Worthless Worship

My nine-year-old daughter has recently developed a great love for doing personal devotions.  She's genuinely excited about spending time each day in God's Word and journaling what she learns.  It makes a daddy happy!  But it has also led to a couple of conversations with her about the book of Amos.  You see, from time to time, my wife or I will tell her to do something and her response will be, "But I have to do my devotions!"  Uh huh…

If there was a font that could somehow communicate sarcasm, I'm sure Amos 4:4-5 would be written in it.  "Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more.  Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years.  Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings.  Boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do."

The northern kingdom of Israel, at the direction of King Jeroboam, had established an "alternative worship center" at the city of Bethel.  The main reason was to prevent Israelites from traveling to Jerusalem (in the southern kingdom of Judah and God's prescribed location for worship) and potentially renewing their allegiance to the South… and to the Lord!  Worse yet was that in what they called "worship" of Jehovah, they had incorporated the perverse, cultic rituals of the pagan nations around them.

So less sarcastically and more to the point, God's word through Amos continues:  This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel:  "Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba.  For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing…  I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.  Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain 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." (Amos 5:4-5, 21-24)

The point… Worship, divorced from obedience, is not worship at all.  Like when "doing my devotions" becomes an excuse for not doing what she's been told by her parents.  Or when sacrifices at Bethel becomes an excuse for sexual immorality and disregard for God's clear instructions regarding the where & how of worship.  Or, as we'll see in the upcoming chapters of Amos, when the alleged "blessings of God" on a few become an excuse for "social injustice" toward the many.

The Bible is FULL of references to this issue.  1st Samuel 15:22, Proverbs 21:3, Isaiah 1:11, Matthew 5:23-24 and Matthew 9:13 are just a few worth digging into.  What they all bring me back to is that "worship" is not just singing some songs about or to God.  It's not even the sum of all that we do on a Sunday morning in a "worship service."  It is a lifestyle.  Our daily obedience is what really shows God what we think of Him… how much He is worth to us.  Without it, our liturgies, rituals, disciplines, ordinances and the like become meaningless.  With it, they become the celebration of who God is and what He is doing in our lives.

So go have your devotions.  Go to church.  And in between… WORSHIP!