What Is Your Worship Worth?
Amos 5:21-27
One of the classic hymns of the faith is entitled “Worthy Of Worship”. This song proclaims that the Lord is worthy of worship, praise, honor, glory, offerings, reverence, fear, love, and devotion. There is no question that each of these statements is true. However, when offering these things to the Lord we must ensure that they are genuine.
Every week people attend churches all over the world. God’s people walk in the door with smiles on their faces, they fellowship with the brethren, they sing songs and hymns, they lift their hands, bow their heads and bend their knees. When the time comes they listen to the sermon, (some even take notes). During the time of invitation some kneel in an altar. People regularly pray prayers, read scriptures, give testimonies, and present offerings; tragically, in many instances these actions make God sick! Why is this? It is because as certain people go through the motions on the outside, on the inside they are filled with wickedness, iniquity, and idolatry.
Jesus speaks about this in His warning to the Church at Laodicea. He said in Revelation 3:15-16, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
There are numerous other scriptures that prove that God is more concerned with the inward condition of our heart than He is with our outward signs of religion. In Leviticus 26:27-28 the Lord said, “if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.” 1 Samuel 15:22 says that “obedience is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”
The Bible makes it clear that God desires and demands devotion, obedience, holiness, and righteousness. Amos records a time when the people of Israel observed feasts, ordinances, and ceremonies. They presented burnt offerings, meat offerings, peace offerings, and other sacrifices. However, there was a major problem, their worship had become mere meaningless rituals. The people were performing acts of worship instead of pursuing the Lord with their hearts.
In Amos chapter 5, God boldly confronts the sin of His people. He declares that He despises their actions and hates their religious festivals and observances. He proclaims that the sound of their praise makes Him angry and He is fed up with their idolatry! Ultimately, the Lord refused to accept their offerings, sacrifices, and heartless worship.
Scripture informs us that the Lord does not change, therefore, we must comprehend the reality that He still hates, despises, and rejects certain actions and attitudes among those who profess to belong to Him. God is worthy of genuine worship and praise and it is important for us to ensure that we are offering Him genuine, wholehearted worship. I would like for us to examine this passage and ask the question, “What Is Your Worship Worth?”
Many of you lived through what is referred to as the “worship wars”. Numerous congregations have been known to fight amongst themselves concerning whether to have a traditional, contemporary, or blended worship services. Many times in the modern church we tend to “major on the minor”. The reality is that God is much more concerned with the condition of your heart than He is the beat of the music. Our Lord expects His people to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. God wants true worship; in fact, He will not accept anything less!
Amos 5:21 records one of the boldest rebukes in the Word of God. The Lord was completely fed up with Israel. In describing His mindset He used the words "hate" and "despise". To despise means to feel contempt or intense disgust.
- As we examine this passage we will identify several attitudes and actions that God despises in the lives of His chosen people. Verse 21 shows us that:
GOD DESPISES MEANINGLESS CEREMONIES
God says, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.” It was the Lord who ordained certain feasts and sacrifices. This shows us that these observances had a purpose and a place. However, at this point in time those ceremonies had lost their true meaning; these observances had become mere traditions and meaningless rituals.
Though the people continued to go through the motions, God was not pleased with their actions. In fact, their form of worship made Him sick and angry. Furthermore, God makes it clear that He would not accept their meaningless formalities. He says, "I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.” Certain sacrifices and offerings were as a "sweet smelling savor to God". This means that they were pleasing and acceptable to Him. Now, God says "I will take no delight in the sacrifices that you offer me."
Israel's worship of God had become a mere formality. Rather than doing things out of reverence and love for the Lord, they did things out of habit and obligation. For many people in our day, attending church has become a "meaningless ceremony". There are people assembled here today simply out of habit. Others are here as a result of an obligation; you have Some simply out of habit. Others are here as a result of an obligation, you have a position in the church and you want to honor your word. Some are just here because you like to “see and be seen”. Others are in attendance because you don't want to disappoint a spouse, relative, or friend. People are here for a host of different reasons, but ultimately we should be here to worship and praise the Lord. If you are here for any other reason you are wasting your time. If you do not possess a genuine heart of worship, then what we do here on Sundays is nothing more than a meaningless ceremony.
Jesus confronted the church at Ephesus because she had "left her first love". Here in Amos God confronted Israel because they had left their first love. If you have left your first love God will confront you as well! If church has become a meaningless ceremony to you, then you must heed Jesus' Words in Revelation 2:5 and "Remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works". I encourage you to do whatever it takes to make things right because GOD DESPISES MEANINGLESS CEREMONIES.
- In verse 22 we learn the truth that:
GOD DESPISES TOKEN OFFERINGS
Israel offered burnt offerings each morning and night, but they did not offer them at the right place or in the right manner according to the Law. The biggest problem was that their offerings lacked faith and repentance. God also mentions their "peace offerings"; these were offerings presented to God for peace and prosperity. The Lord states that even though they bring the best and the fattest animals their offerings were rejected because their hearts remained full of sin. “Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them”(v22).
The Bible has much to say about giving to the Lord. It is a wonderful thing to be a faithful giver, but according to this passage you can give regularly and you can give generously and God may still reject your offering. Some give for the wrong reasons, they think that they can buy God's favor, it doesn't work that way. Another issue is that some give in the wrong manner; they may give on a regular basis, they may give cheerfully and generously, but their lives are not where they should be, their hearts are filled with sin and corruption.
It seems that some in Israel were going above and beyond what was required. They were giving God the best that they had to offer and He still refused to accept it. If your gift is gracious but your heart is impure, just keep your money because God is not going to bless the offering. The better course of actions would be for you to seek to be restored to a right relationship with your Heavenly Father and then present your offering. When this happens God will gladly receive what you seek to give to Him.
- God Despises Meaningless Ceremonies, He Despises Token Offerings and verse 23 tells us that:
GOD DESPISES INSINCERE PRAISE
“Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.”
As if there was any doubt, this verse makes it clear that God has had enough of the halfhearted praise of His people. He instructed them to stop their singing; He did not want to hear it anymore! Their songs, hymns, and even the melody of their instruments were nothing but noise to Him.
The Lord was not rebuking the quality of their performances; He was revealing the corruptness of their lives. This means that a choir can sound like the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and the instruments can rival the greatest orchestra in the country and God may still reject your praise. You can sing or play a beautiful song to the Lord yet He will not accept your praise based upon solely the way it sounds. No matter how beautiful the sound, God will turn a deaf ear if your heart is filled with sin.
It is not enough to simply participate in worship; we must prepare for worship. We must get our hearts right first, or God will despise and reject our praise. Can you honestly say that you are lifting up holy hands unto the Lord, or would you be honest enough to admit that your worship has become a mere formality? If things are not right between you and the Lord, you know it. I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to take the proper steps to make things right.
- As we examine verse 25 we will see the heart of the problem, and it was a problem of the heart. Notice that:
GOD DESPISES SHAMEFUL IDOLATRY
v25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves
Not only had Israel turned away from God, they went so far as to worship and serve false idols. Generation after generation offered sacrifices to manmade objects. God declares that the worship, sacrifices, offerings and devotion that belonged to Him had been offered to idols.
There are certain "idols" that creep into our lives. Though most of us would never bow and worship a statue or some other hand crafted “idol”, there are many things that can become idols in our lives. An idol is anything or anyone distracts us from praising, worshipping, serving and glorifying God. Your job can become an idol. Your material possessions can be idols. Possessions you don’t have but really want can become idols. Your spouse, children, and certain relationships can be idols. Family, friends, possessions, and your job are all good things when they are in their proper place, but when anything is elevated above God, it becomes an idol. Nancy Pearcey said, "An idol is anything we want more than God, anything we rely on more that God, anything we look to for greater fulfillment than God."
How many times does God come in second, third, and fourth place to other things in your life? So many people just push God to the side for the idols in their lives. Then, when they attempt to offer worship to God, He rejects it!
When Israel did offer God worship it was out of obligation, rather than love and adoration, as a result God despised and rejected their worship. The same will happen when there are things in our lives that take precedence over the Lord.
Closely tied to this shameful idolatry is the false devotion in the lives of those who profess to love the Lord. The last thing I would like for us to consider is the fact that:
GOD DESPISES FALSE DEVOTION
“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.”
The entire context of this passage describes the hypocrisy of God's people. The people had an outward show of love and devotion to the Lord but the wickedness that consumed their lives said otherwise. This same mindset is seen in churches all across the land today.
The Apostle Paul perfectly described the day and age in which we live:
2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
Warren Wiersbe said “The first step toward disobedience is often “reclassifying” sin and making it look acceptable instead of abominable.” Many of our so called "Christian brethren" are trying to water down the true gospel. As a result there is very little difference between those in the church and those in the world. Over time the terminology has evolved in so that people won’t be offended. Think about it for a moment what the Bible calls drunkenness the world has reclassified as "alcoholism". Homosexuality is now called an "alternative lifestyle" but the bible calls it an abomination. (An abomination is a thing that causes disgust. This means that the sin of homosexuality literally makes God sick.) What we used to call "shacking up" is now referred to as "cohabitating”. No matter what society calls is, the Bible calls is fornication! The world calls someone who steals a "kleptomaniac" but the Bible calls them a thief! The world will tell you that hatred is justified, but Jesus says that it is the equivalent of murder. The world will tell you that having "wandering eyes" is just human nature, but Jesus says that it is the same as adultery. These days drug abuse is out of control. People are consuming meth, cocaine, heroin, prescription pills and other drugs at an alarming rate.
I have a great deal of compassion for the drunkard, the addict, the adulterer and the homosexual. I am glad that forgiveness and restoration is available. What I am fed up with is people who profess to be born again followers of Christ who live these lifestyles of sin with not guilt, shame, or desire to repent! I wish that they would quit bringing shame and reproach on the name of Christ. My hope and prayer is that they would repent and believe in Jesus for salvation. You say, “I live that way but I know that I am saved”; may I remind you that the Bible says, “the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). Likewise 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Throughout the Gospels we see the amazing mercy, love, and compassion that Jesus extended towards lost sinners. However, we also see how He forcefully denounced the hypocrisy of those who claimed to be religious. Jesus called the Scribes and Pharisees fools, hypocrites, blind guides, whitewashed tombs, murderers, a brood of vipers and hypocrites. He will not tolerate your hypocrisy today any more than He did the hypocrisy of the Pharisees!
You may profess to belong to Christ, but Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments". Many of you recognize your sins but instead of turning from those sins, you choose to embrace them. Then you attempt to worship God. Our selected text here in Amos proves that God despises, rejects. and even hates what you are offering to Him.
Israel was not in love with God at all, their hearts desire was to follow after false gods. The Lord hated and despised their "form of religion". God did not want their sacrifices; in fact He rejected them. What He wanted was love, adoration, holiness, and obedience. He still desires these attributes from His people today.
If you spend your days following the lusts of the flesh, you cannot say that God is in His rightful place in your life. You may go through the motions, you may play the game, you may be regular in your attendance, you may sing the songs, pray the prayers, quote scriptures, and give testimonies, you may give above and beyond what God requires, but if your life is filled with wickedness God says, “keep it, I don’t want it”.
Has church attendance become nothing more than a meaningless ceremony for you? Do you praise on the outside while deep within you are consumed with iniquity. If so, to God your praise is nothing more than "noise" and He doesn't want to hear it anymore. Your tithes and offerings (no matter how generous) apart from holy living are an insult to Him and He will not accept them. If your life is consumed with idolatry and God is far from being your top priority it is past time for you to make things right.
God has a high standard for worship, will He accept or reject what you are offering Him today? I pray that you will hear His warning, heed His message, and comprehend that there are some things the Lord hates and despises: He despises meaningless ceremonies, He despises token offerings, He despises insincere praise, He despises shameful idolatry and He despises false devotion. I encourage you to assess your life and ask yourself the question, “What Is My Worship Worth?”
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