I Will Be Regarded as Holy - Part 1

As evidenced by the choir post, worship is of high concern to me, so I thought I'd write this series on worship.

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective fire pans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the Lord spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. (Lev. 10:1-3 NAS)

This is a strange event in Scripture. Nadab and Abihu were the high priests. Their job was specifically to represent the people before God and to represent God to the people. They were God’s intermediaries. It was in the carrying out of these duties that we see God consuming them with fire. What was their transgression? What deserved this instantaneous death? They “offered strange fire before the Lord”. At our end of history, we are not even clear on what that means. What is “strange fire”? What is the difference between the fire they offered and “authorized fire”?

This question is not new to Nadab and Abihu. We merely have to read about the first religious act in Scripture to see this problem at the outset.

So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. (Gen. 4:3-5 NAS)

This is another odd account. It says that Cain brought an offering to God. That is a good thing, right? He brought from what he did. (Cain was a farmer; Abel was a shepherd.) Some would like to say that Cain didn’t bring the animal sacrifice prescribed by God, but the fact is, God had not yet inaugurated that sacrifice. Even if the animal sacrifice is assumed from God’s action in Gen. 3:21 of making clothes from animals for Adam and Eve, it still doesn’t follow that Cain was in violation because God prescribed grain offerings in the Law. (See Exo. 29:41 or Lev. 2:1 as examples.) So what exactly was unacceptable about Cain’s offering?

This running question occurs over and over in Scripture. From the outset, people have aimed to “please God” and walked straight into His wrath. Cain did it. Nadab and Abihu did it. In Exodus we get the account of God descending on Mount Sinai to speak to His people (Exo. 19‑23). God Himself presents His Law to Israel. At the end of this event, God called Moses up to talk to him personally. While Moses was away, the people who had just listened to the voice of God Himself had Aaron make them a representation of God so they could have “more relevant” worship (Exo. 32:1‑6). The result of this “noble deed” was a horrible punishment (Exo. 32:27‑28). In another place, Saul acted to unite the people to God (1 Sam. 13:11‑14) and then saved the best animals for sacrifice to God (1 Sam. 15) and it cost him his kingship. And elsewhere, the Levite, Uzzah, merely reached out to keep the sacred Ark of the Covenant from falling into the mud and God struck him dead (2 Sam. 6:1‑11). Neither zeal (Nadab and Abihu, the children of Israel and the golden calf, Uzzah) nor truth (Cain, Saul) seemed to be sufficient in and of themselves to be acceptable worship. This is a recurring theme. Attempting to worship God in a “meaningful way”, people are punished by God. Why is this?

Paul had much to say about Christian liberty. He said he was no longer under the Law (1 Cor. 9:20), but was set free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). He said not to worry about “rules” (Col. 2:20‑23). Instead, in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 6, he addressed at length the freedom that believers have to do those things not specifically prohibited by God as long as it was with good conscience and did not cause another to stumble. Christian liberty is often sacrificed on the altar of legalism, where we succumb to rules over freedom in Christ. That being said, the principles involving worship of God seem to be precisely the opposite. While in the Christian life we are essentially free to do the things that are not specifically forbidden, in worship we are only free to do the things that are specifically ordained by God. In some circles today this is referred to as “the Regulative Principle of Worship”. From the Scriptures it appears that, while in life we have much liberty, in the worship of God He demands the right to determine how we worship Him. “I will be regarded as holy by those who come near Me.”

The simple fact is that God’s primary concern is His glory. In Isa. 48:11 He says, “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act . . . and My glory I will not give to another.” Both David and Paul point out that all of nature displays His glory (Psa. 19:1; Rom. 1:20). According to Paul, we are chosen, adopted, redeemed, given an inheritance, and sealed by the Holy Spirit all for the glory of God (Eph. 1:3-14). In fact, the chief end (primary purpose) of Man is the same as the chief end of God – to glorify God. Thus, it would seem of primary concern that we discover what Scripture says about worship.

Biblical worship consists of several constituent parts. These include praise (Luke 24:53; Acts 16:25), prayer (Luke 18:10), the word of God (Exo. 24:7; Neh. 8:1-18; Luke 4:16; 1 Tim. 4:13; Acts 2:42), music (Ezek. 40:44; Neh. 12:31-43; Exo. 15; 1 Chron. 6:31-32; 15:16; Psa. 33:1‑3; 100:1-2; 150), self-sacrifice (Rom. 12:1), and meditation (Psa. 27:4). Praise is the recognition of the attributes of God (God’s greatness). Prayer is our heart’s recognition of our own helplessness (my frailty). God’s Word should always accompany worship, whether memorized, sung, spoken, preached, or expounded. Music, biblically, was God’s idea. He planned to include it in worship. And from Rom. 12:1, it is very clear that self-sacrifice should be a hallmark of worship, whether in everyday living or in Sunday morning worship. Worship is not a Sunday-morning event; it is a day-by-day event. Worship is not a transaction of a prayer or song, but a life attitude that seeks constantly to know and glorify God daily. If worship is glorifying God, then we are to do everything to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). Thus every moment of every day is supposed to be worship, service to the King.