In a recent podcast, John Piper, the former pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, addressed a question that he received. He was asked if raising hands in worship was potentially a way of showing off, the Christian Post reports.

The question was based on Jesus warning in Matthew 6, about people showing off their righteousness.

Jesus starts off by saying, “Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).

The Lord then cites examples of this including:

• People bragging about how much they have given to the poor (Matthew 6:2-4),
• Praying loudly in the synagogue and on the street corners to be seen by others (Matthew 6:5-6), and
• Putting on a sad face when they are fasting (Matthew 6:16-18).

Jesus suggests that they are hypocrites as they desire to receive honor from people, rather than God (Matthew 6:2).

The Lord called them hypocrites, because it was all fake. They were feigning a form of spirituality, while their hearts were far from God.

In the same sense, the person was wondering if raising hands in worship was also a way of people publicly showing off their spirituality.

Piper responded by saying the primary issue that Jesus was addressing in Matthew 6 was motivation.

Why were people giving, praying and fasting or even raising their hands in worship?

Were people giving money so others could see how generous they were? Were they raising their hands to show off how spiritual they were?

“The question is our motive, not first our action,” Piper said.

Certainly, raising hands in worship could potentially fall into Jesus’ condemnation of public displays.

But when you study the scriptures, raising hands was a common worship expression in both the Old and New Testaments.

Throughout the Psalms it was standard practice as it was incorporated into the new forms of worship associated with the Tabernacle of David.

David writes, “So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name,” (Psalm 63:4 NASV).

In Psalm 134:2, worshipers in the Tabernacle of David were exhorted to “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.“

But David goes a step further when he puts the raising of hands on the same level as the evening animal sacrifices. He writes, “May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The raising of my hands as the evening offering” (Psalm 141:2 NASV).

The Prophet Jeremiah encouraged the Jews to lift their hands in worship as an act of repentance. He writes, “Let’s examine and search out our ways, And let’s return to the Lord. We raise our heart and hands toward God in heaven” (Lamentations 3:40-41).

But notice how Jeremiah says that our heart and outward actions need to be aligned. They needed to first examine their hearts. In other words, don’t raise your hands as an act of repentance, when your heart hasn’t repented.

As we move into the New Testament, the worship tradition of lifting hands continued.

Paul writes, “Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger and dispute, (1 Timothy 2:8 NASV).

The Apostle was not exhorting people to lift their hands in worship. He was simply acknowledging that they were already doing this.

But he wanted to make sure that their hearts were aligned with their outward expression. Before lifting holy hands, you need to first make sure you have a holy heart.

Similar to Jesus, Paul was addressing heart issues. It was hypocritical to lift your hands to God as an outward display of your spirituality, when your heart was full of bitterness, anger and resentment to fellow worshipers.

For that matter, any public displays, such as simply standing to sing worship songs or even closing your eyes, could equally be considered hypocritical.

Like any other public expression, lifting hands in worship is ultimately a matter of the heart.