Amos, worship, and justice

God said in Amos 5:21-24,

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

It is clear from this passage that it is not simply offering God our wealth, going to church, being "religious" and observing religious tradition, or even worshipping Him through song that pleases Him. It is living justly and righteously that pleases Him.

I was privileged to be a part of a meeting this morning where the discussion opened up with talking about the debate of the importance of the Word vs action and of personal salvation vs. acts of justice. Someone from our group wisely commented that unfortunately, many Christians hear "justice" and think only of the world's definition of "social justice." But God's justice is so different.

God's justice is seen completely in Christ, in redeeming us from our sin and giving us the chance to become the people He creates us to be. In Christ, God's justice is personified and not only are we justified, but we now have the chance to join with Christ in living out God's justice. Not only to carry His message of personal salvation and redemption to the world, but His message of physical and societal redemption as well. In Christ, we are not only forgiven but are also refined and molded and called to become more like Him. We are called to live as He lived - which means we do not just carry a message of hope after death, but hope now. God desires this world to be redeemed, and in Christ we can work to bring His redemption to all areas of life, working with the hope that one day God will come and perfectly complete the work He has called us to.

In Christ, it is not Word or action, personal or societal salvation. It is both. Both are an essential part of the Gospel. As someone also commented at our meeting this morning, they are intimately connected, flowing out of each other. It is clear from the passage in Amos that God desires action: He desires justice and righteousness. But He does not desire the type of action that results in mindless ritual and heartless religion. He is looking for action that is truly worshipful. And when we know Christ, true worship will flow from us: acts of justice and righteousness. Truly knowing Christ’s justice will cause us to live out that justice. One comes from the other: just as when God spoke and the earth came into being, just as when Christ spoke people were healed – when we read His Word we will not be able to help but act as He acted. Experiencing personal redemption will lead us to desire redemption of society and of the world – it will lead us to see the world more through God’s eyes and desire for it to be the way He intended it to be in the beginning – and this will lead us to do acts of justice to make it so. And as we see from Amos 5, this is true worship.