - John 5:2-8
Feast of Tabernacles - John 7:37-39, 9:7
Physical presence of Jesus on earth - John 16:7

The only worship that God, who is spirit, will accept is that which is done “in the Holy Spirit.” John is communicating throughout his gospel that the life of the Spirit is of a wholly different nature than the flesh, the world, and our natural thinking. We must draw our life from a wholly different source than what we have known.

I have broken this down into four main areas of our life and faith in the Spirit. I will expound on this more in other articles, but I want provide a summary outline below and let the Scriptures to speak to what life and worship in the Holy Spirit is all about.

Receive the Holy Spirit

We must be born again of the Holy Spirit - John 3:5-8
We must be baptized in the Holy Spirit - John 1:33, Acts 1:5, 1 Cor 12:14
We must receive the Holy Spirit - John 7:39, 14:17, 20:22, Acts 2:38, 8:15, 19:2-6, Romans 8:15, 1 Cor 2:12, Galatians 3:2, 14

Live by the Indwelling Life of the Holy Spirit

We are to live by the Spirit - Galatians 5:25, 1 John 4:9
The Spirit Abides, Dwells, and Rests in us - John 14:17, 15:1-5, 17:21-23, Romans 8:9-11, 2 Tim 1:14, James 4:5, 1 Pet 4:14, 1 John 3:24, 4:13
The Spirit is the source of rivers of living water flowing from our innermost being - John 7:38-39
We are to be [continually being] filled with the Spirit - Ephesians 5:18
We are to be full of the Holy Spirit - Luke 4:1, John 14:17, Acts 2:4, 4:31, 6:5, 7:55, 9:17
We are to be in the Spirit - Romans 8:9
The love of God is poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit - Romans 5:5, 1 Cor 13, Colossians 1:8
The Holy Spirit is a pledge and seal of our inheritance in God - 2 Cor 1:22, 5:5, Ephesians 1:13
The Holy Spirit gives us life - 2 Cor 3:6, 1 Peter 3:18, 4:6
The Holy Spirit brings us freedom and liberty - 2 Cor 3:17
The Holy Spirit renews and regenerates us - Titus 3:5

Walk by the Spirit

We are to walk by the Spirit - Galatians 5:16-18, 25, Romans 8:4
We are to Speak & Confess by the Holy Spirit - Acts 2:4,17-18, 1 Cor 2:13, 12:3, Eph 4:29, 1 Peter 4:11, 2 Peter 1:21, 1 John 4:2-3, Revelation 22:17
We are to be taught by the Spirit - John 14:26, 1 Cor 2:13, Heb 10:15
We are to walk in the Power and Strength of the Holy Spirit - Romans 15:13,19, Ephesians 3:16, 1 Thess 1:5
We are to receive and walk in the gifts and manifestation of the Holy Spirit - 1 Cor 12, Heb 2:4
We are to sow to the Spirit - Galatians 6;8
We are not to grieve or quench the Holy Spirit - Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thess 5:29
We are to wield the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God - Ephesians 6:17
We are to Walk in the Light, in Fellowship, and with No Unconfessed Sin - John 8:12, 1 John 1:6-10

Worship in the Spirit

We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit - 1 Cor 6:19, Ephesians 2:22, 1 Peter 2:5
We are to offer our lives to God through the Spirit as living sacrifices - Romans 12:1-2, Gal 2:20
We are to worship in the Spirit of God - Philippians 3:3
We are to Pray in the Spirit - Romans 8:26-27, 15:30, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 6:18, Jude 1:20
We are to Listen to the Holy Spirit - Revelation 2:7,11,17,29, 3:1,6,13,22
The Holy Spirit Sanctifies us- 2 Thess 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2
The Holy Spirit brings us Joy - 1 Thess 1:6

In reviewing this list afresh after outlining this, I find I am encouraged and strengthened in this simple meditation - what a life we have in Jesus!

Taking the context of this work of the Spirit in us, I want to elevate the following Scriptures related specifically to the Spirit and Worship:

Ephesians 5:18-19 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Philippians 3:3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,

The Spirit leads each one to draw near to God in worship as we abide in Him. May we all come to know life in the Spirit in this way!

In Truth

Jesus was clear in the passage to the Samaritan woman that true worship begins with a true knowledge of God, not in ignorance like the Samaritans. This involves first knowing the truth about God, and then entering into a personal knowledge of the True God.

John 4:22, 24 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews… God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Knowing the Truth about God

True worship must be rooted in the truth about the God we worship. We must know Him as He is, and reject all false imaginations and ideas about Him that aren’t true. We must seek to know Him as He is and enter into a deep and abiding union with Him. In the following verses, we see the importance of knowing God Himself and trusting in and relying upon Him alone.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

John 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

Knowing the True God

It isn’t enough to know the truth about God, but rather do you know God Himself, The “knowing” in the following passages is used to describe the intimacy of a husband knowing his wife. Indeed, our relationship as the bride with our bridegroom is similar, but so much deeper. Do you know the one true God? And, more importantly, does He know you?

John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

John 10:14-15,27-28 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep… My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?

Philippians 3:7-11 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

Worship

Worship must be rooted in living by and through the indwelling Holy Spirit and in the Truth of knowing God as He is. Worship is also the offering of our whole being to God - the focus and attention of our minds, the adoration and love of our hearts, the energy and strength of our bodies, and our time and our life. This is the kind of worship God seeks as reflected through the Shema - that which Jesus says is the first and most important commandment:

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel! [Listen to the voice of the Spirit of God] The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! [Knowing the True God] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might [Worship of God in Spirit and Truth].

This is the essence of worship - whole devotion and focused attention and desire turned toward the one true God led by the Spirit of God.

Our discussion has been worship as experienced during a “music worship service” in the gathering of the church. But as we have seen so far, worship is so much more than a mere 15 minutes of singing once a week. Worship through music is simply the overflow of a life steeped in worship where one’s entire being is devoted to God with nothing held back.

First Mention of Worship in the Bible

We see one of the most profound pictures of a life of worship comes from the first mention of worship in the Bible when Abraham went to offer Isaac on Mount Moria. In offering up his only son, the son of the promise, the one he had trusted God for those many years, we read that he viewed this laying down of his hopes and dreams and all that God promised in faith and trust in God as “worship.”

Genesis 22:2-14
[God] said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." 3 So Abraham… arose and went to the place of which God had told him… 5 Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”…
7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”…
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 12 He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the LORD it will be provided."

Have we, like Abraham, forsaken all else - our hopes, dreams, desires, and life - and abandoned ourselves upon God like Abraham in worshipful obedience and faith? This is the pattern that God gives us for the worship He desires from us.

Abraham prophesied that another Lamb would be provided as a sacrifice by the Father, of Whom Isaac was just a type. Living on this side of Jesus’ sacrifice, we see God’s intent for those of us who are in Christ - that we would live a life of worshipful abandon like Abraham. What is God calling you to lay down in absolute devotion to Jesus?

2 Corinthians 5:15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Our God is Jealous for Our Worship

Why does God demand so much from us? Wasn’t Abraham’s sacrifice a little much?

Our attitude in worship tells us what we truly believe about God - proving to most of us that we need major transformation in how we view Him. But we must also understand the reason that God seeks to take our “Isaac” and crucify our flesh - He is jealous for the first position in our lives and won’t tolerate any false gods on the throne of our lives. Our God is jealous of our worship, attention, adoration and life.

As I have walked with the Lord, I have found this to be true many times when I come under deep conviction whenever I would seek enjoyment or rest or satisfaction in anything other than a deep, abiding relationship with Him. It is truly like the jealousy of a husband over his wife that her heart, eyes, emotions, and body be solely for him.

Exodus 20:5-6 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 34:13-15 But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim—for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods…

1 Corinthians 10:21-22 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

Raising God High

God jealously demands the first position in our lives. He desires to be exalted in our sight to His rightful place. Worship rightfully elevates the Father, Son, and Spirit in our eyes and hearts and expresses the honor, reverence and praise due to God. This is a right response to understanding who God is and what He has done for us, and is one of the primary ways that we see God receiving glory from both men and angels. The Lord is seeking such a holy priesthood and people to worship Him for all eternity - this is the purpose of His entire creation!

The glory and praise of God is a central theme of the Psalms:

Psalm 86:8-13 There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, Nor are there any works like Yours. All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name. For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God. Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever. For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

Psalm 150:1-6 Praise the LORD!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!

When Jesus is exalted in the midst of His people, He draws all men to Himself.

John 12:32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."

Philippians 2:9-11 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

A life of worshipful abandon to God alone is the foundation for the expression of that worship in music to God. This is our destiny for all eternity - and we get to practice now!

We can see a beautiful picture of such worship in Revelation:

Revelation 7:9-12 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen."

Revelation 19:5 And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great."

Presenting Our Worship to God

Romans 12:1-2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

On the one hand, when we come to God in the flesh, with sin in our hearts, our focus on ourselves, and seek our own entertainment or self-glorification, we present an offering to God which He utterly rejects.

On the other hand, the Body whose members are individually worshipping Christ with their life, walking in fellowship with and yielding to the Spirit of God, and entering into a true knowledge of the one true God, is one that can join together in true, Spirit-filled and anointed worship of God. A Body that can worship God in this way will “attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:13)

I have experienced many living room worship nights with the saints over the years that left me in awe of Jesus, seeing Him clearly, knowing His presence, and experiencing His ministry to my heart and through me to others. It is a taste of heaven on earth and a precious gift that I pray many more in His Body would come to know and treasure as I do.

When we walk by the Spirit, the Spirit reveals Christ to our hearts, and when we comprehend Him as He is in truth, the natural response of our heart before Him is worship, just as Paul expressed:

Ephesians 3:14-21 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

In Christ,

— Mark

What about you? How do you see worship in the Scriptures? What has your experience in the Body been? I’d love to hear your story and thoughts in the comments below.