When we speak of the heart, we are not usually speaking about the physical part of our anatomy that pumps blood through our body. When we tell someone, we love them with all of our heart we are referring to our emotions, our will, our thoughts, our attitude, and our intentions. Our actions are guided by our hearts. In the Bible, it is the mind and spirit combined to make up our emotional understanding and nature. It drives the decisions we make.
Today is Sunday. A day when multitudes will gather at churches, or since covid invaded us, before a television to worship God. For many, it will be the day that they have looked forward to all week. They will put on their best, grab their Bibles, and head to a church building to gather with other believers. If you are one of those, what is your true motive for doing so? In other words, where is your heart?
In Matthew 15:1-3, the Pharisees were Jewish leaders who studied the Old Testament writings. However, they had taken them a step further and applied their own laws and traditions. When Jesus and His disciples were seen eating without first washing their hands according to the ceremonial laws, they were accused of sinning. The Pharisees expected them to keep the traditions of the past. Jesus answers them with the question “why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”
Matthew 15:1-3 “Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”
Jesus proceeds to teach and accuse them of having a religion of traditions. Their heart is far from God, yet they were going through all the formalities of worship. In other words, they were not worshiping for the right reasons, they did not love God. This brings me to our topic today. Where is your heart? If you are going to church today, or have been, what were your motives?
Matthew 15:8 “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honored me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”
Let’s look at some questions we need to ask ourselves to see if we fit into the group of people Jesus was talking about in verse 8.
First, when you are getting ready to go to church do you have excitement in your heart to worship with other believers? In Psalm 95:6, we are instructed to come together for worship. In Psalm 34:3 we are to magnify the Lord. The word magnify means to make great! We are to exalt Him in our worship. This alone indicates an excitement, an emotion swelling up within us to worship Him. The word worship means to give worth. If you were getting ready to go to see your favorite team play or watch your favorite singer in concert, there would be excitement. However, I believe there are times we don’t get excited about going to church to worship. It’s just another tradition we keep because it’s the “right thing to do.”
Psalm 95:6 “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.”
Psalm 34:3 “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.”
Second, on your way to church are you thinking and planning the rest of your day? I ask this because I am often guilty of allowing my mind to be focused on thinking of what will happen next, rather than embracing the moment. Instead of running plans through my mind, I need to be praying in my heart that God will have His way in the service. I need to pray he will speak to my heart today. How we are thinking will tell us much about our hearts. Whatever is in our heart is what we think and what we think is really who we are to others and to God. If I want to truly have a heart for God, I need to be preparing my heart to worship by what I am thinking about.
Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.”
Third, now that you have arrived at church, where is your heart during worship? Are you engaging in the Sunday school lesson, the singing, and the message? I didn’t ask if you listen, sing, or take notes. I ask if you are engaging. Is your heart in it? Are you intentionally focusing on applying everything to your own life? This will require your “whole heart,” your emotions, your will, and your intellect. You cannot do this unless you engage all three. If you only engage and are led by your emotions, then the music will be the most important to you. Music is a means of engaging our emotions and that is not wrong if it is engaging the right emotions. These would be the emotions that exalt God. However, so many songs in our era tend to focus on us rather than God. They allow us to engage in a feeling of sadness instead of joy. When we get a high or a low from the music it’s easy to sit and go through the motions during preaching, because the emotional element is gone. Here is where we must engage the intellect. This allows our emotions to connect with what is being said, so we can apply it to our lives. Then, the will is engaged in committing to practice what we have learned.
Now, think about it. Have you put yourself in the category of the Pharisees? Is your heart truly worshiping today or are you keeping your traditions?
Matthew 15:3 “But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”
