Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer: “As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them? Did it not come into his mind? The LORD could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.”
If you want the formula for displeasing God and soliciting His discipline and wrath, you have it in the above passage. This is a synopsis of Israel’s fall from grace and their need to suffer the disciple of God. Instead of having a heart for worship they had the actions of worship. God is not interested in our outward manifestations of worship. He is interested in our inward sanctification, our holiness. This goes back to one of the best known verses on this subject stated by the prophet Samuel to the young King Saul:
1 Samuel 15:22 (ESV)
And Samuel said,
“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
King Saul was told to wait for Samuel before the sacrifice. Saul was impatient and, instead, sacrificed on his own. His sacrifice was outwardly right but inwardly flawed. God wants us to have a heart for Him not outward form worship. A heart for Him is defined as obedience to him. This is a constant theme for Jeremiah and all the prophets. God wants our hearts not our sacrifice. In the New Testament we have a similar challenge:
Acts 5:1-5 (ESV)
Ananias and Sapphira
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, didn’t need to say they sold the land and wanted to give it ALL to the church. They didn’t have to give ANY of it to the church. But to impress those around them they lied and feigned that they were giving all the proceeds of the sale to the church. Once again God was not impressed with the outside but disciplined them for their corrupt heart. It is the heart of worship God is interested in not the acts of worship.
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