Vain Worship

Imagine Judgement Day. You stand alone before the God of creation. Your life is in question. The books are opened. Every detail of every moment of your life is examined. And it is found that all your worship was in vain. All your good deeds, all your sacrifice, all your church attendance - nothing.

In vain. That means none of it counts. It was as if you had never worshiped. Never lifted your voice in praise or thanksgiving to God. Never done any good deeds. Never even called Jesus your Lord.

How could such a thing be possible? How could you have done vain worship?

Matthew 15:
7. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Here, Jesus says that all these Jews did to worship God was in vain. Let's look at the passage he referred to.

Isaiah 29:
10. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
11. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

(There is a reason Jesus pointed the Jews to this passage. The verses the follow verse 13 were talking about what Jesus was doing. Did any of them go look them up?)

The situation Isaiah describes here fits so many churches today. So many church leaders cannot understand the scripture. They do not have an original understanding of it. They rely instead on doctrines that they were given by other men. Some teach what they were taught in Bible school. Others teach what they were handed by tradition from preachers who went before them. When you ask them about some principle in the scripture, they simply quote the standard line they were taught. They cannot go beyond this, because to them, the Bible is sealed. It looks like a dyslexic jumble of rules, not the coherent reasoned discourse of a genius God.

To them, the Word has become "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little." They have been blinded from understanding it.

Isaiah 28:
13. But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

And if the leaders of a church can't understand the Bible, what chance does the little guy have? Like Isaiah 29 says, the little guy will say, "Why are you asking me? I don't know anything!"

Yes, one might say, but this was before the church age. It doesn't apply today.

Doesn't it? What separates Christians from the Muslim? Or Jews? Or any other devout religion on the earth?

Well then, this verse is certainly of the Church age:

1 Corinthians 13:
3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Here Paul says you could spend your entire life ministering to the poor, and in the end be martyred for Christ, and it could be as if you had done nothing.

All your worship could be in vain.

So how do you know if your worship is vain or not?

Well, Jesus told us. People think Jesus was being mean spirited when he called them hypocrites. But he wasn't. He walked in love. He told them what their problem was before he even told them they had a problem.

They were role-playing. That's what the word hypocrite means - play actor. Role player. It is we who think it means someone who says to do one thing, but does another themself. Sinning is not hypocrisy. Role playing is hypocrisy.

And this is why the Jews of Jesus day - and many Christians of our day - have vain worship: they were role-playing their worship.

Politicians are role players. They play a certain role so the public will vote for them. Do they really believe that role? If you find one, let me know.

I heard once of a woman (I don't remember where) who suddenly started drinking, getting tats, and living the wild life. When her kids asked her why, she said, "I was just playing the good mother until you kids were out of the house."

All of us are adept at role playing. When the police car pulls up behind us on the road, we suddenly play the role of the model citizen. When the in-laws knock on the door, certain things disappear. We do what other people expect us to, even though we would not ordinarily do so.

As Christians today, people lift a character out of the Bible, then they play that role. "Don't drink, don't smoke, don't cuss, don't chew." Each church has its own version of the model Christian character. Everyone in the church conforms to that role, and everyone is happy.

Except God.

God doesn't want you playing a role. He wants you to be motivated by his love within you.

If his love motivates you to give all you have to the poor, then it is worship that is not in vain.

If his love motivates you to be in a situation where you are martyred, then it is a profit to you.

The law of Moses merely caused people to role play. (Here is what my character is, here is what I will do.) Their hearts were contrary though. So, God gave us a New Law:

Romans 5:
5. And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

The New Law is to obey the love of God that the Holy Ghost stirs within our hearts toward the rest of the world.

And that is being who we are from the heart.

Copyright © 2009 Burley Ward. All rights reserved