Those who worship God in vain
“Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!’ Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' Then the disciples came to him and asked, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?’ He replied, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.’ Peter said, ‘Explain the parable to us.’ ‘Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. ‘Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'” (Matthew 15:1-20).
Can you worship God with thanksgiving only when God answers your prayers and blesses you and your loved ones? In particular, wouldn't you be thankful to God if you or your family member were suffering from a disease and were at a crossroads of life and death when God answered your earnest prayer and healed and saved you from your disease? But if God doesn’t answer your prayer as you expect, and your family member dies from disease, will you still be able to worship God with thanksgiving? Do you think this is possible?
The Bible Job 1:20 shows that this is possible. Job, who was blameless, upright, feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1), fell to the ground in worship (v. 20) even after he lost all his ten children and his possessions (vv. 13-19). In addition to Job, David fasted and pleaded when a child was born with Uriah's wife Bathsheba became ill, but the baby died (2 Sam. 12:15-19). Then David got up from the ground, washed, put on lotions, changed his clothes and went into the house of the Lord and worshiped (v. 20). This is faith. This is what we Christians should do. We must worship God. We who are being saved by faith in Jesus Christ by God's grace, all we have to do is worship God. This is what Jesus said in John 4:23-24: “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
This is what Mathew 15:9a says, “They worship me in vain; ….” Who are those who worship God in vain? I want to think about it in three ways:
First, those who worship God in vain are legalists and hypocrites.
Look at Matthew 15:1 – “Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked.” Here the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were the religious leaders of that time and Jesus said to them, “You snakes! You brood of vipers!” (23:33). Why did Jesus, who didn’t rebuke that tax collectors and the prostitutes, rebuke the Pharisees and the teachers of the law greatly? The reason is because they were legalists. Who were the legalists? They were those who believe that they could be saved by works and not by faith. So they emphasized the following three things. It is to keep the Law of Moses, circumcision, and the tradition of elders. The Bible clearly says that we aren’t saved by works (Tit. 3:5) but only by faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8). However, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, who were legalists, believed that they were saved by works and thus were zealous to keep the Moses’ Law, circumcision, and the tradition of elders. They were zealous for God but their zeal was not based on knowledge (Rom. 10:2). The reason why Jesus rebuked them “You snakes! You brood of vipers!” (23:33) was because they were hypocrites. Look at Matthew 15:7 – “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you.” This is what Jesus quoted from Isaiah 29:13, which he referred the Pharisees and the teachers of the law as “hypocrites.” The reason is given in Matthew 15:8-9: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” The Pharisees and the teachers of the law, who were hypocrites, honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. In short, they worshiped God in vain.
In Matthew 23, Jesus spoke seven times about those hypocrites who worshiped God in vain. Among those seven times, let’s just think about two of them. One of them is the hypocrites, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, do not practice what they preach (v. 3). So Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples (v.1) not to do what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law did (v. 3). But Jesus told them to obey the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and do everything they told them (v. 3). The reason is because what they said was right. Even now, there are many hypocrites in the church who worship God in vain. Although they go to the Lord's house on Sunday and worship God, they worship Him only with their lips, but they don’t live properly. To these people, this is what Jesus says: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (15:8). Another one is that the hypocrites loved to be praised by people and the place of honor (23:5-7). The Pharisees and the teachers of the law loved the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogue and to be greeted in the marketplaces (vv.6-7). And they loved to have men call them “Rabbi” (v. 7). They did everything to show people. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law gave to the needy in order to be honored by men (6:2). When they prayed, the loved to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men (v. 5). Even now, like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, the hypocrites in the church love to pray and serve to be seen by people. Those who love to be praised and exalted by people love to be honored by them like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Those who don’t give glory to God but steal His glory are worshiping God in vain.
We shouldn’t be like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who were hypocrites. If we are hypocrites, we must get rid of our hypocrisy (1 Pet. 2:1). We must get rid of our hypocrisy if appear to people as righteous on the outside but on the inside we are full of hypocrisy and wickedness (23:28). We should no longer come before the Lord and worship God with our lips alone. We must worship God with all our heart and soul.
Second, those who worship God in vain are those who value human tradition above God's command.
Look at Matthew 15:3 – “Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” What was the tradition of the elders that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who came to Jesus that was important to them? It was washing their hands before they eat (v. 2). This is explained in more detail in Mark 7:3-4: “(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)” Mark described the tradition of the elders that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law considered important more than just washing their hands before they eat. But this tradition of the elders wasn’t Biblical. This tradition was made by people. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the Pharisees inherited many of the rules that weren’t described in the Moses’ Law (Park Yun-sun). But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law saw that the Jesus' disciples breaking the traditions of the elders by not washing their hands before they ate (Mt. 15:2, Mk. 7:2). So they came to Jesus and said: “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!” (Mt. 15:2) For them, unwashed hands were unclean hands (Mk. 7:2). So the Pharisees and the teachers of the law asked Jesus: “Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?” (Mk. 7:5) So Jesus replied: “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Mt. 15:3) The Bible Mark 7:8-9 says: “’You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.’ And he said to them: ‘You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!’” The Pharisees and the teachers of the law neglected the commands of God and became experts at setting aside the commands of God. And what was the command of God they set aside? Look at Matthew 15:4 – “Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’” This is quote from Exodus 20:12 and 21:17. However, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law nullified the word of God for the sake of their tradition (Mt. 15:6). They thought that if they had to give their parents what they had to offer (Corban: a gift devoted to God) they didn’t have to do anything to their parents (Mk. 7:11-12). At that time, the rabbis taught that if anyone wanted to escape the responsibility of supporting their parents, they just need to make a vow to give the property to the temple and used it however they wanted to for the rest of their lives. This was a trick to blatantly avoid children’s responsibility to their parents. Dr. Park Yun-sun said, ‘It is a truly abominable sin, and it is a great evil to bring up the sin of reproach by using the sacred name of God's service’ (Park).
Aren’t we Christians now guilty of this sin? Although the Bible 1 Timothy 5:4 clearly says, “But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God,” are we not caring for our own family now? This is what 1 Timothy 5:8 says, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Are we not caring for our family in the excuse that we serve the Lord devotedly? If we are worshiping God in the Lord's house on Sunday without caring for our family, not doing our filial duties in our homes, then we are worshiping God in vain. If we live according to human traditions or man-made rules rather than God's commandments, we are now worshiping God in vain. If we live a life bound by people's traditions or rules, breaking God's commandments during the week, and worshiping God in the Lord's house this Sunday, we are worshiping God in vain. If we say we honor God, who is invisible, with our lips, and we don’t honor our parents who are visible, then we are worshiping God in vain. We shouldn’t worship God in this way anymore. In order for us to worship God correctly, we must obey God's command. We must worship God in obeying the God’s command of honoring our parents.
Third and last, those who worship God in vain are those whose hearts are unclean.
Look at Matthew 15:11, 18: “What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean’” … But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.'” Do the things that enter our mouth make us unclean? Or do the things that come out from our mouth make us unclean? Jesus said that “What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean’” (v. 11). What does it mean? It means that the external things such as eating without washing hands didn’t make a person morally or religiously unclean. Why did Jesus say like this? The reason is because the Pharisees thought that when Jesus' disciples ate food without washing their hands, the food made them morally unclean (Park). So Jesus said, “whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him” (Mk. 7:18), he gave the reason in Mark 7:19 – “because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" (Thus He declared all foods clean).” Rather, Jesus said that “what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean’” (Mt. 15:11). What is the reason? The reason is because “the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart” and that heart is unclean (vv. 18-19). What kind of heart is that unclean heart? Look at Mark 7:21-23: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” Then in Matthew 15:20, Jesus said: “These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'” What does this mean? From the point of view of the legalism, hypocrisy, and the elders’ 'tradition of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, they thought that the Jesus' disciples eating with their unwashed hands (unclean hands) defiled them, but Jesus said that all the evil things that came out of the heart defiled people. Here we see a different view of Jesus from that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Jesus was focusing on the human heart, while the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were focusing on the outside. Jesus also said to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence” (23:25), “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (vv. 27-28).
We must devote ourselves to purifying our inner heart which God sees rather than trying to purify our outward appearance which people see. The reason is because God sees not as man sees, that is the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). Therefore, we must dedicate ourselves to the cleansing of our heart, which God sees. Then what must we do? We must listen to God's Word and seek wisdom so that we may keep our hearts on the right path (Prov. 23:19). And in order for us to keep our hearts on the right path, we must always be zealous for the fear of the Lord (v. 17). If we don't, we may sin against God in our sinful greed because we love money in our hearts (Lk. 16:14), even though we may seem to be living a very hard religious life like the hypocrite Pharisees. Therefore, the first thing we should be diligent is to listen to the Father God's words (Prov. 4:10-11). And we should keep the word of God in our hearts and keep it (v. 4). Then we will be able to keep our hearts on the right path. We must also obey God's word of truth. Look at 1 Peter 1:22 – “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” We must purify ourselves by obeying the truth. Therefore, I hope and pray that we may be able to worship God with our clean hearts.
Those who worship God in vain are legalists, hypocrites, and those who value man's tradition above God's commands. And their hearts are unclean. We must not be false worshipers who worship God in vain. Rather, we must be true worshipers of God. We must get rid of all our hypocrisy and worship God with all our heart and soul. Also, we must worship God as we obey His commands. We should be worshipers of God with a pure heart. Therefore, I hope and pray that we can glorify God.