Amo 4:5 | KingComments | STEP | Amos further mocks their religion. Are they so eager to sacrifice? Then let them not take it too seriously with the precepts. Feel free to make a sacrifice of praise in which leaven is incorporated. Did God say that there should be no leaven in the sacrifice of praise ( )? Well, that is a dated precept. Now it is all about how you feel about it. Let yourself go. If you love it, God loves it too. Just get crazy for Him. It is a picture of many services in Christianity today, where it only matters if you feel good about it, but not whether it is pleasing to God? There is also no question about the place where the Lord Jesus wants to meet His own. The question is whether I like it somewhere, whether the services appeal to me. The human being is central and becomes the norm for the service. Accessible, attractive to people in the world. The gospel rock band in the church, dancing, and a few more ‘spirit expressions’ like crying, falling and even barking in spirit, add some speaking in tongues and the crowds enter the church. Let’s sacrifice, let’s tell ourselves that we can offer this to God because He loves it that way. But what do I hear? What does Amos say on behalf of the “Lord LORD”? “For so you love [to do], you sons of Israel.” Here we see that Amos talks completely to the taste of the people. That is why he even calls on them to sacrifice “from that which is leavened” against God’s prohibition. They disregard God’s commandments, don’t they? We must remember that in the Bible, leaven always represents sin as something that affects everything it comes into contact with, just as leaven affects the whole dough and leavens ( ). For us, leaven in the sacrifice of praise means thinking and saying things about the Lord Jesus that dishonor Him. For example, thinking that He could sin although that was and is impossible. There are more wrong and even slanderous things said of Him in Christianity. In addition to the call to bring offerings of thanks, Amos also urges free will offerings. But it is precisely a call to do so that detracts from the character of voluntariness. An appeal creates a moral compulsion or it can even become a legal commandment. It is important for these people that everyone knows how good they are at bringing ‘voluntary’ sacrifices to the LORD. What is given must be widely made known (cf. ; ). It is what we can compare today with having (voluntary) collections, where you are obliged, for the neighbors, to give something. And if others do not see how much you give, then fortunately what is given will be published. What Amos wants to impress upon them is that with their lips they say they please the LORD, but that in reality they serve themselves with this way of serving God. It is serving God as it suits you best. In this way sin is multiplied.

‏ Amos 4:5

So You Love It

Amos further mocks their religion. Are they so eager to sacrifice? Then let them not take it too seriously with the precepts. Feel free to make a sacrifice of praise in which leaven is incorporated. Did God say that there should be no leaven in the sacrifice of praise (Lev 7:12 ; Lev 2:11)? Well, that is a dated precept. Now it is all about how you feel about it. Let yourself go. If you love it, God loves it too. Just get crazy for Him.

It is a picture of many services in Christianity today, where it only matters if you feel good about it, but not whether it is pleasing to God? There is also no question about the place where the Lord Jesus wants to meet His own. The question is whether I like it somewhere, whether the services appeal to me. The human being is central and becomes the norm for the service. Accessible, attractive to people in the world. The gospel rock band in the church, dancing, and a few more ‘spirit expressions’ like crying, falling and even barking in spirit, add some speaking in tongues and the crowds enter the church. Let’s sacrifice, let’s tell ourselves that we can offer this to God because He loves it that way.

But what do I hear? What does Amos say on behalf of the “Lord LORD”? “For so you love [to do], you sons of Israel.” Here we see that Amos talks completely to the taste of the people. That is why he even calls on them to sacrifice “from that which is leavened” against God’s prohibition. They disregard God’s commandments, don’t they? We must remember that in the Bible, leaven always represents sin as something that affects everything it comes into contact with, just as leaven affects the whole dough and leavens (1Cor 5:6-8).

For us, leaven in the sacrifice of praise means thinking and saying things about the Lord Jesus that dishonor Him. For example, thinking that He could sin although that was and is impossible. There are more wrong and even slanderous things said of Him in Christianity.

In addition to the call to bring offerings of thanks, Amos also urges free will offerings. But it is precisely a call to do so that detracts from the character of voluntariness. An appeal creates a moral compulsion or it can even become a legal commandment. It is important for these people that everyone knows how good they are at bringing ‘voluntary’ sacrifices to the LORD. What is given must be widely made known (cf. Mt 6:2; Lk 18:12).

It is what we can compare today with having (voluntary) collections, where you are obliged, for the neighbors, to give something. And if others do not see how much you give, then fortunately what is given will be published.

What Amos wants to impress upon them is that with their lips they say they please the LORD, but that in reality they serve themselves with this way of serving God. It is serving God as it suits you best. In this way sin is multiplied.