How Does Your Worship Measure Up?

Text: “ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7  in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”” (Mark 7:6–7)

Let’s take a minute to fill in the picture of what the Pharisees are complaining about. The specific item that they’re objecting to is the disciples not washing their hands before they eat. That’s something that we’ve gotten even more familiar with over the past 18 month, obviously. In fact, let me put in a random ‘plug’— as we try to go back to ‘normal’— I hope there are a few things that we continue doing, like washing our hands! But our Gospel reading isn’t about that. It’s not a question of hygene. What the pharisees are demanding is spiritual purity.

A writer named Chad Bird pointed out that what they were doing was trying to impose the ceremonial laws of the priests upon everyone. While they were serving in the temple, the priests were required to wash— their hands, like in this passage, but their entire bodies at other times. The Pharisees, in their pursuit of righteousness, not only took up that practice themselves, they tried to impose that standard upon others, too.

In short, they were trapped in their own cleverness. For all their outward pursuit of righteousness, God’s word actually remained sealed to them. They drew near to God with their mouths, they honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him, their fear of God was actually a commandment taught by men.

To put it another way, they were working hard to try to win God’s favor, but they were doing everything but what He was actually looking for. Imagine that your children really want to impress you, so they decide to repaint your car. Not only not helpful, but kind of a problem. The pharisees were working hard to try to win God’s favor, but they were doing everything but what He was actually looking for.

That’s why Jesus has no patience for their insisting on handwashing here. It may have started with a commendable desire for spiritual purity— a commendable desire to draw near to God— but it had long since stopped being about that. They had left God’s Word behind a long time earlier. It wasn’t about that anymore. It was about their own rules.

The place where this all really comes to a head for God, the point that really shows how big a problem this is, the reason why this really bothers Him is that, in the process, their love for others was destroyed. “Am I really supposed to be impressed,” God is saying, “that you’ve dedicated your property and wealth to me— which means that, some day, you’ll give whatever is left over as an offering in the temple— when your parents are going hungry? No, this is not any kind of worship that I have commanded. You honor me with your lips but your hearts are far from me. Your worship is in vain.”

The important question for us today would seem to be: How does your worship measure up?

That seems like an important question for us, who have gotten all dressed up, who have taken an hour at the start of our week to be here.

Am I supposed to be impressed,” God may ask you, “that you’ve dedicated an hour of your week to be here, that you’ve put an offering in the offering plate, that you’ve mumbled a few prayers distractedly, when your own neighbors are hurting? When the elderly sit alone and forgotten? When the poor go hungry? No, this is not any kind of worship that I have commanded you. You honor me with your lips but your heart is far from me. Your worship is in vain.”

This week there has been a lot of attention paid to the danger faced by Christians in Afghanistan now that the US military is pulling back. Literally tens of millions of dollars have been raised to try to help them escape the Taliban and the dangers they face under Sharia law. But do you also care about the homosexual community there who have at least as much reason to fear for their lives under that regime as Christians do? “No, this is not any kind of worship that I have commanded you. You honor me with your lips but your heart is far from me. Your worship is in vain.”

Let’s stay closer to home: God has given many of you a wife to love and care for. But, so often, simply sitting and talking to her is an interruption to your day and the list of other things you’d rather be doing. “No, this is not any kind of worship that I have commanded you. You honor me with your lips but your heart is far from me. Your worship is in vain.”

Repent. Repent because God has drawn near to you. While you were still His enemies because of your sin, His heart was moved with love and compassion for you. He not only gave you His Word, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. His worship of the Father was perfect in everything He thought, did, and said. His heart and lips were completely, perfectly dedicated to the Father. He spoke only what the Father gave Him to speak. He did only what the Father gave Him to do. And the greatest proof of how perfectly dedicated to the Father His lips and heart were is His love for you.

He was so completely united with the Father’s will and purpose toward you that He gave Himself up for you on the cross, that He might sanctify you. Cleansing not just your hands, but washing all of you— body and soul— with the washing of water with the word. So that He might present you to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:26-27). He has reconciled you both to God and to one another through the cross.

The Father showed that Christ’s worship— especially His perfect sacrifice— was not in vain but was acceptable to Him by raising Jesus from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is names, not only in this age but also in the one to come (Eph. 1:20-21).

Repent and trust that God has drawn near to you in Jesus Christ. The Father has raised you up with Him and seated you with Him in the heavenly places, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward you in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6-7). Receive Him again today, as He draws near to you in, with, and under bread and wine, giving you all of His gifts in the process. Receive Him in the confidence that what He gives you here will overflow in love toward one another, making your whole life an act of worship.

Romans12:1-2 “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Children, obey your parents in the Lord; fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 5:22, 25, 6:1, 3). In Christ, these are all holy callings. They are your spiritual act of worship.

How does your worship measure up? Thankfully it is filled to overflowing by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.