Minor Prophets Major Message
Idle Songs
Amos 5:21-24, 6:4-8 | #minorprophets
INTRODUCTION… Background of Prophets
In the Bible, when God wanted to get His people’s attention He would often do something demonstrative like speak from a burning bush or lead by a pillar of cloud or shake the ground or do a miracle in nature. God did all of those things. God also spoke through people we call prophets.
We know some of the names of these folks whom God called to be His prophets: Moses, Miriam, Deborah, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Huldah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Anna, John the Baptist, and many more. God calls the people through His prophets and gives them directions in their relationship with Him. God calls the people through His prophets and encourages their faithfulness and warns them that faithlessness would have dire consequences.
This morning we are continuing our journey in the last twelve books of the Old Testament which I have called “Minor Prophets Major Message.” I want to focus each week on one of these specific prophets and the message that he brought to the people of God because those messages are also important for us. Today we focus on the prophet Amos.
REASONS TO PREACH ON AMOS… https://www.9marks.org/article/amos/ [adapted]
Amos has 9 chapters and there is quite a lot in those chapters, but it is not a popular book to preach from. Amos often goes unnoticed and unpreached. There are not a whole lot of church folks saying to preachers: “Hey, when are you going to finally preach a series through Amos?” I was praying and thinking over Amos and found an article to ministers on six reasons to preach Amos and I want to share some of them with you:
#1 Preach Amos to preach justice.
The announcement of judgment on the nations surrounding Israel and Judah contains God’s displeasure with injustice in the world. God has anger toward societies that don’t care for the helpless and take advantage of people. To those who often wonder, “where is God in all the pain and suffering in the world?” Amos makes it clear: God sees, and He will judge!
#2 Preach Amos to preach repentance and forgiveness.
Time is almost up for Israel, and so Amos calls them to repentance to seek God’s forgiveness before it’s too late. Amos focuses on several nations around God’s people and on God’s people themselves and especially on Northern Israel. He wants them to seek the Lord and His forgiveness.
#3 Is the reason that caught my eye and my focus so we will skip it for now.
#4 Preach Amos to warn comfortable sinners.
Amos preaches to the people of Israel as they enjoy relative comfort. All is well, right? Not really. Amos declares the coming judgment of God to an otherwise comfortable and wealthy people. Why? Because Israel has grown too comfortable in their wealth and their sin. Amos seeks to rouse them to repentance. This is the major theme from beginning to end of the book.
#5 Preach Amos to unpack the Davidic covenant.
The final chapter of Amos offers an opportunity to preach clearly on the Davidic Covenant, a prominent topic throughout the Scriptures because it was God’s promise that a descendant of David would reign over the people of God. We know this ultimately comes true in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Like I said, Amos, this shepherd and arborist called to be a prophet has a lot to say in his nine chapters. There is one theme that grabbed me and I want to make sure we focus well on this minor prophet bringing us this major message.
* I noticed a Word from the Lord about motivations of the heart
* I noticed a Word from the Lord about motivations of the heart in worship
This message centering on worship is in two passages from Amos, perhaps more. This morning we are going to read from Amos 5 for a few verses and from Amos 6 for a few verses.
READ Amos 5:21-24 (ESV)
“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 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. 23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Let us also read from Amos 6:
READ Amos 6:4-8 (ESV)
“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.” 8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, declares the LORD, the God of Hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”
TRANSITION
As I was reading over God’s Words to Israel through Amos, I noticed as he addressed worship, there was a big difference between the way the Israelites saw worship and the way God saw it. We will talk about it first the way they saw worship.
WORSHIP AS THEY SEE IT
How did the People of God see their worship? They saw their worship tied to what they were doing… and to be honest… that makes total sense! Worship involves action. For these folks, it involved four different items lined out in these verses from Amos. It involved feasts and gathering at certain times (5:21), offering sacrifices (5:22), singing songs and playing instruments (5:23, 6:5); and preparation to look good while doing the rest (6:6).
First, there were feasts and gathering at certain times (5:21). Feasting was a way to celebrate God and praise Him for His blessings and to remember things God has done. We see this in Exodus 5, 13, 23; Leviticus 23; Numbers 28-29; and Deuteronomy 16. These times of remembrance were not done alone, but as a gathering of everyone. You feast, you worship! You feast, you gather together and worship.
One of the biggest feasts was Passover. The Feast of Passover was held to remember what God had done among them and to say thank you. The feast was meant to focus them. Exodus 12 records for us:
READ EXODUS 12:27 (ESV)
“you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for He passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.”
Second, Amos talks about worship involving offering sacrifices (5:22). Were sacrifices important to Israel when worshipping God? Absolutely! The whole book of Leviticus is dedicated to explaining these sacrifices and explaining all about the priests who would do them. A big part of worship for Israel was focusing on God in their offerings. Basically, there were five different offerings the people of God used to worship and each meant something different:
* Burnt offerings meant to show thanks and devotion to God and for unintentional sins
* Grain and drink offerings showed thanksgiving for God’s favor
* Peace and free will offerings emphasized fellowship and connection with God
* Sin offerings were made for atonement for sins
* Trespass offerings were made for atonement for sins against others
Giving God offerings is something that has always been part of worshipping God even before Moses wrote down all the rules and regulations and requirements for God’s people and gave them different kinds of offerings. How do I know that? I know that because some of the very first people offered God offerings many generations before Moses was even a twinkle in his mother’s eye. Genesis 4 tells us:
READ GENESIS 4:3-5 (ESV)
“In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So, Cain was very angry, and his face fell.”
Third, in 5:23 and 6:5 Amos mentions singing songs and playing instruments as part of worship and a relationship with God. Are songs or instruments a big part of worship for the Israelites? I am going to say ‘yes’ based on the fact that the book of Psalms, the largest book of the Bible, is 150 worship songs used in connecting with God. There are many examples of songs being written when people were thankful to God or wanted to remember what God did (Exodus 15, Judges 5, Luke 1) in the Bible and not just the psalms.
Not only that, 1 Chronicles 25 tells us that King David organized musicians so that instruments and singing would always be present at worship to God in the tabernacle and then later in the temple of God. 1 Chronicles 25 tells us:
READ 1 CHRONICLES 25:5-8 (ESV)
“All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. 6 They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the House of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. 7 The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was 288. 8 And they cast lots for their duties, small and great, teacher and pupil alike.”
Lastly, and I have to include this because Amos does, the Israelites prepared in a particular manner. They all wanted to look good all the while they did all the worshipful things and prepared that way. Amos 6:6 in the midst of talking about songs and instruments, mentions lying on “beds of ivory” (verse 4), drinking “wine from bowls” (verse 6), and anointing “themselves with the finest oils” (verse 6). The inclusion of this shows more about the heart of the people than anything else. We don’t see any of this in other parts of the Bible. People were to wash themselves and be prepared to worship the Lord… absolutely… but this seems like a different type of preparation. We have current slang words for the way the Israelites wanted to worship or be seen worshipping according to the Prophet Amos: boujee, posh, fancy dancy.
SUMMARY & ISSUE
Many of the items that Amos mentions in these two passages connected with song and music and worship are lined out in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and many other passages in the Bible. They were supposed to do these things as part of their practice of showing God how much He was worth to them. That is what “worship” means… “worth ship.” The People of God were to show God how much He was worth by: feasts and gathering at certain times, offering sacrifices, singing songs and playing instruments, and preparation.
And yet… there is an issue! The Israelites were feasting and gathering at certain times, offering sacrifices, singing songs and playing instruments, and preparing, but God was not pleased. How do we know God is not pleased?
* 5:21: ““I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.”
* 5:22: “Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them”
* 5:22: “the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them”
* 5:23: “Take away from Me the noise of your songs”
* 5:23: “the melody of your harps I will not listen”
* 6:7: “they shall now be the first of those who go into exile”
* 6:7: “the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away”
* 6:8: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds”
* 6:8 “I will deliver up the city and all that is in it”
The word choice and tone of God is not a mystery. The verses are not any that I need to explain. God is angry. God is angry with His people for how they are treating Him. He does not appreciate their offerings. He does not want to hear them sing or play instruments to Him. He does not like the way they are approaching Him. He is fed up. He will not uphold their sinfulness and He states in these verses that He will hand them over to enemies and they will go into exile.
TRANSITION
As I was reading over God’s Words to Israel through Amos, I noticed as he addressed worship, there was a big difference between the way the Israelites saw worship and the way God saw it. Let’s talk about what God sees when He looks at their worship.
WORSHIP AS GOD SEES IT
How did God see the worship of the People of God? He saw the actions of feasting and gathering and sacrifices and singing songs and playing instruments and their preparation, but He also noticed lack. The people of God were worshipping yes, but they lacked three very important ingredients.
First, in 5:24 Amos lets them know they lacked justice. Injustice and unfairness and the oppression of the poor was rampant among the people of God and they should have known better. We need only look at the story of the Exodus to see how God wanted His people to reflect Him. God’s people are crying out to Him in their slavery (Exodus 3:7) and God hears their cries and redeems them from their physical, social, and spiritual oppression (Exodus 14). After this, God brings them together as His people in the Promised Land and calls them to be a people that represent His mercy, justice, and character to each other and to the nations around them.
They fail. That failure impacts their hearts and their standing before God. That lack of justice and mercy impacts their worship because loving injustice and not caring about the poor or the downtrodden separates people who love God from God:
* 2 Chronicles 19:7 says that injustice is the opposite of the fear of the Lord
* Job 22:23 says that injustice does not dwell with people who love the Almighty
* Psalm 94:20 says that a person cannot be allied with God who loves injustice
* Ezekiel 9:9 says that having a life full of injustice is a sin
Second, in 5:24 Amos lets them know they lack righteousness. Righteousness is right living, following God’s Law, living in truthfulness, and being ethical. God saw none of that with His people. They acted opposite of His Law. They did not live in truthfulness. They were unethical. Just like the lack of justice, the lack of righteousness separates us from God. We cannot tell God how much He is worth if we are separated from Him:
* Job 18:21 says the unrighteous do not know God
* Psalm 92:15 tells us that there is no unrighteousness in God
* Isaiah 55:7 encourages us to turn to God away from unrighteous thoughts
* Jeremiah 22:13 says “woe” to the person who builds their life on unrighteousness and injustice
Third, in 6:8 Amos lets them know they lacked humility. I did some digging in the Old Testament and over and over again God wants us to be humble before Him. Humbleness is a key part of worship. Humbleness is an essential ingredient in our relationships with God. God opposes those who are not humble. God responds when we humble ourselves before Him.
* Leviticus 26:41 says that humbleness in our heart is part of asking for forgiveness for sins
* 2 Samuel 22:28 says that God saves humble people
* 2 Kings 22:19 tells us that God hears the prayers of those who are humble
* Ezra 8:21 shares with us that humbleness is part of fasting and prayer
SUMMARY & TRANSITION
So basically, we have the situation presented in Amos that the People of God were acting in all the right ways for worship (for the most part), but really, they were not worshipping God at all. Worship is not just actions. Worship involves focus and devotion to God in our actions, but also in our hearts. Our motivation matters. There were empty actions going on because the people lacked justice, righteousness, and humbleness.
A great way to summarize what is going on is to look to words of Jesus Christ about another group of people who had the same issue. Jesus says in Matthew 15 about the Pharisees and scribes:
READ MATTHEW 15:7-9 (ESV)
“You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; 9 in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
So now we move to the application part of these passages from Amos. What does any of this have to do with us?
QUESTION & APPLICATION: WHAT ABOUT US?
I see in the message from the Prophet Amos that the People of God needed to match together actions in worship with proper motivations and heart in worship. Both the actions and the motivation are important when we relate to God Almighty in worship. So… by way of application:
What is your motivation for coming to church and to worship? I could list several reasons as to why we should attend congregational worship services on a regular basis, but Amos would want me to share only one: “He is worth it.” The music and people and style of preaching or the youth program or the amount of activities or avoiding an argument or wanting to look good do not matter… should not matter. Our motivation for worship must be that God Almighty is worth our time and energy and focus and it is just and right and humble to do so.
What is your motivation for giving offerings at church in worship? I could list several reasons as to why we should give tithes and offerings on a regular basis, but Amos would want me to share only one: “He is worth it.” God does not want empty sacrifices motivated by force or habit or empty loyalty. Yes, the church will still take your money if it is given wrongly (ha!), but we should want to give out of the abundance of our love for God. We give to show Him how much He is worth and it is just and right and humble to do so.
What is your motivation for singing worship songs? Do you even sing? Do you focus on the words that are sung no matter the style of music? I could list several reasons as to why we should worship the Lord with song on a regular basis, but Amos would want me to share only one: “He is worth it.” May humbleness before God start our worship and fill our worship in the middle and end our worship! We give to show Him how much He is worth and it is just and right and humble to do so.
Lastly, and I have to include this because Amos does, do we prepare our hearts for worship?
I could list several reasons as to why we should prepare ourselves for worship on a regular basis, but Amos would want me to share only one… can you guess… “He is worth it.”
* We can prepare ourselves through prayer
* We can prepare ourselves by setting aside any activities that get in the way of worship
* We can prepare by setting alarms or getting out clothes the night before to be ready
CONCLUSION
The Prophet Amos says to the People of God in Amos 5…
RE-READ Amos 5:21-24 (ESV)
“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 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. 23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Let’s not let those words apply to us.
PRAYER
INVITATION
