Wrong Worship

I love the prophets, they are some of my favorite books to read. It seems to me that most Christians like reading the New Testament better than the Old Testament. Things seem a bit more straight-forward and familiar in the newer stuff, I guess. But I am the complete opposite. I don't really like reading Paul's letters, but I love reading the prophets. Maybe it's because I understand the contextual history better, and so can really sink my teeth into the message.

Yet for all their differences, the Christian Old and New Testaments are sending basically the same message. You can find the same promises, same mistakes, same warnings in both. We just don't learn from our parent's mistakes. Each generation has to screw up and learn from itself.

One of the common themes I saw while reading through the minor prophets (who are anything but minor, that's just a way of saying they're books are shorter) was the subject of worship. It's a big deal in the Old and New Testatments, and both collections are sending us the SAME message.

Yeah, that's right. The things Jesus denounced the first-century Jews for were the same things Amos and Hosea and Joel were shouting about to Israel and Judah.

Think about this. Most of the time, when a prophet or apostle or Jesus yells at someone, it's not because they're ignoring God. It's not because they're not being religious and trying to step up that heavenly ladder. It's not because they aren't going to church or the temple and worshipping. Nope, not a bit.

What's the problem, then? The problem, in the Old and New Testaments, is that people are worshipping the wrong way. They haven't got it right. They're not doing it the way God wants. They're coming to church or they're offering sacrifices, but they're doing it wrong. Jesus wasn't after the people who did have religion, he was after the people who got it wrong.

And it hasn't really changed today. We continue to approach God with all the wrong attitudes and for all of the wrong reasons. God, in his mercy and grace, keeps trying to draw us back to the right way of worship, the correct response, the proper state of heart to truly connect with Him and His Kingdom.

Lots of the prophets told Isreal or Judah that their sacrifices weren't worth anything. Those people were going to the temple and following the proper rituals, offer up their sheep and goats and grain, fulfilling temple life. But since their society was rotten, since the rich trampled on the poor and everyone was looking out for number one and not each other, God didn't care one bit for their sacrifices. He didn't want just the token on the altar, he wanted their hearts.

Jesus said that many of the Pharisees were whitewashed tombs, hippocrites who said one thing and did another. Yet they were trying to fulfill the law to the very best of their ability. They were doing everything that the Torah demanded and much more. They were trying to be extra-Godly in every teeny tiny little thing they did, to be sure never to offend. Yet Jesus was offended because they were more worried about status and right behavior that people and love. Jesus wanted their hearts, not their rules.

There was a medieval tragedy called the Crusades where a whole contient got the idea that if they went off and killed people who weren't Christians and had Christian rulers of Jerusalem, that would pelase God.

What other crazy ideas do we get that we don't even recognize? How often do we miss the mark? We need to seek the correct path to God. We must worhip as he desires and not as suits us. Otherwise we corrupt the message and become corrupt ourselves.

So be careful when you open your Bible, kneel down to pray, walk through the church doors or sit down at Bible study. Just being there, just going through the motions, means nothing. It's the state of your heart and your desire to do it RIGHT that make the differences. Hundreds of thousands of people try and try and get it wrong. So do I. That's where mercy and grace come in, and the Holy Spirit to help me get it right. But we can't get it right until we realize where we've got it wrong.

So listen to the prophets, listen to Jesus. It's the same message, and just because they said it thousands of years ago doesn't mean it isn't relevant today.

Lord, help me set my heart before you, help me turn my soul to you, hold my thoughts captive to your will. Help me worship in Spirit and in Truth, and a way that pleases You.