“Most Americans worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship,” wrote Gordon Dahl. Bull’s-eye.

Frivolousness sabotages godly worship. A mark of biblical worship is that it must be just that–biblical. But so much of contemporary worship is man-centeredness with Christianese window dressing and accoutrements. Where’s the reverence?

Scripture’s Testimony: Do we remember the warning in the New Testament book of Hebrews? Here are two verses from that letter that ought to quicken us: “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hb 12:28-29).

With reverence and awe. That’s how we are to worship the Lord. That’s “acceptable worship.”

But where is the seriousness of worship? In many church circles, you’re more likely to see man-centeredness cloaked in Christiany-sounding jargon than you are to encounter the God of the Bible.

More and more often people tell me, “I don’t go to church because there’s just no meat. It’s boiled over TED Talks with a little Jesus sprinkled on top.” And it hurts my soul.

Why? Well, Christ died for His church. There’s no Plan B. So, the church is to be the kingdom made manifest. It is called to be the body of believers that pagans fear to enter because God’s holiness is so palpable.

God Killed: After Pentecost, the Christian church was growing like gangbusters. By the time you get to Acts 5, the momentum of regenerate church growth was staggering. But then you get to Acts 5. This is where God–once again–kills people. Specifically, He kills Ananias and his wife Sapphira for lying. After Peter confronted Ananias for his duplicity, God killed Ananias. The result? “And great fear came upon all who heard of it” (Acts 5:5b).

You’d perhaps think that Ananias’ wife would have learned a lesson from God killing her husband . . . but nope. In verses 9-11 of Acts 5, God again kills. This time, He kills Sapphira because she lied to God, to the Apostle Peter, and to the church. And God struck her down in public:

But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

Surely the point is clear: God takes worship seriously. God’s people are to take worship seriously. We are to do exactly what the New Testament letter of Hebrews says–namely, worship with reverence and awe.

But will we have that Sunday? As Christian churches assemble across the globe this week, and the next week, and the next week, will our assemblies be known for their reverence for and awe of God and His gospel? Or will it be man-centeredness and pride with a Christian gloss and veneer?

Takeaway: All people worship; it’s just a matter of the object of worship. For the Christian, however, he has no excuse because God has revealed the criteria of proper worship.