“He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed (worshipped) an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations (Isaiah 66:3). Devotions, whether corporate (church going), family or private, have no meaning apart from Christ; everything apart from Him religiously practiced is but religious vanity. So much of our religious exercise is religiously forced and therefore unacceptable to the Holy God, who must be worshipped “in spirit and truth.” The place and the form must have Christ as its Mediator and the Spirit as its Motivator. Religionists are those who know nothing at all about the new birth or what it is to be justified by faith; but they never say the name of Jesus without bowing their heads most reverently. They are those who always take care that the church should be built so as to be a goodly edifice, in order that the people going there may see the glory of God in the glory of the edifice. They are the people who mark every red letter day, who take care that every prescribed form and method is attended to, who think that giving at Christmas is a most heavenly thing, and putting flowers on the altar is almost equal to the Lily of the Valley. They think it necessary to keep Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Because the inner life is gone, they have to be extremely particular that they observe the outward form of it. Many, with their religious observance, had just as well to ‘hang up old horseshoes,’ (as once it was superstitiously practiced), as to put up their prayers and bible readings, which are so many relics. These things are matters without meaning when Christ is missing. “For thus says the High and Lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15). There are some who, if they are orthodox in their opinions and precise in their outward practice, are content to be utterly destitute of the power of religion. There are many self-righteous persons, who have not any religion at all, but who are the most precise people in all the world to contend for the outward form of it. They will have everything strictly observed. Their whole salvation seems to depend upon the rightness of the form. One might as much trust in the simple ordinance of immersion and breaking of bread, as another may trust in the High Mass and the prayers of priests. Take heed if you are relying on your ceremonies. The truth is that the more zeal for external ceremonies evidences no power of vital godliness within.
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