Coming before God in worship is a serious matter. How we worship God has eternal consequences. Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, did not come before God in the prescribed manner and they were struck down ( Leviticus 10:1-2). Eli did not discipline his sons and because of their abominable actions before God, both sons and Eli were killed on the same day as punishment for their false worship (I Samuel 4:12-18). Jesus said the Pharisees of his day worshiped God in vain (Mark 7:1-13). In these three examples there are three dangers we must avoid.
First, we must avoid the temptation to do things our own way. God has written His own worship book and He wants it to be followed. Nadab and Abihu brought fire, but it was not the fire that God had commanded (Leviticus 16). It was ‘strange fire’. We can put together our own orders of worship, but what is included in our orders of worship is not optional or exchangeable. The Scriptures must guide our worship.
Second, we must avoid the kind of worship that comes from a wicked, selfish heart. Eli’s sons were known for their excesses in whatever they did. They would take more of the sacrifice than was allotted for them and commit fornication with the women who came to worship at the Tabernacle (I Samuel 2:12-17, 22-25). Worship is not about us, it is about God. When we come together to worship, we must come not to receive but to give. We come to give worship to God. We come to give comfort and encouragement to our brothers and sisters. When this order is followed we will all ‘get something out of’ the worship service, but what we get must not be our focus.
This does not mean we ignore our personal needs. We must also be ready to receive God’s Word, love from the congregation, and allow the Spirit to work grace in our hearts.
Finally, we must avoid elevating tradition to the place where it obscures God’s rules of conduct and worship. To allow tradition to guide our worship is to render our worship useless. Vain worship is pointless worship. It is the observance of ceremony and ritual simply for the sake of ceremony and ritual. Tradition is fine in it’s place. But when it is exalted above the authority of Scripture or it’s commands receive as much importance as Scripture’s commands, we have ceased to worship God. Tradition dictates many things about our worship, but it must be subject to change in closer conformity to God’s Word.
