Let me state from the outset that, the question of vain worship is by no means related to one’s free gift of eternal life and salvation. For as every believer should know, it is by grace we have been saved, through faith – and this not from ourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
However, we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. We need to stress on these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
One of the good works God prepared in advance for us and all of creation to do is to worship Him; that means, expressing our gratitude, appreciation, thanksgiving, and relationship to Him in reverence and adoration, like the Psalmist wrote; “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!” (Psalms 150:6).
And, “Oh come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand” (Psalms 95:6-7).
However, there is a protocol on how we are to worship God. Worshiping God is not something one does haphazardly or according to one’s own imagination, there are rules and regulations on how and when it should done: Firstly, we have been admonished saying; “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23-24).
Therefore, the first criterion or perquisite of true worship is that it must be in spirit, denoting that one does not require any kind of physical object to help them to focus on God, and so we have been duly instructed saying; “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image --- any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:3-6).
We have been further warned saying, “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage” (Deuteronomy 4:15-19).
Any such practice is blatant idolatry and provokes the Lord to jealousy, for thus says the Lord; “Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:23-24).
In several passages of scripture the Lord describes Himself as a jealous God, a consuming fire, something which no God fearing individual should take lightly (Exodus 20:5; 34:14: Deuteronomy 4:24: 5:9; 6:15; Hebrews 12:29).
In addition to not having any carved image or the form of anything in our presence or mind, worshiping God in spirit also entails having the right intent, rationale, and objective for doing what we are doing in the honor and glory of God.
Worshiping God in truth is self -explanatory which is, worshiping God in accordance to His word as the scriptures confirmed by saying; “The entirety of Your word is truth.” And in praying on behalf of His disciples Jesus said, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” And to His disciples He said; “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life (Psalms 119:160; John; 6:63; 17:17).
Therefore, one can boldly say without any fear of contradiction that any form of worship that is not in accordance to the word of God is both in vain and idolatrous because Jesus stated categorically that, “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
To be continued
With brotherly love
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