We continue our lesson on Isaiah 29:13."...these people draw near to me with their mouths, and honour me with their lips, yet have removed their hearts far from me. Moreover, their worship toward me is the doctrines of men."
Vain Worship (Part 2)
2 They remove their hearts far from me
The secret of true worship is that we "worship in spirit and in truth"(Jhn 4:24). Not only must the things we say and feel be true, but they must be the love of our spirits, our heart's deep desire. Unfortunately many people worship from ulterior motives, and the desires of their hearts are far from God. For example...
Self glory. Some seek their own glory and praise (Mtt 6:2-7, 16-18)
Money. Some seek wealth and earthly prosperity. They seem to be serving God, but they do so because they think God will make them rich on earth. This is not true Christianity (Mtt 6:19-24)
Own Inventions. Some love and follow their own tradition rather than the word of God. As we noticed earlier, this was the particular problem that Jesus was referring to when he quoted Isaiah, "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"(Mtt 15:7-9). So we will take this example in a moment as the last major point of this lesson.
When our hearts are centered on things like those listed above, then our hearts are far from God and we worship him in vain.
3 They reverence human traditions
As we said before, there are those who love and follow their own tradition rather than the word of God. When they do this, their worship and service is vain. It is vain in both senses of the word...
Vain because it is presumptuous. People who think they should replace the word of God with their own inventions and traditions are suffering from vanity and pride.
Vain because it is empty. Men are not able to invent a religion of any substance. Religion must come from God, not from the devisings of humanity (1Co 1:18-31).
