October 16th, 2024
Worship can be misdirected, resulting in idolatry. It can be carried out foolishly, resulting in improper worship. But it can also be weighed down, inhibited by rituals and unnecessary traditions.
Yes, worship can be corrupted by adding laws, regulations, and requirements that do not come from Scripture. This was one of the errors of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.
At one point, they cited the “tradition of the elders” to challenge Jesus because His disciples ate with unwashed hands (see Matthew 15:1-20). The Pharisees considered this tradition on par with the Old Testament law. However, this practice had only been introduced shortly before the time of Jesus.[1] This could be equated to the recent Christian belief in some places that no Christian should ever go to the movies. While there are many important principles in God’s Word we should follow in choosing our entertainment, forbidding every Christian from going to the theatres makes the same mistake the Pharisees made, adding laws where the Bible does not speak.
More to the point, when it comes to worship, we can be very scrupulous – just like the Pharisees – yet completely miss the mark. Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:23-24 illustrate their error:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
In the 1st century, the Pharisees meticulously followed tradition, observed holy days, kept weekly fasts, and rigorously “looked the part” when it came to public worship (see Luke 18:9-14).
In the 21st century, we borrow other people’s traditions and take pride in our performance of outward spirituality. Then we rationalize our actions by not “looking (or sounding) like the world.” But this leads to a focus on externals, not the heart.
R.C. Sproul addresses this poignantly in his classic, The Holiness of God:
“The simplistic way of not conforming is to see what is in style in our culture and then do the opposite. If short hair is in vogue, the nonconformist wears long hair. If going to the movies is popular, then Christians avoid movies as 'worldly.' The extreme case of this may be seen in groups that refuse to wear buttons or use electricity because such things, too, are worldly."
He continues, "A superficial style of nonconformity is the classical pharisaical trap. The kingdom of God is not about buttons, movies, or dancing. The concern of God is not focused on what we eat or what we drink. The call of nonconformity is a call to a deeper level of righteousness, that goes beyond externals. When piety is defined exclusively in terms of externals, the whole point of the apostle’s teaching has been lost. Somehow, we have failed to hear Jesus’ words that it is not what goes into a person’s mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of that mouth. We still want to make the kingdom a matter of eating and drinking.”
Our worship should not be formed by reaction to the world around us. Nor should our worship be bound to human traditions unfounded in Scripture. Instead, our worship should be shaped, informed, and at times reformed by the Word of God.
Yes, worship can be corrupted by adding laws, regulations, and requirements that do not come from Scripture. This was one of the errors of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.
At one point, they cited the “tradition of the elders” to challenge Jesus because His disciples ate with unwashed hands (see Matthew 15:1-20). The Pharisees considered this tradition on par with the Old Testament law. However, this practice had only been introduced shortly before the time of Jesus.[1] This could be equated to the recent Christian belief in some places that no Christian should ever go to the movies. While there are many important principles in God’s Word we should follow in choosing our entertainment, forbidding every Christian from going to the theatres makes the same mistake the Pharisees made, adding laws where the Bible does not speak.
More to the point, when it comes to worship, we can be very scrupulous – just like the Pharisees – yet completely miss the mark. Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:23-24 illustrate their error:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
In the 1st century, the Pharisees meticulously followed tradition, observed holy days, kept weekly fasts, and rigorously “looked the part” when it came to public worship (see Luke 18:9-14).
In the 21st century, we borrow other people’s traditions and take pride in our performance of outward spirituality. Then we rationalize our actions by not “looking (or sounding) like the world.” But this leads to a focus on externals, not the heart.
R.C. Sproul addresses this poignantly in his classic, The Holiness of God:
“The simplistic way of not conforming is to see what is in style in our culture and then do the opposite. If short hair is in vogue, the nonconformist wears long hair. If going to the movies is popular, then Christians avoid movies as 'worldly.' The extreme case of this may be seen in groups that refuse to wear buttons or use electricity because such things, too, are worldly."
He continues, "A superficial style of nonconformity is the classical pharisaical trap. The kingdom of God is not about buttons, movies, or dancing. The concern of God is not focused on what we eat or what we drink. The call of nonconformity is a call to a deeper level of righteousness, that goes beyond externals. When piety is defined exclusively in terms of externals, the whole point of the apostle’s teaching has been lost. Somehow, we have failed to hear Jesus’ words that it is not what goes into a person’s mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of that mouth. We still want to make the kingdom a matter of eating and drinking.”
Our worship should not be formed by reaction to the world around us. Nor should our worship be bound to human traditions unfounded in Scripture. Instead, our worship should be shaped, informed, and at times reformed by the Word of God.
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