far as God was concerned they were engaging in empty religious forms. When the apostle Paul de scribed the characteristics of the last days, he exclaimed that many would have “a form of godli ness, but (would deny) the power thereof.” (2 Tim. 3 :5 ). Whether it be in Old Testament times, New Testament times or the present time we will always find men at worship. God will accept the worship of some as He did with Abel and He will reject the worship of others as He did with Cain. What kind of worship does God hate? VAIN WORSHIP In Matthew 15:9 Jesus said, “ in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the command ments of men.” God hates vain worship. This is a form of worship that is empty of content although it may be very impressive in form. The people Je sus was addressing were very meticulous in their ceremonial observances. But our Lord charged them with nullifying the Word of God by all of their ceremonials and traditions. They were very much concerned about externals and forms but Jesus told them that their worship was vain. These sincere religious people had become so involved with the outward that they lost sight of the proper inner life essential in true worship. Their worship was based on their traditions rather than upon God’s Word. IGNORANT WORSHIP The true purpose of religion is to lead man into a saving relationship and a meaningful wor ship of Almighty God. Any religion that does not accomplish this is woefully defective. The Latin word from which we get our word religion means to bind back. The goal of religion should be to bind man back to God from whom he has become estranged. When Paul went to Athens on his second mis sionary journey to Asia Minor (Acts 17), he was impressed with the religiousness of the Athenians. They had erected statues to every conceivable god they could think of. And just in case they missed one unintentionally, they had erected a statue and inscribed it “ to the unknown God.” When Paul ad dressed the crowd, he made reference to this ob ject of worship, and declared, “whom therefore ye ignorantly worship.” (Acts 17:23). Then Paul pro claimed the true God to them. He is not an un known God because He has revealed Himself in His creation and in the person of His Son. Any one may enter into a saving relationship with this true God if they will come by the way God Himself has appointed, i.e., through Jesus Christ. Oh, how many are worshiping in ignorance to day! Many say, “ I worship God in my own way.” We certainly acknowledge the individual right of fr e e worship but true worship must be according to God’s way and not man’s. Many are creating their own kind of god according to their reason 29
by David W. Haines
WHEN GOD HAIESWORSHIP
“ I hate, I despise your fea st days, and I will not smell in you r solemn assemblies. Though y e offer me burnt-offerings and you r m eat-offerings, I will not accept them : neith er w ill I regard the peace- offerings o f your fa t beasts ” (Amos 5:21, 22). D id y o u r e a d t h a t v e r s e ? It comes as a sur prise that God actually hated the worship forms of His ancient people, doesn’t it? But it’s true and God is no more pleased today with some of the empty forms that are labeled worship. Most people are willing to admit that man is instinctively a religious being and he will worship someone or something whether it be true or false. A careful study of the Bible discloses that men have worshiped demons, angels, created things and what many refer to as The Supreme Being. Obviously God does not accept all that is offered in the name of religion or all that is identified as worship — no matter how sincere the worshiper may be. Man has concocted his own idea of worship and for the most part it is limited to participation in reli gious ceremony. People often speak of their church es as places of worship. There is a sense in which this is true but we must not think that worship can only be done in our particular houses o f wor ship. Worship is a matter relating to the totality of our lives and not merely a religious form re served for a church service on the Lord’s Day. The word worship goes back to the Anglo- Saxon and comes from a word which has the mean ing of worth. Worship is reverence paid to an ob ject or person of worth. What or whom we wor ship reveals the object to which we impute supreme worth. Amos has already informed us that there are some kinds o f worship that God hates. These words were not addressed to non-religious people but rather to God’s own religious people Israel. As JULY, 1968
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