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A Disturbing Form of Worship
A Disturbing “Form” of Worship
“This people honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.” — Matthew 15:8,9 —
Formality is a peril to man’s worship. Trying to represent religious truths in a ritual and ceremony is condescending to man’s ability and to what pleases God in worship. The problem with many in worship is allowing ritualism to enslave us, then believe our conscience is clear.
This distresses our Lord when the spirituality of a man is gone, but he keeps up his ritual. Sometimes he will even become more exact in obeying rules and try to persuade himself “formality” is the “reality” to worship and not spirituality. Worship becomes honor without heart. How dead can that religion be?!
Worship is a holy activity from a wise order of one’s life. It is bearing honorable responsibilities. It is taking part in spiritual activities. It is bringing the body into subjection. It is a life motivated by faith, joy, hope, and love. If our life is of this nature, nothing will restrain us from expressing our religion. If your religion is as it should be, there will be a natural flow of honoring God in all areas of life.
Our worship is the result of a spiritual relationship with God (John 4:23,24). Worship is a fastening of man’s love upon the One who has done so much for him. It is a fixation upon God first, and no other has priority but Him (Matthew 6:33). Worship is established upon a trust the soul has in the Creator to provide and sustain through times that are good or bad. It is the sanctifying of our will’s choice to the choice of God’s will. Such a spiritually motivated soul will offer worship full of glory and honor.
What produces worship in its truest form is sincerity. Sincerity is something Christ petitioned from His followers. Sincerity the psalmist prayed for, and the prophets exhorted often. Sincerity depends on whether the worshipper is true to himself. To God he must be true. He must be true to his fellow man. A man can only become a true worshipper not just by lip and act but by how true he is. Isaiah 1 speaks of God’s rebuke upon Judah for their “vain oblations”, “multitude of sacrifices”, “appearances”, and “calling of assemblies”. They were without sincerity. They were far from being true. They believed formality and ritual would be a good “cover” for their insincerity. God was not impressed with them, and neither will He be with such a disturbing “form” of worship from us. One thing we must conquer quickly is the vice of modern religion - doing greater, more elaborate things in worship, and fake who we really our in heart...
