Full or Empty Worship

In Matthew 15:7 – 9, Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy and called their worship empty and vain. He said, quoting Isaiah 29:13, “These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

According to Jesus, you can go through the sounds and motions of worship but not be worshiping. The difference between full and empty worship is huge to God and should be to us who desire to learn to worship the Father in spirit and truth because this is who the Father is seeking to worship Him.

We are still digging in Romans 12:1 – 2 because these two verses are a gold mine of spiritual truth and instruction on full worship. There is a phrase that connects verse one to verse two in that passage that is instructive. In between the instruction about presenting your body and your mind is the phrase, “…which is your spiritual worship.” The two words spiritual worship in Greek are logikos latreia. We get our English word “logic” from the first one and our word “liturgy” from the second. Some translators will translate this phrase “…which is your reasonable worship.”

The Greeks viewed logic and reason as truth. It was mathematic in its form and function for arriving at conclusions. They considered it to be true, genuine, and real. This word logikos is the Greek word for logic, built upon the word logos, which also means “true or full word.”

The word, latreia, means the order and activity of worship. Again, our English word “liturgy” is from this word. A liturgy is the order and act of worship in churches today.

In this phrase in Romans 12:1, “…which is your logikos latreia.” you understand that Paul is describing true and full worship! This is what we desire to learn. This is what Jesus was talking about with the woman of Sychar in John 4. This is full worship, true, real, and genuine.

Tomorrow we will see what it is full of and why the Father is searching for it in us.