the uselessness of mere lip service in the worship of God
May 26, 2021•376 words
The second thing that demands our attention is the uselessness of mere lip service in the worship of God. Our Lord enforces this lesson by a quotation from the Old Testament – “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me’” (Matthew 15:7-8).
The heart is the part of man which God chiefly notices in religion. The bowed head and the bended knee, the grave face and the rigid posture, the ritual response and the formal amen – all these together do not make up a spiritual worshipper. The eyes of God look further and deeper. He requires the worship of the heart. Give me your heart, my son, He says to every one of us.
Let us remember this in the public congregation. It must not content us to take our bodies to church if we leave our hearts at home. The eye of man may detect no flaw in our service. Our minister may look at us with approval. Our neighbors may think us patterns of what a Christian ought to be. Our voice may be heard foremost in the praise and prayer. But it is all worse than nothing in God’s sight if our hearts are far away. It is only wood, hay, and stubble before Him who discerns thoughts and reads the secrets of the inward man.
Let us remember this in our private devotions. It must not satisfy us to say good words if our heart and our lips do not go together. What does it profit us to be fluent and lengthy if our imaginations are roving far away while we are upon our knees? It profits us nothing at all. God sees what we are really doing and rejects our offering. Heart prayers are the prayers He loves to hear. Heart prayers are the only prayers that He will answer. Our petitions may be weak, and stammering, and poor in our eyes. They may be presented with no fine words or well-chosen language and might seem almost unintelligible, if they were written down. But if they come from a right heart, God understands them. Such prayers are His delight.
—J.C. Ryle, ‘Expository Thoughts on Mark’