What is worship?

If you've ever been to church, you've probably experienced a worship service.

In the Old Testament, worship meant sacrifice. It was a ritual in which people brought offerings to God, asking for repentance, petitions, thanks, blessings, and more.

There were many different ways to do this, but God ordained all.

The important thing is to follow God's instructions.

1 Sam 15:22
But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

John 4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

When Jesus came, the Old Testament changed to the New Testament.

Old Testament = Old Covenant
New Testament = New Covenant

The laws of the Old Covenant were based on animal sacrifices such as lamb and goat.

However, the New Covenant replaced the animals with the sacrifice of Jesus in the person of the Lamb, changing the focus from sacrifice to worship.

John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

So in the New Testament era, we no longer worship through animal sacrifices, but we worship God in spirit and in truth.

God didn't come to abolish the first seven feasts, including the Sabbath and Passover.
Instead, He emphasized that He came to make them perfect.

Matthew 5:17
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

So we must rely on God's Word alone and obey it.

How dare we change the perfect law of worship with our own ideas?

Let's look at Nadab and Abihu.

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their censers and burned incense before the Lord with other fire, which the Lord had not commanded.

And the fire went out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

Leviticus 10:1-2
Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command.
So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

All rituals and worship have been given to us by God.

So, of course, we should obey them.

Nadab and Abihu also burned incense with a different fire than God had commanded, so they were punished and died.

Hebrews 3:18
And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?

Matthew 12:8
For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

To enter into eternal rest is to enter into heaven.

To go to heaven is to obey.

If we don't obey, if we do things our own way, is that really the kind of worship that God would accept?

If God tells people to keep the Sabbath, but they worship on Sunday, they will end up like Nadab, and Abihu.