God bless you as you turn you heart and mind to worship on this Day of our Lord.
What does it mean to be “sacrilegious”? The dictionary definition is: To be grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred. Other definitions focus on words like “blasphemous and profane”.
My question is whether our concern for what is sacrilegious is over what is offensive to ourselves or what is offensive to God.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, a troubled and misguided group to be sure, about their behavior regarding the Lord’s Supper. Gathering around the Lord’s Table to commune with each other and with Him in faithful remembrance would certainly seem to be something that needs to be done in the proper way and for the proper reasons. The Corinthians were using those moments to establish who was entitled and who was not, some gorging themselves with the bread and drink of the Lord’s table knowing that others would then have nothing. Paul said to them: What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. 1 Corinthians 11:22
Clearly, the Corinthian behavior towards the emblems of remembrance in the Lord’s Supper was inappropriate. It was sacrilegious, offensive to God. I believe that the Lord’s words recorded in Isaiah 29:13 tell us of the importance of doing things the right way, for the right reasons.
The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Are the behaviors described by the Lord in this verse sacrilegious? It would seem clear that the Lord sees them as offensive, so perhaps the use of such a word is not too strong.
As we worship today, let’s be very sure that our hearts are fully engaged, not merely our words. May our worship be in accordance with His instruction, not merely the traditions we have become accustomed to. May we never be at risk of accusation from the Lord that even in worship our hearts and minds offend Him rather than honoring Him and bringing Him glory.
Vern