God is all-knowing.  He cannot be fooled.  Of all people, we would think that His people would know this.  Evidently, such is not the case.  Listen to the words Isaiah spoke against the people of God in his day.

Isaiah 29:13 (ESV)
¹³  And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

Did these people believe they could fool God into thinking they were faithful by lip service?  It seems that way, but they were gravely mistaken.  If the words of Isaiah sound familiar to you, it is because Jesus quoted them around 700 years later, applying them to the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 15:7-9).  We see, then, that the people of God have a long history of deceiving themselves into thinking they could please God by mere words while their hearts were far from Him.  Jesus warns us not to fall into this trap.

Matthew 23:2-3 (ESV)
²  “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, ³  so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

Let us avoid following in the steps of the Pharisees.  Lip service does not help us, or anyone else, draw near to God.  James once warned about being hearers only and not doers (James 1:22).  We can add to that, being talkers only.  James later warned about having faith that is full of talk but lacking in action.

James 2:14-17 (ESV)
¹⁴  What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵  If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶  and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? ¹⁷  So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

The old saying, “talk is cheap” is true.  It does not cost anything to talk about our faith, but, while it may impress others at times, it does little for our relationship with God.  God wants to see our faith at work, which is the only kind of faith that saves.  Anything else is just lip service.

John also encourages us not to fall into the trap of lip service.  He wrote, “…let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).  Love is most often used as a verb in scripture.  It is an action word, and whether it is directed toward God or man, it can always be seen, not just heard.

Let us prove to God that our hearts are with Him.  We cannot do this by just talking about it.  Lip service just irritates our Creator.  We must live by our faith.  Jesus once cursed a fig tree and caused it to wither because it was all leaves and no fruit (Mark 11:12-14).  That aptly describes those guilty of mere lip service.  Make sure that your service to God consists of more than just talk.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.