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Heart, Not Formula

If you were to take a casual and beautiful drive along Highway 88 into the Sierra Nevada Mountains of eastern California, you'd pass through a little town called Pine Grove. In Pine Grove, there's a drive-in restaurant. Around the restaurant are several hand-lettered signs, written for the benefit of potential customers. Here's what some of them say:

Do not back in
Restrooms are for customer use only
(On a trashcan) Not for diaper disposal or auto trash
Local checks for amount of purchase only
Vanilla frosties only dipped one size only
Please order by number
Observe all signs.
And then, this one, which quotes Romans 10:4 for customers: "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

Three things strike me about that assortment of signs: (1) That's a lot of signs for a little drive-in in a little town; (2) It's unusual to include any verse of scripture in such a mix and in such a setting; and (3) What an ironic verse to choose - after displaying 7 laws for customers to observe, they post a verse that says 'Christ is the end of the law.' It sounds as if He's the beginning of the law, and the drive-in restaurant has a few more laws to add to the list!

Well, today as we get back to the basics of how God wants us to live, we're going to see a dimension of lifestyle worship that is a challenging change to lists of laws for us to observe.

In recent messages, you and I took a look at the first of five features of lifestyle worship: Distinction #1 is that 'lifestyle worship is simple, not easy.' As we continue today, let's focus our attention on another important distinction of living the way God wants us to live. Distinction #2 is this: Lifestyle worship welcomes heart, not formula.

Not long ago, we saw the way Mary, Martha's sister in Luke chapter 10, worshiped God by loving Him. Then we saw the way Hannah, mother of the prophet and judge Samuel, worshiped God by abiding in Him. Neither Mary's expressions of love nor Hannah's expression of abiding show any sign of time-encrusted ritual. Their brand of worship was a gut-level - that is, a heart-level - conviction of what to do. There were no formulas developed that we saw expressed in their worship! Why not? The best answer to that question is this: Lifestyle worship welcomes heart, not formula.

We see a dramatic example of formula-driven worship and heart-driven worship in Genesis 4, verses 2-5. Here, God recounts the story of two offerings made to Him by the sons of Adam and Eve. Abel, the rancher in the family, "brought fat portions from...the firstborn of his flock" to the Lord as a sacrifice. Cain, the farmer in the family, "brought some of the fruits of the soil" to God.

God responded to Abel's sacrifice with favor, but the offering of Cain was unacceptable. Why? Was it because Abel offered animal life, whereas Cain offered plant life?

Hebrews 11:4 points to the distinction: "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks."

Hebrews 11 tells us that the significant difference was not in their formula, but in their heart. Cain fulfilled the formality of making an offering, much as we may fulfill the formality of going to church or donating money to the church, but he did so without faith. His offering, naturally then, was devoid of thought, devoid of care and devoid of heart. He simply complied because it was expected; he did it because it looked good to his family.

God was not fooled; He saw Cain's unworshiping heart, and rejected Cain's superficial offering. My paraphrase of Genesis 4, verses 5-7 is something like this: God rebuked Cain, saying, "This is lukewarm at best, I don't like it, I don't accept it and you are headed for trouble unless your heart changes."

In contrast, Abel brought generous, choice portions of his ranch to God. Drawing these portions from the firstborn of his flock indicated his recognition that all fruit of the flock comes from the Father; it all belongs to God.

God saw Abel's heart, too. Abel's offering expressed his worship of the Almighty One. It was his way of saying, "I love you!" to Jehovah. And God said, "I love you too, Abel."

In Isaiah 29:13, God makes clear what is-and is not- important to Him: "the LORD said: 'These people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.'"

My listening friend, could it be that you are still making rules the focus of your spiritual and daily walk, rather than considering your 'heart condition'?

Distinction #2 is this: Lifestyle worship welcomes heart, not formula.