Worship in Vain

"Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ⁸ 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. ⁹ And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

Matthew 15:7-9

Jesus minced no words when He addressed self-righteous Pharisees and scribes who sought to destroy Him.  They put great emphasis on having a clean exterior according to the Law of Moses but neglected the condition of their hearts.  Jesus perceived the greed in their hearts which moved them to seek the praise of men over the glory of God.  The religious rulers drew near to worship God with their mouths but their hearts were far from Him.

The worship of the self-righteous rulers Jesus said was in vain:  empty, worthless, fruitless, and ineffective.  Their worship of God was vain because they taught as doctrines the commandment of men.  God has provided the Bible to reveal sound doctrine (teaching) concerning God and His righteous ways.  When Jesus applied the words of Isaiah to the Pharisees it must have been deeply shocking and confronting.  Jesus exposed their words as empty because their hearts did not match.

No matter how much we know or how long we have followed Jesus, there remains the potential our worship of God is in vain because of hypocrisy which blinds us to the truth.  I am grateful Jesus does not pander to those ensnared to hypocrisy so they might recognise their need for repentance.  Jesus has given us new hearts through faith in Him and He enables us to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, owning sin we never saw as sin before.  How good is our LORD and gracious to speak to the Pharisee in each one of us so our worship will not be in vain.