When Jesus was confronted by some of the religious leaders of His day who criticized Him for eating with “sinners”, He quoted the prophet Hosea, telling them to go back to their books and discover what God really meant when He said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:13, NIV, quoting Hos. 6:6).

Mercy

As we will see, Jesus lived a life of caring and service. His interactions with others, His healing miracles, and many of His parables demonstrated and urged that a life lived in such a way was the best way to express true devotion to God. The religious leaders were His greatest critics but were also the target of His harshest criticism. Like the religious people of Isaiah’s day, they believed that they ensured their special relationship with God because of their religious practices, while at the same time they were exploiting the poor and ignoring the needy. Their worship was out of step with their actions, and Jesus was not reserved in His condemnation of such hypocrisy.

Read Mark 12:38-40. Does Jesus’ comment that they “devour widows’ houses” seem out of place in this list, or is that the point Jesus is trying to make? How would you explain why “these shall receive greater damnation”?

Perhaps Jesus’ most frightening sermon—particularly for religious people—is that found in Matthew 23. Not only did Jesus describe their religion as not helping people who are disadvantaged in life, He considered such religion as adding to their burdens. By their actions or at times their lack of action and caring, Jesus said, they “shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces” (Matt. 23:13, NIV).

But echoing the prophets of centuries earlier, Jesus also directly addressed the gap between their serious religious practices and the injustices they condoned and profited from. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matt. 23:23, NIV). Jesus was quick to add that the religious practices and observances are not wrong in themselves, but they should not take the place of treating others fairly.

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You can view an in-depth discussion of “Worship the Creator” in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. You may download an MP4 video file, and audio file or a PDF lesson outline from the HopeSS site.

With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

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In their explanation of the relationship between worship and justice, there is another step urged by the prophets: that an active concern for relieving the poor and oppressed and helping those in need is an important part of worship itself. Isaiah 58 is one chapter that makes this link obvious.

Read Isa. 58:1-14. What has gone wrong in the relationship between God and His people as described in the early part of this chapter?

Sharing

As we have seen previously, this criticism is addressed to people who are actively religious. They seem to be earnestly seeking God, but apparently it is not working. So, God says they should try changing how they worship, to try a different way of serving God. If He were to choose how they would worship, it would be “to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke” (Isa. 58:6, NIV). They would also feed the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, and help those in need.

Such activities are not presented as the only way to worship, but God does urge them as a way to worship—and a form of worship that might be preferable to some of the people’s more traditional worship practices. As such, worship is not only inwardly focused but something that brings blessing to all those around the worshipers of God. “The true purpose of religion is to release men from their burdens of sin, to eliminate intolerance and oppression, and to promote justice, liberty, and peace”. – The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 306.

In Isaiah 58:8-12, God promises blessings in response to this form of worship. In effect, God is saying that if the people were to be less focused on themselves, they would find God working with them and through them to bring healing and restoration.

Interestingly, this chapter also connects this kind of worship with a renewal of “delight” – filled Sabbath keeping. We have already considered some of the strong connections between Sabbath and ministry, but these verses include both these activities in this call for the people to revitalize their worship and to discover God’s blessing. Reflecting on these verses, Ellen G. White commented, “upon those who keep the Sabbath of the Lord is laid the responsibility of doing a work of mercy and benevolence”. – Welfare Ministry, p. 121.

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During the better times of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the people would return to the temple and the worship of God, although even then, their worship was often mixed with inroads from idolatry and the religions of the surrounding nations. But according to the prophets, even their best attempts at religion were not enough to turn them from the evils perpetrated in the land in their daily lives.

Image © Standard Publishing from GoodSalt.com

And no matter how hard they worked at being religious through their rituals of worship, the music of their hymns could not with drown out the cries of the poor and oppressed.

Amos described the people of his day as those who “trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land” (Amos 8:4, NIV). He saw their desire to get done with their rituals so they could reopen the market and get back to their dishonest trade, that of “buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals” (Amos 8:6, NIV).

Read Isaiah 1:10-17, Amos 5:21-24, and Micah 6:6-8. What was the Lord telling these religious people about their rituals?

Through His prophets, God uses strong language to ridicule religion and worship that is disconnected from and in contrast with the suffering and oppression of those around them. In Amos 5:21-24 (NIV), we read of God saying that He “hates”, “despises”, and is generally disgusted by their worship. Their gatherings are described as a “stench”, and their offerings and music are dismissed as less than worthless.

In Micah 6, we see a series of increasingly inflated, even mocking suggestions, as to how they can most appropriately worship God. The prophet mockingly offers the suggestion of burnt offerings, then increases the offering to “thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil” (Micah 6:7, NIV) before going to the horrific—but not unknown—extreme of suggesting sacrificing his firstborn child to gain God’s favor and forgiveness.

In the end, though, what the Lord truly wanted for them was to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8, NIV).

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Hymn 72, “Creator of the Stars of Night” reflects well on the title of this week’s study, “Worship the Creator”.

Other hymns that use the name of Maker, rather than Creator, are: 
Hymn 15, “My Maker and My King”, 
Hymn 37, “O Sing, My Soul, Your Maker’s Praise”, 
Hymn 57, “Now All the Woods Are Sleeping”,
Hymn 92, “This Is My Father’s World”, Hymn 94,
“Nature With Open Volume Stands”, Hymn 93,
“All Things Bright and Beautiful”, Hymn 96,
“The Spacious Firmament” and 
Hymn 97, “Lord of the Boundless Curves of Space”.

The Worship of the Creator is sung in 
Hymn 83, “O Worship the King” and 
Hymn 6, “O Worship the Lord”.

To help in breaking down the Idolatry and Oppression is 
Hymn 318, “Whiter Than Snow”.

One of the ways to worship on Wednesday is to ‘release men from their burdens of sin’ as in
Hymn 476, “Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary”.

We  are requested on Thursday for mercy and faithfulness. Sing
Hymn 602, “O Brother, Be Faithful”.

Blessings for a wonderful Sabbath Day.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

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