Bible
Study - Are You Worshipping God In Spirit And In Truth?
Lesson 5
Acceptable And Unacceptable
Worship
God has shown, in the Bible,
His approval with those who follow His will and His displeasure
and wrath with those who refuse to worship Him the way He
has directed. God has always been clear about how he is to
be worshipped, but man has not listened.
An example of acceptable and
unacceptable worship in the Old Testament is that of Cain
and Abel. Cain and Abel both worshipped God. Abel did as God
directed, but Cain tried to worship God the way he saw fit.
We read in Genesis 4:3-5, "And
in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an
offering of fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought
of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord
respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain
and his offering."
Why did the Lord have respect
for Abel’s offering and why did He reject Cain’s offering?
Hebrews 11:4 tells us, "By faith
Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain."
Notice Abel offered his sacrifice "by faith" but
Cain did not. Romans 10:17 says, "So
then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
So faith comes by the word of God. Abel offered his sacrifice
by faith or according to the word of God. If we worship God
by faith, we worship as the word of God directs.
Abel offered the firstborn
of his flock "by faith" and it was accepted because
his worship was according to the instructions of God. But
Cain chose to ignore God’s instructions and sacrificed an
offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Cain chose
to sacrifice to God the way he saw fit. Cain did not offer
his sacrifice according to God’s instructions, so God rejected
his sacrifice and worship, since it was not "by faith".
From this example we see our
worship must be "by faith", that is "by the
word of God." We read in Romans 14:23,
"For whatever is not from faith is sin."
If our worship is not "by faith", that is it is
not "by the word of God", then it "is sin".
It will also be rejected just like Cain’s. It is a very serious
matter if God rejects our worship. If He does we are going
to be lost.
One cannot obey God without
doing what God says to do, when God says to do it, how God
says to do it and for the reason God says to do it.
If what we do in worship is not according to the word of God,
then it is vain and useless and will cause us to be eternally
lost.
Questions
Lesson 5
Acceptable And Unacceptable
Worship
(click on the button of the
answer of your choice)
1) (Genesis 4:3-5) In Cain’s worship
and Abel’s worship of God
God respected the worship of both Cain and Abel.
God respected Abel’s worship and had no respect for
Cain’s.
God respected Cain’s worship but not Abel’s.
2)
God was pleased with both Cain’s and Abel’s worship.
3) (Hebrews 11:4) Abel’s
worship to God was accepted and Cain’s worship was rejected
because
Abel offered his sacrifice by faith and Cain did
not.
God did not like Cain.
God liked Abel.
4)
By faith Cain offered a more excellent sacrifice than
Abel.
5) (Romans 10:17) Where
does faith come from?
Our parents.
Our church.
The word of God.
6)
Since Abel’s offering was by faith, it was according
to God’s instructions.
7) (Romans 14:23) If our
worship is not by faith, that is not according to God’s word
It is sin.
It is accepted of God if we are sincere.
It doesn’t really matter.
8)
In worship whatever is not by the word of God is sin.
