This loss of the concept of majesty has come just when the forces of religion are making dramatic gains and the churches are more prosperous than at any time within the past several hundred years. But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses are wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field (A.W. Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy)
Good restaurants and stores focus on quality. So do good churches. What is a quality church? It is one that is focused on the majesty and glory of God. The quality of a church can only really be measured by the sense of God that people have. That is hard to look at in many ways since many people seem to love and worship God when in reality they are taken with Him only to the degree that they think He serves them and obtains what they want. In other words, sinners love those who love themselves. But true religion is all about the heart as it is before God and of the views and loves it has of God.
“But let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God” (I Peter 3:4). This text teaches us what God sees as important. It is, as Tozer said, internal. Here we see that God looks on the hidden person of the heart. True quality before God is a gentle and quiet spirit. Notice that it is not just that the person is quiet, but that the person has a quiet spirit. It is this type of heart that God thinks of as precious. The kind of heart that God thinks of as precious should be considered the type of heart that the Church considers precious too. Instead, we are enamored with celebrities and all sorts of outward things. Ah, we have settled for outward things of infinitely less value.
“You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also?” (Luke 11:40). It is so hard for man to focus on the inward man more than the outward. Man sees with his eyes and seems to judge for the most part the outward things. But in doing so man forgets the importance of his inner man. The outward things that are done are ruined by the stench of a filthy and rotten heart. When each church gathers before God to worship, the people see the fancy clothes and the nice show that goes on. God is given a little lip service and so the people are happy and leave. But God is looking on the heart. Does that musician play for His glory from the heart? Are all those people there worshipping the living God in spirit and truth from the heart? Do the people want to be there to see God’s presence or are they there to please themselves and do their weekly duty for God so that He will bless them? What does God see when He sees the hearts of a lot of churches in our day? A human could not stand the sight if the Lord opened our eyes for a few moments one Sunday morning. People judging others for how they dress and how they look. There are jealousies among people and perhaps even hostility toward others. There are people lusting in their hearts for more money and people. There are people planning what they are going to do that afternoon or the rest of the week. There are people there who are wondering what others are thinking about them. Where is the quality of religion in worship like that? I believe it is below zero.
“And He said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God'” (Luke 16:15). The quality of our religion is determined by how much the heart is set on God and the things of God. This is true in worship as well as other things that what men esteem highly is detestable in the sight of God. The ways that men choose to help them worship today may indeed be highly esteemed by a great number of men, but at the same time they could be detestable in the sight of God. The quality of religion is determined by the pleasure and glory of God and not how many people like or esteem a particular method. Until the Church is determined to please God regardless of how many people approve or disapprove, its worship will be detestable to God. Until the Church seeks the sense and presence of the majesty of God in its worship, its worship will be from and of itself and not God. It matters little the size of a church and of how advanced it really is, the issue is what God esteems and counts as true worship.
God Loves... Himself 
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