True Worship

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

TRUE WORSHIP

Matt 15:1-9

15:1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" 3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'   5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6 he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" 

NIV

So many times traditions get in the way of true wordship and accurate beliefs. Sometimes the rules of regulations of denominationalism deter us from the truth of the Word of God. This whole idea of being a “Good Christian” is based on traditional thinking rather than on the truth. The fact is we cannot be a good Christian, or a better Christian based on the number of works of service we do in or out of the church. The fact that we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is the only basis we have to even be called a Christian. How can one accept Jesus better then another? How can one person be good at accepting Jesus, while another is not so good at accepting him? But on the other hand, do we give God lip service? Do we say that we love him, but then go about being a Christian according to our traditional method of thinking? Do we base our love for him on the number of things we do and things we don’t do? Although it may be true that works do spring forth from our love for him, our love for him is not based on our works. Love does not come from works, but works come from love. We do need to be careful not to be distracted by the teachings of men, which might well include those denominational doctrines. That is not to say every denomination is made up of rules of men, yet with each having so many differences in either their interpretation or understanding of scripture, it is difficult to reason they all have nothing but the truth of God, but rather some rules of men. It is with this truth, it would be best for us to lean completely on the leading of the Spirit. We are told we need to worship in Spirit and in truth. The only way we can do that is the live in the Spirit and not get distracted by the rules of men, the traditions they hold so dear. It is all about Jesus, not about our style, our methods, and our traditions. Let is simply worship our Lord.