Lip Service
15 Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, 2 “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 4 For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ 6 In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
“Lip service.” We are experts at this. We say, “Agreed!”
Then, we do nothing. We speak empty words without intent.
Actions speak louder than words. With lip service-it’s just words.
Lip service is harmful and destructive in every human relationship.
It is ruinous in our relationship with eternal almighty God.
Another name for lip service? Hypocrisy…duplicity, falseness. We loath it.
Is it possible to look religious, Godly, and serve self?
It happened to religious teachers and leaders, blinded by tradition.
We are no different, good at lip service, consistent hypocrites.
Hypocrisy’s cure-this-ask forgiveness. Resist hypocrisy, call on Jesus.