"Away With Your Noisy Hymns of Praise!"

Last week the Lord brought me to the book of Amos, and I've been mulling on a passage in chapter 5 ever since.

“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..."

Amos 5:21-24 (NLT)

God gave Israel gave specific commands for how to worship Him, including sacrifices and festivals. The psalms clearly command us to sing to Lord. So why didn't God want to hear Israel sing songs of praise to Him? Because of what the rest of their lives looked like. The one true God of the universe had personally taught them how to live righteously, and yet they still chose to follow the ways of the wicked nations around them. Instead of being set apart for God in all aspects of their lives, the majority of Israel were worshiping idols, getting drunk regularly, committing sexual immoral acts, oppressing the poor, and were full of pride (just to name a few). Without righteous living, the songs of praise and other religious offerings were disgusting to God. I think we've probably heard messages like this before, our lives need to be consistent with the songs we sing, with the faith we confess.

But what about Justice? God's definition of justice isn't simply about legal matters, it has consistently been about caring for those in need. I think about passages like Isaiah 58 where God says that the fast he is looking for is that His people would feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help those who are oppressed. In this passage from Amos God says, "I won't notice your peace offerings." Peace offerings are associated with thanksgiving. We think it's important to give thanks to God for all we've been blessed with. We hear many famous people do that at awards shows. But in this passage it's as if God is saying He doesn't care that you give thanks for all the things He's blessed you with, because you're not using them to do acts of justice. Put what you're thankful for to good use, and then He'll receive your thanksgiving.

Shane and Shane's most recent tour was called the Turn Down the Music Tour. It seems they had this concept of worship and justice in mind when they came up with that name. Consider the story shared in this video.

May we live righteously and justly every day of our lives; not out of guilt or because we're trying to earn God's approval, but because we love God, and we don't want our worship to be fake or just a bunch of noise to Him.