Amos 5:1-14, 18-27

Return to Worship

© 2000, J.W. Carter
     www.biblicaltheology.com              Scripture quotes from KJV

      What is worship?  For most Christians in our culture today, it is defined as an obligation that takes place once each week.  That obligation is too often exercised by a scenario similar to the following:

1.       The event of worship starts with the family getting ready for church on, usually, a Sunday morning, with all the fussing and fuming that comes with trying to get the family out of the house on time, dressed in their “Sunday best.”  The hollering and arguing somehow stops when the car enters the church parking lot.  “After all, everyone at church expects us to be such wonderful people.”

2.       Dinner might be placed in the oven prior to leaving home, assured that the worship event will not interfere with its cooking time.

3.       Upon arrival to church, the worship center is entered by the family.  “Nobody had better be sitting in my pew, or World War III might break out.”

4.       A few songs might be sung, half-heartedly, and nobody really knows why.  “We have just always done it that way.”  Those with a good voice who want to be heard are noticed by everyone.  Most are too timid to allow themselves to be heard by others.   It’s easier not to sing at all.  It’s even easier if one does not pick up a hymnal.

5.       “I hope that Fred doesn’t catch my eye.  He is a real jerk and has stiffed me one too many times.  I’d like to really tell him off.”

6.       Here comes the offering plate.  “Surely the church already has enough money.  We don’t give what we should, we know that.  Maybe we will give more next week.  Here’s my dollar.  That’s all I can afford this week.”

7.       Someone or a choir is singing now.  “They are pretty good, not too far off-tune.  I’ll applaud them if I am really entertained.” “That Soprano in the choir wears too much makeup and I can’t believe how short the skirts are on those youth girls!  Don’t their parents have any sense?”

8.       “Here comes the Pastor.  I hope he doesn’t run too long today.  My pot roast will be soup.  He is preaching about worship, and that we do not know how to do it.  Surely he is not talking about me.  If he starts stepping on my toes I will take my family to another church.”

9.       The service ends.  “Finally, now we can get out of here.  A quick drive home, chug down dinner, and maybe I can get in a few holes of Golf.  I know they have an evening service, but once through this in one week is enough!

     What is wrong with this picture?  Is there any worship going on here?  How do you think that God honors such “worship.”  I hope that this is a worst-case scenario.  However, in reality, most people do think of worship as an event that takes place once (or maybe as many as several times) each week.  Usually there is very little real worship going on in those services, though the dedicated core of the church struggles to do so.

     What is first required for a person to worship God in a way that honors Him?  The person must have, at some point in their life, turned their heart to God in faith, accepting him as Savior and Lord through His Son, Jesus Christ.  When that happens, the Holy Spirit, the seal of God’s covenant with believers comes to be part of the life of the believer.  Without that resource, true worship is impossible.  It is most likely such an unbeliever who would typify a worship scenario such as that described above.  However, what about the worship that is done by believers?  Most believers still think that worship is a corporate event that takes place one or more times per week, and when taking part in the services, very little true worship takes place.  There is a lot of room for improvement in our lives in this very important component of our faith.  We can get some excellent instruction from the “funeral dirge” written by the prophet Amos in Chapter 5.

Amos 5:1-3.

Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. 2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. 3For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

      As we can see Amos is writing a “lamentation,” a dirge that is recited at the funeral for one who is dead.  Consequently, we should be careful to realize that Amos is writing about those who are clearly outside of the fold of Grace.  We must be discerning of how we apply these words to our own lives, since Amos is not referring to the faithful, as many who are part of this study are.  However, we can identify with some of the shortcomings of the nation of Israel and apply the teaching in our lives in some of those areas.

      Amos’ prophesy is quite accurate here.  He is referring to the death of the nation, Israel, the Northern Kingdom of tribes that were descendents of Jacob/Israel.  Described as a Virgin, the loved child of God, Amos refers to the nation as fallen, never to rise again.  Certainly, when Israel was later destroyed by the Assyrians with the bulk of the population taken off to captivity, and unlike the lower Kingdom of Judah that was restored under the authority of King Cyrus, Israel did not receive such restoration.  The closest we can come to the restoration of Israel took place in 1947 when Zionists migrated back to the Holy Land to establish the new country of Israel, a nation that shares the heritage of the forefathers, but little of the faith and grace of its patriarchs.

Amos 5:4. 

For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

      The fundamental error of the people of Israel, as well as that of the negative scenario above, is illustrated by Amos’ first-person prophesy here.  What is Yahweh, Jehovah God, saying?  If the nation of Israel is, indeed dead, separated from God, what is needed for them to be alive?  They need to seek after God.  Failure to worship God is fundamentally a failure to actively seek after Him.  What are some of the things that we seek after, rather than God?

      Seeking after God is not something that takes place during a one-hour event, one or more times each week.  Seeking after God is an attitude, a desire, a yearning that dwells in the heart of the believer during every waking moment, (and even possibly in one’s dreams.)  Every manner in which that yearning is exercised is an act of worship, one that draws us to God, one that God honors.  This verse is the most fundamental truth of the Gospel:  Place your faith and trust in God, and you will live.

Amos 5:5. 

But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

      Bethel was the center of Worship for the people of Israel.  Gilgal and Beersheba were also secondary centers of worship.  People would come there to worship, much as we come to a church building to worship.  The ancients had a belief that God was localized to specific areas, and each nation had its local God.  Many of the ancient Hebrews also ascribed to this concept.  This is why Jonah thought he could escape from God by catching a ship to Tarshish, assumed by many to be on the coast of what is now Spain.  Why is God telling the people not to seek these places?  The centers of worship had become full of idols, golden calves, sold sacrifices, and held to many traditional practices that were in no way worshipful to God.  In fact, these practices were contrary to God’s command to love and worship Him. The tabernacle, its icons, and its dogma became the one revered, not God Himself.

      We likewise are in danger of falling into the same trap ourselves.  When we come together to worship, we should be doing together (corporately) what we are already doing when we are not together:  loving and worshipping God in our innermost Spirit and in honesty, sincerity, and truth.  There is something special about worshipping together when doing so encourages and edifies the believers.  Corporate worship can be a time of replenishing and strengthening that comes after a period of exhausting ministry that takes place when we are separated.  It is an opportunity to learn from each other more of God’s truth through Bible study and testimony.  It is an opportunity to share our needs with one another so that God can use us to minister to one another.   However, when the church becomes the center of authority, when tradition stifles the expression of worship, something is lost.  The words of God recorded here by the prophet Amos is a command for us to refrain from reaching out to the church facility as our source of spiritual purpose.  Just as the worship centers of Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba would one day fall, the bricks, mortar, and icons of the church will be left behind when we pass into Glory, (or pass into eternal separation from God if unsaved.)  There is no lasting security in the resources of the church facility or its icons.  Only God can provide true resource, and only God is worthy of our worship.

Amos 5:6-7.

Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. 7Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

God is a Holy and Just God.  He will not accept those who reject Him into His fellowship.  All they are, and all that represents them, along with this world, will be ultimately destroyed.  The church cannot save a single soul.  God’s true justice is not in the heart of the lost.  It is demonstrated in His people in an unforgiving and accusing spirit.  Even those who are saved can be tempted into harboring ill-will toward one another, and when that ill-will enters the place of worship (whether personal or corporate) the quality of that worship is always diminished or utterly destroyed.  We cannot lift up God in worship when our mind is focused on bitter feelings toward one another.  Jesus own words state,

Matt. 5:21-24. (KJV).  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

God does not honor our worship when we harbor anger or bitterness against one another.  God declares Himself as the only just Judge, and calls upon us to turn judgment over to Him, leaving us free to forgive one another without regard of the nature of the event that produced the spirit of bitterness.

      Furthermore, Amos’ prophesy describes those who cast righteousness to the ground.  They consider righteousness to be something of no value, to be discarded.  God calls upon us to be righteous.  Though we will never be free of sin in our lives, short of the end of our days, He sees us as righteous because of the Holy Spirit’s defense of our faith.  That same Holy Spirit reveals to us the truth of righteous living.  When we choose to ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit concerning those areas of unrighteousness in our lives we again place an obstacle between ourselves and God.  We have yet another obstacle blocking true worship.

Amos 5:8. 

Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

      Another obstacle to true worship is truly recognizing the awesomeness of God.  When we look to God, do we look to some obscure non-person, or the true creator of the universe?  In the time of Amos, people knew very little about God’s creation, and saw his greatness through it (Romans 1.)  He created the stars, set in motion the rotation of the earth and its tilt that creates the days, nights, and seasons.  That same set of physical properties causes the weather.  That was about the extent of Amos’ understanding of the size of the physical universe.  Today we see a universe that holds billions of Galaxies, each with trillions of stars, all created by God for His own good pleasure.  It is this same God that seeks personal relationship with us, and somehow we fail to recognize His greatness.  When we truly begin to understand the greatness of God, we begin to understand our humility before Him, and we can begin to worship Him for who He is.  God is not our peer, He is not our Buddy.  He is Great and Wise beyond anything we can imagine.  We should be awed at His Power, and thoroughly humiliated in His presence.  When we Worship Him, it should be in such humility and praise for who He is.  When we understand that, those barriers to worship become trivial and easily discarded. 

      Satan is empowered in our worship services when we allow his spirit to interfere.  Instead of looking to God in love and praise, we look at each other in judgment.  We are afraid to express ourselves in true worship for fear of what others might think.  As a result, our worship can be dull, uninspiring, and fruitless.  Let us not forget the Greatness of God, and the privilege we have to come before Him in worship.

Amos 5:9-12.

That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. 10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. 12For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

      Here Amos is describing the life works of the “worshippers.”  They are people of the world.  They fail to show compassion on the poor, and side with the wicked against them.  They fail to stand for the truth.  They oppress the righteous.  They are worldly people who wander into the place of sanctity.  Likewise, a barrier to true worship is our worldly nature.  Many Christians demonstrate a commitment to God that is so minimal that it is very difficult to discern the difference in their nature than that of those lost people in the world.  They are attempting to be accepted in both places, spiritual schizophrenics who try to live two personalities depending upon their audience.  When they come to church they try to play the church game.  However, when we bring worldly views into the sanctity of the church, we are standing against the God we come to worship.  As a worship leader I have often seen the worldly nature of people as they stand in worship services, failing to take part because they are so much a part of that other world.  Like baggage that is chained to their ankles, they bring the cares and values of the world with them into their worship, and like blinders, those sins disable them from seeing God.  They then leave the service (or their time of personal worship) unfulfilled and critical.

      It is very easy for us to become absorbed in this sinful world that touches us from every direction.  When we do so, we might not so easily shed it when we seek to worship God.  The solution is to maintain a desire for righteousness every moment of our lives, and seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance with the purpose of shedding the demons of worldly virtue that are dug so deep into us.  It hurts when I see people carrying those demons into the church because I know the barrier to love and grace that they represent.  By failing to shed those demons we continue to accept our “manifold trangressions” that make us worldly.

      It takes courage and grace to take a stand for Jesus that is based upon spiritual integrity.  God is the source of that courage and grace.  Let us turn to Him with the purpose of shedding from our lives any barrier of worldliness that inhibits our fellowship with Him.

Amos 5:13-14.

Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. 14Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

      God calls us to seek after righteousness, being free to discern and avoid the evil of this world.  It is then that God will honor our worship and have fellowship with us.  It is interesting that the Israelites that Amos speaks of testify that “God is with us,” when, indeed, He is not.  We are greatly in jeopardy of sharing a similar testimony when we insist that “God is with us,” when He actually is not pleased with our attitude toward Himself and toward each other when we come to Him in worship.

      Certainly, God is omnipresent, and He is everywhere.  The Holy Spirit is also present in any body when even a single believer is there.  However, it is almost a blasphemy to declare that God is present with us when we are living a testimony of sin and separation from Him rather than a testimony of righteousness.  At the very least, it is a shallow and ignorant testimony.  How devastating it is when we see God’s name called upon by an evil and perverse people.  They might identify with Him, but they are not experiencing His fellowship.  Let us know that God is with us, honoring our worship, by seeking Him and Him alone in a spirit of righteousness, love, and truth.

Amos 5:18-20.

Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. 19As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

      Another barrier to true worship is hypocrisy.  Some of that hypocrisy is alluded to in the negative scenario at the beginning of this study.  Hypocrisy is demonstrated by acting differently in the presence of the church than is done in the presence of the world.  The Greek word is used to describe stage acting.  Amos’ words to the hypocrites is devastating.  The day of the Lord will not be one of rejoicing, but one of rejection.

Matt 7:21-23. (KJV).  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Let us live lives of integrity, growing more like Christ every day, so that we will not be counted among the hypocrites.  We surely have seen testimony of the damage to the Kingdom that is done when hypocrisy is part of the church body.  It’s most devastating effect is to discourage evangelism.  When unbelievers see hypocritical believers “acting” righteous in church, they are often turned back from interest in the Gospel, possibly never to have another opportunity to turn to Christ. 

Amos 5:21-22.

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

      The religious ceremonies of the ancient Israelites had become an end to themselves.  The people were so out of fellowship with God, their services had become meaningless repetition, and an end to themselves.  Their actions had become so steeped in tradition that the tradition was now the God they worshipped, though not even realizing it.

      Another barrier to worship is fruitless tradition.  There is nothing wrong with maintaining a tradition that truly helps worshippers to honor God, and many exist.  We simply need to maintain God as the focus of the expression of our traditions, and when a tradition is revealed as empty and counterproductive, we should have the discernment, wisdom, and courage to drop it.  It is often difficult to break with tradition when the people cry “We have never done it that way before.”  Similar adages make change difficult when change is needed.  Let us not become so steeped in tradition that we empower that tradition to be a barrier to worship.  When we do so it is a tradition of Satan, not a tradition ordained by God.

Amos 5:23-27.

Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. 24But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. 25Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. 27Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

      Because of their failure to seek God, the people of Israel faced utter destruction as a nation, a nation that God had promised to Abraham.  Consequently, the blessing that was given to Abraham that through him the world would be blessed would fall to the lower Kingdom of Judah, ultimately in the village of Bethlehem.  Their worship did not honor God, and it was rejected.

      Let us seek to honor God in our lives and in our worship, so that God can indeed bless the world through us.