NOTE: If you have not already done so, it would be beneficial to read the About and Doctrine pages before reading this post.

This post likely will ruffle some feathers. “Sorry, not sorry.”

We are commanded by God to worship Him in the splendor [beauty] of holiness. (Psalm 96:9)

And, God commands that His priests are an example of His splendor. (Exodus 28:2)

The entire 39th chapter of Exodus goes into more detail about the priestly garments.

Clearly, Yehowah God cares about formal worship and about making sure that it is done properly.

And yet, there are many people — even among those that carry the title “pastor” — that will try to argue that formal worship is somehow “mere religion”.

They seem to think that, in order to be sincere, their worship must be somehow “fresh” each time. (Have they considered “how fresh” their worship must be in order to be approved as “fresh enough”? For example, if they plan a service in advance at all, and if they write notes during the week, then have they disqualified themselves from “freshness”…?) The entire Book of Psalms is an instruction manual on how to worship God — in a manner that pleases Him. Would a modern pastor dare to tell God that the collection of Psalms written by the Holy Spirit is somehow “not fresh enough“??

Using the right ‘recipe’

In my opinion, God must look down with a combination of humor and disdain as He watches some people try to “improve” upon His pattern (recipe?) for how to worship Him. Imagine a little girl in the kitchen, helping her mother bake cookies for the first time. She is all dressed up in an apron. Her mom is giving her lots of encouragement. She is having fun. But… if she does not correctly follow the recipe, then the cookies will look and taste bad. Will a loving father walk into the kitchen and tell her how bad the cookies are? No. He will say that they are “yummy” — even if he has to spit it out when she is not looking. But, he certainly wishes that she had followed the simple recipe!

In like manner, on the one hand, God might appreciate a modern pastor’s desire to be sincere. But, on the other hand, God disdains that pastor’s rejection of God’s recipe. Read that again. Yes, I said “rejection”. Now, you are beginning to see how serious this topic really is. It is not about merely “playing dress-up”, nor about “having a title”, and it is certainly not about promoting “vain repitition”. It is about worshiping God the way that He wants it.

Let’s imagine that today is your birthday. You have a long-time friend that knows you very well. So, after all these years, your friend should know that you do not like loud, startling noises. Your friend calls and asks you to meet for dinner at your favorite restaurant. You anticipate a fun evening. At the end of the dinner, with everyone in the restaurant watching, the staff brings out a beautiful birthday cake. Everyone is watching as you rise to blow the candles out. But, just as you lean forward, one of the candles is a trick exploding candle! Gooey frosting drips from your face, which is gnarled up in anger. You are embarrassed and very insulted by your friend, who should have known better. Worse yet, your friend laughs about it, which adds to your anger.

I believe that is how God feels when modern pastors ignore His wishes and His written recipe for worship, and then it is made worse when those pastors mock those that do follow the recipe.

Has it been abolished…??

Sometimes, when I have discussed this concept with other pastors, they ask, “But, wasn’t all that abolished after Jesus came and gave us the New Testament?” Let’s consider what Jesus said.

Bible scholars have argued for centuries about “how much” of the Old Testament still applies. But, the principle seems quite obvious. God wants to be worshiped His way. And, we have a duty to obey.

Which seems more pleasing to God: loud, head-banging, “rave” music with words that seem random, or chanting the Psalms according to rich musical arrangements and time-honored traditions?

So, as you can see, it is not a trifling matter. It is not “mere” religion. Pleasing God is at the core of the purpose of our very existence. Shouldn’t we give God our very best effort?

So, how do we do that?

We know that “God looks upon the heart”. So, although I firmly believe that there is “a right way and a wrong way” to worship, the more important element is the attitude of the heart. No matter how loud and energetic the music is, or no matter how calm and contemplative the music is, if the heart is not right before God then it becomes mere “noise” to Him.

Let us go back to the analogy of the recipe. If the loud, hard-rock style of music is comparable to a little girl on her first venture into the kitchen, then shouldn’t a more traditional worship style compare to the work of a master baker? And, it will — if the baker learns to study and understand the ingredients, and if the baker focuses upon pleasing the “customer” (the God of the universe).

Just as a master baker learns that a little less baking powder and a little more cinnamon pleases a particular customer, so also must the wise pastor learn to adjust the worship style to please God (especially if the recipe has been “tainted” from the original). So, on the one hand, the Psalms use rich allegorical language. On the other hand, Proverbs says “in many words there is folly”, and Jesus warns against using “vain repetition”. So, part of the key is to make sure that our worship is not “vain” by studying the “ingredients” and understanding their meaning.

While growing up, I asked a family member about the meaning behind making the Sign of the Cross with our hands. He did know the meaning. And so, he said, “Just ‘swat flies’ like everybody else!” Yikes!! That is exactly the essence of what is wrong with our society today — whether on the “fresh” side or the “liturgical” side. If we do not understand the meanings, then we are insulting God and injuring ourselves.

Without going into great detail, proper worship involves all the senses — sight (art), hearing (music), smell (incense), touch (making the Sign of the Cross), and even balance (reverent bowing). Proper worship makes each congregant a participant, and not merely a “spectator”. (Have you ever been in a church that had a solo singer that was so good that everyone else remained silent? Do you think that such silence pleases God??) Proper worship is about making God feel good, and not about ourselves.

The heart of the matter

To reinforce what was stated above, “God looks upon the heart” (1st Samuel 16:7). Therefore, it matters greatly that we have the right attitude in approaching God. Have you ever gone into a restaurant and an employee greeted you by saying, “Yo, Bub, what’s up?”, instead of “Good evening, sir”? Well, a lot of modern “worship” strikes me as people saying, “Yo, Bub…,” — to God. That thought should terrify people.

Notice in the above Scripture passage that Jesus sat “opposite” the treasury. I believe that God put that linguistic speed bump in there to see how many people are really paying attention. The main meaning is “across the way from” the treasury. But, I believe that it also means “in opposition to” the treasury. In other words, the segue from His mention of the long robes and title stops in front of the place where the money is kept. Sadly, there are too many men wearing the title of “pastor” that got into the job as a way to “get rich quick”. (And, don’t get me started on female “pastors”….)

Sadly, there are people that think wearing priestly vestments and having a title is “all that and a bag of chips”. (Sadly, about 30 years ago, I was on that path.) But, in between those two ends of the spectrum is a wonderful state in which the focus is on God and not on man. That should be the goal of all Christians, and is the AFSOC goal to help people reach that state — in both thought and action.

This post is getting long, and it was not intended as a “how to” manual. (I’m in the process of writing an entire book about that.) This is more of a “pep talk” about why formal worship is important and why it must be done properly — which begins with a proper attitude. If we study the meanings behind acts of worship, then we can get more fulfillment from those acts. And then we reach the point of being spiritually “nourished” by those acts of worship. There is nothing “mere” about that process.