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TRU-09

120429AM

This morning there is just one truth I want you to hold onto, and think through, with me:

God has told us EXACTLY how He wants to be Worshipped.

That description of how God has told us He wants to be worshipped is the title of our study today: The Foundations of True Biblical Worship.

To understand this topic we need to ponder several individual concepts, the first one is:

What Kind of Worship Does God Accept?

This question about worship is vital to every believer because:

• If our worship is not built upon the foundation that God has laid down: it is not Biblical.

• If our worship is not Biblical: it does not please God, nor does He accept that worship.

Think about that for a moment.

That means that any worship not offered the way that God has dictated is unacceptable worship.

That means that worship prompted by unsaved people is rejected; and any fleshly motivated, self-guided worship offered by un-surrendered believers is also rejected. Always remember the severity of Christ’s judgment upon the fleshly excesses of the Corinthians.

Worship acceptable to God is what we must think about as we offer our adoration, and honor to God. God spends so much time in His Word describing the clean hands and pure hearts that must deliver any worship that is given to Him.

Have you ever gotten a meal on a dirty plate, or a drink in a greasy unwashed cup, or seen raw food being prepared on a filthy counter, and right there and then decided: I will not accept that food?

Worship is much like the medium God used to portray sacrifices in the Old Testament: all of the sacrifices were from “clean” types of food or animals. Any unclean offering or any unclean person making an offering: made the worship offered, get rejected by God.

That idea of rejected worship is the theme of the final book of the Old Testament called Malachi. The Jews were going through the motions of worshipping God, but their hearts and lives were dirty: so their worship was rejected.

People were also bringing to God animal offerings that were defiled, unclean, or sickly: so their worship was rejected.

God wants us to worship Him, but He is very specific on what He accepts. That brings us to our second concept. Not only should we understand what kind of worship God accepts, but we also need to understand the truth that:

Biblical Worship Always Has Three Elements

Think about everything you know from the Bible about worship.

Every time worship is portrayed in the Bible it always has three elements: first, the person that is offering the worship; and second, the offering that they are bringing; and third, the One they are giving that offering to.

Those three perspectives are always present in the Bible. And all three elements had to be RIGHT or the worship was WRONG.

The first worship scene in the Bible is in in Genesis 4. The two characters are Cain & Abel. We all know the story. They bring their offerings to God, one offering of worship (Abel’s) is accepted, the other offering of worship (Cain’s), is rejected. Did you notice three parts to the scene of worship?