One frustrating thing about fatherhood is not having more time with my daughter. While my wife is my sweetheart, my bride, and my true love, there is a special place in my heart for our little girl. It’s indescribable to those without children, and deeply understood to a parent, so there will be no attempts to shed light on this love. However, while time with my daughter is highly valued, oftentimes my mind is elsewhere when we are playing. I’ll realize that minutes have gone by, during which time my mind has been thinking about a new song we’re working on, a big decision, or what is on the agenda for the next day. Although she doesn’t understand yet that her dad is not present with her in mind and heart, it makes me feel awful upon snapping out of my daydreaming. Someday she will understand when I am not completely present, and what will that communicate to her? Surely not love, but a heartless obedience to the role of fatherhood. And that breaks my heart. It’s not that I don’t love her, but in those times, I’m not loving her.
The same is true of churchgoers. While we may think showing up and being there on Sundays is enough for God, it’s not. He’s no fool, and our heart cannot be hidden from him. This is the found in Genesis 4, the account of Cain and Abel. Both men had been blessed by God, and presumably had been taught to respond with an offering. Both men brought offering, but God’s response was not the same to the offerings…
“And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.”
- Genesis 4:4-5.
There is a place for obedience in worshiping God, but at the heart of sacrifice is the heart. God doesn’t need our offerings; in reality it’s not even “our” offerings! Everything belongs to God, and we are blessed as stewards. For us to come as Cain did, simply fulfilling a duty is insulting to God. As if we’re doing him a huge favor, giving up our precious time to be there! In addition, our tithes are not doing God a favor they’re his to begin with! Our tithes should come from a joyful obedience, the emphasis being on joy. From the faith of our hearts, given to us by God, comes joy. That joy is in realizing that through Jesus we have salvation and redemption when we deserve death and separation from a Holy God. “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” You may not be joyful when you hear that, and you’re not alone. Hearing the Good News doesn’t always bring me joy, but the fault of that lies in my heart – I’m not listening or have become too self-focused. Yet, when we’re not living in such prideful existence, the reality of the Cross is transforming! The unbelievable trade we receive should bring a joyful desire to give everything to God! But we are self-focused and don’t desire to give, because we don’t have joy, because we hear the message of grace and are not changed, because we are too self-focused. And round and round we go. I pray that God mercifully breaks us of this pattern.
The heart issue at the heart of sacrifice is perhaps the biggest problem in Western churches today, certainly at @V21Church. People do not sing, do not tithe, and do not pray because their hearts are elsewhere. They believe their greatest act of worship is the sacrifice of their time, and even with that comes a demand to be “fed”, or inspired. God is neither fooled or satisfied. When he examines our hearts he sees that the love he has poured out, leading to His Son’s death on the cross, is ultimately yawned at by us. Yeah, we’ll show up to church, we might even give some of our money, but our hearts are not in it. An empty sacrifice to the supreme act of love.
Matt Stevens is the Worship Pastor for Vintage21 Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Contact him via Twitter: @MattStevensNC