Several doctrinal demands in the New Testament fall under the category of worship.  God wants, or better yet, demands to be worshiped in specific ways.  If man fails to worship God His way, God rejects the worship.  We have an example of this in the opening chapters of the Bible.  Cain offered a sacrifice that God rejected because it did not meet His approval (Genesis 4:1-7).

While we are not told the precise reason God rejected Cain’s offering, we do know that it was related to his failure to follow God’s instruction.  By faith, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain (Hebrews 11:4). Since faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17), Abel must have heard God’s Word and followed it accordingly.  Does anyone believe that God instructed Abel but not Cain?  Obviously, God instructed both of them, and while Abel obeyed God, Cain took his own way and was rejected.

Most people claiming to follow God today make the same mistake that Cain made.  They fail to follow God’s instructions and worship their own way instead.   This will never be acceptable to God.

Matthew 15:8-9 (ESV)
⁸“ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; ⁹in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

The New Testament church engaged in five avenues of worship: Preaching or teaching, praying, singing, giving, and observance of the Lord’s Supper.  At least four of the five have been corrupted by false worshipers.

The preaching and teaching are corrupted by those who follow in the steps of the Pharisees and teach for doctrines the commandments of men.  We have already seen an example of that this week.  Most churches today demand that their members tithe.  Just because God commanded tithing in the past does not mean it is a commandment of God today.  It is not.  If you say it is, where is the passage where the commandment is found?  Since there is no passage, when preachers and pastors in denominational churches demand it, they are teaching as doctrine a commandment of men.

What about the kind of music God commands us to make today?  What do we read in the New Testament?  We read God telling us to sing (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16, etc.).  Where is the command to play a musical instrument while praising God in song?  There is not one!  Thus, when churches use musical instruments, they are doing what men teach them to do and not God.

What about the Lord’s Supper?  Through the apostles of Christ, God commands that we observe it on the first day of the week.  We even have an example of a local church doing so in the Bible.

Acts 20:7 (ESV)
⁷ On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

That the breaking of bread is a reference to the Lord’s Supper, no reputable scholar denies.  When did they do it?  It was not on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday.  It was observed on the first day of the week.   When should we do it today?  At the same time that they did, that is, on the first day of the week.  That is the apostolic pattern.

How we worship God does matter.  Jesus said we must worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).  To worship God in spirit is to do so with the right attitude, disposition, and reference.  To worship God in truth is to do so according to His Word (John 17:17).  If we fail in either of these areas, God will reject our worship.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.