They Worship Me In Vain

(Today's reading - Gen 49-50, Matt 15:1-20)

First things first... I am loving this years change in our reading plan, thanks Lowell!

In the Old Testament portion of our reading, Israel blesses his twelve sons and dies. Joseph lives to be 110 and he dies. The straight forward telling of these events makes it clear that we are here but for a few years on this planet. As Job put it, "Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." No matter how healthy we live, no matter how much exercise we do, no matter how much organic food we eat, we are all going to die. Our days are determined!

In our New Testament read, Jesus is once again confronted by the Pharisees. They are the religious elite. They are the clergy, the Bible scholars; yet Jesus finds them lacking at every meeting. He calls them "white washed tombs", pretty on the outside, but inside decay and filth. This encounter brings a scathing review of their entire religious lives...

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.”

What are the key points to His statement? You think about it here.... thinking, thinking.

He tells us that these "very religious" people talk the talk. They say all the right things. From a human perspective, they would appear to be "the" followers of God. But, Jesus sees through the fine words and fancy recitations. He sees the truth behind the masks of the hypocrites. He sees the heart. What He is saying to us is that we can be a mess, yet appear to be doing great. We can pray the right prayers, sing the right songs and even preach the right sermons, yet be far from God. That does not please Him!

Secondly, He calls attention to their obedience to traditions. He calls that vain worship. Worthless worship. Jesus is saying that when we worship in ways that are not in compliance to what God has asked for... we are worshiping in vain. In other words, when we offer Him worship that we have created, that we have developed; He does not find it worthy. He calls this "rules taught by men". To restate it another way, "if we want our worship to be acceptable to God, we need to follow His rules".

Sometimes, it seems that our worship of God is more about what we like and less about what pleases Him.  In this area, we must be very careful. We must be sure that we are allowing Him to change our hearts and not just our words. We must be sure that what we do in worship to Him is what He has stipulated and not what we want. Jesus calls on those that will follow Him to "keep His commands". "If you love me, you will obey what I command." (John 14:15) So, it is up to you to make sure that your heart is right before God and it is up to you to study His word and to make sure that you are offering worship that is acceptable to Him.

Don't be afraid to ask questions about your worship. Open your Bibles and study and then call on the leaders in your church to comply with His commands. If you are doing something that you cannot find in His word... it is a commandment of men. Is that always wrong, no. Sometimes traditions allow us to carry out His commands. Example... their is not one mention of a song book in the New Testament, but we are commanded to sing. Song books facilitate our singing. But to say that we must use song books, would make it a commandment of men. (hope that helps)


Jesus wants real worshippers. Jesus wants pure hearts. Jesus wants those that love Him to demonstrate it by how they live their lives. That is what he wants... what do you want? Thinking, thinking.