Elements of Worship Part 1

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? 2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. 3 Those who refuse to slander others or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. 4 Those who despise persistent sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord and keep their promises even when it hurts. 5 Those who do not charge interest on the money they lend, and who refuse to accept bribes to testify against the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever.” (Psalm 15:1-5 NLT).

We began our study of this passage yesterday. The question is, “What are the requirements of worship?” The first requirement is found in verse 2 of our text: “Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts.” Is the Psalmist suggesting for a moment that anyone of us can be righteous before God? Did he himself not observe in the preceding chapter, “All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:3 NIV)?

Naturally the only righteousness any one of us can claim is imputed righteousness –the righteousness of Christ credited to our account when we come to Him as Savior. But that is not what the Psalmist is referring to in this passage. “Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts,” is not a reference towards one’s vertical standing with God but a reference towards one’s horizontal standing with others. True worship affects our relationships with our fellow men and in fact impacts our relationship with our fellow men. We cannot worship God on Sunday if we harbor hate for others Monday-Saturday. The apostle John wrote, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21 NIV). Worship that does not impact our daily relationships is not worship at all.