When a holy and perfect being like God uses the word hate, we should probably listen to what it is He hates and run the other direction.

God hates fakers and He hates hypocrisy.

We see it in Isaiah 1 with an Israel who is obedient in lip-service alone (which, for the record, doesn’t actually count as obedience). There is no sincerity in their worship, and God is frankly sick of it.

In fact, in verse 15 we see exactly how severe God’s response is: “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen;”

Yikes.

I think a very real danger of reading this is believing it’s about someone else. Perhaps you read it and someone immediately jumped into your mind. That person whom you know doesn’t live it out between Monday and Saturday, but on Sunday they walk in with hands held high illustrating each of Tim Hawkins’ worship poses with astonishing accuracy.

Pump the brakes.

Often when we read the Bible, we think it’s about someone else. It’s way easier that way. Reading it in that context helps us not feel as bad about ourselves. But it ultimately leads to horrible complacency.

So let’s take a step back and look at a few things and what we can learn.

The Church

Honestly, I worry about the Church a lot. Not specifically the congregation I attend, but the American church in general. I often wonder if have it a little too easy. We don’t really have to work for our community—there isn’t a lot of difficulty in gathering and we don’t experience an abundance of persecution.

At least, that was once true. But then the world shut down in March of 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic, and things changed.

I had some pretty cynical theories about how the church might react if our ability to meet was ever challenged, and I have been pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

A couple of months ago, I absolutely would have thought this passage was a prophetic indictment of the modern church. We meet on Sundays because we should, but give no real thought to the things of God during the week. And how soon before we grow apathetic about meeting on Sundays, too?

But the church has risen to the occasion, finding creative and incredible ways to meet using technology and still pursue relationship and growth—meeting together has been sorely missed.

Nobody likes to be wrong a lot, but it’s been great to be wrong this time.

That doesn’t mean we’re without fault, however. I think the danger is still very real that gathering for worship becomes a thing we do rather than an outpouring of our devotion.

If this passage is a litmus test of the modern church, I would say we’re in a pretty good spot. But don’t let that breed confidence and complacency where there can always be increasing intentionality.

War Against Recreational Christianity

The danger we must constantly battle against for ourselves is letting our faith become simply recreational. We have to pursue our relationship with Christ with everything in us—and more.

It’s far too easy to compartmentalize our faith. We worship when we’re supposed to, but the people we work with may not even know that we’re believers. The people who drive around us on the streets at rush hour definitely don’t know we’re believers. (Cut that road rage out, man)

Don’t allow yourself to grow complacent. Don’t find yourself moved during a powerful church service but then step into your daily life completely unaffected by what the Lord is doing. Though we’ve shown during these trying times that our faith is strong as a whole and the church is ready and willing to rise up to the occasion, I still think it’s far too common to see religious compartmentalization in individuals.

With the same hands we raise to God on Sundays, we do awful things during the week. With the same voice we sing worship songs, we say horrific things to our peers. God doesn’t stomach that sort of thing.

“I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” (verse 13)

So what is the cure?

Cleanliness and the Overflow

There are two steps to eliminating a fake faith.

The first is outlined in verse 16: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;”

So how do we do that? Humble ourselves before the Lord. Seek His heart. Ask Him to show you where you can do better. Psalm 139:23 is a great place to start: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” it’s a scary prayer, but it is always fruitful. The Lord loves a penitent heart. Next look to 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us your sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Finally, reach out with Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

Pursue cleanliness with God, and He will purify you. That’s a promise from Scripture.

Next, pour yourself into your relationship with Him. Spend as much time in prayer and in the Word as you possibly can—and then do more. Fill yourself up with the goodness His presence pours out, and then keep returning to that well. The idea is that as you fill yourself up beyond capacity with who He is, His very nature will overflow into every area of your life.

“Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” (Isaiah 1:17)

God presents this cleanliness and pursuit of goodness as the solution to recreational faith described earlier in the chapter. How does that apply to us?

The idea is that we come to the table of the Lord in community and for worship as an overflow of our personal relationship with Him.

Far too often we get that backwards. We treat church as a vaccine or a quick little energy shot to get us through the week until the next gathering. Our church services are good that way, but imagine with me, if you will, a service where everyone had the opposite aim.

What if everyone in that room was fully sold out for the Gospel and walked in each Sunday with a cup overflowing with God’s presence. What if we started each service with an overflow instead of a deficit?

Oh man.

What a world, right?

That’s what God is describing here as the solution to a lip-service Christianity.

Ask for the presence of God daily. Seek Him in the Word. Invite Him into your life in prayer.

Worship from the overflow, not a deficit.