BY WHAT AUTHORITY DO WE WORSHIP?

We want to begin this series with a simple question. By what authority do we worship

God?  We must have authority for everything that we do in religion (Col. 3:17, 1 Thess. 5: 21), and this authority comes from the written word ofGod (1 Cor. 14: 37, 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Why do you do the things that you do in worship to God? For most people it has to do with the tradition which they grew up with, or that which is commonly accepted in their religious group.

It does matter! Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman who wanted to discuss the issue of the proper location of worship, as recorded in John 4:20-24. Jesus was quite clear on this issue: “Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know ... God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in .spirit and truth.”

To worship in truth means to worship in accordance with the standard of truth. The Samaritan woman felt that she was right. This did not make her right. “We worship that which we know” was true because the location of their worship had been revealed and recorded in the Old Testament from the time that Solomon completed the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6).

God never said: “though shalt not worship in the mountain.” But they were wrong to presume that they could substitute the mountain for the God-ordained location in Jerusalem. This principle of authority has not changed. Hear the apostle John:

“Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God” (2 Jn.9).

Even seemingly innocent things, such as washing your hands before eating, can become sinful if they are taught as acts of worship beyond what the Bible teaches. Read Mt. 15:

1-14, and note verse 9: “But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.”

In the articles, which will follow, we will provide the scriptural basis for the five acts of formal worship, which are given in that part of God’s word, which we are currently under, the New Testament. These are: prayer, singing, preaching, giving, and the Lord’s Supper.

We will see that God has given us book, chapter and verse to thoroughly guide us to perform these acts of worship which He wants us to do when we gather ourselves together on the first day of the week. If we go beyond these acts of worship, we are on the same perilous ground that the Samaritans were on when they worshipped God in the mountain as opposed to Jerusalem.