Nonbelievers have a limited ability to worship. Because everyone is created by God to be a worshiper, everyone is able to worship something, but only Christians can truly worship God. “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
First, the Bible teaches that nonbelievers cannot worship God except in these two ways:
The instant of becoming a believer, when the nonbeliever listens to God and says “yes” to him (Acts 28:28, 2 Corinthians 5:17).
The instant when every knee bows to God at the Judgment (Philippians 2:10).
Furthermore, everyone is born with a God-shaped hole in his or her heart. Nothing can satisfy the feeling of absolute emptiness, a hunger deep inside the heart, until the hole is filled with the Spirit of God. It is this God-shaped hole that drives us to seek him. In other words, God created each person from birth to be a worshiper, and our souls will not rest until they are connected to God’s Spirit. Like a computer searching for a secure WiFi connection, we are designed by God to keep searching until we find the connection to him, or until we’re drained, like a battery, and shut down. People who do not worship God do worship something, but it is always something far less than the Master and Creator of the universe (2 Chronicles 7:22; Deuteronomy 11:16; Matthew 6:24).
Finally, nonbelievers cannot truly worship during a church service; however, they can watch worship. My pastor, Rick Warren, often speaks of the evangelistic power of worship. He says:
Although unbelievers cannot truly worship, they can watch believers worship. They can observe the joy that we feel. They can see how we value God’s Word and how we respond to it. They can hear how the Bible answers the problems and questions of life. They can notice how worship encourages, strengthens, and changes us. They can sense when God is supernaturally moving in a service, although they won’t be able to explain it. When unbelievers watch genuine worship, it becomes a powerful witness.
The Bible teaches that as a nonbeliever observes genuine, authentic worship, God will speak to his or her heart. “But if some unbelieving outsiders walk in on a service where people are speaking out God’s truth, the plain words will bring them up against the truth and probe their hearts. Before you know it, they’re going to be on their faces before God, recognizing that God is among you” (1 Corinthians 14:25 MSG).