1 Samuel 10:17–27 ESV

Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.” Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!” Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

Isaiah 29:13–21 ESV

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

Matthew 15:1–9 ESV

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

MAtthew 15:1-9

1 Samuel

2 Thessalonians 2:13–17 ESV

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

The Heart of Worship

We humans don’t like doing things differently. Even once he’s pulled out from the baggage, Saul isn’t the sort of leader the people of Israel expect, so they grumble.

Because of this, we are quick to get stuck in a rut like the worshipers in our Isaiah passage who honor God with their words, but their hearts just aren’t in it. We keep doing things because “that’s the way we’ve always done it” even if our hearts aren’t in it or it isn’t working any more.

I think that the Pharisees get a bad rap sometimes. They are no worse than we are. They have a way of doing things. It’s been done that way for generations. And then this Jesus guy shows up and starts doing things entirely differently. But they are just traditional guys upholding their traditions that were passed down to them.

It is not clear what the Pharisaic purity law in the first century was like. We cannot be sure that the later rabbinic system with various degrees of purity was in existence then. What could unclean hands even defile?

The Pharisees and scribes, Matthew’s stereotypical pair of opponents of Jesus, reappear for the first time since 12:38–45*. They come from Jerusalem—after 2:3–4* a bad omen for the reader and a “signal” that Jesus’ passion is approaching.

Trouble in the World

My Favorite Illustrations Worship as Only a Habit

Worship As Only a Habit

Satan was standing outside a church building one Sunday morning. Inside, the people were singing, praying, and listening to preaching. A passerby asked Satan if that did not bother him. With a demonic, sneering laugh he replied negatively. Then he added, “They get that way on Sunday, but they will be all right on Monday. It’s just a little habit they’ve acquired.”

God save us from such a habit. Our worship is to make a difference in who we are and what we do.

I had a man I’d never seen before walk into my office once a few years back and say, “Pastor, I know you don’t know me, but I’m a member of your church. I just don’t come on Sundays because it’s my only day off and I like to sleep in.” I knew it had been a while since he’d been there because I knew every name on the rolls and his was not one of them, and I’d been at the church for over 2 years and had never seen his face before.

I was sad for him. Clearly, he’d never been to a worship service that made much of a difference in his life. I hear some iteration of that from time to time: usually from people I’ve never met before who find out what I do for a living. “I’m just so busy.” “I feel guilty because I haven’t been to church for so long.” “My parents took me as a kid, but it wasn’t for me.” These seem like wildly different responses, but underneath each of them is a sense of disconnect. Many people aren’t outright offended by church, they just don’t feel a connection to it. It’s just a bunch of old, mystical, mumbo jumbo. It’s silly old myths and rites that have no bearing on modern life.

Even those of us who are at church week after week can feel an emotional disconnect in worship. We’re just going through the motions sometimes. We know deep down that we need this, so we come and we say the words we say every week, sing words that are familiar, sit and stand at all the right times, pray the right prayers. We go home knowing that we went to church, but not really feeling any different for having been there.

And yet, in spite of how many people feel an emotional disconnect when it comes to worship, it’s one of the most dangerous topics in church history. One of the great dividers in the church throughout the centuries has been worship and liturgy. Churches have fought and split, people have left their church over whether there should be instruments or not, if they should sing songs that aren’t straight from the Psalms or not, what language the services should be conducted in, if there should be a projector screen or not, the size of the bulletin, and the one that most drives me nuts: “traditional” vs “contemporary” (as if songs from the 1970’s are brand new and the Book of Common worship was written by Jesus himself long long ago). “Contemporary” worship can become just as entrenched in its ways as “traditional”. And for the record, Jesus doesn’t care whether you’re chanting Psalms, singing a Christian rock chorus, or rapping about the power of Jesus’ sacrifice.

One of the great dividers in the church throughout the centuries has been worship and liturgy. Churches have fought and split, people have left their church over whether there should be instruments or not, if they should sing songs that aren’t straight from the Psalms or not, what language the services should be conducted in, if there should be a projector screen or not, and the one that drives me nuts: “traditional” vs “contemporary”, as if songs from the 1970’s are brand new and the Book of Common worship was written by Jesus himself long long ago.

Even those of us who are at church week after week can feel an emotional disconnect in worship. We’re just going through the motions sometimes. We know deep down that we need this, so we come and we say the words we say every week, sing words that are familiar, sit and stand at all the right times, pray the right prayers.

And tradition is comforting, especially in uncertain times.

Trouble in the Text

We humans don’t like doing things differently: it makes us uncomfortable. We like to do what we know how to do. Look at our passage from 1 Samuel: even once he’s pulled out from the baggage, Saul isn’t the sort of leader the people of Israel expect, so they grumble. He gets out of his own stuff that is standing in the way of his call and other people immediately get in his way. And they had asked for him! They asked God for a king! ”Bring us change, but don’t change anything!”

Because of our desire to maintain the status quo, we are quick to get stuck in a rut like the worshipers in our Isaiah passage who honor God with their words, but their hearts just aren’t in it. We keep doing things because “that’s the way we’ve always done it” even if our hearts aren’t in it or it isn’t working any more.

I think that the Pharisees get a bad rap sometimes: they are no worse than we are. They have a way of doing things. It’s been done that way for generations. This is what they know, what they’ve grown up with, what they have been taught. And then this Jesus guy shows up and starts doing things entirely differently. They aren’t some insidious evil with a handlebar moustache. They are just traditional guys upholding their traditions that were passed down to them.

Grace in the Text

And tradition is comforting, especially in uncertain times. There is something so soothing about saying familiar words, singing a familiar song, hearing a familiar scripture passage. There is a rhythm that is good for the soul.

And Jesus is not saying that tradition isn’t valid or that there is no goodness in it. Tradition does have a place in our spiritual lives. Jesus’ response to the Pharisees is not that tradition is bad and that’s why he’s shaking it up. His response is to remind them that the heart is what matters. When Paul is comforting the Thessalonians who have become convinced the end is near, he tells them to hold fast to their traditions.

Tradition is comforting, especially in uncertain times. There is something so soothing about saying familiar words, singing a familiar song, hearing a familiar scripture passage. There is a rhythm that is good for the soul. But when the rhythm gets stale and fails to move us anymore, it’s time to add something to the beat.

Grace in the World

Good traditions are ones that are not upheld because they are the way we grew up or the way we’ve always done things, but are ones that point to a larger story.

My Favorite Illustrations Worship

If we do not worship God somewhere we will soon not worship Him anywhere.

Worship liberates the personality by giving a new perspective to life, by integrating life with the multitude of life forms, by bringing into the life the virtues of humility, loyalty, devotion and rightness of attitude, thus refreshing and reviving the spirit.

—Roswell C. Long

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1872 Hallelujah Chorus’ Custom

On March 23, 1743, when “The Messiah” was first performed in London, the king was present in the great audience. It is reported that all were so deeply moved by the “Hallelujah Chorus” that with the impressive words, “For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,” the whole audience, including the king sprang to its feet, and remained standing through the entire chorus. From that time to this it has always been the custom to stand during the chorus whenever it is performed. With spontaneous joy the soul stands to salute Him who “cometh in the name of the Lord.” He is “King of kings, and Lord of lords” and to Him we pledge allegiance.

I did not know as a kid why people stood during the Hallelujah Chorus. It was just a weird thing old people did that I was also expected to do. But then I was in a production of the Messiah when I was in high school and the director told us this story about the King standing because he was so moved by the piece. And immediately, it made sense. Suddenly, the tradition had meaning. When people stand during the Hallelujah chorus, it’s to show that even Kings are moved to worship our omnipotent God. It tells a bigger story. Now I stand during that chorus, not because my mom will scold me or I’ll feel guilty or weird if I don’t, but because of the power of the moment.

We come together week after week to tell a bigger story, to be moved and changed by a story that began long before we did and will carry on long after we’re gone. We come together to pray and sing with the great cloud of witnesses who have been praying and singing since the dawn of time: sometimes using their very words and poetry and music, sometimes adding to it our own. We come together in worship not because our moms will scold us if we don’t, not because of guilt, but because this is meant to be a powerful moment that changes the way we see the world.

It’s important to use old prayers that people have been praying for centuries because it’s like they gather steam as more and more people join in the praying of the prayer as the years roll by. But it’s also important to write and pray new prayers out of our own time and space.

Worship is an anchor that holds the rest of our life fast to God. If you play an instrument, you have to tune that instrument regularly, otherwise it will sound bad, even if you are playing it with perfect technique. Worship is how we come before God for a tuning. We tune our hearts, like in the line from “Come Thou Fount”: “Tune my heart to sing thy praise.”

We are, as a congregation, exploring old and new traditions this year as we prepare for Advent. Many of us met a few weeks ago to begin this process and to brainstorm together. I will be emailing and printing out some information on this in the next few days, including how you can be involved in this, so keep an eye out for it. Together, we’re going to explore how we as a congregation can really dive in headlong into meaningful worship. Every person here has an important role to play in our worship together.

As we prepare for

The Heart of Worship

Michael W. Smith

When the music fades All is stripped away And I simply come Longing just to bring Something that's of worth That will bless your heart I'll bring you more than a song For a song in itself Is not what you have required You search much deeper within Through the way things appear You're looking into my heart I'm coming back to the heart of worship And it's all about you, It's all about you, Jesus I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it When it's all about you, It's all about you, Jesus King of endless worth No one could express How much you deserve Though I'm weak and poor All I have is yours Every single breath I'll bring you more than a song For a song in itself Is not what you have required You search much deeper within Through the way things appear You're looking into my heart I'm coming back to the heart of worship And it's all about you, It's all about you, Jesus I'm sorry, lord, for the thing I've made it And it's all about you, It's all about you, Jesus I'm coming back to the heart of worship, And it's all about you, It's all about you, Jesus I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it And it's all about you, It's all about you, Jesus It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you It's all about you I'm coming back to the heart of worship And it's all about you, It's all about you, Jesus I'm sorry, lord, for the thing I've made it And it's all about you, It's all about you, Jesus Songwriters: Matt Redman The Heart of Worship lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group