Matthew 15:7-9 NJKV
7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 ‘These people [c]draw near to Me with their mouth And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
A hypocrite is someone who presents himself as one thing, and yet, he is another. It is like someone who is performing for an audience. With that in mind, think about this; are you a hypocrite when it comes to worship? That may sound harsh, but do we present ourselves as one thing on Sunday morning during the service, lifting our hand’s tears flowing down our cheeks, looking like we love God and yet, the rest of the week we live a life that is the the opposite of what we were portraying on Sunday morning worship? That is what Jesus means when he says; These people draw near to Me with their mouth And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
Am I putting on a show on Sunday morning, or is that who I am even when no one is watching? When you have been around church circles for so long, it is easy to get into a routine. It is easy to get into that space where you honor God with your lips, but your heart is far away from Him.
We need to get out of the performance mentality and to be honest, when you think about it, our church services are looking more and more like concerts with the lights, smoke machines and all. We are so concerned about how we look to others rather than the condition of our hearts when we approach God.
Jesus said that God is looking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and truth. This means that our worship must stem from the heart and it must be sincere. I have asked myself many times, do I even mean what I sing, or is it just a song I am singing? Because of the performance mentality, some of our songs have focused more on the tune and the rhyme of words, but they are doctrinally wrong, but we don’t even notice.
Our motivation for worshipping God should be the deep love that we have for him because of who he is and also what he has done for us. Jesus said that if we love him, then we will obey his commands. His commands direct us in the way we live our daily lives, and even how we should approach God in worship. This means that how we live life every day is a considerable component of how we worship him, and not just the slow songs we sing on Sunday morning.
May we always remember to worship Him with our lives, each day, every day.
Reflections
What does worshipping God in spirit and truth look like in your daily life?
Think about all the nice songs we sing to God on Sundays, think about the lyrics of the songs, do you just sing the songs or do you mean what you are singing?
If someone were to secretly trail you for a whole month observing your lifestyle, would they come back with a report of how much you love God or the opposite?
