Noisy Worship

Every weekend we gather for worship: we sing songs, we pray, and we listen to a message. We participate in these things as a way of expressing love and commitment to God. But what if God said he wasn’t interested in our singing? What if He said that we could keep our tithes and offerings? What if all we did for God at church He considered noisy worship? That is the exact sentiment that He shared with the Israelites: 

“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)

Can you imagine God sharing these sentiments with us? “I hate all your show and pretense!” “Away with your noisy hymns of praise!” In the midst of such an intense rebuke, we actually get a window into the heart of God. At the end of the verse, He says, “I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.” If these are things God is asking for, then these must have been things the Israelites were not living out. Israel had equated honoring God by all of the religious activities they did for Him rather than letting Him transform their hearts to be more like Him. He cares less about our religious activity and more about our transformation and obedience. He wants us to care about justice. He wants us to live righteously. Why? 

In Jesus’ first sermon he says:

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” - Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT) 

We are the light of the world. God has called the church (us) to “Let [our] good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise [our] heavenly Father.” Our religious activity doesn’t show the world how loving our God is, but our obedience to “[care} for orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27) or to “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [our] God” (Micah 6:8 ESV) does. 

In a time when our country is painfully polarized, we need to shine the love of Christ that transcends all differences and social barriers. We are called to love our enemies and pray for any that persecute us. We are not going to be a church with noisy worship.

This weekend, we will sing We Won’t Stay Silent to solidify this conviction about sharing the love and deeds of Christ and to commit to praying for those far from Christ. We will follow that with Jesus Saves to proclaim the Gospel over ourselves and our city. Finally, we will sing Honor & Glorify to remind ourselves that because of the Father’s love for us, we are now set apart to engage this life with His glorious purpose of seeing His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth. Let’s encourage one another to get out there and push back the darkness… let’s make our worship mean something and bless God’s heart.