KASPARS OZOLINS | Assistant Professor of Old Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
The gospel of Luke conveys the electric atmosphere of Christ’s triumphal entry by reporting a brief exchange between our Lord and the Pharisees (Luke 19:37–40). They saw around them what we read, if we have understanding. The disciples were crying out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Other gospels record them exclaiming “Hosanna!”, a word which means “Save us, we pray!” They were quoting from the final climactic psalm in the famous Hallel psalter (Psalms 113–118) that the Jews would recite on the Passover in commemoration of the exodus, and in anticipation of a new future exodus for their people.
The Pharisees see all of this and indignantly demand: “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” For them, such praise is completely out of place for this would-be Messiah from Galilee and verges on blasphemy. Jesus responds dramatically by stating: “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out!” The priority of worship in this hour is so urgent that nothing in creation—not even stone-cold immovable boulders—is excluded from being pressed into the service of the King of kings.
The Creator of the universe demands our worship, and He has every right to it.
John Piper opens his well-known book on missions (Let the Nations Be Glad!) by expressing an arresting idea: “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” The Creator of the universe demands our worship, and He has every right to it. But the Christian, especially, is compelled to worship not only because he owes his existence to a Creator, but because that Creator, that God-man, shed his own blood to rescue the sinner from judgment.
Right now, the world is filled with all kinds of evil about which we read in the newspapers, and with which we are so familiar. But a deeper evil lies hidden: the failure of image bearers to worship their God. Isn’t it amazing, then, when we realize that right now in heaven there are glorious heavenly beings who, according to Revelation, never cease to exclaim day and night, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8)?
True doctrine leads to worship
Let me bring this subject closer to home: not only has there been a deficit of sound doctrine within the Seventh-day Adventist organization since its inception—there has also been a corresponding deficit of true worship of the one true God. In fact, such a deficit should not surprise us in the least because true worship of our God can’t exist without right thinking about God.
To claim that there is a serious deficit of true worship in Adventism might appear to be something more challenging to defend, in part because it sounds so subjective: who could possibly be the arbiter of what counts as true worship? I don’t claim to have any special insight into the hearts of individual Adventists, in the way that Jesus had insight into the hearts of the Pharisees. I can, however, offer my own limited personal testimony along with the ultimate testimony of God’s Word: genuine Christian worship must be found in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23).
External worship
The challenge of recognizing true worship is not limited to Adventism or indeed our modern evangelical context. It is a problem that goes back to the Fall itself, because external forms of worship are no guarantee that the human heart is truly devoted to God (just ask Cain). It is a problem that was identified by the prophet Isaiah and echoed by our Lord Jesus Christ: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”—Matthew 15:8, cf. Isaiah 29:13
Adventist worship looks like Christian worship. If one examines traditional forms of worship in Adventist churches, one finds the same Christian hymns being sung. (I leave aside the important caveat that some lyrics conveying crucial theological truths have been occasionally altered by Adventists.) Likewise, contemporary Adventist worship services have the “feel” of modern evangelical worship; the same songs are sung, the same instrumentation is employed, the same casual atmosphere is felt. These external similarities are a big contributing factor to the conclusion reached by many: Seventh-day Adventists may worship on a different day, but there is not much that evangelicals would find completely foreign.
What is true worship?
Only God can definitively identify true worship, because only God sees into each human heart. Nevertheless, we may still say something about true worship and where it can be found. The natural person, born into Adam’s race, cannot truly worship God because his heart is unregenerate. In fact, far from worshipping God, the natural state of mankind is to be at enmity with him. The apostle Paul flatly declares: “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). Earlier in the letter, he explains the current reality of humanity: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21). So how can a darkened heart, hostile to God, be transformed into a joyful, worshipping heart? It is only through the gospel, “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (v. 16).
Not only is salvation only to be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but true worship likewise is only to be found wherever the true gospel is proclaimed.
I will try to explain the implications of Paul’s words more directly. Not only is salvation only to be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but true worship likewise is only to be found wherever the true gospel is proclaimed. True Christian worship is a heartfelt response to what God has done in Christ. When the apostle Paul contemplated what his Savior had done for him (“the chief of sinners,” no less), he recognized himself to be a prisoner of Christ, and not just because he was physically in chains. He was a prisoner of the love of Christ.
Only the Christian sees God for who he truly is and freely worships the one who has truly and finally taken away all his sins. What was once unnatural and impossible has become an irresistible attraction and compulsion: a life of worship. As the Lord Jesus cried out on the last day of the great festival: “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:38).
One sinner saved to worship
I close with my own brief testimony (acknowledging that it is only the testimony of one individual). I testify to others, both Adventists and non-Adventists, that as an Adventist, I attended church faithfully and actively participated in Adventist worship services. Nevertheless, my heart was far from God and full of hypocrisy. I did not know God because I did not understand the gospel, nor did I submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. There was no reality in my external worship.
When the Lord miraculously saved me, however, I suddenly discovered the meaning of true worship. I never had known that Christians (both men and women) could sing in such a way at church—and it wasn’t because evangelicals had better instruments or voices. I never knew that one’s eyes could spontaneously well up with tears during a church service or even when contemplating the goodness of God. I had no category for gospel preaching that made my heart want to burst out with praise to our Savior. All these things became reality for me, not because evangelical worship was more sentimental than Adventist worship, but because the truth of the gospel had permanently pierced my heart and soul!
I testify to all that the new covenant promises of God are a reality for all who trust in Jesus Christ: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). The Holy Spirit alone is able to accomplish this, and He has done so for me and countless former Adventists who have come to know the living God of Scripture. †
- “These Stones Will Cry Out!” - February 6, 2025
- Adventism and Recent Developments in Evangelical Scholarship - December 12, 2024
- Gaslighting—By Adventists - October 17, 2024