November 23, 2018

“Fake Worship”

As we make our way to Christmas 2018, we’re going to consider what worship is, what it isn’t, and the ways in which we are to offer our worship to God.  I hope you can be with us over the coming weeks as we study this incredibly important topic. This coming Sunday we’ll look at Isaiah 29:13 where we read these words:

And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine.  They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.

It appears God’s people had lost sight of true worship and were settling for a variety that was fake and insincere.  I find it interesting that Jesus quoted this same verse many years later during His earthly ministry which only underscores its importance if you ask me. So why is a verse like this and a message from it important?  Simple!  All of us are capable of fake worship! I so identify with Robert Robinson who wrote the well-love hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”  It was in that song he wrote the following:

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above

 I can personally relate to a heart that is prone to wander and leave the God I love.  I’m tired of fake worship; I’m after the real thing! Happy Thanksgiving and I hope to see all of you this Sunday! pastor jamie