Friday, September 27, 2013

HAVE YOU CHECKED YOUR HEART?

GOD WILL NOT RECEIVE TO EMPTY WORSHIP!




Psalm 50:1
The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting. 

In this psalm, the author presents God as the righteous judge, the one Who has the right to call every creature on earth to judgment. No one escapes the right of the Lord to judge.

Psalm 50:3
Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest. 

God’s judgment is clear and consuming. Nothing is hidden from His sight.

Psalm 50:4
He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people: 

The heavens are His witnesses of His judgment against His people. His judgment is not against the sacrifices they make, but against the attitude behind their acts of worship.

Psalm 50:7-9
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds. 

God is looking for His people to have an attitude of thanksgiving.

Psalm 50:14-15
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” 

God’s words are clear: gratefulness and humility are what God is expecting, and then He will deliver them in the times of trouble.
As we rehearse our lives, do we recognize the same unacceptable traits that the children of Israel displayed so often?

Do we recognize God as the One Who has the right to judge all? Do we remember that He is interested in our hearts, and not our empty acts of worship?

It’s easy to live a life of ingratitude and still show up for church, as if all is well. At times we have allowed sin to find root in our hearts, while we sing heartily on Sunday. We know that we have unresolved issues with others, yet come and think that God is satisfied with our verbal assent in church.

Nothing is hidden from God. He is not interested in our hypocritical worship. Jesus said it clearly:

Matthew 5:23-24
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 

The Apostle spoke very clearly of the sin of participating in the Lord’s Supper without being purified:

1 Corinthians 11:17-18, 27-29
But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you… Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

We tend to repeat the same sins Israel did. We approach God with carelessness, forgetting that the Lord sees our heart and is not pleased at all with our external rituals.

Lest you think that the solution is to just avoid worship, so you will not incur the judgment of God, I want to remind you that the only wise and Godly solution is to repent and make sure that your heart matches your actions.

God desires our gratefulness. The Lord loves our worship when it is the expression of a submissive heart. He loves to succor us in our times of trouble.

Why don’t you stop and check your heart? Make sure that it is right before God, and then worship Him in a way that truly honors him. 




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