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A “Form” of Worship God Does Not Desire
A “Form” of Worship God Does Not Desire
“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 of man’s worship. Trying to represent religious truths by ritual and ceremony is condescending to God. The problem with many in worship is allowing ritualism to enslave us, and then believe our conscience is clear.
This distresses our Lord when the spirituality of a man’s religion is gone, but he keeps up his rituals. 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 such worship be?!
Worship is a holy activity from wise direction and order of one’s life. It is bears honorable responsibilities given to us by God. It is taking part in spiritual activities. It is bringing the heart and body into subjection. It is a life motivated by faith, joy, hope, and love. If our life is of this nature, we will not be restrained from expressing our religion in the way God desires. If your faith is as it should be, there will be a natural flow of honoring God in all areas of life.
Religion is a state of mind (heart). It is a spiritual relationship with God (John 4:23,24) into which every Christian is brought. It is fastening 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). Religion is established with a trust the soul has in the Creator to provide and sustain through good times and bad times. Religion is the sanctifying of our will’s choice to the choice of God’s will. Such a religion will offer worship full of glory and honor.
Sincerity becomes an important part of our worship to God. 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 by words and actions. 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. Neither will He be with such a disturbing “form” of worship from us. One thing we can conquer quickly is something which has become a vice in modern religion - doing greater, more elaborate things in worship to cover our indifferent and unconcerned heart...
