What Would Jesus Undo? Vain Worship

Good morning… Welcome Home Family Church… I am super excited to be in a series entitled NOT:

WWJD - What would Jesus do… But What would Jesus Undo?

And Last week we discussed that Jesus would undo Hypocrisy… If you didn’t get a chance to listen or watch that message its available online to watch the video or podcast the audio…

It started a lot of talk and conversations last week… and that excites me…

Have any of you seen videos on Youtube in which parents wrap boxes in christmas wrapping paper and present them to their children… the kid is so excited to open the gift… they tear into it… just to find that the box is actually empty…?

And you can hear the parent in the background laughing their head off as if this is so amazingly funny and then the child has a literal melt down…

The child expected this huge amazing present… But instead the received and empty box..

What if the songs that we sing, the sermons that we preach, and the acts of service that we do are often empty gifts God? What if our lives are wrapped up with a spiritual image on the outside but on the inside, because our hearts are far from God, we're actually offering to God an empty gift?

Its a heavy thought.. Today… What would Jesus undo? He would undo vain / empty worship

What is one of those things that really upsets Jesus? Its vain Worship… Hollow Worship I want to show you this in Matthew's gospel, Matthew chapter 15. We'll start in verse 1 and I'll show you a very interesting conversation between some Pharisees and between Jesus.

Matt 15:1 Scripture says this. Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat.

Why don't they wash their hands before they eat? Well, we have to understand is the Pharisees were obsessed with something called ceremonial cleanliness.

This is not the same thing as physical hygiene. It's not physical cleanliness.

They were obsessed with ceremonial cleanliness. Why, because a devout Jew believed that there were two categories for everything.

Everything is either clean or it's unclean. Animals are clean, or they are unclean animals. There's clean ways to prepare your food, unclean ways. There are things to touch that are clean. There are things that are unclean. If you have any type of bodily discharge, you're unclean. If you have a skin problem, you're unclean. If you touch a pig, you're unclean. If you touch a dead body, you're unclean.

And the problem with when you were unclean is that uncleanness was contagious. It was transferable, kinda like cooties in the fifth grade. If you got cooties, you give cooties. If you were unclean, you could transfer it. So if an unclean mouse touched a cup, the cup was unclean. If you touched the cup, you were unclean. If your spouse touched you, your spouse was unclean. Therefore you were not fit for worship.

What did you have to do? When you were unclean, you had to go through an elaborate ceremony to cleanse yourself spiritually so you were eligible to worship God.

We will get much deeper into this on Wednesday as we “Continue the Conversation”…

Just to cleanse your hands…

You had to do was take a certain amount of water known as a quarter of a log. How much water is a quarter of a log, you ask? A quarter of a log is enough water to fit in an egg and a half.

True story, I'm not making this up. An eggshell and a half full of water.

Illustrate this action

Then you would have to take your hands like this and someone would pour the clean water over your unclean hands, thus cleansing your hands, but when the clean water touched your unclean hands, then the water became unclean, so you had to have your hands like this, so the unclean water would drop to the ground, and not make any other part of your body unclean, because then if the unclean water rolls down your arm, your arm becomes unclean and you're still ceremonially unclean. Then you had to do your hands this way, and the water would fall again, and then you'd rub your hands together and you would be ceremonially clean, so you could worship God. A devout Jew would not only do this before their meals, but they would literally do this ritual between courses.

And the Pharisees were asking Jesus, why don't Your boys do this?

And Jesus unleashes on them. He says, you're not even treating people with respect. You're not even showing love to other people.

Your hearts aren't even connected with God, and here you are obsessing about all these externals when internally, you are so far from being right.

He called them hypocrites and points out their vain worship…

You Worship with your lips… and rituals… But you have never Worshipped me with your heart.

This is what He says in:

Matt 15:7 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 merely human rules.’

Jesus says, they worship Me in vain. Their worship isn't pleasing to Me. On the outside, it looks like worship, but because the inside is not right, it's simply an empty gift. It's hollow worship.

It's worship that doesn't touch My heart. It's worship that is in vain. What would Jesus undo? He would undo a show on the outside, a hypocritical expression, a pretend faith, a, hey everybody, you know I'm kind of a Christian, when inside, your heart is very very very far from truly worshiping God.

I would say to you that as a church, we have a lot of potential to grow in our heartfelt expression of worship to God.

I would say as a the church at large we have a lot of room to grow in this area of a life that brings worship to God.

I was inspired this week studying this topic and I feel that part of this churches calling is to release a declaration over the Hudson Valley next Friday Night in Albany that will set the course of a Spiritual awakening in the Hudson Valley…

That we would not preach sermons and sing songs ABOUT revival and about miracles… But that all believers across the North East will BE a revival to the lost around them and they will be a miracle to those in need.

Jesus is saying stop talking about Worship… Stop performing task that look like worship and BE worship…

Let’s unwrap this:

When the church talks about worship I believe the immediate image in most peoples mind is Singing Songs in church.

We mostly think music… Then we think I like Hillsong Worship style, I like Elevation Worship style… I do not Like the old Hymnal Style of Worship…

I like a more quiet and reserved worship style… No way I like Loud, Passionate Worship…

And the debate of Worship Style breaks out.

And yes for the most part when discussing Worship we are referring to music and singing…

So which is correct then? Softer more quiet Worship // Loud rocky style worship…?

Which is wrong? So Which is correct?

Both… and which is wrong both…

Both are correct, when the heart is in alignment with Gods heart…

Both are wrong, when the heart is far from the heart of God…

I can sing the songs perfect… Really put on the perfect show… and be completely wrong and far from God…

I think this is what makes me the most upset in church… When people don’t know the different between talent and the anointing.

And you can quote me on that… Many many people who attend church can’t tell the difference…. In fact I’ve seen people give a bigger applause for talent than the anointing and the talented performance just about made me sick… A talented performance: The performer receives the Praise. An Anointed Worshipper: God gets all the praise.

We have to understand that Christianity is not a hobby for us. It's not an interest. It's not a label. If we're a follower of Jesus, Christ is our life

Listen: Worship isn’t JUST songs we sing, but worship is the life that we live.

It’s the LIFE that we live.

Start Playing Piano

As the piano plays today:

I want to give you 5 ways that we worship God.

Sometimes we bow in reverence

Psalmist said in Psalm 95:6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

Kneel in reverent submission—You are holy!

You can CHOOSE to kneel now, Or forced to later One day every knee will bow…

Sometimes we lift our hands in adoration

Not a weird thing—Bible thing—Paul (lift holy hands to God) 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. Ps 63:4

David in the wilderness

Sign of: Surrender—Victory

Sometimes we dance in celebration

3 Let them praise his name with dancing. Ps 149:3

New iPhone—Asks date—Team wins!

David said you turned my weeping—into dancing!

Sometimes we worship with a sacrifice of praise

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise… Hebrews 13:15

We worship him when we feel him—Worship him when we don’t. We worship when we are joyful—When we are low.

Our worship isn’t based on our circumstances—His character.

Daily, we lay down our lives as an act of worship

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1 Worship isn’t just the songs we sing—Life we live.

STAND TO YOUR FEET Who is God?

Can we take a second and Worship Him?

Our Rock, our Redeemer, Righteousness. God is our Deliverer, our Defense. Our Strength, our Shield, our Salvation.

He is the Bread of life—Living water. He is the Good Shepherd—True vine—Way, Truth and Life.

Light of the world—Lamb of God—Lion of Judah.

He is All powerful—All knowing—Ever present. He is the Alpha—Omega—Beginning and end.

Salvation Call // Pray