While there is no one particular form that we can point to as being the only form for genuine worship, there are some forms which are better than others at being faithful to what God has called for in our worship of Him.

We should take warning from the story of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu found in Leviticus chapter 10. They had just been installed as priests and took it upon themselves to offer burnt incense to the Lord which He had not commanded. In response, God killed them.
There is no indication that Nadab and Abihu were insincere in their approach before God. There is no indication that they had gone to do anything but worship God. The problem was simply that they felt the freedom to approach God when and how they determined.

Their lack of concern for approaching Him rightly resulted in them not giving God the honor He was due. This was made clear when He explained the slaying of Nadab and Abihu by saying “among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.”
“But that was the Old Testament, things have changed today haven’t they?”

Certainly we are right to acknowledge that there is a distinct difference between the worship at the Jewish temple, which was composed of shadows pointing towards the reality that we have in Christ, and the worship that we now engage in in light of that reality. But we must be careful not to take that distinction and use it to justify an “anything goes” approach to worship.  We are told in the New Testament to “offer God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29), that “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Furthermore, as we get a glimpse of what worship looks like in heaven, it certainly can not be characterized by as a “lighthearted freedom of expression.” Instead we find it repeatedly characterized as a “falling down on their faces and worshipping” (Rev. 4:10, 5:14, 7:11, 11:16, 19:4).

While none of this provides us with a particular form that we are required to follow today, these verses certainly are instructive and seem to preclude much of what is passed off as worship in the modern “seeker” church movement.  Concerned to not become a modern expression of the error of Nadab and Abihu and feeling the weight of responsibility to lead the people of God into a form of worship that is acceptable to Him, it would be best to design our worship service after that which is specifically modeled to us by the Scriptures.

This serves to protect the individuals in the congregation from 1) sinning against their consciences as they partake in acts which they do not believe the Bible asks of them; 2) focusing on the worship rather than on the One who is to be worshipped; 3) engaging in idolatry as creating worship forms based upon our own whims can easily influence and change the message itself, and thereby, changing the God we worship into a god of our making.

It is not a matter of not liking to have fun, nor is it a matter of not enjoying entertainment. It is nota matter of not being creative enough to come up with something different. And it is not because we do not have the resources to kick our worship “up to the next level.”

We should do this for one reason: to bring acceptable, honoring worship to God that He might be “sanctified” and “glorified” during our services.