This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
I want us to see in Matthew 15:8, 9 is that worship can be thought of in two different ways. When God says, “In vain do they worship me,” or, “with their lips they honor me,” he implies that worship can be thought of as a series of acts or words that are performed in obedience to biblical commands or liturgical tradition. Worship throughout biblical history always involved action. The main word for worship in biblical Hebrew means “to bow down.” Worship was performed in bowing, lifting the hands, kneeling, singing, praying, reciting Scripture, etc. All this can be called worship. But all this can also be done when the heart is far from God.
We all know this sort of experience in our ordinary life. One man retires from the firm loved by all, respected by his colleagues, admired by the junior executives. When the party is given to honor him, everyone knows that the hand shakes, and speeches, and congratulations, and gold watch are sincere. They come from the heart. But then a few years later old Grumble-Full retires, and out of duty the party is given with the same handshakes and speeches and gold watch, but everyone knows this time that honor was paid with the lips, but the heart was far away. Or haven’t you sat through a school talent show and observed how some applause comes from internal appreciation, but other applause comes from external expectation.
Those two different experiences correspond to two different senses in which we use the word “worship.” The one is a series of activities performed by the body and mind. The other is an experience of the heart which may or may not find outward expression. It seems clear to me that when the Bible commands us to worship, it is not commanding us to honor God with our lips while our heart is far from him. When David says, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2), and when Jesus says, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve (Matthew 4:10), and when the angel says to John in Revelation 19:10, “Don’t worship me; worship God,” we can be sure that they did not mean perform liturgical acts regardless of your heart’s condition. In those commands worship refers to an experience of the heart that is anything but far from God. This is the second meaning of worship implied in our text, and this is the worship I have in mind when I say worship is an end in itself.
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 