by R.C. Sproul
Today the need for sacrifices to be made in faith is forgotten -- we hear that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere. In fact, the basic requirement of sacrifice is unknown -- it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere. It doesn't matter what you worship. It only matters that you do worship. It's said that the Jews worship God in their way, the Muslims worship God in their way, the Buddhists worship in their way. The unspoken assumption is God is obligated to receive, honor, and respect any kind of worship that people bring.
God didn't respect all of the worship in Genesis 4. He had no respect for the worship of Cain. And Cain responded in anger when he saw that his worship was unacceptable to God. A faithful man, a righteous man, would have said, "O my God. I'm heartily sorry for having sinned against You. Teach me Your statutes, O Lord, show me the more excellent way. Change my heart, so that the offering that I bring You next Sabbath day will honor you. I'm glad, at least, Holy Father, that You were pleased with my brother's offering. Father, give me an attitude by which I can learn from my brother, because my brother lives by faith and is trying to obey you." But that was not Cain's response.
In reality, that is never the response of the godless to the godly. Which of the prophets did they not kill? Which of the reformers in church history was not despised by the organized church? Like Cain, who rose up and slew his brother Abel, wicked churches have spilled the blood of true Christians. In fact, it was the church that rose up to kill Jesus because He did not respect their sacrifices.
I've never been tortured or put on trial for my faith. The persecution I've had to endure in this world is minuscule compared to what the heroes of the faith went through. But whatever persecution I have known in my life, the heaviest weight of it has come from the false church, that part of the church that does not believe the gospel and has no heart for worship. The church has always been composed of wheat and tares, and the first church was no exception. The tares (Cain) were very religious, but they hated God and they hated the wheat as well. So they moved to destroy the wheat (Abel). We need to know that because it has always been so.
Remember the word Jesus used repeatedly for the religious leaders of His day: hypocrites. He said, "You make your sacrifices, you pay your tithes, you read your Bibles. But woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You're play-acting. It's not in your heart. You're not offering Me worship in faith." They were very religious, but their hearts were far from God.
The single most important thing to understand about worship is that the only worship that is acceptable to God is worship that proceeds from a heart that is trusting in God, and in God alone.
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 This is an excerpt from A Taste of Heaven (Reformation Trust Publishing, 2006). In A Taste of Heaven, Dr. R.C. Sproul searches the Scriptures, finding timeless principles from the worship practices of the Old Testament to guide worship today. God intends worship to be an unforgettable encounter between Himself and His people -- a joyous experience engaging the worshiper's entire being.
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Tags: R.C. Sproul, Worship
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