4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell… 8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Genesis 4:4-5, 8
I mentioned in a previous blog on Genesis 4 about Cain and Abel that there were other lessons that I would address in a stand along blog post. This is a first of two such stand alone posts. The first item worthy of note is that the first conflict between human beings recorded in the Bible—and it escalated into a murder—was about worship. How sad.
It is obvious that human beings differ regarding worship. The solution is to understand that it matters not one bit whether we, or any other human beings, “like” how we worship God. It only matters whether or not God “respects” our worship. When will we get it into our self-centered hearts that worship is neither for, or about, US!? Worship is for, and about, GOD!
What ever shall we do to ensure that our worship is pleasing to God?
We must worship only as directed in God’s Word, the Bible.
We are not free to worship God according to our desires or based on any creative innovations we might concoct.
To do this we must know and follow what the Bible says about worship.
Conversely, we must reject every form of worship that is not according to what God’s Word teaches. (One way to discern whether a form of worship is pleasing to God is to see if it is worldly in nature, like the rock-concert, entertainment oriented types of worship common in so many churches.)
During the Reformation (1500s) and later (1600s) when the Reformed Confessions were being hammered out, the “Regulative Principle” of worship was established. It says regarding what is a permitted in worship: “Unless it is commanded, it is prohibited.” Conversely the “Normative Principle” says, “Unless it is prohibited, it is permitted. You may need to read that again to get the difference, and the importance of the difference.
If we want to be sure that how we worship God is pleasing to God, we are wise to follow the “Regulative Principle” and do only what God’s Word teaches. To follow the “Normative Principle” opens the door to doing whatever we want unless it is expressly forbidden in the Bible. This could include “juggling for Jesus,” which is not forbidden, but neither is it commanded!
Let me conclude with a short list of what Christian worship must be:
God honoring and Christ exalting. (This is the purpose of biblical worship.)
Balanced between reverent and celebrative. (Both are biblical and important.)
Singing biblical and theologically faithful songs with or without instruments.
Reading and expositing scripture.
Prayer following biblical guidelines.
Let us worship God according to His Word!