Vain
FOR DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN
Stephen Atnip
Would you like to bring delight to God? Would you like to give spiritual pleasure to the heart and mind of God? Then worship him according to his precepts.
Every age of man has its fashion — the mindset by which it reasons and acts. To the people of his day, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:31, that the fashion of this world passes away. A new fashion takes its place.
The fashion of our world is the mindset of post-modernism. In this way of thinking, every opinion and idea is equally valid. Your truth may be my error, but it is valid for you, though maybe not for me
. There is no absolute truth and none may say to another “what you do is wrong.” There is no absolute right or wrong. This fashion of thinking, though wrong to the core, has entered into our religious culture as well.
Each must determine his own set of values religiously and allow to others their equally valid set of values though they may be diametrically opposed to one another. Worship has become a virtual smorgasbord of ideas, ceremonies, and rites.
Yet, into this cultural milieu there enters a voice that was first heard in human form upon this earth in the first century and it dares to run counter to the postmodernistic view of our time. It is the voice of the Son of God and it dares to say that not all forms of religion, and certainly not all forms of worship, are equally valid before God. As a matter of fact, Jesus actually told some of his day that their worship was vain — without value in meeting the purpose of worshiping God. In other words, not all worship is equally valid.
Jesus said, “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9). This text is found in the context of a confrontation between Jesus and certain scribes and Pharisees who had come down from Jerusalem to ask him why his disciples did not keep what they termed the “tradition of the elders.” Specifically, Jesus’ disciples were not washing their hands before eating.
The tradition of the elders was of tremendous authority for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. It was a compilation of the teachings of the various rabbis through the centuries as they commented on the Mosaic law.
As a matter of fact, they taught there were two parts to the law that Moses had given: 1) the written law and, 2) another set of oral traditions passed on with the written law. These oral traditions actually held greater authority for many in the Jewish leadership than the original written Law of Moses itself.
Jesus responded to their accusation by pointing out that their traditions had at some points actually caused them to transgress what God had specifically written in the Ten Commandments.
He pointed to an act of worship called “corban” where a man could devote all he had to the temple treasury. The problem with this was that a man could live off this devoted money until he died, but no others could benefit from it.
And thus, if a man had parents for whom he needed to care, he would say, “It is corban.” He was prohibited by this tradition of the elders from taking money from what he devoted to the treasury, and helping his parents with it.
Albert Barnes points out: “the Jewish teachers said that it was more important for a man to dedicate his property to God than to provide for the needs of his parents.” This directly conflicted with God’s law of honoring one’s father and mother. For them, this worship tradition, manufactured by their ancient rabbis, held greater authority than the last six of the ten commandments dealing with our relationship to our fellowman, specifically to honor our parents (Exodus 20:1-17).
To address their error, Jesus went back a little over 700 years to a prophetic rebuke given by Isaiah to the worshipers of his day and time (Isa. 29:13). While it would be a highly worthwhile and advantageous study to look at all facets of that rebuke, our study centers on this phrase by Jesus, “In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men.” The Greek word for vain means fruitless, without purpose, or not meeting its purpose. Now, that immediately brings up the question of “what is the purpose God had in mind for worship?”
You and I are creatures that were designed with capacities for various functions in this life. One of the capacities granted to us was the capacity for worship — the adoration, reverence, and respect shown to our Creator through various acts performed physically and spiritually.
Yet as with most of our capacities, our use of them does not always perform their intended purpose. We often use our capacities for our own ends and not the ends for which our heavenly father designed them.
That is true in the physical realm; that is, when we use our physical bodies to do those acts which disgrace Him and bring shame to His high and holy name. It is also true in the Spiritual realm when we use our emotions and intellect to hate what God loves and love what he hates.
Our capacities, or human characteristics, were granted to us with purpose, and it is only when we exert ourselves physically and spiritually according to his written word that we shall be found to have used our capacities for His purposes.
In quoting Isaiah, Jesus speaks of worship using the word sebomai, which means “to express in gestures, rites or ceremonies one’s allegiance or devotion to deity” (Arndt and Gingrich 917).
Inherent to the word is the concept of “reverence” for the deity one worships. Jesus uses the Greek word sebomai to translate the Hebrew verb arey in Isaiah 29:13, meaning “to fear, revere, be afraid, to stand in awe of, reverence, honor and respect.” It doesn’t mean just one of these words; it means all of these concepts.
Isaiah points out that what makes their reverent approach in worship to God invalid is when “their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men.” Thus taken together, it means that in worship, one expresses his reverence, fear, and feeling of awe toward God by means of gestures, rites or ceremonies which are designed by God rather than by man who is the worshiper.
All valid worship starts with a fear of God. And, Jesus says in quoting Isaiah, when men substitute their own commands (gestures, rites, or ceremonies) for the commands of God, they are failing to reverence the God they intended to worship. Or as Jesus says, It is “vain.” Such worship fails to accomplish the purpose God designed when he gave us the capacity to worship Him.
And as Emmanuel (God with us), Jesus certainly knew how to fulfill the purpose of worship, and when worship was accepted and when it was not accepted by God. Jesus knew when worship was vain as no other has ever known. Worship that is based on a decree that comes from man is in reality a worship in which man presumes the right of sovereignty over the God he claims to worship, and thereby fails to fear and reverence him.
Our study of this text does not end here. There is in that sense of purpose another aspect to be considered. What does God receive from our worship? If my worship is in vain, then the God I attempted to honor has failed to be honored. The God I have been called to respect has been disrespected. The God before whom I am to stand in awe, has been bereft of the expression of awe due him. You see, we come to worship God at his summons. God calls for the action of worship, but a worship that meets its intended purpose with regard to Him.
When the focus of our worship is changed by the gestures, rites and ceremonies that have been decreed by men, the God I was supposed to be honoring has been denied that which is due Him by right of Creatorship, by right of the redemption of man, His guardianship, sovereignty and governance over his creatures, and by right of his love, justice, mercy, and by right of his Fatherhood over men.
What does God receive in worship done according to His word? If I know this, then I am better able to appreciate why I should worship in a way that meets the purpose of worship.
Perhaps if we look at worship situations in the past, we may glean from them something of what God receives in proper worship. In 1 Samuel 15:22, God had called for a sacrifice by Samuel for Israel.
King Saul grew tired of waiting for Samuel and presumptuously officiated as a priest at the sacrifice. Samuel then asks a question, “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
There is an implication in this passage that something had been removed from what God should have received if an obedient sacrifice had actually been given. God failed to “find delight” in that sacrifice.
By implication, we then realize that if the sacrifice had been properly given, then what was missing in God would have been present in God. He would have delighted, or had pleasure in the worship.
Proper worship gives delight to God. It gives spiritual pleasure to God. Men can actually create a sense of delight and spiritual pleasure in God with their worship. He likes it. He enjoys it. It pleases him. Would you like to bring delight to God? Would you like to give spiritual pleasure to the heart and mind of God? Then worship him according to his precepts.
When Noah came off the ark he worshiped God by sacrificing to him. Genesis 21:8 says “The Lord smelled a sweet savour.” The Hebrew language is fascinating here. It literally means, He smelled a soothing, quieting, tranquilizing odor of soothing as he received the worship of Noah. God responded with a blessing upon man and the earth.
The evil of man had caused God to devastate this world, while the worship of Noah soothed the mind of God. It brought delight to God to find a worshiping man like Noah to repopulate his world. Worship delights, gives pleasure to God and is soothing to him. That is its intended purpose on God’s part. But if man, by his own precepts, adds his own gestures, rites and ceremonies to worship, it becomes vain and does not reach its intended purpose.
As a matter of fact, when man worships according to his own standards, there is another reaction from God that worship was never intended to elicit from God. In Isaiah 1:11-15, God points out what “wrong worship” elicits from God. The error of their worship on this occasion sprang from the immoral conduct of their lives. You see, part of the equation of worship is the acceptance of both the gift and the giver. The giver must be righteous before God. That is not required by the doctrinal teaching of many today.
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Table of Contents
The fashion of our world is the mindset of post-modernism. In this way of thinking, every opinion and idea is equally valid. Your truth may be my error, but it is valid for you, though maybe not for me
. There is no absolute truth and none may say to another “what you do is wrong.” There is no absolute right or wrong. This fashion of thinking, though wrong to the core, has entered into our religious culture as well.
Each must determine his own set of values religiously and allow to others their equally valid set of values though they may be diametrically opposed to one another. Worship has become a virtual smorgasbord of ideas, ceremonies, and rites.
Yet, into this cultural milieu there enters a voice that was first heard in human form upon this earth in the first century and it dares to run counter to the postmodernistic view of our time. It is the voice of the Son of God and it dares to say that not all forms of religion, and certainly not all forms of worship, are equally valid before God. As a matter of fact, Jesus actually told some of his day that their worship was vain — without value in meeting the purpose of worshiping God. In other words, not all worship is equally valid.
Jesus said, “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9). This text is found in the context of a confrontation between Jesus and certain scribes and Pharisees who had come down from Jerusalem to ask him why his disciples did not keep what they termed the “tradition of the elders.” Specifically, Jesus’ disciples were not washing their hands before eating.
The tradition of the elders was of tremendous authority for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. It was a compilation of the teachings of the various rabbis through the centuries as they commented on the Mosaic law.
As a matter of fact, they taught there were two parts to the law that Moses had given: 1) the written law and, 2) another set of oral traditions passed on with the written law. These oral traditions actually held greater authority for many in the Jewish leadership than the original written Law of Moses itself.
Jesus responded to their accusation by pointing out that their traditions had at some points actually caused them to transgress what God had specifically written in the Ten Commandments.
He pointed to an act of worship called “corban” where a man could devote all he had to the temple treasury. The problem with this was that a man could live off this devoted money until he died, but no others could benefit from it.
And thus, if a man had parents for whom he needed to care, he would say, “It is corban.” He was prohibited by this tradition of the elders from taking money from what he devoted to the treasury, and helping his parents with it.
Albert Barnes points out: “the Jewish teachers said that it was more important for a man to dedicate his property to God than to provide for the needs of his parents.” This directly conflicted with God’s law of honoring one’s father and mother. For them, this worship tradition, manufactured by their ancient rabbis, held greater authority than the last six of the ten commandments dealing with our relationship to our fellowman, specifically to honor our parents (Exodus 20:1-17).
To address their error, Jesus went back a little over 700 years to a prophetic rebuke given by Isaiah to the worshipers of his day and time (Isa. 29:13). While it would be a highly worthwhile and advantageous study to look at all facets of that rebuke, our study centers on this phrase by Jesus, “In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men.” The Greek word for vain means fruitless, without purpose, or not meeting its purpose. Now, that immediately brings up the question of “what is the purpose God had in mind for worship?”
You and I are creatures that were designed with capacities for various functions in this life. One of the capacities granted to us was the capacity for worship — the adoration, reverence, and respect shown to our Creator through various acts performed physically and spiritually.
Yet as with most of our capacities, our use of them does not always perform their intended purpose. We often use our capacities for our own ends and not the ends for which our heavenly father designed them.
That is true in the physical realm; that is, when we use our physical bodies to do those acts which disgrace Him and bring shame to His high and holy name. It is also true in the Spiritual realm when we use our emotions and intellect to hate what God loves and love what he hates.
Our capacities, or human characteristics, were granted to us with purpose, and it is only when we exert ourselves physically and spiritually according to his written word that we shall be found to have used our capacities for His purposes.
In quoting Isaiah, Jesus speaks of worship using the word sebomai, which means “to express in gestures, rites or ceremonies one’s allegiance or devotion to deity” (Arndt and Gingrich 917).
Inherent to the word is the concept of “reverence” for the deity one worships. Jesus uses the Greek word sebomai to translate the Hebrew verb arey in Isaiah 29:13, meaning “to fear, revere, be afraid, to stand in awe of, reverence, honor and respect.” It doesn’t mean just one of these words; it means all of these concepts.
Isaiah points out that what makes their reverent approach in worship to God invalid is when “their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men.” Thus taken together, it means that in worship, one expresses his reverence, fear, and feeling of awe toward God by means of gestures, rites or ceremonies which are designed by God rather than by man who is the worshiper.
All valid worship starts with a fear of God. And, Jesus says in quoting Isaiah, when men substitute their own commands (gestures, rites, or ceremonies) for the commands of God, they are failing to reverence the God they intended to worship. Or as Jesus says, It is “vain.” Such worship fails to accomplish the purpose God designed when he gave us the capacity to worship Him.
And as Emmanuel (God with us), Jesus certainly knew how to fulfill the purpose of worship, and when worship was accepted and when it was not accepted by God. Jesus knew when worship was vain as no other has ever known. Worship that is based on a decree that comes from man is in reality a worship in which man presumes the right of sovereignty over the God he claims to worship, and thereby fails to fear and reverence him.
Our study of this text does not end here. There is in that sense of purpose another aspect to be considered. What does God receive from our worship? If my worship is in vain, then the God I attempted to honor has failed to be honored. The God I have been called to respect has been disrespected. The God before whom I am to stand in awe, has been bereft of the expression of awe due him. You see, we come to worship God at his summons. God calls for the action of worship, but a worship that meets its intended purpose with regard to Him.
When the focus of our worship is changed by the gestures, rites and ceremonies that have been decreed by men, the God I was supposed to be honoring has been denied that which is due Him by right of Creatorship, by right of the redemption of man, His guardianship, sovereignty and governance over his creatures, and by right of his love, justice, mercy, and by right of his Fatherhood over men.
What does God receive in worship done according to His word? If I know this, then I am better able to appreciate why I should worship in a way that meets the purpose of worship.
Perhaps if we look at worship situations in the past, we may glean from them something of what God receives in proper worship. In 1 Samuel 15:22, God had called for a sacrifice by Samuel for Israel.
King Saul grew tired of waiting for Samuel and presumptuously officiated as a priest at the sacrifice. Samuel then asks a question, “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
There is an implication in this passage that something had been removed from what God should have received if an obedient sacrifice had actually been given. God failed to “find delight” in that sacrifice.
By implication, we then realize that if the sacrifice had been properly given, then what was missing in God would have been present in God. He would have delighted, or had pleasure in the worship.
Proper worship gives delight to God. It gives spiritual pleasure to God. Men can actually create a sense of delight and spiritual pleasure in God with their worship. He likes it. He enjoys it. It pleases him. Would you like to bring delight to God? Would you like to give spiritual pleasure to the heart and mind of God? Then worship him according to his precepts.
When Noah came off the ark he worshiped God by sacrificing to him. Genesis 21:8 says “The Lord smelled a sweet savour.” The Hebrew language is fascinating here. It literally means, He smelled a soothing, quieting, tranquilizing odor of soothing as he received the worship of Noah. God responded with a blessing upon man and the earth.
The evil of man had caused God to devastate this world, while the worship of Noah soothed the mind of God. It brought delight to God to find a worshiping man like Noah to repopulate his world. Worship delights, gives pleasure to God and is soothing to him. That is its intended purpose on God’s part. But if man, by his own precepts, adds his own gestures, rites and ceremonies to worship, it becomes vain and does not reach its intended purpose.
As a matter of fact, when man worships according to his own standards, there is another reaction from God that worship was never intended to elicit from God. In Isaiah 1:11-15, God points out what “wrong worship” elicits from God. The error of their worship on this occasion sprang from the immoral conduct of their lives. You see, part of the equation of worship is the acceptance of both the gift and the giver. The giver must be righteous before God. That is not required by the doctrinal teaching of many today.
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Table of Contents
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