Woe To You Scribes And Pharisees - Part 5

Woe To You Scribes And Pharisees - Part 5

Matthew 23:14

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because ... for a pretense you make long prayers.”

I have asked this question many times, over the years, and I still get a thrill when I think over the answer. The question is this: “What is your purpose?” Or, better yet, “Why did God make you?”

Without getting into all of the details, let’s just cut to the answer. It all boils down to this: We were created to worship God. (Ps. 100, Is 43, Is 29)

God has designed us to work that way. We worship Him and He blesses us. It’s a terrific relationship. But do you know what really makes Him angry? Well, I do. I know because I have read about it in Isaiah 1. It is fake worship. It’s when we just go though the motions or, even worse, pretend to worship just so we can look really spiritual. God uses a really strong word to describe how He feels about that. That word is “hate.”

Wait, God hates? That seems pretty strong. Take a minute to read Isaiah 1:10-17 for yourself. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

That was pretty intense, wasn’t it? You see, God is Truth. Read that sentence again. I didn’t say He is true, I said He is TRUTH. That means that anything false is an abomination to Him, especially when it comes to worship. Worship is what He desires from us more than anything, so fake worship is not just a simple mistake. It is a lie in the presence of the very Creator of Truth, who is insulted and offended by worship when it’s just for show. Using God’s glory to impress people or to make yourself look good is a really, really bad idea.

Worship is when we offer our prayers and praise, putting Him first, and putting ourselves aside. That’s how worship works.

Get your heart right and He will bless you. It’s really that simple.

Psalms 51:6, 17

“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being ... The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”