What Cardboard Cutouts Cannot Do

Some Major League Baseball fans are 'attending' games right now by having cardboard cutouts of themselves placed in the stands. They pay anywhere between $50 and $300 for their life-sized photos to be seated in a MLB stadium. But did you know that 'cardboard cutouts' actually began at church during the early weeks of the Covid-19 restrictions? Pastors came up with the idea so they could 'see' their church members sitting out there. Well...let's talk about cardboard cutouts at church. I've thought about what cardboard cutouts cannot do.

Cardboard cutouts can attend a worship service but cannot engage in worship. They can smile, but they can't possess joy. They can lift their hands, but they cannot praise God. They can be 'dressed' for church but cannot put on the whole armor of Christ. They can pack a pew, but they could never fill God's house with singing. They might sit until the service is over, yet they'll not absorb a single word of truth. And they can exit the building without applying anything that was said.

Isaiah the prophet never could've imagined any such thing as a cardboard cutout sitting in the temple. But the Lord gave him a picture of false worship, having the same impact as fake folk in the pews: "these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, But they have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandments of men." (Isaiah 29:13)

Jesus gave an even stronger picture of "cardboard cutout" worship when He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness." (Matthew 23:27)

Smiling, looking "fine" on the outside, but no heart for worship! All washed up and scrubbed outwardly but dead and unclean within! CARDBOARD CHURCH-GOERS!

Now during a pandemic, there's nothing in the world wrong with cutting out some cardboard images of would-be attenders at church...or a ball game. It's a novel idea, and could give at least a semblance of people who might've attended were it not for the restrictions put on them by 'contentious Covid.'

But when it comes to worship, I'm reminded of what Jesus said to the woman at the well: "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)

I don't want to preach to cardboard cutouts, and I don't want to be one when I come to church! C.S. Lewis said, "The prayer preceding all prayers is, 'May it be the real I who speaks, and may it be the real Thou that I speak to.'" Real worship of a real God by real people: that is worshiping in spirit and truth.

A friend in seminary days told about wanting to buy a diamond ring for his fiancé. But like most of us back then, he was pretty much broke. Diamonds were expensive. One night he heard a radio ad for "a genuine, simulated diamond ring, for only $9.98!" He wrote down the address, put ten dollars in an envelope, and headed for the mailbox. But as he closed the door, he heard the announcer repeat, "That's right! A genuine, SIMULATED diamond ring for only nine dollars and ninety-eight cents!" My friend thought, "Wait a minute! What does that mean--'simulated?'" He grabbed a dictionary and read: "Simulated: a cheap imitation of the real thing." He stopped, ripped opened the envelope and put the the ten bucks back in his wallet, saying to himself, "That girl that I love is too wonderful to offer a cheap imitation of the real thing!"

I like my colleague's story because it reminds me that our crucified, risen Savior is TOO WONDERFUL TO GIVE A CHEAP IMITATION OF THE REAL THING. May none of us settle for 'cardboard cutout worship' either. We have a real, wonderful, LIVING Lord, who is worthy of real, wonderful, LIVING worship; may we worship Him in spirit and truth!