A Heart of Worship
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· 15 viewsJesus wanted the disciples to understand that anger against a brother or sister makes self righteous worship vain.
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Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.
Intro
Intro
The Pharisees and the scribes were all about worship.
They were always at the Temple worshipping, making sacrifices, and carrying out the law. Their life was all about worship!
In Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus pointed out the self righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes as it applies to them bragging about the fact they had never committed physical murder while having the mind of a murderer.
The Pharisees and the Scribes had the minds of murderer full of anger hidden by their self righteous worship.
Jesus wanted them, the disciples, the people then, and Christians now to know your worship is worthless if you have the wrong heart!
Proverbs 28:13
He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
The Pharisees and the Scribes were as guilty as murderers because they had anger in their hearts toward the people of God who they deemed less than them and did not live up to their law on top of the law of God standards.
They diligently worshipped God while not pursuing God.
They understood sacrifice. They understood when one sinned and became separated from God the sacrifice was repentance for sins and brought them back into the presence of God.
The problem is they were not repenting or reconciling with God.
In other words they had anger in their heart and did not have the heart for worship or of a true worshipper of God!
Today we have to make sure we do not have anger in our hearts toward one another or even people outside the body of Christ.
The wrong anger will drive us to do the wrong thing and have the wrong attitude toward people and make our worship in vain.
We may not know it or ever thought about it but the wrong anger in our hearts toward people in the church and the world causes our worship of God to be in vain!
God is looking for people to worship him in spirit and in truth John 4:23. The spirit refers to the mind which is often referred to as the heart. We must have a Heart of Worship for our worship to be valid in the eyes of God.
Your Heart Affects Your Worship!
Your Heart Affects Your Worship!
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Therefore means now that you understand your anger toward people matters and how they respond to your anger matters to God.
And since the state of our heart matters to God Jesus makes a profound statement.
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and there
There refers to at the moment before the sacrifice which is very significant.
Pass through the courtyards
Court of Gentiles
Court of Women
Court of Men
Then the Court of the Priests, into which only priests could pasts
Jesus is saying even if they got to that point if they had anger in their hearts and had caused someone to have a problem with them that they knew of they should stop right there and leave their offering and go and reconcile with that brother or sister.
Jesus wanted them to know their hearts affected their worship and made it in vain if they wronged their brother. Anger is what causes us to wrong one another.
And not just any anger but anger based on selfishness.
Jesus made it clear worship is worthless with the wrong heart.
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know,
Jesus made it clear leave your sacrifice right there and make you worship worth it!
This is how we should thing in the Church!
Sunday after Sunday people offend people with selfish anger and then come in church to get their supposed praise on!
How great would the church be if everyone reconciled with their brother before they came to worship?
How much stronger spiritually and bigger numerically the church would be if people were concerned more with reconciliation?
PEOPLE CONCERN THEMSELVES MORE WITH CHANGING WORSHIP THAN CHANGING THE HEART OF THE WORSHIPPERS!
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
IF PEOPLE WERE MORE CONCERNED WITH RECONCILIATION AND LOVE WORSHIP WOULD BE WORTHY AND WONDERFUL!
Families fight before they come to church and never reconcile and put on act of happiness! No! We should always reconcile ourselves to God and one another!
GOD WANTS NO PART OF ANGRY AND NON RECONCILED WORSHIP
If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.
The Pharisees and the Scribes bragged on not being murderers but had the minds of murderers because they had anger and iniquity in their hearts.
WE SHOULD NOT BE WORSHIPPING WITH A BITTER HEART!
To have a bitter heart is a disobedient heart!
Worship is not effective unless the heart has been changed!
How were they to do this? How could the Pharisees and the Scribes make their worship worthy?
Your Worship is Not Effective Unless You Change Your Heart!
Your Worship is Not Effective Unless You Change Your Heart!
leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Jesus wanted them to know if their worship was going to be worthy there was 2 steps they had to take:
1. Reconciliation
Not just sorry but to encourage a person to have no ill feeling toward us.
“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
This is powerful that Jesus is saying this because the moment of truth was supposed to be when a person brought their sacrifice to the alter for the priest to slay for forgiveness they were supposed to be reconciling themselves to God and asking God to have no ill feeling toward them!
2. Then come and offer your gift
The sacrifice was not as important as the heart behind the sacrifice. Their had to be contrite and have repentance behind their sacrifice! The sacrifice was for forgiveness.
And the one wanting forgiveness shouldn’t want something they are not willing to give or capable of.
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Your Worship Will Not Save You But A Repentant Heart Will
Your Worship Will Not Save You But A Repentant Heart Will
Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.
Explain illustration and how it is related to the text.
Conclusion
Conclusion