“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”

THESE are the words with which the Lord met the Tempter when he asked Him to fall down and worship him. They emphasise in the most emphatic manner possible a truth which at first sight might appear to be self-evident, but which is ignored to a greater extent than we are probably aware of. That God should alone receive worship is a truth solemnly and persistently proclaimed in the Scriptures, yet there is abundant evidence that it is a truth ignored by multitudes who profess to worship God. The sin of idolatry makes this manifestly clear when one thinks of the millions who worship the works of their own hands. This is the sin into which Israel was continually falling and against which the prophets lifted up their voices aloud in solemn warning and denunciation. No people had clearer manifestations of the existence of the One living and True God than they had, yet they quickly turned aside to worship the golden calf, and learning the ways of the heathen they “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” But the idolatry of Israel, though it brought suffering and sorrow upon them, has not been seriously laid to heart by multitudes of professing Christians. There are gods many and lords many whom we are too ready to serve and though our idolatry may be of a more inward kind than that of the heathen, still it is no less sinful and dishonouring to God. He is the Living and True God and Him only ought we to serve. The most exalted of God’s creatures check the misguided reverence that would pay worship to them. When John fell at the feet of the Angel (Rev. xix. 9) he said to him: “See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God.” None realise more fully than the angels and the saints that God alone is to be worshipped. Any worship, however devout it may appear, is not true worship if it lacks the essential element. “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain,” said the woman of Samaria to the Lord, “and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place men ought to worship.” Jesus answered her: “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.”

These words, with those quoted as the heading of this article, set before us the Scriptural idea of true worship, and from them we learn that (1) worship to be worship worthy the name must be given to God; (2) that it must be true and real not in name only, and (3) that it must be spiritual.

1. True worship must be given to God only. This, as we have already noted, may seem to be self-evident, but when we turn to practices of men and enter worshipping assemblies in Christian lands, one cannot help asking the question who is being worshipped here. Everything is done to please the carnal taste of the worshippers. The truth—or we should say more correctly, what is given for the truth—declared is carefully and considerately planned to please the hearers who love to have it so. The devotional part of the service, lest it weary the so-called worshippers of the Living and True God, is made as pleasant as it can be. The sonorous notes of the organ playing on ears soothed by its music deludes the worshipper if he knows no better that the feelings produced are fitting him to be more devout in the house of God, when there is not a spark of genuine devotion in his heart to God. The congregation may appear as devout outwardly as one could wish, but where is the essential element in worship to be found in such assemblies? The so-called worshippers are there to please themselves and the worship from beginning to end is regulated on this principle. Some churches have gone a step further and said that the best should be given to God, and so physical prowess and strength should be encouraged in connection with the worshipping assemblies. Hence the athletic clubs, etc., we find connected with churches. He must be worse than a fool that can believe any man that dancing and boxing entertainments and the other amusements by which the devil pleases the world should have a place alongside the worship of God. And that Satan has managed to make many believe this lie is a sad commentary on the extraordinary credulity of our fallen nature. No worship that keeps God in the background and places man in the forefront is worthy the name of worship.

2. Worship must be true and real not in name only. God judges not according to appearance, but according to the heart. It is a right thing that outward decorum and reverence should characterise the gatherings where God is professedly worshipped, but no outward decorum can take the place that a sanctified heart must have in approaching God through Jesus Christ the Mediator. When we measure ourselves by the standard set before us by the Lord Jesus, oh! how rare a thing is true worship. How many of the thousands that say they are worshipping God are really doing so? The heart must be put right by God Himself and then coming through Jesus Christ the Mediator, and being taught by the Holy Spirit to confess our sins and ask for things agreeable to His will are exercises that are not so common as the outward acts of worship might at first sight indicate, and yet it is in this way that those who truly worship God must do it.

3. True worship must be spiritual. It is here the carnal mind of man finds himself up against that which he cannot love. Give him outward display, something that will soothe his carnal tastes and he will offer no objection for a season at any rate to worship conducted along these lines. But the moment he is confronted with that which is spiritual a weariness steals over his spirit and he chafes under the yoke. Where others may be meeting face to face with God of Israel and their souls drinking out of the rivers of his pleasures such so-called worshippers may feel as in a prison house. If our worship of God is to be genuine we must offer spiritual sacrifices, and it is God the Holy Spirit that alone can give us such an attitude of mind and heart as to make us worship Him who is a Spirit in spirit and in truth.