Re: [Worship] Amos 5:21-23 PLUS v.24!!

["Bruce L. Johnson" <bjohnson@worshipmap.com>]

>Fred F. McKinnon writes:
>
>As I was studying this weekend, I read a scripture in Amos that really
>made me check my heart in the area of my worship, and how easily we can
>get into the "habit" of praise/worship.  We can fall away from God and
>be living in sin, yet we can still "go through the motions" on Sunday
>with all of our religious rituals and traditions.  After reading this
>passage, I realized that God despises that "counterfeit" worship, and He
>is TRULY, seeking after "worshipers in Spirit and in truth".
>
>AMOS 5:21-23 (NKJV)
>"I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred
>assemblies [gathering together to cry out to God, pray, fast, etc. for
>needs].
>Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will NOT
>[emphasis mine] accept them,
>Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
>Take away from Me the NOISE of your songs, For I will not hear the
>melody of your stringed instruments."


I just wanted to add,  please don't forget that there is one more  verse in
the paragraph:
"But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream."

IOW, God doesn't just say "make sure you mean it from the heart."   He says
that if you really DO mean it, there will be clear visible expression of it
in acts of justice and mercy.  This theme--of the meaningless of sacrifice
and ritual when paired with injustice, oppression....   is a major one in
the prophets (cf. Amos 2:6-8,  Isaiah 1:12-17,  Jeremiah 7:1-11, Micah
6:6-8).   God hates their sacrifices because they hypocritically approach
him with 'blood on their hands.'
Now this 'love of man' [the 'second great commandment'] is ALWAYS paired
with love for GOD [the first great commandment]--walking humbly before
him--so it's not a just a "social gospel".   It is much more (yet not less!)

I'm not suggesting Fred missed this "social" aspect (the reference to
"feeding the sheep" shows otherwise), but I know how easy it is for us 20th
century evangelicals to forget this important part of the text and of the
prophets it general, so I thought we should underline it.

On a related worship note, how often is this "social" emphasis expressed in
your times of worship?     A few years ago a friend introduced me to Graham
Kendrick's "O Lord, the Clouds are Gathering" [which uses Amos 5:24] and we
used it often in worship thereafter.  I thought it was this CORPORATE
confession was a nice complement to individual confession,  asking God to
have mercy on US, AND on our broken world  (a much bigger picture of God's
work of redemption than our individualistic/ 'personalized' approach usually
gives us).      Sadly, I haven't found much else along these lines.   So,
does anyone else know similar material?  Any other ideas for developing this
aspect of worship?


By his grace,
Bruce Johnson
"WorshipMap"



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