How can an act of outward worship be considered a transgression by God? Amos made this claim to his people, emphasizing a truth we must acknowledge in our own lives.
Come to Bethel—and transgress;
to Gilgal—and multiply transgression;
bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days;
Bring a thank offering of leavened bread
and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;
for so you love to do, O people of Israel!
says the Lord God. (Amos 4.4-5)
Bethel, which translates to “house of God” in Hebrew, served as the primary worship site for the Northern Kingdom. How then did it transform into a site of transgression?
Can you imagine a golden calf installed in the house of God when the nation knew that had God instructed His people to create no idols (Exodus 20.4-5)?
The Northern Kingdom disregarded God’s command and embraced the worship practices of the Canaanites, symbolized by this golden calf.
How can people become so deluded that they disregard God’s explicit will and install a golden calf in a house of worship dedicated to the one true God? I believe two types of people engage in this behavior.
(1) The Cynics – Some cynics are aware it’s wrong but have ulterior motives and choose to do it regardless.
(2) The Ignorant – Some are simply uninformed. They haven’t devoted time to study and depend heavily on their leaders, blindly following those who are themselves blind to the truth.
God has not appointed me as the judge of right and wrong in worship practices. However, I will point out that when we examine the improper worship methods of 8th century BC Israel, we must be vigilant ourselves.
The last thing we want to do is to worship an idol in place of the true and living God because we are ignorant of what His will is.
Rudy Ross and I create a daily YouTube video, and we’re always happy for people to watch what we produce. However, we both agree that it is far more important for people to read and pray about what they read in the Bible than to get their spiritual direction from social media.
I highly recommend reading the Gospels and letting Jesus define what true worship is for you.
Materialism and Worship
We obviously can’t tackle every social problem in the world, but it’s important to be aware of them. While we comfortably worship in our American sanctuaries, others live lives completely different from ours.
Consider the two paragraphs below about cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Smartphones, computers and electric vehicles may be emblems of the modern world, but their rechargeable batteries are frequently powered by cobalt mined by workers laboring in slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Cobalt is toxic to touch and breathe — and there are hundreds of thousands of poor Congolese people touching and breathing it day in and day out. Young mothers with babies strapped to their backs, all breathing in this toxic cobalt dust” (Internet NPR Article).
Amos portrayed the women of the 8th century B.C. Israel as symbols of the nation’s problem. Their acquisitive nature led to the oppression of the poor, and they experienced God’s anger due to their attitudes and actions.
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan
who are on Mount Samaria,
who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
who say to their husbands, “Bring something to drink!” (Amos 4.1)
I don’t have a solution to the problems of American materialism and the world’s poor.
When Toni and I are in California and we see migrants stooped over fields of strawberries or artichokes, I think, “Well Lord, at least they have a job,” but it is miserable work.
When I think of children as young as my grandchildren working at slave labor rates to mine toxic substances that are in my cell phone, again, I don’t know what to do, but it does concern me.
At the very least, we should be conscious of the world beyond our immediate surroundings. We do well to recognize that many people suffer greatly, and our prayers should ask for God’s intervention in their lives.
In the 8th century B.C., Israel mixed their worship with that of Baal and mistakenly believed that God condoned materialism that oppressed the poor.
Just as in Amos’ day, we need to examine our worship and ask God to reveal His view of it.
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross and I discuss this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 