Why Sweat is Prohibited in Worship

They … shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. (Ezekiel 44: 18b)

One exciting thing about obedience is that it precedes revelation.

It is only when we obey without asking why that we can understand why.

Obedience is the greatest proof that we trust God. It is the greatest evidence that we have faith in what we have heard or read God is.

We are simply saying that we will leap in the dark because we are trusting the one issuing the order.

That pleases God.

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. (2Chronicles 16: 9a)

Blind obedience is what people call obedience without reason. Yet that is the only obedience there is because if I must always know why I should obey it would then stop being obedience.

What does this have to do with sweat and worship? I know someone is asking.

For years, I have been wondering why a priest was not expected to sweat yet his ministry revolved around fire and smoke.

Why did God give the specifics, to the smallest detail, of their attire to ensure that they do not sweat amidst all that heat?

But I shared what God wanted anyway, the latest being a post ‘Worship and Sweat’ where I looked at this topic in some depth.

I annoy believers because I insist on teaching the scriptures as they are without seeking to shade them with culture or man-made doctrine, or even making them logical or explainable.

Many times (I would like it to be all times) my arguments are based only on what God in His word says and not what even I think He says.

It therefore means that I rarely have any logical explanation for what the Bible says unless I have gone through some lesson from God.

This is where I have been at concerning this verse.

Sweat is wrong in worship, period. It has nothing to do with how you feel or even do.

I do not have to understand why because I know God is never trivial with any of His commands. God must have His reasons. And those reasons are the only reasons worth following.

Incidentally we are not the only ones to struggle with understanding God’s commands. Remember this verse?

When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. (Psalm 73: 16, 17)

Revelation follows obedience.

As with the psalmist, God may eventually explain why, though for the obedient that is not essential to their obedience.

This is what I want to get to here.

Remember the curse on Adam?

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:19)

Sweat is the evidence of our effort. Sweat indicates hard work, labour.

Sweat and rest are two opposite sides of the coin called life.

That is where I want us to go.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11: 28 – 30)

Christ came to give us rest.

Though He came with a yoke for us, it was a restful yoke. Though He also placed a burden on us, it was light.

It goes without say that Christ replaced our burden with rest, our effort with an enjoyable yoke.

I want us to remember that the Levites were forbidden from work. They were even forbidden from lands since God became their source.

Their job became to connect Israel to God. Knowing God’s will and translating it to Israel became their only job.

Surely God cannot remove someone from labour if He was intending to replace it with more labour.

That is why sweat was removed from God’s service since it would indicate that God was taking them from labouring for their needs to labouring for Him.

I am sure this also speaks about ministry.

Ministry should be rest from labour, not transfer from one type of labour to another. It is not the change from secular labour to spiritual one. It is not from sweating to put food on the table my own way and sweating to put food on the table using spiritual methods.

When ministry is the transfer from one source of sweat to another, it is impossible for it to be Christ’s yoke.

Back to sweat.

Imagine a priest burning all that fat and meat in the process of his priestly ministration yet he was not allowed to sweat!

Yet we think it is the height of spiritual maturity and impact when we must have heavy handkerchiefs when we preach to wipe away rivers of sweat from our brows. We will even applaud ‘worshippers’ who must take constant breaks due to the exertion their ministration requires.

Whose work is it? Who is being ministered to there?

Jesus did not sweat blood because of His exertion. It was due to the travail of His heart.

When worship produces sweat, it goes contrary to God’s expectation.

God gives rest. Worship should produce rest.

There is a burden and there is a yoke. But they are restful if they are placed there by Christ.

Allow me to give some observations.

Assuming worship is only song, which it is not, do you realise that sweat is the evidence of fatigue?

This means that your body (which is the tent hosting the spirit) is crying for rest.

Have you realised that congregations that have sweaty worship sleep through sermons? That is why many resort to introducing a lot of noisy interjections to the sermon to at least maintain a semblance of wakefulness.

From shout amens to the amens being done by noisy instruments to a lot of movement and dramatics from the preacher there will literally be no quiet moment during the preaching.

Yet that can be eliminated by disallowing sweat in worship.

Before ‘worship’ was introduced in church not so long ago, we used to sing hymns several times in a worship (yes, worship) service. Very, very rarely would we have anybody sleeping through a sermon, however ‘boring’ it was. And preachers were not performers and dramatists.

Incidentally, rarely would you have two faced performers, an angel in church and the devil outside, since the Gospel would have enough time and chance to penetrate to the soul and spirit.

Do you remember Elijah? He was ordered to eat and rest after issuing prophecy for the devastating famine. And he was ordered to eat and sleep after battling the false prophets and was threatened with death.

Again, remember when God wanted to issue new orders for him. God’s voice was not in the drama and noise. It was in stillness.

David understood worship. He ensured stillness under whatever circumstances. But he had to be intentional. Saul couldn’t listen in the noise.

Noise distracts. And noise and sweat are relatives.

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. (Psalm 46:10)

Nobody sweats in stillness.

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. (Isaiah 30:15)

And nobody can receive power from on high through their sweat.

Sweat is the product of our effort, the antithesis of the rest that is produced by resting in God and His worship.

Before you trash what I am writing here, please go to God in prayer and ask Him to verify that what I am writing is the [lain teaching of scripture

Else you will continue vomiting the unproductive and unscriptural doctrines and practices you have inherited from men.

After that, search the scriptures. Or probably that is where you should start.

Look for sweat in worship from the whole Bible and then let us talk.

I am not writing this because it is comfortable. I am writing against much of what I have held as Gospel truth almost all my life.

My scriptural intake confronted my doctrine and its practice and I had to make a decision which to trumpet.

That is where I would like you to get to.