Message: “Is Your Worship, True Worship?” from Dr. Rick Mandl

Devotional Manuscript: Is Your Worship ‘True Worship?’ 
Message By Dr Rick Mandl, December 1, 2020
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

Hey church family I’ve got a question for you, and my question is – “Is Your Worship, ‘True Worship?’ It’s a fair question because when you go to the Bible, you find that not all worship is true worship. Some people will say, "But this is how I worship God — I worship by being out in the woods. . . Or I like to worship by using these statues or with this type of music." Please understand, I’m not knocking what you do, I’m simply suggesting that what is acceptable to us might not be acceptable to God. Think about it this way. . . “The worship God accepts is the worship God prescribes”

In a conversation about worship in John chapter 4, Jesus said . . . “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way” (John 4:23). The story of Cain and Abel gives us a little insight into what this is talking about. These two brothers provide us with an example of the difference between self-styled worship and spirit-styled worship.

Some of you are familiar with the story. . . One brother, Cain, who was a farmer, offered God a sacrifice from his produce – he brought some of his crops as a gift to the Lord (Genesis 4:3). The other brother Abel, who was a shepherd. . . Also brought a gift as an offering He brought a firstborn lamb (Genesis 4:4). We’re told that “The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift.” This upset Cain, and God confronted him and warned him that Sin was crouching at the door, eager to control him. But that he must subdue it and be its master” (Genesis 4:7). Cain responded by killing his brother (see vv. 5-8).

As you reflect on that story, here’s a question for you… Why did God reject Cain's offering, and not Abel’s? It wasn't because He didn't accept offerings of produce. We know that grain offerings were a regular part of worship under the law of Moses. The reason was because God had prescribed a certain way He wanted to be worshiped. . . He had given certain requirements in which Adam and Eve had no doubt instructed to their sons. Cain & Abel. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and realized they were naked, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But God covered them with animal skins, sacrificing an animal to pay the penalty for their disobedience.

That sacrifice established three things we need to remember about worship: FIRST, we need a covering for sin; SECOND, God won't accept garments of our own making; and THIRD, the covering for sin comes only through the death of an innocent substitute. Abel brought a blood offering, as required by God. Cain did not come with the shedding of blood but with the fruit of his own labor. The fruit he offered was the equivalent of the fig leaves his parents had once tried to use. His offering was probably beautiful—perhaps a neatly arranged bundle of leaves and flowers and grains. But there was no blood.

In a similar way we need the blood of Christ to approach God, to worship Him in the manner His holiness requires. Abel brought God what God wanted. Cain brought God what Cain wanted. In effect, what Cain brought denied his own sin, and the need for the shedding of blood. He didn't believe the revelation God gave of the need for a blood sacrifice.

My question for you is Do you believe the revelation God has given? Do you believe that He saves us by grace through faith in His Son and His sacrifice. That fact should be at the heart of our worship. That’s part of what makes the worship we offer to God, “True Worship.” I pray that that would be so for each of us.

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

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