About Formalism In Worship.

ABOUT FORMALISM IN WORSHIP.

Psalm 50:7-15.

Taken as a whole, the content of this Psalm appears as a court case, with El Elohim Yahweh, “the Mighty God the LORD” (cf. Psalm 50:1) presiding as Judge (cf. Psalm 50:6) - and God’s covenant people in the dock (cf. Psalm 50:5).

Here the accused are addressed as “Israel”, and are reassured that they are dealing with (literally) “I, God your God” (Psalm 50:7). It is not that God was against the sacrifices altogether (Psalm 50:8) - after all, He had commanded them, and they pointed forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus (cf. Hebrews 10:4-10) - but He was refusing to accept their sacrifices (Psalm 50:9) as long as they were offered as bribes, or as long as people imagined that He benefited from them (Psalm 50:10-13). This is like church people imagining that their attendance at church earns them credits with God, or that their sacrificial giving is somehow them helping God!

Animal sacrifices were never meant to be an end in themselves. Rather, “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High” (Psalm 50:14). The fault was not with the sacrifices offered, the visible, but with the inner heart of the offerors. It is not good when our worship is nothing more than a formality, rather than an engagement with the One whom we are supposedly worshipping.

One token of trust in the LORD is that we “call upon” Him “in the day of trouble” (Psalm 50:15). That too is a sacrifice - when we are willing to lay aside self: self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and to rest upon Him. Such trust is rewarded with deliverance. And we "glorify" Him.

We hear the gentle voice of Jesus saying, ‘thy faith hath saved thee’ (cf. Luke 18:42). And we “glorify” our great and gracious God, who ‘has done all things well’ (cf. Mark 7:37).