Lip Service

 These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me." Matthew 15:8....."We want to be rescued, not bothered. Comforted, not disrupted. Soothed, but not disturbed." Mark Buchanan

Someone said that the real desire of most believers, conscious or not, is that God would change all the unwanted circumstances around us while leaving us unchanged. That's what makes Matthew 15:8 so uncomfortably real to us. Many of us have hung around the church for so long that we've become masters at honoring Him with words but dishonoring Him with our lives. We've proved in too many instances the truth of Buchanan's statement. We want Him to deal with all our problems, but we don't ever want Him to tell us that we ourselves are the real problem.

A popular phrase is "lip service." The one who gives lip service to someone or something is the one who admits the truth about the person or matter, but doesn't allow that truth to impact their lives in any meaningful way. Where are we giving Him "lip service" in our "walk" with Him? Where are you? Where am I? On what subjects, in what relationships, in what desires, attitudes, levels of obedience, are we only giving Him lip service, but following our own interests? Our own agenda?

The other day, in response to my last writing about pressing on, a fellow pastor that I've known for four decades responded, asking if perhaps most believers are only interested in being in the proximity of Jesus. That they've allowed so many "thorns" to develop in their lives as to render them unfruitful, "and in danger of being cut off." He speaks truth, and warning. God will never accept lip service worship, half-hearted devotion, and pick and choose obedience. Yet too many who attend some form of worship service each week believe that they've fooled Him into accepting theirs. He never has, He never will, and He doesn't now.

Two terms that have been used over the last 50 plus years to describe the western church are "Cultural Christianity," and "Casual Christianity." Both describe basically the same person; one who gives mental assent to the claims of Christ, the truth of His Word, and all the spiritual realities associated with them, yet allows little or none of that to really influence their day to day living. God exists for them. He's exactly what Buchanan describes, a rescuer, comforter, and soother. He shows up when needed and the rest of the time leaves them alone. Can we be honest enough with ourselves and Him to have Him point where that's true of how we relate to Him? Where's the lip service lurking in our relationship with Him? Where are He and His ways a theory to us, not a reality?

Wherever we may be rendering Him lip service, there is but one response for us; repentance. Jesus never gave a place for a half-hearted disciple. I don't remember the source, but I have this hard truth written down in my journal. "When Jesus calls us to follow, someone has to leave. Either we leave everything, or Jesus will leave us." This collides with our view of the permissive, understanding Jesus, but it is the exact representation of the Christ of the Bible. He has no lip service followers. How does that truth affect the manner in which we follow Him today?

Blessings,

Pastor O