A Grievous & Threatening Cry: The Danger of Unacceptable Worship (Part 4)
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 36:40
0 ratings
· 5 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
In our text this morning we are continuing to look at the Woe oracles of the prophet Amos. Amos’ uses of the word “Woe” is very significant and it has set the tone for this series of messages.
“Woe”- a grievous an threatening cry by the prophets. A warning of danger and death.
This is what Amos is doing for the people of Israel. He is crying out, he is warning them. And there is a threat behind his words. WOE! If you don’t heed my words there is death and destruction headed your way.
Amos is crying WOE to the people of Israel so they will turn from their sin and return to the Lord.
We must seriously consider the woes or warnings over sin in our own lives.
What woes or warnings do we need to understand this morning in order to turn from our sin and return to the Lord?
Woe to those who contaminate their worship (vv. 25-27)
Woe to those who contaminate their worship (vv. 25-27)
How can we carefully examine the quality of our worship? What standard does God use to judge whether or not our worship is acceptable in His sight?
I want to look at four characteristics of unacceptable worship this morning.
I. God hates hypocritical worship (vv. 21-24)
I. God hates hypocritical worship (vv. 21-24)
Before we begin describing unacceptable worship, or worship that God hates we need to start with a definition of what worship is in the first place.
Let me share with you a definition of worship from one of our missionaries. Scott Williquette has an excellent workshop that he teaches on worship. In his notes he defines worship this way:
Worship is the right response to biblical revelation about God and therefore has two parts: a presentation of biblical truth about God and an appropriate response to God based upon that truth.
II. God despises heartless worship (v. 25)
II. God despises heartless worship (v. 25)
God is not interested in external obedience to religious ceremony. God wants your heart. He wants you to love Him with all of your heart and your worship should flow out of a heart of love for the Lord.
“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
Let’s look at the third characteristic of unacceptable worship.
III. God detests mixed worship (v. 26)
III. God detests mixed worship (v. 26)
God hates any worship where he is not the chief end. He is a jealous God and will not share any of His glory with another.
You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves,
So while there was some of the nation of Israel that loved God and wholeheartedly followed Him during the wilderness wanderings, once the nation reached the promise land and settled in place and had everything their hearts could need their obedience and loyalty to God quickly faded.
“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.”
Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.
Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?’
And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.
The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.
This is what the forefathers of these Jews had done. Now by the time Amos is preaching to the divided Northern kingdom of Israel they had all but abandoned God.
You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves,
Sikkuth (סִכּוּת) was most likely the Assyrian war god Adar also called Sakkut.
Kiyyun (כִּיּוּן) was most likely the Assyrian astral deity they called Kaiwan, otherwise know as Saturn—your star god.
Amos, Obadiah, Jonah Exile (5:27)
The spelling of these names as Sikkut and Kiyyun probably is the result of substituting the vowels of the Hebrew word šiqqûṣ, “abomination,” in the names of the two astral deities. This was the prophet’s way of ridiculing these pagan gods.
Any worship that is directed to anyone or anything other than the God of the Bible is an abomination. This point is abundantly clear in our Bibles.
(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Friends do you offer to God idolatrous worship?
Idols come in all shapes and sizes. Some in our world today still bow down to statues and carvings. Others worship the god of sports—Superbowl Sunday, other worship the god of materialism, hobbies, leisure, self… the list goes on and on.
I was convicted by a quote from Oswald Chambers this week,
“Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ.” —Oswald Chambers
What is it in your life that competes with your loyalty for Christ? Has that become and idol to you? Is the thing a means to an end or is it an end in itself? God is the only one who is worthy of being an end in and of himself.
Do you offer God idolatrous/mixed worship? If so Amos has a word for you, WOE!
Let’s look at the fourth characteristic of unacceptable worship.
IV. God rejects creative worship (3:14; 4:4-5; 5:5)
IV. God rejects creative worship (3:14; 4:4-5; 5:5)
What do I mean by creative worship?
Several weeks ago Pastor Jason preached and he flipped the order of service. He preached first, and then we did the songs, the offering, and other elements of worship. He was creative in his worship. Does God reject this? That is not what I am mean when I talk about creative worship.
In this Woe, Amos is talking about people who choose to worship God according to their own imagination and devices.
The Westminster Confession of Faith of 1646, The Second London Baptist Confession of 1689 and The Philadelphia Baptist Confession of 1742 each state,
“The acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshiped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.”
This is what we call the regulative principle of worship.
“The regulative principle states that true worship is determined by what God has commanded (regulated) in His Word; that the Bible is the only source of directives regarding Christian worship. To worship God truly is to worship Him in the manner which He Himself has prescribed.” —Scott Williquette
Woe to “user-friendly” worship!
There is such a thing as unauthorized worship-
Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.
And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.
Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron held his peace.
And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.”
So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said.
And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, “Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled.
“Their worship was creative and they died for it. So abominable was their sin that God promised to kill Aaron and his other sons if they mourned. These young priests did not worship idols or false gods. They attempted to worship the true God substituting God’s prescribed ways of worship with their own. It is not clear what made their offering unauthorized. Maybe they used coals from some place other than the altar thus violating Leviticus 16.12. Maybe they made this offering at the wrong time of day violating Exodus 30.7-9. The biblical text simply states that they offered the Lord unauthorized fire and God killed them.” — Scott Williquette
How were the Israelites of Amos’ day offering creative worship?
“that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.
“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 them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” declares the Lord God.
but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.”
What is significant about Bethel and Gilgal?
These locations were places of false worship. These are man-made ways and methods of worshiping the Lord. By going to these shrines they were not worshiping the Lord, they were doing what they thought was best.
God is holy and He tells us how He desires to be worshiped. We cannot substitute, add, or subtract from what the Scriptures prescribe for godly worship. That will never work.
In every dispensation God tells us exactly how He wants to be worshiped.
Exodus 25-31 demonstrates how explicit God was about the place, tools, and people connected to worship under the Mosaic Law. (Scott Williquette)
Ex. 25.8-9 — the Tabernacle must follow God’s pattern exactly.
Ex 25.10-22 — the Ark of the Covenant must be just what God commands.
Ex 25.23-40 — the Table and Lampstand must follow an assigned pattern.
All of Ex 26 describes the Tabernacle’s exact dimensions and accoutrements.
Ex 27.1-8 — describes the Alter in detail
Ex 27.9-19 — describes the Courtyard in detail.
Ex 27.20-21 — even the Lampstand oil is described.
All of Ex 28 describes the Priestly garments (they couldn’t wear just anything).
All of Ex 29 describes the consecration of the priests.
Ex 30.1-10 — describes the Alter of Incense
Ex 30.11-16 — the Atonement Money is described
Ex 30.17-38 — the Wash Basin, Anointing Oil, and Incense are described. Notice how specific and exacting God’s instructions were when it came to the making and using of the incense.
And it is not just in the OT where God describes in exacting detail how he wants to be worshiped. We are given specific instruction in the NT for how we as a church ought to worship God.
The reading of Scripture (1 Tim 4:13; Luke 4:16-20; Acts 13:14-15)
The preaching and teaching of Scripture (1 Cor 1:17-2:4; Tim 4:13; 2 Tim 4:2; Acts 20:7-11)
Corporate prayer (Acts 2:41-42; 1 Tim 2:1-3)
Skilled and God-focused corporate music and singing (Col 3:16; Eph. 5:19; Ps 100:1-2; 150:1-6)
The Presence of Human Emotion In Worship (Scott Williquette)
Human beings are emotional creatures, and unless worship involves both the intellect and the emotions, it is not worship.
“It is not sufficient to utter the praise of God with our tongues, if they do not proceed from the heart.”
“Outward worship without inward is but the carcase of worship.”
At the same time, we must recognize that not all emotions are the same. Throughout church history, Christian leaders have sought to highlight the difference by distinguishing between “affections” and “passions.”
Passions are feelings in the body sparked by external stimuli, like shock, surprise, sudden terror, excitement, and sexual arousal.
They are “surface-level feelings that are merely physical, chemical responses to some sort of stimulus.” They are not wrong, but they should not be allowed to control us.
Illustration: Passion 2024- 20 min straight of a song that contained 5 or 6 words repeated over and over. Goal was to create surface-level feelings that are merely physical, chemical responses to some sort of stimulus. This is the mentality that says, if I don’t get goose pimples down my arms when I am singing in worship then it is not really worship. Igniting that kind of response, of passions only is shallow. Anything can do that- a Hollywood movie can do that. That should not be the defining characteristic of true worship!
Affections, on the other hand, involve the mind. They are deep responses of the will to processed information; feelings like love, joy, fear, and indignation. Affections are not merely surface level physical responses, but “arise as a result of some sort of cognitive understanding of truth.”
Jonathan Edwards referred to our highest affections as “holy affections” because they involve the positive response of the believer’s will to what his mind has learned about God from His revelation. Holy affections include feelings of desire and love for God, hope in God, joy in God, reverent fear of God, gratitude to God, grief, anger, and disgust over sin, and so on. In his book, The Religious Affections, Jonathan Edwards states that “true religion, in great part, consists in holy affections.”
This is certainly consistent with the biblical definition of worship delineated earlier. As believers understand truth about God they respond with their entire person—their understanding, wills and affections. They mourn over sin and delight and rejoice in the Lord and His goodness (Ps 1.2; 43.4; 95.1; 112.1). If we are going to worship God in a way that pleases Him, our worship services must never aim to stoke men’s passions. Rather, they should seek to reveal God, His person and works, in such a way as to engage men’s mind and cultivate holy affections within him.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
What other affections does Paul list? forgiveness, love, peace, thankfulness...
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The other quote that bears mentioning in regards to our music is this…
Allen Ross...
“Believers down through the centuries have been trying to appreciate and develop proper and meaningful worship practices. . . . At the heart of this effort is the need for believers to recapture the vision of the exalted and holy Lord of glory, that is, the sublime;
“For to the degree that worshippers apprehend the glory of the Lord, their worship will be purified of base instincts and elevated to the level of true spiritual worship.” —Allen Ross
Unfortunately, almost everything in our nature and in our world pulls us back from that; and without a good knowledge of the biblical revelation on the subject, worship becomes routine, centered on people and performances, and secularized. . . .
Sacrificial giving to the Lord’s work (1 Cor 16:1-2; 2 Cor 9:6-7)
The regular observance of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism (Matt 28:18-19; Acts 2:41-42; 1 Cor 11:23-26)
Baptismal service coming up in March sometime.
Spiritual fellowship around the things of Christ (Acts 2:41-42)
The exercise of spiritual gifts in ministry to others (Rom 12:6-8; 1 Cor 12; 1 Pet 4:10-11)
Church discipline when appropriate (Matt 18:15-17; 1 Cor 5:1-5)
“Many today are clamoring for creativity in worship, but creativity must be controlled by biblical revelation.” —Scott Williquette
Is this the kind of worship that you are offering to God? Are you offering creative worship? If so Amos has a word for you, WOE!
There is such a thing as unacceptable worship!
We look at four characteristics of unacceptable worship this morning.
God hates hypocritical worship
God despises heartless worship
God detests idolatrous worship
God rejects creative worship
Woe to those who offer God unacceptable worship.
Listen to the last verse of Amos 5
These Israelites were contaminating their worship. And for that reason God sends them this WOE this warning...
and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.
It is not too late. God sent this WOE 30-40 years before this exile took place. He was giving his people a chance to repent He was giving his people a chance to change their worship, to offer God right acceptable worship.
And that is His plea to you this morning.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.