AMOS 5:23-24: “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.” NLT

OBSERVATION: I love to worship! I look forward each week to the time our church family is gathered in corporate worship, and I can lift my voice in praise to the Lord. Yet, we all know that worship is so much more than a song service. Worship is our entire lives lifted as living sacrifices to the Lord.

Like the Israelites, we can sometimes forget this. In fact, worship in the church today has a tendency to be focused on the platform, performance, and the response of the crowd. It very often resembles a rock concert where the lead singer works to elicit a response from the crowd.

What begins as a focus on broken, contrite hearts becomes a focus on lighting, smoke machines, subwoofers, guitar riffs, and vocal performances. The crowd cheers as the band plays, but is this really worship? I wonder if Amos visited one of our churches today; would he write the word of the Lord saying,

“Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” (Amos 5:23 NLT)

There is nothing wrong with excellence in musical or vocal performance. In fact, if there is no baseline of competency, it distracts from being able to lift our voices in praise to the Lord. The Temple was filled with skilled musicians and singers. The issue comes when we focus more on the performance and the emotional response to this performance than on changed lives.

Everyone has experienced being moved emotionally by a song, a movie, or some art form. Yet, this does not equate to changed lives. One may weep, even come to the altar, but if there is no change in their lives, what is the purpose? As a pastor, I have seen the same individuals coming to the altar time after time, tears and hands lifted, with no apparent change in their lives. While I cannot judge someone’s heart, the Scriptures do seem to question this cycle.

Apparently, Israel had some rocking worship! It was filled with joy, exuberance, skilled musical ability, and participation. Yet, this is not what the Lord was looking for. As the prophet Isaiah writes, and as Jesus quoted,

“And so the Lord says, ‘These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.” (Isaiah 29:13 NLT)

So what does the Lord desire in our worship? It is not our noisy hymns or praise or the music of our harps (guitars, organs, drums, etc.). What is it? David, a true worshipper of the Lord, tells us what God desires.

“You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (Psalms 51:16-17 NLT)

Amos writes,

“Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.” (Amos 5:24 NLT)

Micah writes,

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 NLT)

A broken, contrite, changed heart is what God desires. It is the fruit of right living that is the sweetest song to His heart. A moment of emotional response can never be exchanged for a lifetime of obedience. When we go to worship on Sunday, it is not the performance or participation that is important. It is the response of the heart and the actions of our lives every day following.

We cannot change our hearts. Only God can. Yet, when we yield our hearts to Him in the sacrifice of praise (a broken and contrite heart), He does something the emotional stirring of a song can never do. He changes us from the inside out. He fills us anew with the Holy Spirit, and He gives us the grace to walk in an endless river of righteous living.

Heavenly Father, may my worship and praise never be about performance. May I bring to You my entire life as a living sacrifice. As I enter Your presence, change my heart, transform my life, fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and grant me the grace to swim in the rivers of right living for Your glory!

“How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalms 19:12-14 NLT)

In Jesus’ Name!