Is My Worship Acceptable to God?

Although globalization and connectivity through social and other kinds of media have made us better aware of the constant struggle between traditional and modern worship, in reality the worship wars have existed even before the Christian church was established. And while there is an ever-present disharmony within the Church with whether a certain worship style is acceptable to God or not, there are principles that underlie the issue in which both sides, traditional or contemporary, can be qualified or disqualified.

Meaning, it's not really about the style of worship; the bottom line deals with the hearts of worshipers. There are plenty of verses in the Bible that God Himself outlined what He wants and does not want in regards to our worship to him. So how do we know our worship is acceptable to God?

1. It's Done by Faith

Many support the argument that not all styles of worship is acceptable to God by arguing that God accepted Abel's sacrifice over Cain's. From this verse, it's easy to think that God preferred meat over vegetables (am I right, steak lovers?). But in all seriousness, why did God accept Abel's and not Cain's?

It has plenty to do with faith. In Hebrews 11:4, it says, "By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts..." A closer study of Genesis will tell us that there was no indication that God did not accept Cain's offering simply because it was with vegetables.

In reality, Cain offered his produce outside of faith. Sometimes we go through the motion of religious gatherings just for the sake of going. At times our motives are in the wrong place. If we realign our souls and our minds to come to God in faith, when our songs are coupled by having faith in God, being submissive to what He wants, only then can our worship begin to be acceptable in God's sight.

2. We come to God in humility and brokenness

Psalm 51:16-17 says “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

God doesn't really care whether we more liturgy or less liturgy; that's secondary. What He wants is our hearts. He wants our brokenness and our humble heart devotion to Him. Many times we come to God with puffed up hearts thinking we have followed the doctrines to the tee or at least we are better than anyone else because so-and-so came late or we know that this certain sister is cheating on her husband. In the presence of self-righteousness, our worship becomes unacceptable.

But if we come to Him recognizing our sinfulness and hopelessness, the Bible says that He will never turn us away. Let us come to Him with a spirit of humility and remind ourselves that we are nothing without Him.

3. It's all about God

The song says "I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about You, it's all about You Jesus." This is one crucial idea that is SO BIG but yet so often missed: it's all about God. And it's an easy idea to grasp in our minds but too often we have made it all about us. It's all about our preferences, it's all about the preacher's jokes, it's all about what we can get out of worship.

It's prevalent in all Christian circles. What am I going to gain by going to church? Is the church band gonna play the good songs today? Will I enjoy the sermon? Even with tithing, we make it about how God is surely going to bless us if we give back faithfully. It's also why the prosperity gospel exists: if you have enough faith in Jesus, you will be rich, healthy, and happy.

But God is not glorified with such thinking. To make worship anything but about God, we are in serious trouble. It speaks about where our hearts are and what we really prioritize. For traditionalists, sometimes the Sabbath, or even how we dress, is put into focus more than God. For the younger generation, there is a danger of falling more in love with the worship band than God Himself.

Let us make sure our worship, traditional or contemporary, upholds God as the center of our attention.

4. Our Daily Lives Reflect Love, Mercy and Justice

One of my favorite verses in regards to worship is found in Amos 5:23-24 where it says, "Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

Often times, we go to worship services and are 'good' Christians. We make sure we wear our nicest clothes, bring our 10% tithe along with our 5% offerings, sing songs with vigor, and put on the best smile. Yet, when we leave church, we are rude to our servers, treat the poor with contempt, spread false news about our co-workers or treat our employees unfairly.

The above passage reminds us that all of our worship wouldn't matter if we don't have love for our neighbors. Our singing and praying in church is all but lip service to God if we refuse to show mercy to those who have wronged us. We are not acceptable in God's sight if we let our brothers and sisters to continue being maligned and mistreated based on their ethnicity, lifestyle, or religious convictions (Two Corinthians, anyone?).

Our worship in church can only be acceptable if, in the hours we spend outside of church, we reflect the character of Jesus to those around us.

5. It's done under the blood of Christ

At times, we come to church under the impression that our worship is acceptable under the merits of our own righteousness. Although outwardly we may say that our salvation only exists because of the blood of Christ, subconsciously we often think that our worship is good merely because we have kept the Sabbath perfectly, gave a perfect 10% of our income back to God, or because we went to church in our best clothes.

While in a certain context outward action is a reflection of the condition of our hearts, a lot of us in this church suffer from having perfect skin but rotten hearts. Meaning, we put the acceptability of our faith based on our outward behavior while our hearts and hypocrisy are left unchecked. When we do so, we are guilty of legalism and idolatry, Jesus' accusations against religious leaders of his day.

Our worship can only be acceptable once it reflects our status as it really is: sinner saved only by grace. Should we become better people because of Christ? Absolutely. But our own merits are nothing and often condemn us. The good news is that Christ gives us His righteousness and by it we are deemed acceptable in front of our holy God.

Is your worship acceptable?

Styles and preferences often complicate matters with worship. But once we focus on the fundamental principles that govern biblical worship, only then can we truly determine if what we do inside the church is pleasing to God's sight. Let us reflect on these things while we continue to search the Scriptures and pray for what God wills in our lives, personal and corporately.