Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Job 27-28
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 15:3-11
Jesus: Why do you violate God’s command because of your tradition? God said, “Honor your father and mother. Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.” But you say that one need no longer honor his parents so long as he says to them, “What you might have gained from me, I now give to the glory of God.” Haven’t you let your tradition trump the word of God? You hypocrites! Isaiah must have had you in mind when he prophesied,
People honor Me with their lips,
but their hearts are nowhere near Me.
Because they elevate mere human ritual to the status of law,
their worship of Me is a meaningless sham.
(to the multitude) Hear and understand this: What you put into your mouth cannot make you clean or unclean; it is what comes out of your mouth that can make you unclean.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
How do Jesus’ words sound to you today? You might look at the Pharisees and wag your finger and say, “He really put you in your place, didn’t He?” But be careful. When you point your finger at someone, remember three are pointing back at you. Look at His last words to the Pharisees. “You hypocrites! Isaiah must have had you in mind when he prophesied, People honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are nowhere near Me. Because they elevate mere human ritual to the status of law, their worship of me is a meaningless sham.”
I think about what we do in our services sometimes and wonder if we have reduced our worship routine to just a ritual. We used to talk about the service being three hymns and a sermon with an offering thrown in there somewhere. We’ve gotten rid of the hymns, but most churches have a pretty set routine for that hour and a half people spend inside their walls. You can probably recite your routine for me without much trouble.
And so it goes. We come to church, spend our time in mindless rote without even thinking about the words we sing or the scripture we read. We listen to the pastor pray a few words and give a nice sermon. Then we walk out the doors and do the same thing we did last week. We don’t let God intervene in our lives. We just go on day after day assuming we are okay with the Creator.
Did you listen to Jesus’ words? He called the Pharisees hypocrites for doing just that. God isn’t interested in our routines in worship. He wants our real worship. He wants to touch our spirit with His Spirit. He wants to lead us to a life of righteousness, holiness. We have become callous in our familiarity with God. He tells us we are His children, but we have lost sight of the command Jesus quotes when we don’t honor Him as our heavenly Father. Jesus says to honor our Father.
How is just going through the motions of worship honoring Him? See, He wants a relationship with us. He wants to talk to us. He wants to listen to our prayers. He wants to hear our praise. He wants us to set aside anything we have between each other and anything we have between us and Him so we have open communication. He doesn’t want anything to block the transparency between us so His Spirit in us can work as He wants to work.
Have you ever noticed in the books of the Law, especially as laid out in Leviticus that God gives no remedy for those who intentially disobey Him? He talks about punishments and sacrifices for those who do things accidentally. Those who injury or kill by misfortune, not by plotting to do so. For those who intentionally commit sin, God gives one punishment. Death. Because the wages of sin. Is death, eternal separation from the Creator of Life, God.
So what do we do about it? Do we change the order of our services? Unless you’re the pastor or worship leader, probably not. Do we refuse to go to worship services? That won’t help, we need to worship in community with others. So, what’s the answer? The answer lies in examining Jesus’ worship. He went to the synagogue or temple every Sabbath. He participated in all those rituals He just condemned those Pharisees about performing.
So, what’s the difference? The difference rests in why and how He participated. First, He always stayed connected to His Father. He didn’t wait until He got to the synagogue to pray or meditate on God’s word. He spent time in prayer, fasting, study. He communed with His Father regularly and frequently.
Second, He recognized the significance of each ritual and symbol within the worship service and each time He participated in any of the rituals, I imagine He let them envelop Him. He let them sink into His heart and mind. He didn’t allow Himself to just go through the motions, but instead focused on each action, each word, each symbol and let them become a part of His individual worship of His Father.
Finally, He let those rituals enrich His life throughout the days ahead until He could come back and renew them again the next time He came into the synagogue or temple. He made them a part of His thought process and used those symbols and actions as teaching points, sermon prompts, exits from temptations, means and methods to draw closer to the Father.
How can you use the services you attend help you draw closer to God? How can you use the routine to take you to the extraordinary? Remember, when we worship, it’s never about routine, it’s about God, and He can never be described as ordinary.
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