Spiritual Worship

What is spiritual worship?

Read: Isaiah 1:10-20 and Romans 12:1-3; 9-13

Imagine this scenario: It’s the Sabbath day in ancient Jerusalem. The people are gathered in the temple for worship. The priests have offered the sacrifice. The people are lifting their hands in prayer. And, in walks Isaiah. Everything stops. They know this is the prophet of God and they know he has a word from the Lord. So, Isaiah begins to speak, “Hear the word from the Lord, rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, people of Gomorrah! This is what the Lord says…

“What are all these sacrifices supposed to mean to me? I have had enough of your burnt offerings. I find no delight in these sacrifices. Who asked you to do these things when you come before me? Stop trampling my court. Your offerings are futile. Your incense is an abomination. New moons and Sabbaths, I can hardly stand them. My soul hates your festivals. I am weary of putting up with all of it. When you stretch out your hands to me, I will hide my eyes from you. When you pray to me, I will not listen.”

How do you imagine the people reacted to those words? It would be alarming, no doubt. But, more than that, it would be confusing. What does he mean the Lord doesn’t want sacrifice? Of course, the Lord wants sacrifice. God was the one who commanded us to offer sacrifice. What does he mean our offerings are futile, incense is an abomination, that God hates our festivals and our Sabbath keeping? How can that be?

And so, Isaiah gives them Lord’s answer: “Your hands are full of blood. I don’t want to see the evil things you do. Learn to do good. Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Listen to what I am saying. If you do good you will be blessed, but if not then you reap the consequences of iniquity. This is the word of the Lord.” And then, Isaiah just walks out of the temple.

It’s not hard to figure out why some people, especially those in positions of leadership, hated the prophets. Notice how Isaiah begins, and keep in mind this was a word of the Lord to Jerusalem: Hear the word from the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, people of Gomorrah! Sodom and Gomorrah were notoriously corrupt, and here Isaiah calls the rulers and people of Jerusalem “Sodom and Gomorrah.” But of course, Isaiah is not calling them that. God is.

And why does God call them Sodom and Gomorrah? Partly, because God is trying to wake them up, trying to stir them out of their religious slumber. Metaphorically speaking, they’re asleep. They’re just going through the motions of worship, not even realizing that their very worship is an offense to God. And why is it an offense? The last line in verse 13 tells us: their worship is mixed with iniquity.

What iniquity? The prophet says, they have blood on their hands. There’s some poetic license being taken here. Of course, they have blood on their hands, they just finished the sacrifice. But, the prophet is not referring to that blood. He’s referring to the blood of the oppressed and orphans and widows. Which brings up a question. Are they murdering these orphans and widows? Probably not. But they probably aren’t helping them much either. And, therein lies the problem. They think they are keeping the law by following the details of their worship. They keep the Sabbath, and make the sacrifices, and follow the rules of worship to a “t.” But, in spite of all that, they have neglected the whole purpose of the law. And the purpose of the law, the goal of the law was life, flourishing life, abundant life. And not just life for some, but for everyone.

“Seek justice!” God says. It’s unfortunate for us that the word “justice” in our day is such a loaded term. In the Old Testament (OT), the idea of justice was pretty simply. Anytime you come to this phrase, “seek justice” just replace the word “justice” with “life, flourishing life, abundant life.” Seek justice. Seek life for everyone. The goal of the law was abundant life for all the people. Deuteronomy 4:33 “You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you.” So that you may live and it may go well. Life, abundant life, flourishing life-not just for some, but for all.

And this is why, whenever this subject of justice comes up in the OT, we are told: look after the orphan, defend the widow. Why them? Why always the orphan and widow? Two reasons. 1) For reasons beyond their control, they weren’t always able to secure the things that make for life. What skills did the orphan have to secure the basic necessities of life-short of stealing? So, the orphan has to break the commandment just to survive? The widow had no means to survive, she had nothing. So, they couldn’t access the basic needs of life on their own. And 2) they were vulnerable to sinful people who would take advantage of them. So, whenever we come across this idea of seeking justice, the “orphan” and “widow” are mentioned because they needed the help of others in order to flourish.

When we come across this idea in the OT of seeking justice, of seeking flourishing life, for the orphan and the widow, we have to understand those words are just place holders for anyone, who through no fault of their own, are barred from the things that make for life. Seeking justice for them means opening the way, removing the obstacles that keep them down, or protecting them from those who would take advantage of them. 

God is telling the people, “Seek life for everyone, but especially those who can’t seek it for themselves.” Do what the law was intended to do. Then come and worship, then bring your sacrifice. John Calvin once said, “How great is the blindness of people who cannot be convinced that all the pains they take to worship God are of no advantage unless (the worship) flows from integrity of heart” (from John Calvin’s Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 1.11). That’s what God is trying to do through Isaiah, wake the people up. They are like zombie worshippers. They’re going through the motions, but have no integrity of heart.

The integrity of worship is not what happens on Sunday, but what happens Monday through Saturday. If what happens Monday through Saturday has integrity, then what happens Sunday is true worship. The test of spiritual integrity is not the fervency with which one prays, or the constancy with which one attends services, but the love of Christ that one embodies every day.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul spends 11 chapters teaching the people about God’s grace given in Jesus Christ. And then starting in chapter 12 he basically says: Given God’s mercy (which I’ve been talking about for 11 chapters), given this abundant grace we have received-present your bodies as a living sacrifice. It’s important he doesn’t say, present your minds as a living sacrifice. Or, present your convictions as a living sacrifice. Or even, present you beliefs as a living sacrifice. No, present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

Our bodies are the means, the tools, by which we bring our spiritual worship into the world. Our mouths which speak blessing to others, our mouths that proclaim God’s love and grace, our feet that rush to help the neighbor in need, our hands that do the work for those who cannot do it on their own-our bodies are the primary tools we use in spiritual worship. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice,” Paul says, “This is our spiritual worship…Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.” That sounds a lot like what God was saying through Isaiah, doesn’t it? Learn to do good, cease to do evil.

So, this is our spiritual worship: Given the abundant grace and life we have been given through Jesus Christ, let us present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is our spiritual worship. Not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may know the will of God. And, what is the will of God? Whatever is good and acceptable and perfect, that is the will of God.