What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? (Is 1:11–12)

The first chapter of Isaiah is striking in that a people “laden with iniquity” (Is 1:3) are revealed as regular worshipers who offered the prescribed offerings, regularly worshiped at the temple, assembled for the appointed feasts, and offered their prayers to the one true God. Yet, perhaps we should not be so surprised. This is one of the most common approaches in human history, precisely because man is by nature a religious being, and yet also sinful. Without a new heart, man tends to worship God (or gods) even while he continues in his evils.

We see this already in the very first generation after the fall. The very first “worshiper” of God in the Bible (and I use that term loosely here) is Cain. “In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering” (Gen 4:3–4). We are not told much about the reasons why God refused to accept Cain’s offering. There is debate about whether or not Cain’s failure to offer an animal like his brother, the animal sacrifice being demonstrated in God’s provision of skins for their parents earlier (Gen 3:21), was the source of the displeasure. However, it seems likely to me that at least part of God’s displeasure was with Cain’s heart. Whether or not we conclude that Cain’s sacrifice of the fruit of the ground was good as to its form or not, it is at least clear that the older brother worshiped God outwardly while sin was in his heart.

This general idea become more specific and serious once Israel is given the law which prescribes their worship. Psalm 50:7–9 states, “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.” And Samuel scolded Saul, saying, “Has 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 listen than the fat of rams” (1 Sa 15:22).

In contrast to this, the Lord Jesus’ worship was absolutely pure.

“When Christ came into the world,” the author of Hebrews writes, “he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.” When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’ He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb 10:5–10).

This week, as you worship God by assembling with the saints, reading your Bible, and offering prayers to God, make sure that you are are not just going through the motions. Vain worship is evil worship. What God desires are hearts that love Him and hands and feet that obey him. Ask yourself—do I really love the Lord? Is my worship the natural outflow of delight in who God is and thankfulness for his redemptive work in me? Do I enjoy worshiping God more than anything else I do?

May you be a wholehearted worshiper of God.