Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”                                                                       

                                                                                                               Isaiah 29:13-14 

We probably all heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Well, we cannot judge spiritual matters from the outside either. What God sees and what man sees are two entirely different things. What might seem like sincere devotion to God in our eyes could be completely undesirable to Him. That is the topic of today’s passage.

The first thing that God reveals in this passage is that the people of that day did have an outward expression of devotion and worship to God. Consider His words:

…this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service… 

What was being spoken was good. The words that were coming forth from the mouths of these worshipers would seem acceptable to the human ear. But when we look closer, we see God assessing this “so called worship” as mere lip service.

The very idea of lip service brings negative connotations. Lip service is an outward expression that someone has pledged allegiance to an individual or cause but the words are not united with any kind of action of behavioral change. This is quite common in our culture today, people expressing verbal allegiance to Jesus while maintaining a lifestyle quite contrary to that commitment. That is the epitome of lip service. And that is what was going on in the lives of those living in the days of Isaiah.

But secondly, God gets to the heart of the matter by identifying the real problem. Consider His assessment of these people:

…but they remove their hearts far from Me… 

The words were there but the heart was not. The essence of worshipping God is being close to Him and we do that in our hearts. That is why worship is entirely between God and the individual. Devotion to God is simply a matter of the heart and when it is sincere, the actions of the individual will follow suit. Consider Jesus’ words regarding our number one responsibility:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 

                                                                                                            Matthew 22:37-38 

Being a Christian isn’t just going to a church service (although gathering for corporate worship is vital to our spiritual health). Being a believer means that our entire devotion is to Christ. Loving God is to come from our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind. Anything short of that and we are merely playing games with our spiritual lives.

Although we cannot judge a person’s heart externally, it’s usually pretty easy to see clues as to whether or not people are truly in love with God and serving Him with their whole heart. Consider David’s attitude after committing adultery and murder:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.

                                                                                                               Psalm 51:10-13 

His words indicate much more than mere lip service. We can see his heart and desire to be right with God again. He knew that it was his heart that God desired, not just his words. Consider the following:

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

                                                                                                                   Psalm 51:16-17 

David came to God with a sincere and hurting heart, longing for fellowship with God once again (which he found). This is the matter at hand. It is not whether we are simply saying all of the right things, we should be approaching God with our whole heart and our lifestyle and attitudes should reflect that reality.

But finally, God revealed another problem pointing to the fact that these worshippers were merely expressing lip service:

…their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote… 

This is not uncommon today. There are many who consider themselves religious but their faith is built around ritualistic, ceremonial motion. When someone approaches devotion to God as something in which they feel obligated to participate, without any real, sincere desire to know God, they have fallen into the trap of meaningless repetition. That is what was happening to the people in Isaiah’s day. Their devotion to God was just repetition of the same thing over and over again. They lacked any real relationship with God. When our faith is merely ornamental, we should take a step back and consider the true state of our heart toward God. Religion will not save. Only faith in a living Lord and Savior can accomplish such…and His name is Jesus!

Examine your devotion to God today. Are you in a vibrant, powerful relationship with Him or are you merely providing Him with meaningless lip service? Our lives should tell the real story!