True Worship vs Vain Worship

For our exhortation today, we are looking at true worship versus vain worship.

When I look at this title, it is always for me: Why does there have to be a qualifier or emphasis placed on the word worship? Isn’t worship supposed to be authentic? How can worship be negative? 

I’m thinking if you’re using the word worship, it must be positive. Much like the word Christian. If you’re a Christian, there should be no need to say I’m a true Christian in order to separate yourself from other Christians who you deem to be false. 

The reason I don’t subscribe to that is because I believe it should be automatic that worship and Christian, just as an example, do not need that sort of descriptive precision. If our worshiping and it’s not true, you’re really not worshiping. And if you say you’re a Christian and you’re not living the life, then you’re really not a Christian.

But truth be told, because of the nature of the world today, we have to understand that counterfeits exist because the enemy is real. Subtlety is one way he can lure people into his grasp. So in worship, he can slip in some false practices and pollute what was meant to be good and pure. Hence the need to define these words.

We have come by here today to worship. What does that mean? What is worship? 

Worship is the act of showing reverence, adoration, and devotion to God. It can be through prayer, exhortation and fellowship as we are doing here.

Worship can take the form of singing, scripture reading, meditation, offerings, or rituals or sacraments.  But even in doing these quote unquote right things, they can be useless if done in a conceited way, for the wrong motive and for self as opposed to in honour of the Creator.

The Bible itself speaks to how corrupt a good thing can become. We are looking at true worship versus vain worship. Let’s read a couple of scriptures.

Isaiah 1:10-20 NIV “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Matthew 23:27-28 ““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Amos 5:21-24 ““I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

Jeremiah 7:9-10 ““ ‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?”

And Romans 1:21-23 “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

This is straight from The Bible - how God feels about people who profess to be worshipers, Christians.

Matthew 15:8-9 ““ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ””

Isaiah 29:13 “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”

Ezekiel 33: 30-32 ““As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.”

Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

And James 1:22-27 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

There are similar points being referenced in all of these scriptures.

1. External worship that lacks genuine devotion and inner sincerity is not acceptable to God

2. There is something wrong when someone hears God's Word and does not obey God’s Word. If we do not actually live out the Word of God, we worship God in vain. It is superficial worship when it is not accompanied by obedient action.

3. God doesn’t want religious rituals and ceremonies that are performed without justice and righteousness. This type of worship is meaningless if the hearts of worshipers are not aligned with God’s values.

4. What God truly wants from us is for us to love justice, and be kind and humble, rather than empty rituals. So there’s a call for genuine worship that reflects the character of God.

And 5. We see that it’s not all about coming to a place of worship, especially because that’s what you’re accustomed to do. It’s about putting the Words of God in the Bible into practice. Living the life we know to be true. Walking holy. Practicing what we preach.

Family, there was no embellishment in today’s exhortation. No trying to interpret what God meant when he said worship Him in the Spirit and in truth (John 4:24) or you worship Him in vain.

This should give us cause to examine our worship. 

Are we merely honoring God with our lips, while our hearts remain distant? Is it all about an outward show for us when we worship? Is it about promoting ourselves or self aggrandisement?

All of those answers should be a resounding no. 

Indeed Family, our worship must come from a deep understanding of who God is, what He wants from us, and giving Him glory and honour because of ahis great love towards. Our hearts must be transformed by God’s love, reflected in our actions and attitudes. 

Lip service won’t do. Lip service is vain worship. And God does not recognize that.

We are challenged today Family, to align our lives with God’s requirements: justice, kindness, humility, and active obedience to His Word.

Then when we worship Him, our lives would be marked by righteousness. And by faith, we would move from vain worship to worship that is pleasing and acceptable to God. 

aub - 25June24

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