God the Son speaks of vain worship a couple of times in the Bible. He said, “And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” But He was merely quoting God the Father, who sent the same words to His people through Isaiah. In Isaiah 29.13, God had the same complaint and although he did not refer to it as vain worship, it had all the elements. Since both God the Son and God the Father had this complaint, we need to pay close attention.
Perhaps by learning more about it, we can avoid worshipping in vain. Even in an area that is not as important as worship, we certainly do not want to fail. You see, doing something in vain means you have no results to show for your effort. That is the same as saying one has failed. And since I know no one likes to fail, we must desist from vain worship. And yet, judging by the fact of its being in both the new and old testaments, it must be quite common. Perhaps now as then, don’t you think? Since the bible was written for our example.
What Is True Worship?
We already saw that vain worship is essentially useless worship, an act that does not produce any results. But we must first consider what true worship is for us to clearly understand what the opposite quantity is. True worship is giving God the glory that is due to Him, and because of who He is, that is a whole lot of glory. But we often fail woefully and offer vain worship, forgetting how great God is.
The dictionary definition of true worship is instructive here. “Worship is to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission (Webster’s Dictionary). Now, apply that to God and you see that when you truly worship God, you honor him with extreme submission. Jesus said we must worship in spirit and in truth. Added together, you begin to see what it means to truly worship God. You honor him with extreme love and obedience, in spirit and in truth.
You do not worship with your mind on something else or merely with your words, which may become vain worship. Describing true worship this way reminds us of Jesus’ beautiful summary of the first commandment. ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ Replace the word “love” with “worship” and you have a succinct definition of true worship.
Do you worship God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind? Are you like David when he wrote the one hundred and thirty-third psalm? He commanded everything that is within him to praise God. Oh, that we could come before God with that sort of attitude! Or do we come to God with a part of our mind elsewhere? That would be vain worship, which the next section will examine more fully
The Nature Of Vain Worship
Put simply, the nature of vain worship is the opposite of true worship. If the true worshipper worships God in spirit, the other man is doing so in body only. Since the true worshipper does so in truth, the other guy is doing it in falsehood. So, you see that vain worship is false worship that involves just your bodily motions without your soul and heart.
Jesus says God is seeking true worshippers. Think of what the opposite of that thought is. God is shunning vain worshippers. And Jesus confirms that when he called such people hypocrites. “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips. But their heart is far from Me.'”
Where is your heart when you worship God? Do you draw near God with just your mouth is the so-called praise and worship? Don’t let God shun you. Determine today to be a true worshiper and let God seek you. Remember, God is a rewarder of those who diligently, not carelessly, seek Him.
Maranatha!
