Perfected Praise

“Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise.” – Matthew 21:16

We are the redeemed children of God! It only seems natural for us to come before the Lord in such great humility and reverence. So often though, it seems that our flesh has in mind for us to worship Him not in spirit and in truth, but in pride and in superficiality. “The tongue is a fire,” reminds James (3:6). God spoke through Ezekiel about the people of Judah saying, “for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain” (Ezekiel 33:31). John called those who profess to love God and yet hate their brother liars (1 John 4:20).

Pride is such a divisive state of mind. It twists our own understanding and comprehension of reality such that we esteem ourselves as more than we really are. Consistently throughout Scripture, pride is the spiritual opposite of humility. Also, pride leads to destruction (Proverbs 11:2, 13:10, 16:18, 18:12), and humility leads to honor (Proverbs 3:34, 11:2, 15:33, 18:12, 29:23). In Galatians 5:20, selfish ambitions are listed as works of the flesh whereas gentleness or meekness is a fruit of the Spirit. In the wilderness, Satan tried to appeal to Jesus through pride. “All this authority I will give to you, and their glory” (Luke 4:6). He still appeals to us the very same way. We can have the same response as Jesus, remembering that our worship is not to be towards anyone but God alone. Pride is self exaltation. When we give in to pride, we dishonor the Lord.

The heart of God is broken when we come into His assembly out of a sense of obligation rather than in sincere desire to worship the almighty Creator of the universe. If we honor Him with our lips, but not with our lives, then Jesus says that our hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8). James gives us the ultimate remedy for such double-mindedness. “’God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded…Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:6-8,10).

God wants his own children to come to Him in all humility! When we are humbled as little children, then our mouths can produce perfected praise and honor to God, who alone is worthy of such praise!

True Worship

Who doesn’t want to live in the will of God for their life? In the fourth chapter of John, Jesus reveals the kind of worshipers whom God is seeking. So how do we worship God in spirit and truth?

The answer to this question ties in with Hebrews 13:16 where the author, after urging believers to offer the sacrifice of praise to God, reminds us to “not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” James wrote that “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).

Through the prophet Hosea, God said, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). Matthew records Jesus’ use of this verse twice when responding to questions from the Pharisees (Matthew 9:13, 12:7). The Pharisees were some of the outwardly most pious men ever to walk the face of the earth. But their righteousness was simply a veneer to cover up their own iniquities. They did all of the right things to be righteous by the standards of the law but, as Paul wrote to the Romans, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

Don’t be as the congregation of Jerusalem, of whom God said, “these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts from Me” (Isaiah 29:13). “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him,” (2 Chronicles 16:9). We should be making our very best effort to please Him in everything that we do so that He will show Himself strong on our behalf!

Words of the Pure

The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD,
But the words of the pure are pleasant.
Proverbs 15:26

Some translations say “pure words” are pleasant. Regardless of your view on that, the question that remains is how do we become pure and speak pure words? In Philippians 4:8, Paul urges us to meditate (NKJV), dwell (NASB), take into account and fix our eyes on (Amp.) these things. Clearly that’s a good start.

How do attain purity?
First Peter gives us some keys. “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:22,23). Malachi foretold that God would purify his people as a refiner does silver and gold (Malachi 3:3).

Sometimes this refining process isn’t easy to handle. Asaph wrote Psalm 79 while Israel was undergoing such a refining process. Attaining purity isn’t always going to be easy, but it will always be beneficial. Going back to the Proverb, I know that I don’t want God to detest what I say, but I want Him to be pleased by me! When I finally meet Him, I want to hear Him say “well done.” Do I slip? Of course I do! Am I tempted? Absolutely. But I look to the words James wrote in James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” James also gives us some insight a few verses later as to how to avoid temptation. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15)

Jesus told His disciples the same thing the night before His death. “Watch and pray,” He said, “lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Romans 8:1-4 underscores this entire idea. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ our Lord, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” In verse 9, he continues by clarifying that we are in the Spirit and not the flesh if the Spirit of the Lord dwells within us. We live in the flesh but we are free from the flesh. We have been set from the law of sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life. As a result of living in the flesh and in a fallen world, we are still tempted when we lose our focus (Hebrews 12:3).

How do we please God?
By being pure. To be pure, we must be refined. In that refining process, we may lose focus and be tempted, but God is faithful and will never leave us or forsake us. (Joshua 1:5) To avoid temptation, we need to crawl back into His love and continue seeking Him more and more. By doing that, we begin to walk in the Spirit, which leads to a changed life and the purification and righteousness that is found only in our Lord Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 9:22; Romans 5:17)