LEARNING FROM THE BOOK OF AMOS Number 21 UNACCEPTABLE WORSHIP I hate and despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream! Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god – which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will send you into exile in Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty. Amos 5: 21-27 ----- THESE verses describe the religious activity and worship which God observed as the practice in Israel in the time of Amos. It is a fact that built into our human nature is a desire for worship of some kind. If there is no desire to worship a deity, then this desire for worship may express itself in different ways, but it is there as a compulsion. People who deny God still worship, perhaps an ideal, perhaps an ambition, or perhaps power, etc. Those who worship a deity, few actually give worship to the one and only God, described at the end of the verses we are considering as the Lord Almighty. Of these, as was the case in Israel in the time of Amos, that worship of the Lord Almighty was far from what it ought to have been. The relevance for us today is that the unacceptable worship in Israel has been repeated in one form or another all down the history of the church, and is very much in evidence today. For this reason how God viewed the worship of Israel is very much our concern today. In learning from this passage about what is unacceptable worship we have four points for our consideration. The first is Gods apprehension of the worship of Israel. The second is Gods attitude towards the worship in Israel. The third is Gods announcement concerning the worship in Israel. The fourth and last is Gods action in the light of the unacceptable worship in Israel. Let us look into these four points in turn. GODS APPREHENSION of the worship of Israel. By apprehension I mean what God saw concerning the worship, and how he evaluated it. When we consider anything in religion, the important thing is always to ask the question and search the answer as to what God thinks, and what God desires. This is where Israel failed. They had their religion handed down to them from the time of Moses. They were able, if they wanted to, to search out what God had said and directed in the time of Moses. It was like so much of human way in religion, which is not what God has laid down in his holy word that is studied and followed, but the wisdom of the church, or in the case of Israel in the time of Amos, the teaching of the religious leaders of their time. From this the pure worship of God becomes corrupted by human invention and practice, where the word of God is interpreted to fit human wisdom and perception, and to fit into the way of life that has become common in society of the time and in the religious tradition of the church. This fits in with fallen humanities wishes, and is the easy way forward because it brings no conflict with the world. In Israel this syndrome found its expression in the religious life of Israel. Outwardly, no doubt, they fulfilled well the sacrifices and practices of the law of Moses, but there was little if any consideration concerning the spirit in which that worship was made. God looked on their worship and saw it as a performance of a duty by which Israel felt they merited Gods favour and deserved Gods favour. God saw that there was little if any repentance of the heart for sins committed, or for the corruption within that caused sin to be committed. God saw also that in the midst of the outward practices, Israel had mixed in practices which had been derived from idol worship. God saw that though outwardly Israel appeared to worship Jehovah, in reality they worshipped foreign gods together with their worship of Jehovah, and so were profaning his holy name. It is a fact that fallen human nature looks at the outward performance of religion, and if this is more or less correct, then this is deemed as sufficient. However God looks within and he wants to see true love and obedience to him, and acknowledgement of him as the Lord Almighty, and the only true God who should and must be worshipped in sincerity from the heart. God did not see this in Israel, and he does not see it in much of the worship in churches today. What God expresses in verse 25 of our passage is the fact that Israel failed to worship him from the heart, and so bring acceptable sacrifices, even when they were travelling through the Sinai desert on their way to the promised land. It is a strange thing that fallen humanity seems always to raise up and worship idols in the place of the living God, as was the case in Israel as described in verse 26. GODS ATTITUDE to unacceptable worship. God makes very clear his attitude to the false worship of Israel, which is his permanent attitude to such worship. By Amos God expressed his attitude in the following way. God tells Israel he hates their unacceptable worship. This indicates that unacceptable worship is an offence in the eyes of God. He goes on in the following way. God says he cant stand the way Israel sought to worship him. God says he will not accept them, showing that whatever we may believe in our worship, if it is unacceptable to God then it is a waste of time, because he does not accept it – that is he does not hear the prayers that are offered or respond favourably, but instead turns away from it. There can be no blessing in such worship. God says he will not regard their worship, which means he turns away from it. There is a very salutary lesson to be learnt from this. It means that although churches hold services, and celebrate Holy Communion, God will not give his blessing, if that worship is contrary to his holy Word, and if it is offered without a true reverence for God, and desire to give him true worship according to that which is taught in the Bible. GODS ANNOUNCEMENT in the face of unacceptable worship. God makes an announcement in the passage before us concerning the unacceptable worship he observes in Israel. It is an announcement concerning what Israel should do in the light of the exposure by God of their unacceptable worship. We need to hear this announcement and act upon it, for unless we do God will withdraw further and further away from us, and the church will die. A very gloomy prognosis concerning the church in the UK has been recently made. It is as follows - the increasing age of congregations means the Church of England may cease to exist in two decades, according to a report at the General Synod in York. Revd Dr Patrick Richmond said that the average age of members is now 61, and in just ten years ‘some extrapolations’ show the Church may be ‘functionally extant.’ If this shows anything, it shows that the worship of the Church of England is not acceptable to the Lord, for the Holy Spirit is not adding to the church those who are being saved. The remedy is to hear the announcement of God here in Amos. It is an announcement that calls for reform. The reform must be in two directions. There must be reform of the worship of the church, see verse 23; and there must be reform of the lives of those who claim to be members of the church. These two cant be separated, each depend on the other. It is easy for us to say that the church today is nothing like the worship in Israel in the time of Amos. This is only true if we view the message of Amos superficially. We dont have idols as Israel had, but we do suffer from idolatry. We may not be unjust or extortioners like Israel is painted in verse 24, but nonetheless is the church living in godliness as God reveals he looks for in his holy word. False doctrine and practice constitutes idolatry because it denies the truth of God as God has revealed in the Bible, and so produces worship that is worshipping an image of God created by human wisdom and human perception. The trouble today is similar to the trouble in Israel. Amos preached to people so hardened in their own opinions, and so confident that their ways were right that they would not even accept the truth presented to them by God through Amos, and so were not willing even to accept any need for change. The trouble today is that the church, when examining the problems of the church today, does not search the Scriptures and seek to reform its life according to Gods word, but rather resorts to human wisdom and human action, if there is any movement for reform at all. It is not my brief to outline where reformation should take place, but it needs to be said that unless the church humbles itself before God, and accepts the fault for decline rests, not in God, but it the life and practice of the church, and the people who make up the membership of the church there can be no reformation The call for reform needs to be, not so much attacking specific perceived wrongs, but a call to turn in humility to preaching of the truths of Gods Word, for reform comes when people are reformed by the word of God, because then they call for true Biblical and godly worship. GODS ACTION toward unacceptable worship. If there is no reform, and no repentance for worship that is unacceptable to God, then God will act. Here again the Word of God clashes with modern church thought and attitude. The action of God against the unacceptable worship in Israel was action of judgement and punishment. The action is told specifically. God says he will cause Israel to carried off into exile beyond Damascus. In other words God would withdraw his protection and blessing on Israel, and allow Israel to die as a nation, and the population carried off into heathen realms away from God, and into the place where Satan reigned in idolatry. To leave no doubt about what would happen and how it would happen, God specifically says he will do it. The words are “I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.†Here is specific action of judgement and punishment on Israel which God says will come from him. Although the action in time was carried out by human agency and foreign power, God says that this would happen by his will and purpose, and so the alien power would be sent by him. So that there would be no doubt that it would happen, God reveals himself as the Lord Almighty. God is invincible, and his will none can oppose. This judgement happened. The ten tribes of Israel disappeared. It is no good for man in his wisdom to say the idea of God judging sin is untrue and not possible. The Bible reveals its truth in history. Unless the church reforms it will be judged. wordoflife.uk/amos/amos5/amos5_21-27-unacceptable-worship.htm
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 06:00:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015