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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Key Thought: The prophets were particularly focused on the evil committed by God’s people. God seeks for His people to work against injustice and care for the poor and needy.

August 10, 2019

1. Have a volunteer read Isaiah 1:14-17..

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why is hypocrisy considered such a sin? Shouldn’t we at least look like we are doing good?
3. Personal Application: Have you ever seen people more concerned about forms and rituals than about helping those in need around them? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “Do you think there are churches today that are going through the forms and motions of religion in prayer and worship services but are not doing the Lo0rd’s work? ” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Isaiah 58:6,7 13, 14

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What had gone wrong in the relationship between God and His people here?
3. Personal Application: Are we doing enough to help those in need? Are we take care of our own family members? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Do you think God is unhappy with His people because they are not keeping the Sabbath in the right way? Do you think there should be Sabbath reform among Seventh-day Adventists?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Mark 12:38-40.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. How do we avoid the trap of thinking that having and knowing the truth is enough?
3. Personal Application: Is your church a place of refuge and healing, or of condemnation and oppression? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “How does religious leaders being prideful, selfish, greedy, and going through the motions of Christianity and religious exercises “devour” widows’ houses?” How would you reply to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Psalm 115:1-8.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. Why is it so foolish to make images and worship them?
3. Personal Application: What does it mean that we become like what we worship? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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Throughout the Bible, God’s people are urged to worship God, but we are also repeatedly offered reasons for doing so. We are told to worship Him because of who He is, what He has done, and because of His many attributes. Among these are His goodness, justice, and mercy. When we are reminded of what God is like, what He has done for us (especially in the cross of Christ), and what He promises to do, none of us should ever be without reason to worship and praise God.

Read Deuteronomy 10:17-22, Psalm 101:1, Psalm 146:5-10, Isaiah 5:16, Isaiah 61:11. What are the motivations for worship and praising God given in these verses?

Abraham

Such reasons for worship were not new to God’s people. Some of the most enthusiastic times of worship of the newly-freed Israelites happened in response to the obvious intervention of God on their behalf. For example, after being brought out of Egypt and crossing the Red Sea, Moses and Miriam led the people in singing praise to God for what they had just seen and been rescued from (see Exodus 15).

God’s justice and mercy, as revealed in such events, were not to be forgotten. As the people kept these stories alive by retelling them regularly, the acts and justice of God continued to be an inspiration for their worship years later and in following generations. One example of this re-telling and worship is recorded in Deuteronomy 10:17-22.

God’s justice is, first, simply part of who He is, a core component of His essential character. “It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice” (Job 34:12, NIV). God is just and is concerned with justice—and that is a reason to worship and praise Him.

Second, God’s justice is seen in His just and righteous acts on behalf of His people and on behalf of all who are poor and oppressed. His justice is never merely a description of His character. Rather, the Bible portrays a God who “heard the cry of the needy” (Job 34:28, NIV) and is active and anxious to right the wrongs that are so obvious in our world. Ultimately, this will be fully realized in God’s final judgment and His re-creation of the world.

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Soon after God led the people of Israel out of Egypt, He met with them at Mount Sinai, giving them the Ten Commandments in written form, including the first two commandments about not worshiping other gods and not making idols (see Exod. 20:2-6). In response, the people promised to do everything they had been commanded and to live as His people (see Exod. 24:1-13).

Idolatry

But then Moses was gone up the mountain for almost six weeks and the people began to wonder what had become of him. Under pressure from the mob, Aaron made a golden calf and led the people in making sacrifices before it, after which “they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry” (Exod. 32:6, NIV). Both the Lord and Moses were outraged at how quickly the people had turned away from God to idol worship—and it seemed that it was only Moses’ intercession that saved Israel from its deserved punishment (see Exod. 32:30-34).

Idolatry, however, was a temptation God’s people fell into way too often. The history of the kings of Israel and Judah is punctuated by periods of idolatry, which include the outrageous acts some of the kings led their people to commit in the worship of these gods. Such unfaithfulness was a recurring focus of the prophets God sent in order to call the people back to Him. Often, too, amid the calls for revival and reformation, were calls for better treatment of the poor, the needy, and the helpless among them.

Read Psalm 115:1-8. What crucial point is the author making there?

It is a human tendency that we become like the thing or person we worship and focus on. So, it was only natural that concern for others and for justice would diminish when God’s people turned from worshiping a God of justice to worshiping the false gods of the surrounding nations, who were often styled as beings of war or fertility. When they chose other gods, the people changed their attitude in a lot of things, including how they treated others. Had they been faithful to the Lord, they would have shared His concern for those in need among them.

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Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study: Ps. 115:1-8, Deut. 10:17-22, Ps. 101:1, Isa. 1:10-17, Isa. 58:1-14, Mark 12:38-40.

Memory Text: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:6-7, NKJV).

Even a quick reading of the Old Testament prophets alerts us to their concerns about the mistreatment of the poor and oppressed. The prophets and the God for whom they spoke were outraged about what they saw being done in all the surrounding nations (see, for example, Amos 1 and 2). But they also had a particular sense of anger and grief at the acts of iniquity done by God’s people themselves, those who had been the recipients of so many divine blessings. Given their history, as well as their God-given laws, these people should have known better. Unfortunately, that wasn’t always the case, and prophets had a lot to say about this sad state of events.

It is interesting to discover, too, that many of the best-known statements concerning justice and injustice from the Old Testament prophets are actually given in the context of instructions about worship. As we will see, true worship is not just something that happens during a religious ritual. True worship is also about living a life that shares God’s concerns for the well-being of others and that seeks to lift up those who have been downtrodden and forgotten.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 10.

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