Hateful Worship

Pray

Creator God, help me to worship You as I should--with all of my life.

Read

Amos 5:18-27

^[18] Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. ^[19] As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. ^[20] Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? ^[21] I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. ^[22] Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. ^[23]Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. ^[24] But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. ^[25] Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? ^[26] But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. ^[27] Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts. 

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version, Public Domain

Meditate

Consider: "If worship is to be acceptable, there must be the intention of giving to the Lord the glory due his name. Drawing near to God with our lips but not with our lives offered in sacrificial obedience, is unacceptable to God" (Stephen Winward).

Think Further:

Amos's hearers longed for the "day of the Lord," when God would enter history to punish the wicked. That would mean destruction of their enemies and Israel would then become top nation. "You've got it wrong," says Amos. "God will punish his enemies, and that includes you because you've broken the covenant." He uses a brilliant cameo to say that there will be no way of escape (19).

To paraphase, God says, "And don't think you can talk me around by your enthusiastic worship and numerous sacrifices. I hate them and won't listen to your noisy songs (21-23). What I want is not Temple worship but justice and righteousness in your everyday life" (24). It is as if God said to us, "Close down your Sunday services and get out into the community and fight for justice and righteousness."

So, what is wrong with worship? The problem is that "worship," understood as what we do in church services, can become an end in itself, an idol. We think it is all that God wants and we ignore God's demands on the rest of our lives. In Israel "keeping the covenant" came to mean enthusiastic Temple worship while the moral life and the social justice it demanded was neglected. It is not that worship in church is wrong in itself, but that "worship" means giving God his due ("worthship") in the whole of our life. The moral and social laws in the covenant set out the framework of what that meant. Ignoring them made Temple worship meaningless and hateful to God. This is probably the point of verse 25, which can be translated, "Did you bring me only sacrifices and offerings for forty years in the desert?" Temple or church, worship was never meant to be the sum total, or even the main part, of worshiping God (1 Sam. 15:22; Isa. 1:10-17; Matt. 9:13; 12:7).

Apply

In the light of Amos's critique, take a look at how you, and the church you attend, understand and practice worship.

Pray

Lord, I know I sing and talk way beyond my heart devotion. Spirit of God, work with me until I am sincere before You and others.