How do we decide what should or should not be part of Christian worship?

For some Christians, the answer to this question seems all too obvious: "God has given us the freedom to worship Him as we please. We should do whatever the Holy Spirit inspires us to do—after all, we don't want to quench the Spirit!"«

But what if someone wants to worship God by bowing down to an image of Him? Okay, maybe there are things that shouldn't be done in the name of worship—like sin. But does that mean that if we don't sin, we can worship God in any way we want?

Not quite. The Bible gives reason to believe that in our corporate worship, Christians should do only what God clearly requires—either through direct instruction or reasoned inference. There are several biblical arguments to support this approach:

• It is obvious: only God has the right to determine how He should be worshipped. (Lion. 10:1–3; John 4:20–26; 1 Cor. 14). The second commandment forbids not only the worship of anyone but the true God, but also the worship of the true God in a way that He has not commanded (Ex. 20:2–6).
• It is obvious that faith is a response to God's revelation, and "whatever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). Therefore, God does not accept worship that is not a response of faith to His Word.
• The obvious: The New Testament commands Christians to meet together regularly (Heb. 10:25), while at the same time warning against being forced to conform to human rules and traditions (Col. 2:16–23). So if a church forces members to participate in practices that God has not commanded, it is unduly binding their consciences. In other words, since a Christian’s conscience is to remain free from human demands, no church has the right to include in its worship what God has not approved.

How, then, do we decide what should and should not be part of Christian worship? We must examine the Bible to find out what God says Christians should do when they come together. And then do just that and nothing more.