In the Gospels, Jesus is constantly comparing the way his disciples act with the Gentiles. When you pray, do not pray as the Gentiles. When you seek after goods, do not seek them like the Gentiles. When you use language, don’t heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles. Jesus is arguing for a distinct way of being human; a distinct way of living. “Don’t be like unredeemed, uncovenanted humans, they live for their own glory, not mine,” Jesus says. They are not united to me. They do not possess my Spirit. In life, we are to act distinctly Christ-like. And where there are inconsistencies, we seek to come before God and confess them.
As we come to worship this morning, we come distinctly Christian, not as the unbeliever who worships created things, but as new humans who worship Father, Son, and Spirit. Let us come and worship sincerely and Christianly, for God expects such worship from his chosen people.
