I’ve learned a lot in the last few years about the importance of the heart in the Christian life – that my motivation often matters to God as much or more than what I do. For example, I might go and help fix something at church for various reasons. Maybe I go because I was asked to and I’ll feel guilty or disappoint someone if I don’t. Or maybe I go because I believe it’s the right thing to do. Or perhaps I go wanting to help take care of the church because the church matters to God, and I want to express my gratitude and worship to God. My action might be the same in each case, but my motivations are very different. And my motivations determine whether my service is downright sinful, or simply an act of going through the “right” motions, or true worship which I really enjoy and which pleases God. Today, I want to look at why this is.

Before going any further, though, we need to avoid a common misunderstanding. While motivation matters a great deal, motivation isn’t all that matters. For example, in the 10 Commandments, God says, “You shall not murder”, and “You shall not commit adultery” (Ex. 20:13-14, NASB), indicating that murder, and sex outside the marriage relationship for which it was designed, are wrong. Motivation is not a factor; we don’t have to ask what someone’s motivation was in murder to know it was wrong. That might seem silly, but I’ve spoken with someone who believed their adultery was acceptable to God because it was motivated by love. The Bible doesn’t leave us room to think that way. Certain things are wrong, regardless of our motivation.

So, in talking about our motivation, I’m focusing mostly on the motivation behind optional “good” things we choose to do (freewill offerings to God, one might call them), and the motivation behind things we are commanded to do by God. These two categories are a bit different. For example, the Bible doesn’t tell us to serve our church in some specific way. We might decide, though, that we want to serve by helping in children’s ministry. That’s an optional thing. While the Bible is clear that we ought to use our gifts for the good of the church body, it’s up to us to work out how and where we want to do so. This is an optional thing, so it’s our choice what we do and how we do it. But not all obedience is optional. God commands us to obey our church leaders and submit to their authority (Heb. 13:17) except when doing so would mean disobeying God (Acts 5:29). So it’s not up to us to decide where and how we want to obey them – but our motivation also matters. We need to obey, but we also need to address our motivations to try and ensure they are right. That’s the common element in both areas: our motivation is critical. Doing “good” with wrong motives is really not doing good at all.

The principle: True worship comes from faith

Paul puts this strongly in Romans 14:23, “…whatever is not from faith is sin”. Here, Paul speaks about decisions believers might make about what to eat and what not to eat, and how important it is for each of us to act on our own convictions. But his far-reaching point turns us to our hearts: Is our motivation faith, trust in God, and gratitude to him? John Piper explains this way:

All human ‘virtue’ is depraved if it is not from a heart of love to the heavenly Father — even if the behavior conforms to biblical norms. In other words, even our “best” “good works” are sinful when our motivations are wrong.

As I consider this, a couple other verses and principles come to mind. Paul writes to the Corinthians, in the context of discussing financial gifts:

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

(2 Cor. 9:7, NASB). Here, Paul discusses an optional good thing; the members of the church get to decide how much they want to give. God values the heart, he says, not a specific amount of money. So, each person should decide and then act on their own convictions. It’s the heart behind an offering which makes it pleasing to God.

Jesus also brings up the issue of heart, or intention, in his conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4:7-26. The woman expresses her concern with where people will worship, but Jesus explains that with the coming of the savior, the location becomes unimportant:

But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

So God, Jesus tells her, seeks those who worship in the right way, not in the right place. In this, as in the 10th commandment and the Sermon on the Mount, God turns our focus away from externals to the heart. How is our heart towards God? Are we truly worshipping in a heartfelt manner? That’s the worship God seeks, not just external conformity to a set of standards.

Thus, we see that true obedience proceeds from faith, out of a right heart – a heart of worship. Our heart matters, whether we are doing as God commanded or offering optional service. Doing the “right” thing with a wrong heart offends God.

This doesn’t mean we should skip it when our motives aren’t right

If right motives are so important, we may be tempted to think that we shouldn’t do the right thing when our heart isn’t in it. That’s a major error, and sometimes it is easy to recognize. If I’m angry with someone, for example, I don’t find myself thinking that I should go ahead and murder them because I wouldn’t enjoy showing them love. But in other areas this idea can be more tempting. Perhaps I don’t feel like attending church – should I go even though my heart might not really be in it? Or should I skip it since going with a wrong attitude will still displease God? In this particular case, the Bible answers it for us – we ought not to give up meeting together (Heb. 10:25).

This idea grows more tempting when it comes to optional activities. I benefit from reading the Bible, and doing so is important for my Christian life, so I try to read almost daily. However, sometimes I realize I’m reading for wrong reasons – out of a sense of duty or because I’ll feel guilty if I don’t. Those are clearly wrong reasons, so should I give up reading the Bible when I don’t feel like it? I believe the answer is “no”.

In such cases, we need “both and” – both to go on doing what we ought, and to work to ensure our heart is the right place. Instead of skipping because our motives aren’t pure, we need to go on doing what we believe is right, while beginning to address our hearts. This may mean we need to remind ourselves why we had decided to do this in the first place. We also need to get back to the fundamentals: We’re not doing these things because they earn us something from God, but because of what God has done for us in Christ.

The New Testament epistles typically follow a common basic structure, beginning with fundamental truths about the gospel and what God has done for us in Christ, then proceeding to address what that should mean for our lives and how we ought to live it out. We need this same structure in our lives; we must put Christ first, then live out our faith. If we find our heart is not in the right place, rather than ceasing to do what’s right, we need to get back to those truths. We need to get a clearer hold on God’s love for us and his work through Christ on our behalf, and then to be spurred on to love and good deeds out of gratitude.

Let’s do right from the heart

So, then, God cares about what we do, but he also cares deeply about why we do it, because he wants our love and worship, not just outward conformity. Let’s not be Pharisees who try to fix the outside without addressing the heart, but neither let us be emotion-driven marshmallows who wait until we feel the right way before we take any action. Let’s recognize what God calls us to do, and begin doing it, while at the same time checking and repenting of any wrong motives. Thus even our less-than-perfect obedience will spur growth in our gratitude for Christ and his work.

This is the first in a series on offering service from a right heart. In this post, Part 1, I’ve tried to lay out some of the key ideas. In my second post on worship I get more practical and explain how this has made a major difference in my life.