Tozer Chapter 3

After a week of craziness, I read chapter 3 in Tozer's "Whatever Happened to Worship?" Excellent chapter. The title is "Much That Is Called Worship Is Not".

At the beginning, Tozer sets up the framework by proving the point that we are designed for worship. Everyone will worship something. One statement he made that caught my attention right off the bat was that "it is plainly possible to have religious experience and forms of worship that are not at all acceptable to God."

To illustrate his point, he mentions an old church he stumbled upon when visiting Mexico. Shortly after walking in, a woman enters, holding a bag, and walks straight to the altar at the front of the room. She proceeds to bow at the feet of a statue of Mary. He watched her face and the emotion that she was pouring out to this inantimate object. You see, people of all religions (and no religions) will passionately worship something. It could be money...or success...or family. But Tozer's point is that these are not acts of worship that are pleasing to God.

One warning he provides is that many are into picking what they worship about God. It's almost as if they don't like the whole "blood atonement for sin" thing, so they choose to focus on the rewards that you can get from God. Others choose to only focus on the death of Christ and don't celebrate the resurrection. Celebration is a missing jewel from many of our churches today. There must be a mixture of celebration and meditation. Tozer's point is that we must worship God for who He is, not who we want Him to be. There are things about God that may not be comfortable for us to worship, but we must because that is who He is.

He wraps the chapter up by reiterating the point that worship must be done in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). But what does that mean? I think he explains it better than I've seen anywhere, so I'll let him handle this one...

"Worship must be by the Holy Spirit and truth. We cannot worship in the spirit alone, for the spirit without truth is helpless. We cannot worship in truth alone, for that would be theology without fire. Worship must be in spirit and in truth! It must be the truth of God and the Spirit of God. When a person, yielding to God and believing the truth of God, is filled with the Spirit of God, even his faintest whisper will be worship."

Lastly, and I love this, he says that worship cannot happen without the impartation, or revelation, of the Holy Spirit. So worship starts with God, is revealed by the Spirit to us. And then it is reflected by us, like a mirror, back to God. It starts with Him, is through Him, and ends with Him. That is worship that is acceptable to God.

Until next time...