ONLY TRUE, CLEAN AND SINCERE WORSHIP GOD ACCEPTS
Being the full text of the address of the President of God’s Kingdom Society (GKS) – The Church of the Living God – Brother Felix Ekundayo Adedokun to the Annual GKS Youth Fellowship Assembly holding in Nigeria and Abroad on Friday, August 23 – Sunday, August 25, 2024.
My Dear Youths in Christ,
HAIL JEHOVAH AND JESUS CHRIST!
I am profoundly grateful to the Almighty Father, the Great Provider and Sustainer of mankind through our Redeemer, friend and King – Christ Jesus – for His innumerable blessings and goodness upon us His sheep and for the preservation of our lives, in His way of truth, to observe the Youth Fellowship Annual Assembly once again by His grace. See Psalm 68:19.
Undeniably, the world is experiencing an unabated wave of lawlessness and sharp decline from sincere and faithful worship of the Almighty God as Satan the devil – the arch enemy of God and man – is not relenting in promoting ideologies, strange doctrines and practices that come in conflict with divine ordinances. Through his agents, Satan instils perverseness in the children of men, that they may imbibe falsehood, have their minds “corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ”, and rebel against their maker through acts of godlessness. Besides, there are myriad of socio-economic challenges which include but not limited to high rate of inflation, unemployment, high cost of living, hunger and starvation, insecurity, denial of humanitarian aids, infrastructural decay, inadequate access to medicine and treatment, terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, banditry, etc.
The struggle to survive and overcome these challenges have impacted negatively on the spiritual and psychological life as well as the quality of worship people, especially the youths, render to the Almighty God. Therefore, in fulfilment of my spiritual responsibilities, I have chosen as my address to you the topic entitled: Only True, Clean and Sincere Worship God Accepts.
The term “true” is used to describe that “conforming to the actual state of affairs, reality or fact”. It also means that which is not tainted with lies or falsehood. Contextually, it is in reference to God’s word, for which our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world to bear witness to. (Psalm 119:142, 151, 160; John 17:17; 18:37) Without the knowledge of the truth therefore, no one can practice the righteousness of God satisfactorily, in order to obtain salvation. – John 17:3; 8:31, 32; 1 Timothy 2:3, 4.
“worship”, is our devotion to god Almighty through prayers, songs, and oral declaration of His majesty and supremacy. Our worship is therefore said to be “Clean” when it is devoid of impurities or anything that would offend the Almighty God; and “Sincere” when it is free from dissimulation, dishonesty and marked with genuineness of heart. See Acts 24:16.
God’s Purpose For Man’s Creation
The Creator of the ends of the earth made man specifically for His glory, to worship and shew forth His praise. (Isaiah 43:7, 21; Revelation 4:11; Psalm 102:18, 21) The sole duty we owe God Almighty is to offer true, clean and sincere worship. Anything short of this is to the detriment of man, being an act of rebellion, gross disobedience, and an affront to the Creator. Apostle John declared: “…Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” – Revelation 14:6, 7. See also Psalm 100:2-4.
Notwithstanding Satan’s desperation to thwart this divine mandate, I urge you as youths in Christ, to strive to be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world”. (Philippians 2:15) God helping you like Joseph, Timothy, Esther, Ruth, Eunice, etc., in their respective generations, you too can distinguish yourselves, by His grace.
False, Unclean and Insincere Worship
Having made known His ordinances to the nation of Israel, the Most High God instructed that they obey and keep them as a wise and understanding people. (Deuteronomy 4:6) True worship therefore entails worshipping God in truth. By so doing, Christian youths will be certified to be practicing “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father”, in addition to keeping themselves “unspotted from the pollutions of the world”. (James 1:25, 27; John 17:3; 1 Timothy 2:3, 4) Jesus Christ said: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” – John 4:24; see also Psalm 145:18.
Additionally, pure religion supersedes personal righteousness which has to do with leaning on to the dictates of one’s heart, under the influence of worldly philosophies, ideologies or principles promoted by false religionists who abandon the truth and disseminate motivational messages which excite and entertain but do not edify. While not condemning secular knowledge gained from institutions of higher learning, I exhort you to give yourselves wholly to the sanctifying, satisfying, and transforming truth of God’s word for your own good in the end, by His grace. – 1 Timothy 6:20, 21.
God Almighty knowing that the devil is notorious for deceiving the youths in particular, gave this charge through His Prophet Solomon: “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil”. (Proverbs 3:1, 5-7) I exhort you to shun any form of lure or enticement that may make you compromise our “most holy faith” and thereby be defiled. – Jude 20; Hebrews 12:15; 1 Corinthians 15:33; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 John 3:3.
Thus, a clean, true and sincere worship is devoid of doing things to gain cheap popularity or win the praise of men but geared towards attaining God’s approval, as stated by Paul the Apostle to wit: “…not with eye service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ.” – Colossians 3:22-24; Ephesians 6:6-8.
Interfaith
The worship of the almighty father does not make provision for mixed worship. Dear youths in Christ, as you are aware, the God Whom we serve, is a “jealous” God, and will not hold guiltless, all who compromise the reverence He justifiably desires from us. The Holy Scriptures warn: “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?” – 1 Corinthians 10:21. Read also Matthew 6:24; Amos 3:3; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
Unfortunately, some who belong to the true faith, take pleasure in the alluring preachments, music, mode of worship, etc., of certain preachers, and gospel artistes whom they regard as their favourites, or role models. Over time, the negative influences of these unbelievers, begin to impact on their admirers who begin to emulate them, and in worst conditions, depart from the true faith. Likewise, God-fearing students in higher institutions of learning should beware of the books they read so as not to allow spiritually-corrupting materials poison their minds about God which may lead to abandoning the worship of God. – Colossians 2:8.
During the days of the Prophet Elijah, he showed an open disdain for unclean worship when he made the declaration: “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” This open challenge led to the famous contest at Mount Carmel, of which victory, glory, and vindication was accorded to the holy name of God Almighty, when the people “fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the god; the Lord, he is the God.” – 1 Kings 18:17-39.
God Almighty strongly warns against the worship of idols such as graven images of any kind, as well as the idolization of wealth, sports, sports betting, human beings, or any form of idolism. (Exodus 20:1-5; Deuteronomy 4:19, 20; Luke 16:13) Recall how the Athenians were worshipping different gods until St. Paul preached to them about the worship of the true God. (Acts 17:17-31) Again, God warns against paying allegiance to deities or occultic powers or those using divination as they are all abomination to Him. – Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Isaiah 8:19, 20; Acts 8:5-13.
In a similar vein, when Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights in Mount Sinai while receiving the Commandments, the Israelites, out of faithlessness, approached Aaron “and said unto him, Up, make us gods …” Then, Aaron made them a golden calf which they began to worship. God Almighty was not pleased with their action and Moses himself was angry with them. In the end, 3,000 of them lost their lives for worshipping the golden calf. (Exodus 32:1-28) Furthermore, when the Israelites engaged in the act of interfaith at Shittim, the resultant anger of God is a ready instance for people to learn from. – Numbers 25:1-5; Deuteronomy 4:3, 4.
Due to economic hardship, some youths have been lured to pay allegiance to certain deities believed to give wealth or riches. Regardless of how trying our economic situation may be, we should not leave the worship of God to worship the devil because of our quest for instant riches or wealth. (Proverbs 28:20, 22; 20:21) As we engage in our honest labour with integrity and the fear of God, He will bless the work of our hands with genuine riches according to His will. – Proverbs 10:22; 13:11; Psalm 37:16.
Admonition
Having been called into God’s highway, we should prove ourselves as “an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. (1 Peter 2:9) As children of the light, it is expected that we denounce all unfruitful works of darkness and allow our light to “shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) Therefore, it is expected that you should “fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy god with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” – Deuteronomy 10:12, 13; Romans 12:1; Ecclesiastes 7:18; 12:13, 14.
Those who persist and continue in false, unclean and insincere worship would have themselves to blame at the end, as they shall be destroyed. “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” (Isaiah 60:12) Elihu declared: “If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasure. But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and die without knowledge.” – Job 36:11, 12; see also Isaiah 1:16-19; Jeremiah 10:6, 7, 10.
May JEHOVAH the Almighty God help us to render true, clean and sincere worship to HIM in truth and righteousness for our own blessings and salvation, by His grace and power through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Felix Ekundayo Adedokun,
President, GKS.
August, 2024.