How Should we Worship God in Church?

"A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats." (Charles Spurgeon)

Is there a right or wrong way to worship God in Church? Many Christians believe that you can worship God any way you like. But is this Biblical? Well, Jesus calls us to worship God in spirit and truth. So from that verse we can know that there is a true way to worship Him. And if there is a true way to worship God, then there must also be a false (wrong) way to worship.

Psalm 89:7 ...'God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.'

So first and foremost, God is to be feared and reverenced when we gather together to worship Him in church. Remember, this is the great Almighty Creator of the cosmos that we are worshiping, not a lifeless statue, but a living, breathing God who's power is unlimited and unfathomable. As I've said above, many Christians will say that we can worship God any way we like and that He doesn't mind how we worship Him. But see the following Bible verses:

Psalm 145:3 ...'Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.'

Romans 11:33 ...'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!'

Psalm 139:6 ...'Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.'

Who are we to say what God does or doesn't mind! Who are we to say such things of the Almighty Creator? As it says in the above scripture, His greatness, judgement, knowledge and His ways are unsearchable, they are too high for us to attain. We have the Bible truth and we need to start living and worshiping according to that truth and stop second guessing our God.

So, above in Psalm 89 it says that we must fear and reverence God when we worship Him. We need to prepare our hearts and minds before we go to church and empty all worldly thoughts out of our minds so that we can focus on giving total devotion to God and Christ Jesus our Saviour ... Psalm 51:10 ...'Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.' ... We need to have the right spirit, the right frame of mind to go to church and worship our Creator and Saviour. Ask God to renew His Spirit in you. Don't go to church feeling angry at someone, with an unforgiving heart or feeling rushed, but make sure you allow plenty of time to prepare yourself and humble yourself before your God.

Psalm 10:17 ...'LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear.'

James 4:10 ...'Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.' ... We will be unprepared for worship if we do not humble ourselves before God. Micah stated what true worship should be like ... Micah 6:8 ...'He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?' ... If we go to church to worship God being just towards others, showing mercy and humbling ourselves, then God will accept our worship of Him. On the other hand, if we have not shown forgiveness, holding a grudge against someone and are not humbling ourselves before our Creator, then He will not accept our worship and our worship will be useless. This is why our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus instituted the ceremony of washing the feet, because it is a symbol of a humble servant, which is what we are supposed to be.

Is the day we go to church important to God? See HERE for important truths about the Sabbath Day, God's Holy day.

What kind of worship service should the church organize? Well, there should only be one reason why we go to church, and that is to worship God. So the service should be focused entirely on worshiping God. Unfortunately, many churches nowadays seem to focus more on making people happy and are putting the people before God. There are plenty of theatres and cinemas and concert halls in this world for people to go to during the week (which true Christians shouldn't be wasting their time with anyway). Churches should not be bringing these worldly pleasures into worship services. We shouldn't be going to church because they have a good band, or they have plays (sketches) or because they show a film or because the pastor is funny! Church isn't a social event to catch up with your friends either. Worshiping God is a serious matter and not to be taken lightly. Going to church is for the sole benefit of coming together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, to worship God, the Creator of the Universe ... 1 Chronicles 29:11 ...'Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.' ... What a glorious God we have, and He is to be exalted in our church services.

"A lot of churches today would feel more at home in a movie house, rather than in a house of prayer. More afriad of Holy living than of sinning. Knowing more about money than magnifying Christ in our bodies. It is so compromised, that Holiness and living a sin free life is heresy to the modern church. The modern church is, quite simply, just the world, with a Christian T-shirt on!" (Nicky Cruz)

Paul knew the truth about this when he wrote in Galatians 1:10 ...'For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.' ... If we go to church with the mind focused on pleasing people rather than God then we are not serving our Lord Jesus Christ. Whether we are going to church as part of the congregation or as part of the ministry team, our FULL focus should be on pleasing God, not the other people there.

1 Chronicles 29:20 ...'And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the LORD your God. And all the congregation blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD.' ... Think about what you would do, if you saw God face to face in front of His Heavenly throne. I would imagine all of us would fall down flat on our faces in complete reverence for Him. This should be how we approach going to church to worship Him. I don't mean we should literally fall down on our faces each time we go to church, but spiritually, in our hearts we should humble ourselves and fall before Him in love and great reverence of His glory, majesty and power.

Church Music

What kind of music should be played and sung in church? Let me ask another question. Does the music in your church and the songs you sing exalt your God, or is the music for your enjoyment that you can dance around to? Many churches have now brought 'rock' music into church and call it 'Christian rock'. Is there such a thing? Well, think about it, is there such a thing as 'Christian drugs'? How about 'Christian Paganism'? Well, the Roman Catholic Church, through the Roman emperor Constantine, brought Paganism and Christianity together, mixing truth with error and the world followed after it. Friend, rock music is of the world and should not be brought into the church.

I went to a worship service in a 'Church of England' church not so long ago, and as I walked into the church, before the service began, they were playing 'rave' music. Now this is the kind of music where people go to nightclubs, take drugs, or load up with alchohol and dance the night away listening to it. As I sat and listened to this in complete shock, having to keep looking around me to remind myself that I was in a church, I could just about make out some 'Christian' lyrics. So now we have 'Christian rave' music. Friend, this is nothing else than an attempt by satan to bring the world and the church together in "unity" during the end times. But God's truth in the Bible tells us that we should be separate from this world.

John 18:36 ...'Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.'

Romans 12:2 ...'And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.'

2 Corinthians 6:14 ...'what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?'

The churches of today are full of empty vessels! We have become so compromised, that we have forgotten the right way, the way of the LORD. Many times I hear Christians saying that it is all about getting a balance. Getting a balance?!! Where is that in God's Word?! When did Jesus EVER say that you must get a good balance of Him and the world?! Did He hint at this in Matthew 16:24? ...'Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.' ... Friend, if anyone tells you that anything short of giving your all to Christ is ok, DO NOT listen to them. True worship of our Heavenly Father cannot be mixed with unrighteousness. We must separate ourselves from worldly things not only when we go to worship God in church, but in our everyday lives, as our worship of our Heavenly Father should continue each and every day.

Getting a balance? What about the greatest commandment? Does that suggest 'balance'? ... Luke 10:27 ...'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy strength, and with ALL thy mind.'

Jeremiah 6:16 ...'Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.'

Church Dress

How should we dress to go to church to worship our Heavenly Father? The norm these days seems to be either casual dress in jeans and t-shirt, or revealing clothes to show off the body. A lot of Christians who dress like this say that God doesn't mind how they dress to worship Him. Again, we should be very careful about presuming what God does or doesn't mind. This is a Holy God we are worshiping and to second guess what He is thinking without basing it on the truth of His Word is a dangerous game to play. Yes, God is more concerned with what we are like inside than how we look outside. But this is an issue of respect and reverence for God. The problem arises when Christians make more of an effort in the way they dress for their friends, work colleagues or bosses, than for God. To do this is to show more respect for a person, rather than God. Tell me, what would you wear, if you were going to see the president or King/Queen of a country? You would dress smartly wouldn't you? So why not for your awesome Creator?

"Just think how many men have committed adultery IN CHURCH?!!

We also have churches full of women and girls these days who dress provocatively to arouse interest from their male counterparts. Is this acceptable to God? Is this true worship of our Heavenly Father? Just think about how many men have committed adultery IN CHURCH, because of the way women dress. This isn't a night club we go to, this is a house of prayer and worship. Just think about the amount of sin that is committed because of these "Christian" women dressing this way. And no one seems to be challenged about it either, otherwise they wouldn't keep dressing that way.

Remember what it was that made Samson stumble? Lust over a woman. How about King David, what made him stumble and sin? Lust over a woman. What about King Solomon, the wisest of men? What was his undoing? Lust over women. Please, this is for you young and older women alike. The next time you go to put on that lip gloss, or that tight dress, or that short skirt, have a REAL good think about WHY you are doing it. And have a REAL good think about what you may end up causing men to do. I'm not saying it is the fault of women that men lust, but if women just heeded the Word of God and were modest in the way they dressed and appeared as it says in Timothy below, then there wouldn't be so much lust of the flesh happening around the world, and in the church itself. When you dress (men and women), dress for God and bring glory to Him.

1 Timothy 2:9 ...'In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.' ... We can even find the truth of this matter in God's Word. Women should not be dressing as if they are going out to a nightclub, but in modesty, showing respect for our awesome Creator.

"This is going to make you MAD, and I'm talking to Boys & Girls. TRUE CHRISTIANS are those who do NOT DRESS SENSUALLY in order to Show Off their Bodies. If your Clothing is a FRAME FOR YOUR FACE, God is PLEASED with your Clothing. If your Clothing is a FRAME FOR YOUR BODY, it's SENSUAL and GOD HATES what you're doing."

Nadab and Abihu

Can we learn from these two men from the Old Testament about how to approach and worship God in church? Let's take a look at what they did and what happened:

Leviticus 10:1-2 ...'And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Instead of obeying God's Word and using sacred fire from God Himself, these two sons of Aaron used 'strange fire' (secular, common fire) in their offering to God. They thought just like many of us think today, that we can offer any kind of worship to God. This is not truth and it cost them their lives, as they were destroyed by God immediately. Friend, will you seek to worship God in Spirit and Truth? If Nadab and Abihu worshiped God in spirit and truth, then they would not have offered 'strange fire' and would not have lost their lives. These two men thought it ok to bring God down to their human level, please do not do the same. Don't think that God will accept you going to church with unprepared minds, burdened with worldly thoughts thinking what you can get out of the service, because He will reject it, like He rejected the worship of the two sons of Aaron. But you say "oh God isn't like that anymore". Are you sure?

Malachi 3:6 ...'For I am the LORD, I change not.'

So how should we come before our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ? Take a look at the following quote:

"Humility and reverence should characterize the behavior of all who come into the presence of God. In the name of Jesus we may come before Him with confidence, but we must not approach Him with boldness of presumption, as though He were on a level with ourselves. There are those who address the great and all-powerful and holy God, who dwells in light unapproachable, as they would address an equal, or even an inferior. There are those who conduct themselves in His house as they would not presume to do in the audience chamber of an earthly ruler. These should remember that they are in His sight whom seraphim adore, before whom angels veil their faces. God is greatly to be reverenced; all who truly realize His presence will bow in humility before Him and like Jacob beholding the vision of God, they will cry out, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of Heaven." (E.White, Patriarchs and Prophets)

We should remember that we are in His sight whom seraphim adore, and before whom angels veil their faces.

Just as Moses had to remove his sandles because he was standing on Holy ground in the presence of God, so we should also remove anything in our hearts and minds that may defile our worship of our great and awesome God, as He warns us through His Word, which is truth, not to approach Him with irreverence. Friend, we come before a Holy God every Sabbath day, who deserves our very best!

Do not go to church feeling rushed, with an unprepared mind, with unconfessed sins, thinking what you can get out of it to be entertained, or to just catch up with friends. But do go to church to worship God in spirit and truth, with all your heart and soul.

I plead with you to give your all to Christ Jesus and worship God in church the way God expects us to worship, with great reverence and Godly fear.