INSINCERE WORSHIP DOES NOT PLEASE GOD Amos 4:1-13

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2 INSINCERE WORSHIP DOES NOT PLEASE Amos 4:1-13

3 Purpose of our study The way we live is important to God It reflects our relationship with Him That s why He is more concerned with our hearts and why we live the way we do Our lives are lived to glorify Him and point others to Him God will do whatever is necessary

4 Introduction God chose Amos, a sheep herder from Tekoa (SK) 760 BC to bring His word to Israel Judgment was coming to the Gentile nations Judgment was coming to Judah Judgment was also coming to Israel God s people judged by His Word

5 Introduction Last week, Amos highlighted the responsibility of God s people to live as God's people He emphasized the special relationship they had been called into He emphasized the responsibilities of that relationship God wanted them to renew their relationship to and with Him

6 A renewed relationship is not about meaningless ritual

7 Amos 4:4-13 'Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish

8 Amos 4:4-13 them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!' says the Lord God. 'I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to Me,' says the Lord. 'And I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the

9 Amos 4:4-13 harvest; I would send no rain upon another city; one field on which it did not rain withered; so two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you did not return to Me,' says the Lord. 'I smote you with blight and mildew; I laid

10 Amos 4:4-13 waste your gardens and your vineyards; your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to Me,' says the Lord. 'I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men with the sword; I carried away your

11 Amos 4:4-13 horses; and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to Me,' says the Lord. 'I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return

12 Amos 4:4-13 to Me,' says the Lord. 'Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!' For lo, He who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is His thought; who makes the morning

13 Amos 4:4-13 darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth the Lord, the God of hosts, is His name!

14 Historical context Jeroboam led the break away of the ten northern tribes from the two southern ones around 922 BC He made Bethel his alternative worship center to Jerusalem Built high places of worship in Bethel and Gilgal ;put up idols in the form of calves Appointed his own priests and holy days

15 Historical context Both Bethel and Gilgal had originally been wonderful places of worship for God Jeroboam led the people of Israel to worship on their own terms They worshipped how, what and when they determined God saw their worship as meaningless

16 Religious activity does not equal true worship Israel was very religious They loved to do the things they did They sacrifice daily, tithe every three days, give thank-offerings, advertise special free-will offerings They have taken some of the old forms of worship and corrupted it

17 Religious activity does not equal true worship Activity went beyond what God called for Focused on their activity and their idols This was a dangerous and deceptive hypocrisy leading people to think that if they carried them out, they would somehow be right with God They were busy, but hearts far from God

18 Matthew 15:8 These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.

19 Religious activity does not equal true worship We can be guilty of the same thing We want to come to church to make us feel good or get pumped up We come to church out of some sort of obligation We look for a church that will meet our needs or will suit our personal tastes

20 Religious activity does not equal true worship We can be guilty of the same thing If the music isn t the way we like it, we leave If the programs or entertainment isn t what we like, we leave We have become consumers rather than worshippers

21 Religious activity does not equal true worship If not that, increasingly people are turning to their own invented religions Church of Scientology New Age or mixture of eastern mysticism and others; paganism and witchcraft Idea is that it doesn t matter what you believe, so long as you are sincere

22 Religious activity does not equal true worship Sincere worship is not about what or how often you do things It s about your heart and its focus on the one true God Insincere worship didn t help Israel It won t help us either today no matter how sincere we may be

23 God had sent them warning signs In verses 6-11 Amos lists five disasters that have befallen the people of God In verse 6, He judged Israel with famine Clean teeth meant they had no food to dirty their teeth with In verses 7-8, He gave them drought In verse 9, He gave them a blight In verse 10, He gave them pestilence/war

24 God had sent them warning signs In verses 6-11 Amos lists five disasters that have befallen the people of God In verse 11, He gave them supernatural defeat Could almost be describing the current news headlines They didn t get it; didn t see God s hand We don t get it either

25 Israel s response to the warning signs God said five times, "You did not return to me," He wasn t calling for more physical religious activity Returning to God was a movement of the heart, not a movement of the body They still didn't get it We do the same today

26 God promises them judgment is coming 'Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!' God is promising judgment He is also offering a chance to get it right prepare to meet your God Israel s terms were selfish and were insufficient to meet God in relationship

27 Lessons for us We can only be ready to meet God when it is on His terms, not ours Israel failed to seize upon God s grace and ultimately faced His wrath and judgment What about you and me? Has our commitment to God and lifestyle been about activity and what we want?

28 Lessons for us Our commitment and sincerity cannot be measured by activity It is all about our heart Do we live to please ourselves? Do we live to honor, glorify and please God?

29 If God is not the focus and center of our lives

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