Jesus spoke some of his strongest words of rebuke to the professional religious leaders of his day. He said:

“….For they preach, but do not practice.

“They do all their deeds to be seen by others….”. Matthew 23:3,5 ESV

He described them as hypocrites, pretenders, religious performers, who put on a show for others to see. They preached one thing but practiced another and whatever apparent good they did practice it was motivated by a desire to be seen by people rather than God.

Authentic worship aims to please God and be seen by Him in the secret place (Matthew 6:5-6). If one does not cultivate a private life of worship and prayer yet participates regularly in corporate worship then they will be more prone to this hypocrisy. And they should examine themselves, questioning their motives, to examine if their worship be genuine. The authentic worshipper is content to worship before an audience of One in the secret place. The authentic worshipper also has actions of obedience that accompany words of adoration.

The worship performer longs more for others to be present to be seen by them. To guard against merely performing worship for people we must cultivate a life in the secret place, where our Heavenly Father sees us, meets us and then rewards us openly.

Worship from the inside out not from the outside in must be our regular practice. Jesus said that True Worshippers worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). These worshippers are a contrast to the religious performers rebuked in Matthew 23. The True Worshippers are internally authentic, affectionate and accurate in knowing the ONE they worship.

The Gospel of Jesus frees us from worship performance that seeks approval from people. Through the Gospel of Grace we have God’s acceptance, favor and smile on our lives, on our good days and bad days. Because of Jesus and His finished work on the cross as basis of our righteousness & acceptance before God, we can be freed up from seeking approval and acceptance from people based on our performance. We enter into this righteousness by faith (Philippians 3:9).

Because we are accepted by grace through faith we can be freed from seeking honor from people in the strength of our flesh to prove we are righteous and godly. Or to prove we are genuine worshippers. God knows our hearts and we can come to Him with all our brokenness, guilt and sin to be cleansed by the blood of Christ. When we come

to God in worship on the basis of blood of Christ as our righteousness and cleansing (Hebrews 10:19), then our sacrifice of worship can be acceptable and pleasing to God.

The Apostle Paul described the lives of True Worshippers that have been freed up by the Gospel to worship authentically:

“For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—”. Philippians 3:3 ESV

May God lead us to grow in living our lives as these worshippers who worship by Spirit, who glory in Christ and who put no confidence in the flesh!