Their worship is a farce for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God (Matthew 15:9) NLT
There were many different kinds of people who “followed” the Lord Jesus during His time on earth. Some followed Him for the thrill of seeing the supernatural. Others followed Him because He supplied their physical needs [Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.” John 6:26], and then there were those who followed Him because He had shown them mercy and they simply couldn’t bear the thought of not being close to Him. ideasandmind
But there was one group who followed Him around only to find fault in Him. They were the church leaders of His day. On one occasion they criticized the disciples for ignoring a church tradition. But Jesus rebuked them saying their traditions teach people to break the commands of God. As they accused His disciples, Jesus said,
“And why do you, by your tradition, violate the commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and your mother, and anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites!.”
Why would Jesus call their worship a farce? They placed their church and its traditions above obedience to God’s Word. The book of Isaiah starts out with a direct reference to this fake worship. As God speaks through the prophet, He says that He is not interested in their many church activities while they go around treating people badly. Love is, after all, the greatest command. And God does not accept our love for Him if we don’t love others ( see 1 John 4:20-21). In other words, the kind of worship that places the interest of a church organization above love for their neighbour is fake worship in the eyes of God. First treat people right, He says, then come an bring me an offering.
We should take great care to examine everything we hear in the light of God’s written word. This is not doubting God. He welcomes it. The reason why God is not threatened if we search for the truth in the Scriptures, is because He is the Truth. A liar would feel threatened if someone wishes to double check his teaching. A person speaking the truth would welcome it, ideashackers since his searching will most likely only strengthen and deepen his faith in God. Therefore, the Bereans were called noble for searching to Scriptures every day to see if what Paul taught them was indeed the truth. We would do well to follow their example. God commands us to love Him also with all our mind – that is, with a sound mind as well as our heart and soul and strength. Sound thinking is not to be excluded in our worship of Him. He does not delight in mindless worship. “Test everything that is being said…” Paul admonished the Thessalonians.
