Strange Fire in Worship Today!

The church today, possibly the Emerging Church and even many that do not claim the emerging title to their name are using "strange fire" in their services and calling it "worship". I want to speak about this topic in this post on a very serious note. Our churches today have lost the seriousness, holiness, purity, and worthiness in the worship of God with our church services today.

Psalm 29:2 "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name."

God is worth our time, our efforts, our best, our minds, our hearts, our bodies, and our all. Today's church has reduced this to something very strange that is called "worship", but resembles that of a Saturday night program on the Las Vegas strip. The church has so diluted "worship" that true worship seems strange to most people. The "seekers" certainly do not know what true worship is, because in these Emerging or similar churches true "worship" has never existed.

If you are at all concerned about the about truly honoring God in "worth-ship" worship, then read on.

In Leviticus 10:3 "Then Moses said to Aaron, 'This is that the Lord spoke
saying, 'I will be sanctified in them that come near Me, and before all the
people I will be glorified...then Aaron held his peace.'"

This was what Moses told Aaron after Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu were struck down by God in the temple. Why did God strike the two upstanding young men to their death? They entered the temple and worshiped with "strange fire". The sin these two committed according to all we find in scripture is that they offered upon the burning alter "strange fire". THe command was that the alter would burn constantly without going out...the same fire all the time. Now, in Exodus 30:9 we see that they were forbidden from offering strange incense, but nothing concerning "strange fire". Could it have been the strange incense that created the strange fire? The claim is they brought the proper incense to the fire, but the fire was not right.

God had never warned these two men nor can we find anything concerning this prior to this account. God simply made His judgement known on the spot when the "strange fire" emerges from the temple. What could this strange fire have been I have often wondered. Is God this specific about worship towards Him that He will kill someone for worshipping Him in a wrong way? Is this Old Testament account obsolete with the ushering in of the New Testament? What does God think about the so called "worship" that goes on in many churches today? What is true worship anyway? Is God really this serious about how we worship Him? If God an orderly God or does He just allow us the freedom to worship Him however we see fit?

God has told us here in the Old Testament that "I will be sanctified..." The Greek form of this is "hallowed" which is "holy". He alone is to be worshiped. He is to be worshiped correctly, not by any means we humans think we want to worship Him. He is not immused by the entertainment styles of worship today. He is not amused at all in the entertainment musicial worship of today's churches. So, how are we to worship as to not create this "strange fire" in the prescence of God Almighty? We need to be very careful in our quest to be relevant in church services. Creating worship services that are "user friendly" or "seeker friendly" is not biblical from what I can find.
"I will be sanctified." This means that God will have His people demean themselves and carry themselves so as to hold forth their acknowledgement of His holiness, so that by their carriage God may appear to be a holy God. If we are not willing to sanctify God with our worship, if we are not willing to make God's name appear to be holy, and if we are holding back His glory due Him, then God says He will demean us and carry Himself towards us so that by His actions He will make it very clear what a holy God He really is. God is not willing that we go through life living unholy lives while supposedly worshipping Him as well.

I have heard it often put this way, "He will be glorified in our life or He will
be glorified in our death..either way He will be glorified."

God is sanctified by the holiness of His people in their actions and worship towards Him by holding forth the glory of God's holiness. Remember that the saints of God snactify the Lord in their hearts by fearing God as a holy God with reverence to Him as a holy God.
God also sanctifies Himself in ways of judgement on those who do not want to sanctify His holiness or His name in holiness. Read Ezekiel 28:22 as God speaks. God wants His people to draw near to Him which is far better, but He will draw near to us as well in order for His sanctification to be fulfilled.

Now, dealing with worship in church these days we must realize that we are there to honor a most holy and righteous God. We are not there to feel better! We are not there to worship in whatever manner we fill we can! We are not there to let loose and be ourselves! When at worship we are there to lift up the holy name of God, Elohim and Adonai. We are to approach the throne of God in holy reverence with the highest fearful respect that God requires and deserves. God is not to be mocked, yet many thinking they are worshiping God are merely mocking the name of Christ with the entertaining games, rock n roll music, and flipent ways of worship. Music is not exclusive to worship.

You can worship in praise music, you can certainly worship in hymns, you can worship with only the message of God presented by the pastor, you can worship simply in prayer. Music is not the only act of worship. This seems to be an issue with churches today as the music must take up an hour of the service, then leave about 15 minutes for a very surface topical message that does little to sustain the listener for more than a one hour lunch on Sunday.

Something everyone needs to understand is that God killer two upstanding young men that were the sons of Aaron and Nephews of Moses for worshipping with a "Strange Fire"...what would we think if God treated those worshipping in the church today this way? We have the Word of God to stand firm upon. We do not have to wonder what direction we are to take. We do not have to wonder what the truth is. We can rest upon the truth that is found in the Holy Bible from our youth into eternity.

Be very careful presenting ourselves before God in holy worship to Him. Although Aaron's sons came with the right incense to present to God, but it was the strange fire that God was not accepted by God. Worship is not to be altered to be more seeker friendly folks. Worship is about God not the worshiper per say. Worship is our expression of bringing holiness to the name of God because He is worthy.

Each week we can go to church to hear glorious music, sing glorious music, and hear a wonderful message. Is it near the same "routine" each week? That is perfectly fine. There is nothing wrong with it being similiar week in and week out.

Worship:

-Music
-Instruments
-Expository message each week
-Glorious Special music in service
-Focus on God not seekers or believers

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Worship in truth-worship in faith!

-Scott Bailey 2008