August 2026: Worship Unmasked

Published on 08/01/2026 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

What is one thing that repels unbelievers from the Christian faith?

It is the hypocrisy of some professing Christians. Because it is like yeast that permeates and causes widespread damage, hypocrisy is something Jesus regularly confronted. As we saw, he already challenged people regarding charity and prayers, and next, he exposes it in regard to fasting.

The word "hypocrite" has an interesting origin. It is derived from the ancient Greek word "hypokrites," which means "stage actor." A literal translation is "an interpreter from underneath." In those days, Greek actors wore masks, hence this word implies that the actor spoke from underneath the mask.

As Christians, we should not wear masks, pretending to be who we are not and speaking from behind a facade. We may fool people for a while, but often enough, our hypocrisy will become apparent and turn people away from the Christian faith and dishonor God. Let us take heed to the exhortations of our Lord to live as people of genuine faith so we can draw others to our God instead.

The Prerequisite of Forgiveness

"Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us." (Luke 11:4, WEB)

After teaching his disciples the model prayer, Jesus stressed the importance of forgiving other people when he said, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15)

Divine forgiveness of our sins hinges on our forgiveness of other people's sins against us. Think about it: is it right for us to refuse a repentant friend who asks for our forgiveness while we ourselves have sought and received God's forgiveness? To receive divine forgiveness for ourselves while withholding our forgiveness from others is operating on a double standard. To think we have a right to divine forgiveness but others don't even have a right to ours is arrogance. It is acting as though we are more deserving of forgiveness, even divine forgiveness, than others.

Our sins against God are greater than any sins other people commit against us. If even God forgives us, why should we not forgive others? It's the meek who will inherit the Earth and the merciful who will obtain divine mercy. If we fail to show mercy, we won't be forgiven to enter God's Kingdom.

Consider this: think of how many times on average you sin in a day. A sin can be any kind of sinful thought, sinful speech (even a small lie), or doing what you are not supposed to or not doing what you should do. Even if you sinned just once in a day, that would still add up to 365 sins in a year.

Every time we sin, that is a deep betrayal against God. God loves us so much that He even had His only Son die for us and go through innocent suffering when we were His enemies. So to sin after God did all that is the worst betrayal ever committed. Yet we betray God regularly. Still, whenever we confess our sins and seek His forgiveness, He forgives us.

When we fail to forgive someone, it means that we do not truly understand or appreciate the extent of how we ourselves have been forgiven by God.

Fasting Without a Facade

Concerning fasting, Jesus said, "Moreover when you fast, don't be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face; so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:16-18)

When we fast, we should not go around flaunting the fact that we are fasting, nor should we deliberately make ourselves appear to be fasting by putting on a long face. The purpose of fasting is to discipline our bodies and help our hearts draw closer to our Father in heaven. Fasting is an expression of repentance and humility. In the Bible, we read of people fasting to show their repentance.

Fasting is not to draw attention to ourselves and receive comments like, "You sure are pious or religious!" Fasting is also not meant to "make" God listen to us. In other words, it should not be done to manipulate God. He sees our hearts and knows whether we are doing something to "twist" His arm to get Him to do what we want. Fasting done with the wrong motive will not achieve God's will in our lives but will instead bring great displeasure to Him.

Fasting is denying ourselves of our most primitive need other than air, water and sleep. When we're fasting, we come to realize that we are creatures formed by God and dependent on food that He created and provided. We realize that ultimately, our source of reliance is God. This realization should give us a deeper appreciation for His provision and sustenance, motivating us to repent of our sins and obey Him. Knowing that we're finite creatures should humble us, and our humility should result in more obedience and surrender to God and His will, and this leads to fellowship with Him. Thus, fasting first affects our bodies and causes a chain reaction in our spirits to move them to align more with God's will. Obedience is an expression of our appreciation and love for Him, done in humility. We should understand that we're powerless without Him, so we are immensely indebted to Him and it's inexcusable for us to sin. Yahweh loves those who are humble because humility is the right attitude to have before the entirely holy God.

But to fast with the wrong motive--to gain the praise of man--destroys the purpose of fasting. Rather than being a humbling experience, fasting done with improper motives becomes an arrogant experience where we boast of our piety to receive honor from others. Such fasting draws attention to ourselves rather than to God.

Aligning Good Motives with Good Deeds

When we perform good deeds, our motive--the reason why we perform them--is more important than the works themselves. Good works done with the wrong motive may receive the praise of man, but will not receive the most valued praise: that of Yahweh God our Creator.

When you give to the poor, pray to God, and fast, what are your motives behind your actions? Do you seek glory from man, or approval from our Heavenly Father? Do you value the joy that good works bring to your spirit, or do you yearn for external rewards?

Worship of God that is not sincere or good works done to gain people's praise may fool people, but it will never fool God. Our Father sees right through our actions into our hearts.

Seeking the True Treasure

Jesus exhorted his disciples, "Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don't break through and steal." (Matthew 6:19-20)

Jesus' exhortation here is tied to his teaching regarding the proper motive for doing good deeds (Matthew 6:1-18). The hypocrites' aim was to receive the praise of man. This amounts to storing up treasures on Earth. Earthly treasures will decay. Jesus' disciples are not to do this. Rather, we are to seek the approval of God by doing good deeds with the proper motive. This amounts to storing up treasures in heaven. Heavenly treasures will never become corrupt. Divine favor will last forever, for instance.

We can and should apply Jesus' exhortation more broadly. We are not to store up earthly treasures such as big bank accounts, fancy cars, and fine clothing and put our trust in them, because such wealth can be stolen by thieves, destroyed by fire, or eaten by moths. Instead, we ought to store up treasures in heaven where no thief or moth could get to them. Our treasures in heaven will be rewards we receive for the righteous deeds we do on Earth with a pure heart. The best reward of all is an eternal fellowship with Yahweh and Jesus.

Where we store up our treasures--whether on Earth or in heaven--shows where we have put our hearts, "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21) Our activities show what our priorities are. If we focus on accumulating great wealth on Earth, then it means that our hearts are not with God but with ourselves. But if we consistently do righteous deeds with the right motive, then it means that our hearts are in heaven with God, that we have a heavenly outlook.

Where is your heart? What you focus on with all your energy, what you think about or worry about most, what you choose to do in your spare time, will tell you.


~*~ Q&A with Dr. Shirley ~*~

Question: What does worship entail?

Answer: There are two components to worship, and both are needed. They are 1) our righteous lifestyle and 2) our worship services.

Our lifestyle is extremely important to God. If we live in sin, God would hate our prayers, fasting, gifts, sacrifices, worship services, and so forth. So true worship of God, where we honor and please Him, is about living a life of obedience.

Note what God said to His people:

"What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me? I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don't delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.
When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies.
My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.
Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless.
Plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:11-17, WEB)

Jesus likewise condemned the religious leaders for their hypocrisy, saying, "You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.'" (Matthew 15:7-9)

In order for God to take delight in our worship services, prayers, and offerings, we need to obey Him and do His will, and that's by living by the Bible.

Regarding worship, Jesus said, "But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:23-24)

This means we must worship God sincerely from our hearts and spiritually by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible speaks of Christians gathering together with psalms, songs, teachings, and words of revelation as part of their worship service and fellowship with one another (1 Corinthians 14:26; Colossians 3:17). So acceptable worship services to God can and should include singing and teaching of His Word. Worship should involve every aspect of ourselves--our bodies, minds and spirits.

This kind of worship gathering can be done anywhere, anytime, with any number of Christians. The earliest Christians fellowshipped and worshipped in their own homes (Acts 2:42-47). We call these house churches, so it's not necessary to assign a particular building for worship.

Worship is all about honoring and praising God because He deserves our deepest adoration and devotion--nothing less. Not only has He blessed us with life but is also sustaining us, and even had His only Son die for us to give us eternal life.

When someone does something good for us, wouldn't we thank them? When we enjoy a good song, wouldn't we say, "What a nice song"? Our praise of something we enjoy completes our joy.

When God is our very life giver and sustainer, then how much more should we thank Him and praise Him and have others share in our joy?


~*~ Dr. Shirley's News Flash ~*~

I've released an e-study guide for the book of Genesis titled, "Study of Genesis of the Holy Scriptures: The Beginning of Sin and Dawn of Redemption." It is suitable for both personal and group study. Grab a copy for yourself or a friend at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXY6M18Z

Proceeds will go to Unite in Love to support our brethren.

Unite in Love - Hope and Healing for Families:
https://gofundme.com/f/uniteinlove37

Do you have Bible questions and want answers? Contact Dr. Shirley and she'll be happy to answer your questions by the grace of God.

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