Acceptable Worship

ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP Part 1

INTRODUCTION

A. Many people view the worship hour as a stage show:

1. Leaders are the performers, God is the prompter, and the worshipers are the audience (group of listeners or spectators), with many of them being self-appointed critics.

2. It is this attitude that produces the oft heard complaint: “I didn’t get anything out of it.”

B. It would be closer to the truth to view the worshipers as performers, those leading as prompters, and God as the audience.

1. This might cause us to go away vowing to give a better performance.

2. We ultimately get more out of worship because we put more into worship.

C. When we start talking about worshiping God, we are beginning with certain assumptions:

1. God is.

2. God is accessible.

3. God wants us to worship him.

4. God is worthy of our worship.

D. The Bible declares that these are true (Heb 11:6; John 4:20-23).

I. THE CALL TO WORSHIP

A. There are four different words translated “worship,” and they fall into two different groups:

1. Those meaning to pay homage (Matt 2:2, 11; 4:9).

2. Those meaning to serve (Rom 12:1; 1 Pet 2:4-5).

B. There are three levels of worship:

1. Emotional: “feeling of awe” (Psa 8:1-9).

a. When people say, “I can worship God just as good on the lake as in a church building,” this is probably the worship of which they speak.

b. At this level, it is hard for familiar, organized worship to compete with beautiful sunsets.

2. Moral: response to feelings (Rom 1:18-25).

3. Ceremonial: response according to revelation (Acts 8:27; Heb 9:1-5).

II. WHEN WE WORSHIP GOD

A. We are to worship Him on the emotional level.

1. One who can consider God’s creation and not be moved to reverential awe has eyes to see, but

sees not.

2. But the greater emotion should be provoked by the gospel (2 Cor 5:14-21; 9:15).

B. We are to worship Him on the moral level.

1. To stand in awe, but fail to respond is worse than blindness, for it is hardness of heart.

2. The vast majority of American’s claim to worship God at this level.

C. We are to worship God on the ceremonial level.

1. Of those who worship God at the moral level, about 78 million professing Protestants are not active in any church.

2. The Barna Research Group reports that for the first six months of 2025 “All U.S. Churched Adults attended church 1.6 times per month.

III. ARE WE WHO WORSHIP WORSHIPPING ACCEPTABLY?

A. Jesus declared that acceptable worship must be in spirit and truth (John 4:20-24).

A. Does in truth mean:

1. In contrast to error? (Mk 7:6-9; Acts 17:23).

2. In contrast to the provisional and typical? (Rom 2:28-29; Heb 9:1 – 10:18).

3. The answer is both. In the context of John 4:20-24, Gerizim was false and Jerusalem was typical.

B. Does in spirit mean on the emotional level?

1. Worship that is in spirit will certainly involve the emotions.

2. But in spirit is not in contrast to physical acts. Rather, the inner reality must correspond to the outward act (Rom 2:26-29; 6:1-11).

CONCLUSION

A. It would be foolish to ask if you are a worshiper of God; you are here.

B. We need to concern ourselves with the question of whether our worship is acceptable to God at all levels. The answer to that question will be the focus of our attention next week.