“Thanks to our splendid Bible societies and to other effective agencies for dissemination of the Word, there are today many millions of people who hold “right opinions,” probably more than ever before in the history of the Church. Yet I wonder if there was ever a time when true spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great sections of the Church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the “program.” This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for worship among us.” (A.W. Tozer)
While the modern day is not as in Tozer’s day, that is, I am not sure that many millions of people hold right opinions, yet it is interesting that in his day he thought many had right opinions but spiritual worship was at a low ebb. This is to show that true religion does not consist in right opinion alone. On the one hand he saw more people than ever before held right opinions and yet on the other hand he wondered if true spiritual worship was at the lowest point it had ever been. How can both of these things be true and that at the same time?
Maybe it was because people focused so much on the content of their belief that they neglected to commune with God. If so, that sounds a lot like today. Doctrine is thought to be important by fewer and fewer people, but with many of the few that thinks doctrine is important it does not seem to enable them to commune with God. This is a grievous hurt to true worship and communion with God.
Maybe it was because people held their right opinions with the intellect and they never did any heart work. This sounds just like the problem of today. People focus on the intellect and do not deal with their hearts. Perhaps dealing with the heart is a scary issue because when it is seen in the light of Scripture it is a frightful thing to view our own hearts.
Maybe it was because people never looked at the glory of God and were self-centered in their beliefs. This sounds very much like today. The Gospel is virtually lost in this generation because man is so self-centered in all that he does. Men will never see himself until he sees the glory of God. Man will never turn from himself as his own god and idol until he sees the glory of God. Man-centeredness leads to no true worship at all.
Maybe it was because people never really dealt with their sin and so kept all things on the outward part of man. This is closely linked to the reasons above. People do not want to see their own sin and so it is easier to just deal with the intellectual aspects of doctrine. Morality is also easier if men practice just the outward things of Christianity and so judge their sin only by the outward violations. How easy it is to keep the Law if we only obey the outward things of it.
Maybe it was because men wanted to be respectable in their worship. If worship is watered down to mean that people sing songs that are theologically correct, then that is respectable and men don’t have to make fools of themselves by having tears or by getting excited in worship. True worship is, while not going to the excess of the Charismatic movement, a grateful heart and a true reverence and awe of being in the presence of God (Heb 12:28-29). Isaiah was not concerned about being respectable before men in Isaiah 6. He was riveted to the glory of God and then of his own sin. It is not manly to have tears over one’s own sin or to gasp at the sight of His glory these days. Therefore, it could be said that respectability is simply another way of saying “lukewarm.” This is death to true worship.
Maybe it was because people were trusting in scholars and pastors for their beliefs and did not meditate and pray on them for themselves and as such never were taught of the Holy Spirit. Men and women are to be taught of the Holy Spirit and not just their pastors and scholars. Modern day scholars and pastors are not more into the right opinion of things rather than that which moves the heart to true worship. Granted, both are really necessary. But when the heat is left off of the light, the light is not all that warming to the heart. People need to learn that knowing God is far more than just correct opinions that are given to them from scholars and pastors. That is like knowing a spouse from what others tell you about him or her. No, the people must learn from their pastors how to seek and to know God. Anything less is simply deception and leading people to degrading worship.
God Loves... Himself 
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