Relationship, Not Pretense Warnings From Amos

Amos 5: 21-24 "I hate all your show and pretense--the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.

It can sometimes be human nature to be lazy through complacency. We can achieve a certain level and settle in. We can become used to the surroundings and start to lose the passion we once had. We see it happen in marriages all the time. People get used to each other and then start to take each other for granted. The comfort level we attain begins to erode the fervor we once had that helped us attain that level. We see it happen in our employment. When first hired we can set out to prove ourselves. We might work extra hard, longer hours, or anything that can set us apart from everyone else. We strive harder to make a lasting impression. Then, once we have arrived at a certain level, we can begin to slack off. We can take for granted that which we used to work so hard for. We can cut corners here or there; where we know we won't get caught.

And so it can go in our Christian walks as well. We can start out on fire for God. We were going to serve in every ministry, read the Bible in a year, seek God constantly, and perpetually work on our spiritual growth. And God answers. He prospers us and takes us to a new level in Christ. And if we are not careful, we can become complacent and settle in. We can stop striving for the next level God has for us. We can become spiritually lazy. We can make excuses for not attending prayer service, not tithing correctly, or not keeping up with our Bible reading. Our prayer life can begin to wither. The power of God lessens in our life. We raise our hands on Sunday but spend the week in desperate need of the presence of God in our lives.

So it was in the days of the Prophet Amos. A simple farmer and herder, Amos found himself called by God to preach to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel and King Uzziah of Judah. Forty years earlier, at the end of his ministry, the Prophet Elisha prophesied a great resurgence of Israel's power and might and after him the Prophet Jonah had echoed these sentiments. These prophecies had now come to pass in the days of Amos. One study Bible refers to Israel at this time as "politically secure and spiritually smug." Both kingdoms were enjoying a period of great prosperity. With it unfortunately also came a period of increased idolatry, lavish living, immorality, corruption to justice and the oppression of the poor. Justice and oppression have always been paramount issues to God:

This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Jeremiah 22:3

There are over 300 verses in the Bible dealing with the poor and social justice. After salvation, it is the dominant theme. Israel would not repent however and God would soon visit judgment upon them and have them carried off into captivity by the Assyrian Empire. The 10 tribes would be forever scattered. The remaining two tribes in the land of Judah would eventually see their own judgment as well; when Babylon takes them into captivity. But here, in this glimmer of time, we see God sending a prophet to Israel to address their spiritual state. The words transcend the pages to address us as well today.

Have we become Israel in the days of Amos? Has western Christianity spent more time on the show and pretense then on the widows and orphans? Here is how God feels about widows and orphans:

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. Isaiah 10: 1-2

The widows and orphans of today are the poor and disenfranchised. They are the people we see every day and try not to look at. They are the people on the streets of a very unforgiving world. They are the uneducated, the unemployed, the marginalized, the homeless. They are the people who are not partaking in the prosperity of this age. God cares for them and expects His people to care about them as well.

So here was the Prophet Amos in our key verses speaking against the religiosity we still see so prevalent today. The show and pretense are actually hated by God. Why wouldn't they be? They are a lie by definition. God does not need fancy shows of religion but rather, sincere shows of faith and obedience. The first King of Israel learned this the hard way. King Saul had been ordered by God to destroy the Amalekites and wipe them out completely. Instead, he chose the best of the spoils of war to keep for himself; the best cattle, sheep, etc. When confronted by the Prophet Samuel, Saul tries to shift the blame and claimed that they were kept to sacrifice to God. Samuel's response is a sober reminder to us today as well:

But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king." 1Samuel 15: 22-23

To obey is better than sacrifice. The pomp and circumstance is not important to God but the relationship we have with Him is. To do otherwise is hypocrisy to God. The key verses say so. God is speaking against the religious festivals and solemn assemblies not because they are inappropriate but rather because of the condition of the heart of those attending. God is more concerned about His relationship with us than with how we act in public. Jesus made this exact point about the Pharisees:

"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.' Matthew 23: 5-7

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Matthew 23:14 (NKJV)

What is our motivation when we are in our solemn assemblies or religious festivals? Is it to draw near to God or to be seen by man? Are we seeking a higher calling because it is what God has directed us to do or to be seen by man? Note here Jesus uses the same word, hypocrite, to describe the Pharisees. Because their religion became more important to them than their relationship to God. Keep in mind that the Pharisees were the religious experts of their day. They knew the Word. Yet they were still oblivious to what they were doing. They still managed to justify themselves in their own minds. That should be frightening to us as believers and something we need to be very wary of. When speaking of the end days judgment Jesus said:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Matthew 7: 21-23

These verses should give us all pause. There will be many on the last day who will have spent their life in service to God, without ever knowing Him. That means we can literally fool ourselves into believing what we do is for God when we actually have no relationship with Him at all. Once again, it comes down to sincerity versus hypocrisy. Is our motive to seek the glorification of God or to further our own ambitions?

The key verses go on to say that God will not even accept the burnt and grain offerings nor notice the peace offerings. In Old Testament Israel, there were many offerings made to God. But only the burnt, grain and peace offerings were described as producing an "aroma soothing to the Lord." Other translations say "pleasing" or "sweet smelling." So, God is rebuking Israel in our key verses by saying that even the aroma of their offerings which He would find soothing, will be rejected by God. God will not be soothed, or pleased if the heart is not right before Him that is making the sacrifice. Because obedience is better than sacrifice to God. In the New Testament we also see this dynamic explained by the teachings of Jesus:

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you; leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5: 23-24

God does not want your sacrifice, your service, or your gift without your obedience first. The very hymns of praise and music of our harps become noise to God if they are sung and played with a disobedient heart. With a distant heart. With a heart not in relationship with God. We need to take heed of the warnings from Amos.

And what does the obedient heart in relationship with God look like? They key verses end with Amos telling Israel and the church today what God wants to see. God desires to see from the church a mighty flood of justice and an endless river of righteous living. Too often in modern American churches the praise is too internally focused while the criticism is too externally focused. The church has done a good job of lording the morality of Christianity over the world instead of showing the love of Christ. Remember beloved; the state the fallen are in:

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Corinthians 2: 14

The things of God are foolishness to man. Our praise needs to be upwardly focused on God, without whom, we would have nothing and our criticism needs to be internally focused on how we can better represent God to the world which does not know Him yet. Along with this prescription for justice we need to be living righteously before God. Remember, God understands hypocrisy. He understands it individually and corporately. There is a story I read once about a pastor who dressed up like a homeless person and sat on the steps of his church one Sunday morning. No one stopped to say anything to him as they went in to worship God. The pastor then went in and sat in a pew toward the back and watched as everyone switched seats to get away from him. Then he took to the pulpit and preached on the essence of true Christianity. The helping of the widows and orphans. The mighty flood of justice and endless river of righteous living God seeks from His church. It is a difference between going to church and being the church.

For too long there has been too much going to church and not enough being the church. Too much show and pretense during our religious festivals and solemn assemblies, while our worship has become noisy to God. Our offerings are no longer soothing to God if our hearts remain far from Him. He seeks relationship, not pretense. He seeks obedience, not sacrifice. Amos warned Israel during the height of their prosperity but they did not listen and they were carried off by Assyria and scattered from the pages of history. Let us not make the same mistake today. Let us not become complacent or settle in. God always has another level for us if we would just strive. Let us seek Him with the same passion He sought us with. Let us not grow spiritually lazy. Let us see the world as God does; as a harvest field. Let us be the church.

Reverend Anthony Wade January 12, 2010