Issue: False vs. Genuine Worship

Text: Isaiah 1:11-17 reads,  

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.

“When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you this trampling of my courts?

Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

Context: God detests false worship. God’s people should, too. One of the saddest commentaries that believers may experience is “going to church” or “going to chapel” and just receiving spiritual cookies on the bottom shelf, where there’s no theological depth, no evidence of the preacher having a deep grasp of the metanarrative of redemptive history, of the God of Scripture, of the One who drowned the armies of Pharaoh, opened up the earth and swallowed sinners, drowned the globe but preserved only a remnant, and ordained Calvary and the cross of Christ, or of a clear call to regenerate church membership and kingdom work. Instead, what is often the experience is shallowness and vanilla, proffered like treats at summer camp for children. How can we read Isaiah 1:11-17 and be content? 

Application: In the New Testament, Jesus cited the above passage verbatim (see Matthew 15:8). Why? As a rebuke. To quicken us to the dangers of being cavalier about that which is to be sacred. There is a time to be serious, after all. How much mindless entertainment is ever sufficient? As Neil Postman observed, we’ve amused ourselves to death. And yet God’s warnings via the prophet Isaiah are on page after page of the most enduring and utterly serious Book.