God doesn't want your lip service
Dear Mosaic Family,
What's the distance between your heart and God? Distance? Like, you can measure it? God can, and does.
In Matthew 15, the Pharisees ask Jesus why He and His disciples aren't following the man-made mandates of the religious authorities. Jesus points out the absurdity of replacing the word of God with the word of man. He says: "So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites!"
Jesus then quotes the prophet Isaiah:
“‘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.’”
The Pharisees were acting hypocritically because they honored God with their lips, while disobeying God with their lives. To mask their disobedience, they replaced God's word with their own mandates, and presented these as more authoritative than God's word.
The definition of spiritual hypocrisy is pretending to love God with your lips, while disobeying Him with your life. What's the missing piece between God-honoring lips and lives? A loving heart toward God. A heart that is close to God. True faith is loving God so much, you're ready and willing to obey anything and everything He commands. Such a life of faith, love, and obedience is the true worship God requires.
This is the main theme of Psalm 95, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." Worship includes singing praise to the Lord, but that's just a part of true worship. Worship is saying: "Lord, speak to me, and whatever you say to me, whatever it is, I will obey. I know it will be hard, actually impossible. But I know if you command it, you will give strength to do it."
As Saint Augustine of Hippo writes, "Lord command what you will and grant what you command."
Praying for you all,
Pastor Jan
This Week's Announcements
Service Time Changes
Sunday, August 22, 9:15 & 11:15 am
Mark your calendar! Beginning Sunday, August 22, we will be moving our service times to 9:15 and 11:15 am. We're excited to worship with you 15 minutes earlier and coffee will be provided.
Serve With Us
Our amazing volunteers work together every week to create a space where Jesus can be worshiped, the Gospel can be preached, and people can draw near to God. Visit our website for more information about how you can serve with us at Mosaic.
Songs for Sunday
If you would like to know what we'll be singing on Sunday, you can find the playlist here.