You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'" (Matt. 15:7-9): Jesus reprimanded the Pharisees and scribes for going through the motions of worship. He could quote Isaiah's words from centuries before in this passage because such unacceptable worship was not a new phenomenon. Many prophets warned Israel of this very thing throughout the Old Testament. In fact, we can see God's rejection of vain worship all of the way back to Cain and Abel. Cain's sacrifice was rejected but the writer of Hebrews tells us that Abel's sacrifice still speaks through his faith. Throughout history Jews claimed to fear the Lord while mixing in idolatry with their worship of God. As a result, He scattered the Jews as the promised punishment for their religious adultery. Jesus tells us that the Father wants worship in spirit and in truth. The God who knows our hearts only accepts a genuine sacrifice of praise. If our hearts are not right, our sacrifice becomes a stench instead of a sweet-smelling aroma. Let's examine ourselves today. Are we standing and clapping at all the right times but at the same time holding onto some secret sin? Are we singing along in church but using vulgar language everywhere else? Did we come to church to meet our friends or meet our God? Do we go to every Bible study but neglect our personal prayer lives? We may be able to fool people but we can't fool God. Do we want our worship to be acceptable or abominable? Brothers, I encourage you to worship our God with your whole being in spirit and in truth because that's the only worship that our God will accept.
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