God Loves… Himself

“The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them” (A. W. Tozer).

People and churches are either seeking themselves or they are seeking God. Our own honor is a very tempting morsel that is dangled in front of us on a continual basis. But one cannot follow Christ and self. One cannot seek the glory of God and the rediscovery of the majesty of God and seek self at the same time. It takes self-denial to follow Christ and seek God. The denial of self is not what it is normally thought; it is the very denial of self as the center and core of all that I do. Christ has set out in the clearest of terms that men must deny themselves if they are going to follow Him. The Church, therefore, consists of those who deny self and only those who deny self. When the Church (visible) is seen to be lovers of self and follow after the ways and honor of self, it has clearly lost the vision of following Christ. When the Church is greedy for money and prestige in the world while it is fighting and quarreling within itself, we can know that it has lost sight of the majesty of the living God.

“Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” (Luke 14:25-33).

We must notice from this passage that large crowds were going along with Jesus. Instead of tickling their ears and treating them as the center of the universe, He turned to them and gave out some very strong teaching. Why did Jesus do this? Didn’t He know that these people could make or break His ministry? Didn’t He know that the money purse was getting low and He needed these people to support Him? Didn’t He know that we are to speak easy with people and not run them off? Didn’t He know that He had a product to sell and that these people were the consumers and He needed to package His product better? Instead of all that nonsense, Jesus knew what it took to be a disciple of His. He knew that an easy message would not turn these people from following self to be a real disciple of His, so He told them the truth. Jesus taught and preached what was good for the souls of the listeners and not necessarily what they wanted to hear.

Jesus told these people to count the cost. He told them what it would take to be a true follower of His. A person must be prepared to hate the dearest people in his life and even his own life if he is going to be a disciple. Surely, some might say, Jesus did not mean that literally. But Jesus was very clear in that a person cannot be His disciple if he does not do those things. He did not say that it would be hard, but that a person cannot be His disciple if he will not do this. He went on to say that if a person is not willing to take up his cross and follow Him that he “cannot be My disciple.” Jesus then tells the huge crowds to count the cost. Then, speaking directly to the crowd, “none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” What would Jesus say to the masses in the mega-churches today? Would He have the same message that got the people there in the first place? It seems to me that giving up all of one’s possessions is the opposite of the prosperity message so prevalent today. It seems that hating your life is the opposite of the message to love yourself that is heard so much today.

If the Church is to rediscover the majesty of God today, it must learn the message of Jesus Christ. No one has seen the majesty of God who is still enthralled with self. The message of self-denial must ring out in the churches in this land or men will seek the world and religion out of self-love. If the Church continues to preach and teach its self-centered and ear tickling messages, it will continue on without the majesty of God. But if the Church desires God in His majesty to be present, then it must begin to see itself and its selfishness with abhorrence. Self-denial is an absolute must since God’s majesty is not seen when man is caught up with his own majesty and self-worth.

“The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them” (A. W. Tozer).

“You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. (I Peter 5:5).
God is opposed to the proud regardless of whether they are the religious people or not. This text is in the context of the local church. Peter does not distinguish between those who God opposes and those He gives grace to other than pride and humility. It could be said that God opposes the proud especially if they claim to be the Church. No matter the religious talk of denominational leaders and of religious leaders as a whole, if they are proud then God is opposed to them. God is also opposed to individuals in the churches if they are proud as well. The term “opposed” actually comes from a word that speaks of a military alignment. God aligns Himself against the proud and He will bring them down. If the Church is proud, He will bring it down. God will not allow anyone to have His glory and that is true with religious people as well.

The Church in the United States is proud and is reaping the consequences of that. God is opposed to the Church and it will never have true success apart from God. True enough many have large numbers of people and of finances, but God gives those things to His enemies too. Large numbers and large budgets are not necessarily a sign of the favor of God at all. The sign of God’s favor is when He gives His people Himself and that entails a discovery of His majesty. A corresponding truth along with His majesty is seen in their humility toward God. It is when God humbles a people in truth and in the heart that He gives them grace. We must not understand grace apart from God Himself, but instead we should think of grace as the giving of God Himself. A person who is truly proud is a person who is not walking with the sense of the majesty of God. When God withdraws Himself from a people, He takes the sense and the presence of His majesty with Him. That leaves people in darkness and is a turning them over to themselves.

When God humbles a people by giving them a sight and sense of His majesty, those people are then ready to receive grace. God does not give the proud true grace, they don’t want it and wouldn’t see it anyway. So God prepares a people for grace by giving them the grace of humility. The humble receive grace and desire to share in the life and glory of God simply to enjoy Him and declare His praises and excellencies. The proud want to be religious and to be engaged in religious activities simply out of a desire of benefit for self. A people who want to sing to God and hear His Word preached for selfish purposes is clearly a people that has been turned over to pride and hard hearts. Romans 1:18-32 shows God’s pattern in turning people over to sin. Now, while we must be careful, there is a clear pattern that is applicable to the modern Church. In v. 18 we see that the wrath of God is poured out because men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The Church in America is certainly suppressing the truth. In v. 21 they did not honor Him as God. The Church in America is certainly not honoring God. In vv. 22-23 we see that men professing to be wise became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for other things. The Church in America has certainly exchanged the glory of God for entertainment and outward success which is really idolatry.

As we look at these things, we have not really left the discussion of recouping our spiritual losses. It is out of pride that the Church does not honor God as God. It is from pride that the Church will not have God as God. It is from pride that the Church suppresses the truth because they want to please men and get them in the door. It is from pride that the Church desires to be entertained with music and tickled ears rather than to worship in music and to hear the Word of God preached to the heart. Is it any wonder that God has opposed the Church in the past and continues to oppose the Church today? What pride the Church in America had displayed in its idolatrous practices of trying to be like the world instead of God. The Church must begin to humble itself or God will turn His back completely on the Church and leave it to its own devices. The Church has chosen its own practices and ways rather than to bow to the glory of God and plead for Him to visit it again. How we must humble ourselves and turn from all that we do that does not exalt Him and is not a way of seeking His majesty in the Church. We must be humbled to the point of repentance from the heart if He is to return in His majesty. May He be pleased to do so.

“The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them” (A. W. Tozer).

The Southern Kingdom of Judea was in spiritual decline in the days of Isaiah. Then King Uzziah died and the nation was in turmoil. God decided to prepare a man who would preach His word in an uncompromising fashion. What did He do? He gave Isaiah a sight or vision of His holiness and glory. This is exactly what ministers need in order to be properly prepared to preach the Word of God and this is what the Church needs in order to be declaring the excellencies of God as it was created to do. The Church as a whole must seek the glory of God in order for the decline in the knowledge of the holy to be reversed. But can it do that in its own strength? No, that is why it is a desperate need for it to understand its downward slide and begin crying out to God to give it the heart to seek Him.

“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isa 6:1-5).

Whether Isaiah saw a vision or was in some way transported to a temple in heaven is not clear. However, the real issue is that Isaiah saw the holiness and glory of God that completely changed the way he viewed reality. This, I think, in some way is what people need to see if they are going to rediscover the majesty of God. Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne. While the Lord may not send visions like this to His people in these days, He can open man’s spiritual eyes and give man a sight of Himself. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Mat 5:8). One must be born from above to even see the kingdom of God (John 3:3), so in those souls that have spiritual sight God can give them a sight and taste of His glory. Ephesians 3:16-21 describes one way that God does this, so this is something that can happen in the modern day.

Isaiah saw the Seraphim singing holy is the LORD and that the whole earth is full of His glory. To see the Lord on His throne is to see His holiness and His glory. In fact, in some way the holiness of God is the love He has for His own name and to set Himself apart from all other purposes to glorify His name in all things. For Isaiah to see the holiness of God was for him to understand and see that the glory of God shone throughout the whole earth and not just Judah. The beauty of the character and nature of God shines in all that there is and all that happens. If man has eyes to see and the spiritual strength to exercise those eyes, he can see God’s glory in and through all things. The Church must wake up to the fact that God’s holiness is so majestic that it is shining in all places. What the Church must do is humble itself before God in order to be humbled so that it may begin to seek Him in truth. The Church must realize as it goes into the world that it is simply pointing out the glory of God that already shines in all places.

Isaiah also saw himself. God opened his eyes so that he saw his righteousness in the light of majesty and holiness. This is probably the foundation of Isaiah 64:6 where Isaiah wrote that even our acts of righteousness are as filthy rags. Let us be blunt. The real term in that text is menstrual cloth. The issue of blood made a person ceremonially unclean and apart from God. Isaiah is telling us that our very best works that come from us are as menstrual cloths that make us unclean in the sight of God. God does not want our menstrual cloths, He wants a true righteousness that only comes from Him and is worked in and through humble hearts that see His glory. One sign within the Church that the majesty of God is beginning to return is when members of the churches begin to see and feel the weight and heinousness of sin. When people begin to cry out about the uncleanness of their hearts and see themselves as dirty in His sight, this is a sign that God is moving. It is true that one can fake this or have it in an intellectual way, yet when God begins to move His people who see His glory clearly loathe themselves for their sin (Ezekiel 20:43; 36:31). Indeed, the return of the holiness and majesty of God can be painful and costly. I fear that there are but few today who want to pay the price of pain in the heart to seek His return.

“The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them” (A. W. Tozer).

II Chronicles 7:14 is used a lot for people who write on seeking revival. While I am not arguing against that at all, the context is still very much in line with a nation that is under the judgment of God and is a prescription of how to seek the face of God. Since the Church is now “A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION” (I Peter 2:9), certainly this can and should be applied to the Church and the churches. This does not negate revival at all since revival is in one sense simply the power of God and His glory coming among His people. “And My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (II Chronicles 7:14). First, we must notice that it is the people of God who are to humble themselves. Certainly it is the Church that is to be considered the people of God now. So it is the real Church, those who are born from above, who are to seek the face of God.

Second, the text tells us that the people of God should humble themselves. The very first thing that people who are seeking a rediscovery of the majesty of God and His face are to do is to humble themselves. Wow, that sounds like a different approach than the modern self-esteem movement within the Church. To seek God, then, the issue at hand is to humble self instead of exalt self in order to seek God. The order that the text gives is that God’s people are to humble themselves and pray in order to seek His face. If this is a chronological or logical order then humility is necessary to pray which is obviously necessary to seek the face of God. But here we see what God does in the souls of people that He is working in. He humbles them. Now we should not think that humility is like a magic pill which a person swallows in order to obtain whatever he desires. Humility is the work of God in the soul of man which is the life of Christ in man. Humility is not something that can be worked up by man at his own power and desire; it has to come from Christ working Himself in a person through the work of the Spirit.

But, it is said, man is told to humble himself. The Scripture does not tell us that we must wait for God to do the work. This is true, but we must make a careful distinction at this point. In one sense man does humble himself in that he must give up his efforts of trying to humble himself. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS” (Mat 11:29). It is when man goes to Christ that man learns what meekness (gentleness) and humility are. The very life of humility is something divine and so it is the life of Christ in the believer that works humility. So man must humble himself in one sense in order to submit to the workings of God in the soul to bring the life of Christ to man which includes humility. We can look at humility, then, as having two aspects. One is man humbling himself in order for the second aspect of humility to happen which only happens when God works it in the soul.

We can look at the nature of pride and understand that only the hand of God can cast pride out and make the soul humble. Pride is the exalting of self and is really the god-self. The proud man wants to do all things for his own honor, even serve God. Some people are very proud of how they serve God. Who alone can soften proud hearts and cast the nature of the devil which is pride out? Can man in his pride cast pride out? No, man cannot. Pride must be cast out by God’s opening the eyes of man to reality. Pride will not be cast out by anything but the work of God in opening man’s eyes to see His glory and man as a creature and therefore utter dependence. This goes on even more when man sees just how sinful he really is in the eyes of a holy, holy, holy God.

There is no seeking of the face of God apart from humility because man’s pride can never take him into the presence of the one and only God who hates pride. The Church, therefore, is a stench in the nostrils of God to the degree that She is proud of who She is and what She does. No pride is brought into the presence of God since He will not give or share His glory with another. God will not come down to the Church as long as it serves itself and anything else other than Him. God will not come to the Church and give it a sense of reality in the sense of His majesty until it gives up trying to serve Him in its own wisdom and power. The Church can do many religion things and activities in pride, but it will not rediscover the majesty of God until it humbles itself and is humbled.

“The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them” (A. W. Tozer). In this one statement Tozer diagnoses the trouble and prescribes the cure for the ills of the Church in his day. In my opinion, as a true diagnosis and a true prescription of Scripture, it is also true for today. The Church will never really be the Church no matter what it does apart from this prescription. There is no power in the Church and no real obedience in the Church apart from the rediscovery (or discovery to begin with) of the majesty and glory of God. Until that happens, men will go to a building and do something but it will not be proclaiming the excellencies of God which is the purpose of the Church. Even if they try to proclaim His excellencies, yet without a sense of His majesty it is empty.

The Church must repent of its methodologies that are not consistent with a God-centered practice (idolatry) and return to God just as the Israelites needed to repent of its idolatries and return to God. Worship is not just a part of the service where singing with a religious content occurs, but true worship is from the inner man and is a loving adoration of God. It is not enough just to sing about religious subjects and perhaps with great feeling, because one can have great feeling about heresy if the tune is catchy enough. People can worship themselves in the time of singing as they sing about how much God loves them and are really thinking only of themselves. People can worship themselves as they “get into” the song and really be into the tune and just be enjoying the feelings. There can be blatant idolatry during the “worship time” if a low view of God is being worshipped. Worship is not just a time for singing; it can be a time of horrible idolatry as well. This can happen within orthodox circles as well.

Worship is really the adoration of the heart. But we must be careful and remember that the adoration in the heart must be for God. We must be even more careful and realize that we must have the truth of God to have worship. Lastly, we must know that it must be the truth of God and the adoration of His majesty in the heart for there to be true worship (John 4:22-24; Heb 12:28-29; Isa 66: 1-5). Unless the Church as a whole and the individual churches return to this biblical idea of worship, the Church will continue to regress. The Church must begin to seek God as the cure for its ills, but even more it must do this if it loves God in reality. The Church might be so drunk with its success in other areas that it does not want God to come along and “ruin” it. What would happen if churches lost many of their members? They would think that something was wrong with the pastor. But what has happened now that God is no longer in our churches? We are carrying on quite nicely without Him, or so we think. This is simply a sign that we are so hardened in heart that we have not noticed the absence of God and wouldn’t know how to act if He visited us. Remember how people treated Christ when He came and visited His own (John 1:1-11).

As Tozer points out, “A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them” (the troubles of the Church). Now this sounds like a simple answer. All we have to do is for the Church to rediscover the majesty of God and all our troubles will be over. It is not quite that simple. The real ills of the Church will begin to be cured, but there would be a lot of trouble in the process. Traditions, practices, and ways of thinking about God would have to be thrown out of the window when they are seen to be as salt that has lost its saltiness. The rediscovery of the majesty of God as the root issue is the only real answer for the Church, but this has ramifications for everything in the Church. Many will not like it.

While there are probably simple books out there on how to rediscover God, there is no simple or easy way to do this. The rediscovery of the majesty of God will cost the Church and all the people who try it everything. As Scripture sets out in II Chronicles 7:14, there is a path to seeking the face of God. It begins with humility and includes true repentance. As Isaiah 6 shows us, to see God in His glory is to see our sin and to respond with a “woe is me.” We can also look at I Peter 5:5 which shows us that God is opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble. We can look at Luke 9 and 14 which describe what self-denial is needed to follow Christ. Exodus 33:13-18 opens up a way of crying out to God to see His glory. If all these are elements of what the Church needs to do, then it is easily seen that there is no easy way to rediscover God. Compounding the issue for those who want things to be easy is that God is sovereign and these things are at His good pleasure. We will try to deal with these issues in future blogs.

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)

We want to continue our look at some statements by Tozer and reflect on them as they apply today. Tozer’s statements are powerful and even insulting if we take them seriously and apply them to where they need to be applied. Even more importantly, Tozer seems to have the same idea as God.

Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations.” (Isa 66:1-3).

The above text shows what God desires in a heart and what He thinks of heartless worship. We see in v. 1 that the Israelites wanted to please God by building Him a temple. If you think about it, that is laughable. God is infinite and as such fills the universe. The Temple cannot possibly be a place that benefits Him. As YAHWEH, the self-existent One, there is no way that man who receives all benefit from God can benefit God in any way. The Temple was for the sake of man, not God. The same thing is true of worship in certain ways. God does not command men to worship Him because it benefits Him in any way, but because that is how His glory is manifested and that is how man shares in the glory of God. What does man think He is doing in building buildings and building all sorts of ways to worship God? As it says at the end of v. 3, “As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations.” In choosing his own way in the worship of God, the souls of men are delighting in their abominations and not the worship of God.

As we can see in the first part of v. 3, the Israelites were doing the worship that was commanded. They sacrificed the right animals and offered the grain offerings and incense. However, it does not appear that their hearts were right before God. When the heart is not right before God, even commanded forms of worship are abominations to Him. As to the modern day, people can build the nicest of buildings and that be the house of the filthiest of hearts. The people in those buildings can be doing those things that appear to be great works of service and so many things, but all of it can still be nothing but abominations to God. They may be making great sacrifices and be very conservative people, but they can still be an abomination to God because of the soul and what it delights in.

V. 2 tells us what God’s true delight is in worship. As compared with the souls of men choosing their own ways and delighting in their own abominations, we see that God loves the humble, the contrite of spirit, and those who tremble at His word. Or as David put it in Psa 51, “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” God does not want people offering animals and things that they can give apart from themselves, He wants the heart. He demands that the heart be humbled before Him which is taking the place that creatures should take before their Creator. There is no worship apart from a humble heart and there is no humility apart from the majesty and glory of God being recognized and bowed to. There is no worship unless the creature sees its sin and is therefore contrite or bruised inwardly because of the sin. There is also no worship apart from the trembling of the humbled and contrite creature in hearing and listening to the words of God. If that is quality religion, then the Church in America is truly in trouble. We must humble ourselves and seek the face of God or the downgrade will continue. With much show and outward appearances, true religion is about lost.

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.