From Empty Religion To Reverent Worship || Carlos Velez || May 17, 2026

So, if you have a Bible, you can turn to

Ecclesiastes chapter 5. We're going to

Ecclesiastes 5 · chapter mention

be starting at verse 1. If you don't

have a Bible, uh you can take one of the

Bibles here uh in Saraton in Quakertown.

We have them in the back. Uh if you have

a Bible from here, it's on page 457. If

you don't own one, take it home. We

believe the Bible is filled with

life-changing truth. So, we want you to

have access to that truth.

Ecclesiastes 5, starting at verse one.

Guard your steps when you go to the

house of God. Go near to listen rather

than to offer the sacrifice of fools who

do not know what they do wrong. Do not

be quick with your mouth. Do not be

hasty in your heart to utter anything

before God. God is in heaven and you are

on earth. So let your words be few.

A dream comes when there are many cares

and many words mark the speech of a

fool. When you make a vow to God, do not

delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure

in fools in fools. fulfill your vow. It

is better not to make a vow than to make

one and not fulfill it. Do not let your

mouth lead you into sin. And do not

protest to the temple messenger, "My vow

was a mistake." Why destroy the work of

your hands? Much dreaming and many words

are meaningless. Therefore, fear God.

All right, here's the big idea for

today. The whole big idea for the whole

sermon wrapped in one sentence. Ready?

True worship listens, honors, and obeys.

All right, let's start that off. What we

need to understand is that worship

begins with listening.

Worship begins with listening.

What we need to understand is that the

teacher is telling us that the issue

isn't merely whether you show up or not.

Whether you show up or not is not merely

the issue. The issue the issue is how

you show up.

how you show up. What does verse one

say? Guard your steps when you go to the

house of God. Go near to listen rather

than to offer the sacrifice of fools who

do not know what they do wrong.

Guard your steps.

Guard your steps. This carries idea of

carefulness, intentionality, and

preparation.

The house of God in Ecclesiastes is

referring to the temple. Well, what it

is is the place of God's presence among

his people.

There's an intentionality when you go

into the house of God.

Again, he's not criticizing pagan

worship. What he is is he's warning

God's people about empty worship.

This is a warning about empty worship.

It is possible to be deeply religious.

deeply religious

and spiritually foolish.

It's possible to be deeply religious and

spiritually foolish.

We got to pay attention to the priority

in verse one. What is the priority? That

priority for worship is not speaking.

It's not performing. It's not even

offering sacrifice. What's the priority?

Listening.

The contrast in this for the teacher is

the fool. And he says that the fool

thinks that attendance equals worship or

activity equals devotion or ritual

equals obedience.

But what God desires what God desires is

receptive hearts. God desires receptive

hearts

much more than religious performance.

Worship is fundamentally responsive

before it's uh expressive.

God speaks first and we respond.

God speaks first

when we show up together. Do we come

with hearts that are desiring to listen

to what God is saying?

Because that's what worship is. Respond.

God speaks first and we respond.

And a church can become busy and

polished and active and still fail to

listen to God. And what you need to

understand is that is not the

description that we want of Calvary

Church. We want a church. We want to be

a church that intentionally and

diligently and humbly listens to God.

So the first thing we learn is that

worship begins with listening. And the

second thing we need to know is that

worship speaks with reverence. begins

with listening. We respond and worship

speaks with reverence. Okay, let's go to

verse two and three again.

Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not

be hasty in your heart to utter anything

before God. God is in heaven and you are

on earth. So let your words be few. A

dream comes when there are many cares

and many words mark the speech of a

fool.

Okay, this is the defining reality of

the whole passage.

Okay. Of the whole passage, this is the

defining reality. Ready? Here it is. God

is God. We are not.

God is God. We are not.

God is holy. God is all powerful. God is

eternal.

We are finite.

We are dependent.

And that reality should shape the way we

speak before God.

And and and and the thing is that we

have a problem at times. And the problem

is that we approach God with careless

hearts. We we talk too quickly and we

think too little. A and sometimes we

treat prayer like it's a performance,

right?

Or we treat prayer like it has to be a

script or a way to manage or manipulate

God.

That's not prayer.

There's a reverence

in our speech that needs to come out

before God. But but what's interesting

is that Jesus actually talks about this

as well. And what Jesus does, he unpacks

this in a very powerful and deep way.

Let's start taking a look at that. In

Matthew

6,

Jesus addresses these empty phrases and

this performative prayer. uh in Matthew

Matthew 6:5

6:5 he says, "And when you pray, do not

be like the hypocrites, for they love to

pray standing in the synagogues and on

the street corners to be seen by others.

Truly, I tell you, they have received

their reward in full. But when you pray,

go into your room, close the door, and

pray to your father who is unseen. Then

your father who sees what is done in

secret will reward you. And when you

pray, do not keep on babbling like

pagans, for they think they will be

heard because of their many words. Do

not be like them, for your father knows

what you need before you ask him.

When we pray,

do we understand who we're praying to?

Do we understand what we're doing? We

are talking to the all powerful holy

God.

Or do we treat prayer just as some

magical incantation or or or cheap set

of speeches that we do where we just

babble along. And

I've heard prayers at times where I'm

like, you don't talk that way. Why are

you praying that way?

We're just saying all these things

because we're actually putting on a

performance for each other rather than

talking to God.

And Jesus is warning about that. But

then he teaches us how to pray. He

teaches us how to pray. And what does he

say? This he says this. This then in

verse 9, this then is how you should

pray. Our father in heaven, hallowed be

your name.

Our father in heaven, hallowed be your

name.

What is he doing?

Jesus is acknowledging the holiness of

God that that God is in heaven. and we

are not that God is the creator that we

are the creature. He is acknowledging

that he's acknowledging the holiness of

God. But what does he also do?

He says

our father.

Actually the word is more like aba like

papa.

He says our father.

Through Jesus

reverence and intimacy come together.

That's the power of the way that we are

allowed to approach God reverently but

intimately

through Jesus. Reverence and intimacy

come together. And what we need to

understand is that grace doesn't lessen

reverence, it deepens it. Because

through Jesus, we now understand even

more clearly who this holy God is. And

through Jesus, we can approach this holy

God through relationship.

That's awesome.

It's awesome. That's the power of

prayer.

And so with worship, it begins with

listening and it speaks with reverence

and then it lives with integrity.

It lives with integrity.

Let's go back into Ecclesiastes

verse four. When you make a vow to God,

do not delay to fulfill it. He has no

pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow. It

is better not to make a vow than to make

one and not fulfill it. Do not let your

mouth lead you into sin. And do not

protest to the temple messenger. My vow

was a mistake. Why should God be angry

at what you say and destroy the work of

your hands?

Okay, here's what we need to understand.

In the ancient world,

in the ancient world, vows were serious

commitments. They were serious

commitments.

And at times vows were made before God.

These were serious commitments made

before God. And here was the problem.

The problem wasn't in the making of

vows.

The problem was that some people during

that time would make emotional promises

before God

without faithful obedience.

They would make emotional promises

without faithful obedience.

And what would happen is that crisis

would produce this passionate

commitment.

But as soon as the crisis was over and

as soon as comfort sneaked in, comfort

would expose shallow devotion.

There's these passionate statements of

commitment and there was shallow

devotion of follow through.

We do that today too. Right.

Right. We we say for God,

if you just do this,

I'll do this.

We'll do a little swap swap here, right?

You barter with God. If you do this,

I'll do. And then if the thing changes,

it's mid prayer. Like, wait up, hold up.

I didn't hit send yet.

There's passionate comm statements of

commitment and shallow devotion.

There's emotional commitments during

hardship and quick promises with little

followthrough.

And what's the teacher saying? He says

better not to vow at all.

Better not to make a vow at all than to

vow falsely.

Because what we need to understand is

that worship is not merely verbal.

It is a covenantal integrity before God.

The issue underneath these unfulfilled

vows is this divided allegiance.

Saying one thing before God while living

another way.

This is why worship is not reduced to a

Sunday morning event. True worship

shapes how we live after the gathering

ends.

And again, Jesus presses this even

deeper. If we go back into Matthew, but

chapter 5 and verse 33, he says, "Again,

you have heard what it was said to the

people long ago.

Do not break your oath, but fulfill the

to the Lord the vows you have made. But

I tell you, do not swear an oath at all,

either by heaven, for it is God's

throne, or by earth, for it is his

foottool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the

city of the great king. And do not swear

by your head, for you cannot make even

one hair white or black

or grow.

All you need to say is simply yes or no.

Anything beyond this comes from the evil

one. What What is he saying here?

What he's saying is that true worship

produces truthful people.

It produces truthful people. Not just in

what we say, but in how we live.

True worship should drive us to lives of

integrity,

lives of obedience.

And why is that important?

Why is all these things important of of

listening before God and speaking

reverently and living out lives?

of of of authenticity. Why is this all

important?

Because worship needs to flow from the

fear of God.

Right? What does it say in verse 7? It

says,

"Much dreaming and many words are

meaningless. Therefore, fear God."

Therefore, fear God.

This is the climax, the climax of the

passage.

and really anticipates the conclusion of

the entire book. We've read this verse

over and over throughout this series.

The conclusion of the book, Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 12:13

12:13, what does it say? Now, all has

been heard. Here's the conclusion of the

matter. Fear God and keep his

commandments, for this is the duty of

all mankind.

Fear God.

What does that mean?

What does fearing God mean?

The fear of God is not panic or dread

for the believer. It is reverence. It is

awe.

It is living humbly.

It is living with joyful seriness

seriousness before a holy God. We were

talking about this this week uh during

the preaching team meeting and uh Steve

Sour, shout out Steve over in

Quakertown.

Steve Sour said, "You know what it's

like? It's like The Lion the Witch in

the Wardrobe, The Chronicles of Narnia."

If you never read the book or seen the

movie, you should. Um but it's a

fictional book written by CS Lewis. And

these four children end up in this

fantasy land, this this magical land

where animals talk and their centaurs

and all this sort and the and it's an

allegory. And there's a character named

Alan who is a lion and Alan represents

Jesus. He is a he's the god

representation in this book.

And so the the four children are talking

to beavers. I'm realizing if you've

never read this book,

what I must sound like right now. But

they're talking to beavers and and one

of them says as they hear that he's a

lion, they say this. One of them says,

"I'm I'm a little afraid of meeting a

lion. Is he safe?"

And the beaver makes this reply.

Safe?

Who said anything about safe?

Of course he's not safe.

But he's good.

Sometimes we grasp the good part of God,

but we forget how unsafe God is, how

powerful he is,

how holy he is.

But he's good.

He's good.

A life ordered around the reality

of the fear of God is a life ordered

around the reality that God is holy,

that God is real, that God sees, that

God judges, that God is what matters

most in our lives.

You see, the deeper problem beneath

empty worship is not bad habits.

is that we do not naturally fear God.

We often want God's gifts without God

himself.

We often want religious comfort without

repentance.

We often want spiritual benefits without

surrender.

And Ecclesiastes exposes that tendency

in our hearts.

And so the question is if that's our

tendency, if that's if that is our

broken hearts, how are we actually able

to engage in true worship? Like are we

supposed to muster up some courage or

muster up some extra faith to do this?

How are we to do this?

Because ecclesiastically leaves us

exposed.

Who who can actually worship like this?

Who listens perfectly? Who speaks

perfectly? Who lives with perfect

integrity before God? Who does that?

Well, not me.

Certainly not Charles,

not you,

not any of us. So, how do we have access

to this worship?

The final thing that we need to

understand as we look at this passage is

this. Jesus makes true worship possible.

Jesus makes true worship possible.

Who listens perfectly? Who speaks

perfectly? Who lives with perfect

integrity before God? Not any of us.

But Jesus did.

Jesus did.

You see, the temple,

the house of God, was meant to be a

place where sinful people met with a

holy God.

And what we see in Ecclesiastes is

something that we see echoed through the

prophets and echoed through the Old

Testament over and over again. Israel's

worship became repeatedly corrupt.

It became mechanical. It became empty.

And then the prophets repeatedly

condemned this false worship.

But then Jesus arrived. But then Jesus

arrived and everything changed.

And in a conversation about the Sabbath

in Matthew 12, Jesus says a profound

truth speaking of himself. He says this,

"I tell you that something greater than

the temple is here." And what he's

referring to is himself. What we need to

understand is that Jesus is the true

worshipper. Jesus is the true temple.

Jesus is the true sacrifice. Jesus is

the true high priest. He perfectly

feared the father. He perfectly

listened. He perfectly obeyed. And at

the cross, the perfectly faithful

worshipper was treated as the covenant

breaker.

Why?

So that foolish worshippers like me and

like you could be given intimate access

to God.

Because of Jesus, we do not approach God

trying to earn acceptance. We approach

because we are already accepted through

Jesus.

And now united in Christ, we can truly

listen. We can truly pray. We can truly

obey and truly worship. Not perfectly.

Not yet.

But through grace genuinely.

genuinely.

So what do we do with all that?

Don't play games with God.

Don't play games with God. Come to him

with listening hearts, reverent words,

and lives of integrity. And come with

confidence because God does not make

because grace does not make God less

holy. Grace reveals how holy he truly

is. But grace also brings about a true

joy because through Jesus the true

worshipper

we are welcomed into the presence of

God.

So come before God with listening hearts

with reverent words and lives of

integrity knowing that we have access

to actually live out worship according

to the words of Jesus. Our father who

art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Yes, reverently before this holy God,

but intimately before Abba, our papa,

our father. Let's pray. Father, we love

you.

Father, I ask you for forgiveness for

the many times that I do not approach

you correctly.

It happens way too often.

My mind is racing over different things

that I put above you in my urgency of

life. And so my priorities are all mixed

up. And I'm sorry for that.

God, I ask you that you would allow your

Holy Spirit to stir inside of my heart,

a reverence for you

and an intimate desire for you.

That my words will not be empty, my

worship not empty,

but that it would be true, a response to

your love and to your grace.

And Lord, I pray that for all of us

today as well.

We pray this securely

and gratefully in the name of Jesus.

Amen.