“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
The first thing that I need to do is to define ritual so that there will be no doubt what I mean: “a manner of performing a divine service.” Ritualism is defined as: “adherence to and fondness for decorous ceremonial customs in public worship.” (New Webster's Dictionary) Hosea was writing to the northern kingdom of Israel about God’s judgment on them for the way they were living. The problem was that they were going through all of the rituals of animal sacrifices that God had prescribed through Moses, but that was not enough. The sacrifices were intended to remind the people of who and what God was/is and how they should live. In other words, Israel was going through the motions of religion, but their hearts and lives were not in it. What the people of Israel did not understand was that God did not just want their empty ceremonies as much as He wanted their hearts. He wanted them. It is the same with us. It is important for us to worship together in church, sing, pray, give and preach. But the act of doing those things in public worship does not mean much if the life that we bring to the worship experience is devoid of dedication to God. God wants us to let our rituals make a difference in the way we live our lives. Let me give a personal example. I have been in church most of my life, and I have sung the old hymns over and over again over the years. In fact, I know a good many, if not most, of the familiar hymns by heart. I sing them in the shower and to myself at night before I go to sleep. (I know verses 1, 2, and 4 of the four verse hymns, because we usually do not sing the third verse.) I guess that is commendable, but I am aware that when I stand before God to receive my rewards, He is not going to say, “Joe how many hymns do you know by heart?” He is also not going to condemn me because I don’t know third verses. What the Bible tells me is that I will be judged and rewarded by my genuine acts of service to the Lord. That will include my treatment of people. It is not enough to just “go to church.” Going to church is a good thing, but it is a means to an end. To just go to church and not let it have some effect on our lives, is like the Israelites taking their sacrifices to the altar without it touching their lives or making a difference in how they lived. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:25 to not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together.” Therefore it is important to attend public worship, but our mere bodily presence is not enough. I compare going to church to fueling my car. I do not take my car to the service station (usually convenience store) to buy gas just for the sake of buying gas. The church is our service station where we go to get fueled up to live each day for the Lord, just as I take my car to buy gas so that it will take me where I need to go. You can’t get what God has for you at your church if you do not go, but if you do not take away from the service a renewed faith in Christ, and a greater desire to serve the Lord, you have missed the point. It is not enough to just read the Bible. Reading the Bible can be an empty ritual if reading it does not help us to live better lives. One of my daily rituals is to read eight chapters from the Bible each day. But when I stand before the Lord, He is not going to commend me for arbitrarily reading eight chapters each day. He is going to be more interested in what reading the Bible did for my life. We can feverishly read our Bibles each day to keep up our quota of reading, but we need to let the words penetrate into the deep recesses of our hearts. We will not be commended for just reading the Bible, but we will be commended for the difference that reading it makes in our lives. Don’t misunderstand me, ritually reading the Bible is not a bad thing, for if we do not read it, we cannot know what’s in it. But the reading of it should make a difference in our lives. As you live your life today, remember that God “desires mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Bro. Joe
2 Comments
Norma Burden
7/19/2015 06:20:09 pm
Dear Pastor, This sounds like our Sunday School lesson today as you commented in class. Micah 6:8 "To do justly ,and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God." The only thing wrong with these blogs are that I cant underline, and highlight certain passages that I deem important. Therefore I have to print it out so I can do just that. I also thought that last night's sermon on Psalm 96:7-10 was very good Lord of Glory.
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Margaret M Jones
7/21/2015 03:42:32 am
Another good one. Certainly points to remember lest we get caught up in "just going through the motions"
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