Since man is made in the image of God, he cannot but seek to worship something greater than himself. We are created beings and we desire to exalt something bigger than we are. It is inherent in the heart of man. The image of God has been marred by sin, therefore, unredeemed man will always seek to worship a false god. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1:9, "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." To turn to the living true God means that these new believers had given up false and dead gods. Idolatry is normal for the sinner. He has a master whether he acknowledges such or not. There is no neutrality. The Lord Jesus Christ put it this way in Matthew 6:24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." There is not a third option. You will either serve God or seek a false god to worship.
Application
To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.
Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary renders the verb "worship" as, "To adore; to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration..." The fourth definition of the noun for of "worship" is defined by the same Dictionary as, "Chiefly and eminently, the act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being; or the reverence and homage paid to him in religious exercises, consisting in adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving and the like." In short, worship is an act given to the Creator by the created. Leviticus 19:4 reads, "Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God." The people of the land of Canaan were idol worshipers. They believed in chance as ultimate.
They did not reverence the Creator but instead worshiped the created as Paul said in Romans 1:21-25, "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." There must always be a distinction made between the Creator and the created. God created nature but He is not nature. To worship any other is be an idolater.
Paul went to Athens, Greece and this what he saw in Acts 17:16, "Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." This made him angry to see these supposedly intelligent men worshiping false gods. This city was characterized by spiritual darkness. It is a proverbial blind leading the blind. Paul spoke to these pagans in Acts 17:22-25, "Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Paul sets forth God as the Creator of the universe and that man can make nothing to adequately represent the true and living God.
Paul wrote the following in an epistle to a Grecian church who would have been influenced by the idolatry of that land in 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, "As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. 5For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." There is only one God, therefore, these idols cannot represent any other than false gods. As Exodus 20:3, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This means that there is only one God. He is one God in three persons.
Paul wrote to this same church in 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, "What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? 20But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 21Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils." As with all worship, there is no neutrality. We will either partake of the Lord’s table or the table of demons. We will either worship in truth and spirit or in falsity and the flesh.
Conclusion
The Lord Jesus Christ made it abundantly clear about proper worship in John 4:23-24, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Any other worship is false and dead.
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