Jesus in Amos
March 28, 2025
A Worthy Offering
In Amos’ day, Israel was coming to worship God, but they did it their way. They made two offerings—the first was to be an unleavened bread offering. Leaven was forbidden by God (see Leviticus 7); it represented evil or wrong doctrine and evil living.
The first offering represented the Godward side of our relationship. For us today, the Lord Jesus Christ made peace with God by His sacrifice for us (see Romans 5:1). No sin (leaven) was in this first offering.
The second offering represents the manward side; the one who is bringing the sacrifice of thanksgiving offers himself to God. This sacrifice includes leaven. When we dedicate our lives to the Lord, we say that we intend to set our lives apart. We want to be holy, though in truth, we never can be perfect before God. We will always contain some “leaven.”
Amos calls the people of Israel out on bringing their leaven to God in both offerings. They simply didn’t care, since they were removed from the living and true God, and can only offer evil to God. Of course, God won’t accept their sacrifice. But the people offer it only as a show of godliness, not because they care about what God requires.
Amos says in effect, “You’re coming to Bethel to sin, not to worship God!”
Next Sunday, before you leave for church, it might be well to first get down on your knees and ask God about the condition of your heart. Will you be taking a clean heart to church? Will you be taking lips that will not speak anything to hurt the cause of Christ?
We need ministers like Amos today. Too many pastors only give nice messages on how to solve personal problems. Somebody needs to say something very strong about sin in our hearts. Sin in our lives is our biggest problem to overcome. We can’t cover it up. We need to get our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ straightened out. Only then will God receive our offering.
