The Hypocrisy of False Worship

The Hypocrisy of False Worship
Isa 1:11-20 NIV - "The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the Lord. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 1 is perhaps the best, most dramatic illustration of God’s wrath towards those who practice false worship. Ironically, the false worship was not that of idols of foreign gods, of endless stuff to keep the people occupied—the false worship was the false worship of the LORD, particularly by the people of Judah. All the rules for worship the LORD laid out for His people in the Old Testament were being followed, but not out of faith and love. Instead, they were being applied passively out of meaningless ritual and repetition. The LORD says that He “[has] more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals.” He “[has] no pleasure in the blood of lambs and goats.” God was fed up. The people were “bringing meaningless offerings,” and God was tired of it.

We like to believe that only the Israelites were guilty of hypocritical worship. I wonder, however, if we realize how common it is in our day. We passively engage in worship as if it were an intermediate step to a social activity. Our lips are filled with words to songs and poems and Scripture we do not consider. By engaging in false worship, we are “trampling [God’s] courts.” These are harsh words, but they are true words. These words were partially written to warn us against the same meaningless ritual which ultimately brought the nation of Israel to its knees. They were written to warn us about praising God with the sort of praise in which Israel engaged in Isaiah 29.13: “"These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”

Don’t just have God on your lips, beloved. Think about the words you are singing. Think about what you are doing when communal prayer occurs. Consider why you are getting up in the morning or evening to worship God. Is it because it is expected, or is it because you desire and thirst after God? God wants servants who hunger after Him. He wants us to “[s]eek justice, encourage the oppressed, [d]efend the cause of the fatherless,” and “plead the case of the widow.” Only true worship will bring a lifestyle that glorifies and reflects God. A ritualistic form of worship will only lead to an empty, unsatisfying relationship with God that is based on fear and rhetoric rather than love and service.

In spite of Judah’s false worship, God did not give up on them. He says, “Come now, let us reason together…[t]hough your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Beloved, God is here to restore passion and love in your worship. If you have been worshipping hypocritically today, come and commit yourself to the right kind of worship. There is an introduction to a DC Talk song that haunts me almost daily: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” Don’t let your worship be false today. Let it be centered on Christ, and your life will reflect it. Amen.

With love in Christ,



Austin Aldrich