The Heart of Worship
Matthew 15:7-9
You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
How do we not worship in vain?
In this passage, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees for holding to tradition instead of the word of God. The Pharisees lost the heart of God’s word and replaced it with traditions that they upheld. It seems like an Old Testament problem but, it has very real implications in today’s culture. Everything, if we do it enough, can become a tradition. The way we great one another. The songs we sing. The way things look.
This is not always a bad thing. There is great liturgy that has powerful truth and repetition is beneficial in creating catechisms. So, how do we make sure we’re not worshiping in vain?
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”. In this verse we see that, we’re called to test things. Not based on what the world tells us is correct but, based on what God tells us is correct. So we hold traditions up to the Word and to God through prayer.
We won’t always get it right but, through testing we strengthen our belief in what we are doing and why we are doing it.
Questions
- Think of a couple things you do during a normal day. Why do you do those things?
- Which of those things would you consider to be worship to God?
I See The Lord
Come Thou Fount
Exalted Over All
