Deuteronomy 12 - Worship God's Way

There is a revolution in American worship. Christianity has taken to television, radio, Internet and even non traditional meeting places to reach people right where they are. Their messages are primarily centered on God's great love for us no matter how we may have failed. Messages to boost our self esteem and to reinforce our worth as people. The music is contemporary and barely distinguishable from the world's pop music. 

While it is true that God loves each person, it is only a half truth without the full message of the gospel. There is little focus on our sin nature that offends God and is worthy of judgment. While messages about Jesus being our friend, the lover of our souls abound, there is little spoken about our sin place on him and our redemption made possible by His sacrifice. 

When I have visited such worship services or watched them on TV, I am left with the sense that we are worthy of being the center of God's universe. I sense that God is waiting for our prayers so that He can know how to do our bidding. It is entirely upside down from he worship outlined in scripture. 

In Deuteronomy 12, God warns the people of not just staying away from the worship offered in these foreign nations to their imaginary gods who serve their purposes; he tells them to destroy any semblance of worship in these nations. The people mud not worship the way the heathens do. We don't worship any way we please and call it acceptable to the Lord. We are not the Master, but we are God's people subject to His direction. 

Is it any wonder there is so much confusion on the topics of Heaven, Hell, Salvation, and the Gospel?  Our culture has demonstrated that it is less concerned about God's pleasure and more concerned with their own. 

Recently, I attended a funeral where there was a lot of praise to God and even some recantations of God's promises to his people. At the end when an invitation was given to unbelievers to accept God's offer of salvation, it occurred to me that sin, sacrifice, and holiness of God were never a part of that message, so how would an unbeliever know to accept the Gospel?  All of the praise and the promises were uplifting and surely an encouragement to the family, but it was only a part of the truth. 

A worship service where people are central and God is the provider of all needs and wants is an aberration. God is to be worshipped and is to be the center of each and every worship service. If we are not given God's mirror to look at the nature of our sin and to humble ourselves before Him in gratitude for His greatness and our great need, we have missed something. 

This chapter ends with, "See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it."  Let's keep our eyes fixed on God and not ourselves as we worship Him today. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you seve Him.