More Than Lip Service

As I have been reading the book of Isaiah it has struck me how angry God can become. We hear so many messages of God's love, grace, and forgiveness that we can forget all those things come only through the blood of Jesus. Or maybe it was just my own forgetfulness. Isaiah is full of warnings to the rebellious of the destruction awaiting them for their actions. It is easy for us to point the finger at those outside the church as being condemned, but God's word of warning is often directed to those who call themselves believers. 

"The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service--yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote--therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will vanish, and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden." Isaiah 29:13-14

This was not given as a warning to those worshiping pagan gods. This was to those who were approaching God! God is not mocked (Gal 6:7). He knows the conditions of our hearts when we approach Him. He knows when our hearts are sincere and when we are simply going through the motions. If our worship is learned by routine, then are we truly worshiping? Shouldn't worship be an extension of God speaking to us and us responding to Him? If our worship follows the same pattern day after day and week after week, then has it become routine? Do we raise our hands out of surrender or simply because we go to a church where people raise their hands? If nobody else was raising their hands, yet we were moved to worship in that way, would we go with whatever is "acceptable" in the current environment or what our heart is prompting? If every worship set at church is exactly 28 minutes long, then haven't we become routine? 

God is very clear in the above verse of the consequences of becoming fake in our walk. Wisdom will vanish! It is no big secret wisdom is lacking not just in our culture in general, but also in the church. Not only is the world a fatherless generation, but the church is lacking spiritual fathers also. Fathers love, but they also discipline. Fathers aren't concerned with being liked as much as they are concerned with teaching Godly instruction. Fathers make decisions not based on what is good for themselves, but what is best for the family. Fathers pray for their children and encourage them to be what God created them to be and not just what they need them to be to further their own agenda. Fathers lead by example not just words. 

Here is another warning found in Isaiah 30:1-3

"Woe to the rebellious children! This is the Lord's declaration. They carry out a plan, but not Mine, they make an alliance, but against My will, piling sin on top of sin. They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh's protection and take refuge in Egypt's shadow. But Pharaoh's protection will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt's shadow your disgrace."

As I reflect over my life and the choices I've made I see how many of my plans I carried out with no regard to God. I lived in direct rebellion to Him and then had the nerve to ask Him to bless what I was doing in rebellion! How often do we live in a way we know is not God's will, but pray for Him to bless what He never chose for us? Yes, God can work all things out for His glory, but I've found it usually doesn't look the way we think it will. I've met men that were decent men, yet I knew in my spirit they were leading me away from my relationship with Christ. Any time something or someone will lead you to stumble in your walk or to sin, it is NOT part of God's plan for your life. Just as the verse above mentions, one sin usually leads to another. Think of the number of abortions happening every day as the result of sexual sin. This may seem an extreme example, but it's a true one. In order to hide the sin of sex outside of marriage, we seek out the sin of murder. And because of our lack of wisdom (see first verse given) we even tell ourselves it's not murder. 

We seek shelter and protection (things of comfort) in things of the world rather than in relationship with Christ. Those things of worldly comfort will always become our shame and disgrace. Comfort in the arms of someone who is not our spouse will lead to a fall. The same is true of drugs, alcohol, and anything else that is not honoring to God. 

I've gone down this road to remind all of us how important it is to be covered by the blood of Christ. Not only to accept Him personally, but to walk the walk and not simply talk the talk. "Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord! (Isaiah 29:15) There is nothing hidden from Him! We can put up a front to everyone else, but God sees it all. Not only our actions, but the motivation in our hearts behind the actions. I challenge each of you to spend some time reading Isaiah. It's great to read the encouraging verses and definitely less painful than reading the ones full of rebuke. However, love does not exist where there is no correction. What area of your life does God need to correct today? 

Trust in the Lord. Not Horses.

I have been reading the book of Isaiah over the last few weeks. If you want to read scripture that will scare you a bit, I definitely recommend starting here. Isaiah didn't hesitate to share what God spoke to him to share. I read the following verses this evening and wanted to share my thoughts. 

"Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who depend on horses! They trust in the number of chariots and in the great strength of charioteers. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel and they do not seek the Lord's help." Isaiah 31:1

Sadly, when I read this verse my first thought was of the modern day church. In the battle for souls, we neglect to seek the help of the Lord and instead turn to the methods of the world. Churches spend obscene amounts of money in marketing research and developing media to attract our entertainment based culture. We think that changing the word of God into a gimmick shows how clever we have become. As if scriptures have not stood the test of time based solely on their divine origin. The success of a church is measured by the cost of their sound system, the technicality of their light shows, what clever props are used to illustrate a sermon point, and the jokes of the pastor. Too many leave church talking about everything except encountering Christ. My Facebook feed on Sunday is full of statuses proclaiming how "on fire" their pastor was or how their church is "the best!" To these posts I want to reply and ask why theirs, of all the churches in the world, should be deemed "best" of all. Perhaps I will start asking. Personally I believe at this point in my spiritual journey, the church I attend is the best for me. Should God direct me to leave, I will follow Him as I have in the past when He directed me to leave prior churches. 

Just as in the above verse, we place our trust in the number of chariots (campuses?) and in the strength of charioteers (personality-driven pastors?) I've heard the argument that the best of everything is necessary in order to show people how special they are to God. Perhaps it is just me, but when I was hurting the most, I didn't really care about whether or not the worship team was playing through smoke from a hazer. I needed Jesus. I needed the presence of the Holy Spirit. I needed hope and the infallible word of God. I needed to hear I was created for more than my present circumstance and receive encouragement to become all that God intended. I didn't need a music concert, I needed to be carried into the presence of God when I didn't have the strength to go there by myself. 

If our trust is in one's strength (or worldly beauty), then what about all those who are not as strong or as "beautiful?" The truth of God's word is that He most often uses those who the world rejects. Moses stuttered. David was a child who tended sheep. Rahab was a prostitute. Even Jesus was described as having no worldly beauty and being rejected (Isaiah 53:3). If we place our trust in our programs, our "larger than life" pastors, or any other trappings of the world, then we are refusing to seek the Lord's wisdom because He often places the greatest treasures in fields not easily seen by men. 

What kind of Christianity would we begin to see if we stopped placing our trust in the "horses" and instead began to trust fully on God? Having learned to trust Him in my personal life, I can only imagine the revival that would take place if we did this corporately as believers! This is when people would begin to take notice of our faith and ask where our hope comes from. People would see us no longer looking like the world, but living set apart. I'm not saying there aren't certain things needed to function as a church body and building, but perhaps many are taking it way too far. What if we trimmed the budget to give away more than we spent? What if we saw a need and met the need rather than referring people to government agencies for assistance? If God can provide it once, could He not provide it again if we give it away? 

Where have you placed your trust? Is it in "horses" or "charioteers?" I pray today for God to examine anything in you that is not trusting Him and Him alone. I pray you have the boldness and faith to trust only in Him!