The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
Proverbs 15:8
One of the most difficult truths for people to believe is that God rejects worship.
Billions of people on earth pray, fast, beat their bodies, cry real tears and yet God rejects all of it.
I know it sounds harsh to our sin-minimizing ears but it is such an important truth for us to grasp.
He doesn’t “appreciate the effort”.
He doesn’t give half-credit.
He doesn’t say try again you’re so close.
He utterly rejects it. In fact, He despises it.
From the beginning of the world God has rejected people’s worship.
He rejected the first attempt to worship Him.
Recently as I listened to a great message on Able’s faith in Hebrews 11, I was reminded about this very truth. God rejected Cain’s act of worship. (Gen. 4:5)
Some minimize the amount of Cain’s sacrifice. Some say he gave the wrong kind of sacrifice. Regardless, he sacrificed something and yet God entirely rejected it.
Cain was the world’s first faithless worshipper.
He was going through the motions. He didn’t actually love God. Able on the other hand loved his maker. He worshipped Him from a faithful heart, and God loved Him. (Gen. 4:4)
As we look at scripture we see this truth played out over and over.
Jesus despised the outward acts of the pharisees (Matt. 23:1-36). Yet they did sacrifice in a significant way.
Take the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector for example. (Luke 18:9-14)
The pharisee goes on an on about all he does for God. Fasting, giving, following the law.
Fasting is not easy. I’ve done it, it is painful and is a great sacrifice, at least for a pasta-loving Italian like me.
Giving tithes is a sacrifice. Of course, they didn’t sacrifice as much as the widows that they devoured (Luke 20:47), but they sacrificed nonetheless.
Following the law was a constant load for them (Matt. 11:28). Because on top of it, they had added hundreds of extra rules that put such a burden on themselves and the people.
Yet, Jesus says that the pharisee went home unjustified. Hell-bound. God despised the sacrifice of the pharisees.
In 1 kings 18:28 we see the prophets of Baal cut themselves in “worship”. Obviously they were worshipping a false God, but you’d think that at least God would give them some credit for trying hard. I mean, the verse tells us that blood gushed out of their body! That’s how hard they were trying to reach God.
Yet, God doesn’t see their efforts and give them credit. instead, Elijah makes more blood flow as he slaughters them. (1 Kings 8:40)
The fact of the matter is that God from the creation of the world, rejects people’s worship. Even when they use the right words and do the right things. God looks at the heart.
You have to embrace the fact that God rejects worship.
It is necessary for your walk with the Lord.
If you don’t think about this truth you will find yourself wasting days, weeks and years of your life growing stagnant in your faith. You will waste your life.
Understanding the simple truth that God rejects worship will aid your life in many ways, but I want to highlight three important ones that come to mind.
It will spur you on to evangelism
I’ve heard many Christians say that when they see the efforts of people of different faiths that it causes them to feel shame. Shame that those people take their faith more seriously than they do. While I understand the sentiment, the main thing that they should feel is compassion. They should feel pity. Because the God of the universe is offended by their worship. He has told us that he despises it. When you see people on their knees praying to Allah, on their knees praying the Hail Mary, or on their knees doing any religious ritual, your first thought shouldn’t be “man, I wish I took my religion as seriously as they do” it should be, “man, what a tragic waste of time! God despises what they are doing, I hope I can tell them about Christ”.
I think that if you begin to think this way, you will be more likely to open your mouth and preach the Gospel.
It will help you with your own worship
Understanding that God cares how you worship is an important step in your own sanctification. Obviously either you are a child of God or you are not (John 1:12). If someone is unredeemed then God will not accept their worship (1 Pet. 3:12). But even as believers our worship can be off the mark. Obviously, you can’t lose your salvation (John 10:28), and God will always be your father (Rom. 8:15-16). That said, Jesus does say that you ought to leave your offering at the altar and go reconcile with your brother before you worship (Matt. 5:24). Paul talks about taking the Lord’s supper in a worthy way (1 Cor. 11:27). Even as believers we must consider how we worship (Rom. 12:1). Each time we think about worship and the fact that God rejects most worship, it should lead us to a greater desire for holiness, and for worship that pleases him. As the proverb at the top of this post says, God is pleased by the prayers of the upright (Prov. 15:8). It is possible to please God through our worship in this life!
It will cause you to long for Heaven
Finally, the fact that God rejects worship should cause our hearts to long for Heaven. Even though God is pleased by His children worshipping Him in this life, there will come a day where we will worship Him perfectly. Now each time we worship we are still in sin. The worship is tainted. We are oppressed by sin in our lives. We are oppressed by conflict with others. Our congregations though wonderful, have unbelievers in them. But one day in Heaven, in perfect unity, in perfect holiness, in perfect glorified bodies we will collectively give perfect worship to our perfect God. The constant awareness of God’s worthiness of perfect worship and the fact that he despises any worship that is works based, will cause us to long for the day when we can worship him perfectly.
I know that this is an uncomfortable thought for us. That the sacrifice of billions on earth is detested by God (Prov. 15:8) but it is a necessary truth that you must embrace. It will change the way you evangelize. It will change the way you worship. Finally, it will cause you to long for the ability to worship God perfectly in Heaven. I hope that the next time you see someone worshipping, that you will ask yourself if God is pleased by it or does He despise it. If he despises it, I hope that you will first examine your own heart and see if there is sin in you to repent of, but that you would courageously go to that person and gently explain to them how they can begin worshipping God in a way that pleases him.