“In Vain Do They Worship” (Ready to Worship S12E12)

November 27, 2020

Ready to Worship Season 12, Episode 12 for Friday, November 27, 2020

This season on Ready to Worship we are examining worship from the Gospel of Matthew. This week we are considering some who failed in their attempt to worship. Jesus declared, “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mt. 15:7-9). As you know from other Scriptures, true worship must be done “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). “In spirit” refers to the right attitude and “in truth” refers to the right authority. Jesus denounced the worship of the Jews detailed in our text as vain or empty because it was deficient in both of these areas.

First, their worship was in vain because of Heartless Declarations. They drew nigh unto God with their mouths. They honored him with their lips. However, their worship was in vain or empty because their heart wasn’t in it. Worship has to be in spirit or it is in vain. They were mouthing words that they didn’t really mean. That is why Jesus addressed them as hypocrites. As you likely know, a hypocrite is a religious actor. It is someone who merely plays a part. Their words were just lines that they had memorized. They were not from the heart. Second, their worship was in vain because of Human Doctrines. They were teaching. However, they weren’t teaching the truth. They were teaching the commandments of men. They were teaching human traditions instead of heavenly truth. Earlier in the context, Jesus declared, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” (Mat. 15:3). He went on to declare that they had “made the commandment of God of none effect” by their tradition or human commandments (Mat. 15:6). He finally declared that “every plant” that His Heavenly Father had not planted would be rooted up (Mat. 15:13). In this statement, Jesus was making clear that they were planting some seed other than the seed of the kingdom (Lk. 8:11). Worship has to be in truth or it is in vain. Their worship was not in truth. As we get ready to worship this week, let’s make sure that we don’t make heartless declarations or teach human doctrines. Let’s make sure that we worship in spirit and in truth.