Seek God, Not Religion Text: Amos 5:4-7
Introduction: The Difference Between Religion and Reality
The prophet Amos was sent by God to the northern kingdom of Israel at a time of great prosperity and deep spiritual rot. From the outside, things looked good. They had summer homes and winter homes, they had a booming economy, and they were very, very religious. Their shrines were busy, their festivals were well attended, and their offerings were plentiful. They had all the external signs of a people blessed by God. But God sent a rough-hewn shepherd from the south to tell them that their entire enterprise was a sham. Their worship was an abomination, their prosperity was built on injustice, and their religion was a mask for their rebellion.
Amos comes to them not with a complicated theological treatise, but with a stark and simple choice. It is a choice that every individual and every nation must face in every generation. It is the choice between seeking God and seeking the accoutrements of religion. It is the choice between life and death. The Israelites thought they could have both. They thought they could maintain their religious observances at their favorite shrines while simultaneously oppressing the poor and twisting justice. God sends Amos to tell them, in no uncertain terms, that this is impossible. Their religious tourism was actually a journey toward destruction.
We need to hear this word today as much as they did then. It is entirely possible to be surrounded by Bibles, churches, and Christian activities, and yet not be seeking God at all. It is possible to love the idea of church, the feeling of worship, the community of believers, but not love the living God who is a consuming fire. This passage forces us to ask the question: what are we actually seeking? Are we seeking the face of God, or are we just making a pilgrimage to a comfortable Bethel of our own making?
The Text
For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel,
“Seek Me that you may live.
But do not seek Bethel,
And do not come to Gilgal,
Nor cross over to Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
And Bethel will become evil.
Seek Yahweh that you may live,
Lest He come mightily like a fire, O house of Joseph,
And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,
For those who overturn justice into wormwood
And put righteousness down to the earth.”
(Amos 5:4-7 LSB)
The Gracious Command (v. 4)
The passage opens not with a threat, but with a gracious invitation from God Himself.
"For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, 'Seek Me that you may live.'" (Amos 5:4)
In the midst of a book filled with pronouncements of judgment, God extends an offer of life. This is the heart of the gospel. The command is simple: "Seek Me." This is not a command to perform a set of rituals or to visit a specific location. It is a command to seek a Person. To seek God is to orient your entire existence toward Him. It means to desire His presence, to submit to His authority, to learn His ways, and to align your heart with His. It is relational, not transactional. The Israelites were very good at transacting with what they thought was God. They would bring their sacrifices, pay their dues, and expect blessings in return. But they were not seeking Him.
And the result of seeking Him is life. "That you may live." This is not merely biological existence. Israel was biologically alive, but they were spiritually dead. They were what the New Testament would call whitened sepulchers, beautiful on the outside, but full of dead men's bones. True life, abundant life, eternal life, is found only in fellowship with the living God. Jesus says the same thing: "And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). The invitation from Amos is the same invitation from Christ. Turn from your dead religion and seek the living God, and you will find true life.
The Condemned Shrines (v. 5)
God immediately clarifies what seeking Him is not. It is not participating in the popular religious culture of the day.
"But do not seek Bethel, And do not come to Gilgal, Nor cross over to Beersheba; For Gilgal will certainly go into exile, And Bethel will become evil." (Amos 5:5)
This would have been a shocking command. Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba were the premier league of Israelite holy sites. These were places steeped in redemptive history. Jacob had his vision of the ladder at Bethel. Joshua and the Israelites set up memorial stones at Gilgal after crossing the Jordan. Abraham and Isaac had built altars and called upon the name of the Lord at Beersheba. These places were the equivalent of their most historic and revered cathedrals.
But they had become centers of idolatry and syncretism. They were places where Israel went to feel religious without having to be righteous. They went to the shrine, but they did not meet with God. The places themselves had become the idols. They were trusting in the history of the place, the emotion of the festival, the routine of the pilgrimage. They were seeking a religious experience, not the holy God.
God's judgment on these places is delivered with a dose of divine irony. He engages in some pointed wordplay. "Gilgal will certainly go into exile." The name Gilgal sounds very much like the Hebrew verb for exile, galah. God is saying that the place of memorial will become a place of deportation. And "Bethel will become evil." Bethel means "House of God." But God says it will become aven, which means iniquity, trouble, or nothingness. The prophet Hosea had already renamed it Beth-aven, the "House of Iniquity" (Hosea 4:15). God is saying, "The place you call My house has become a house of sin, and it will be reduced to nothing." This is a terrifying warning. When our religious institutions and traditions become substitutes for a living relationship with God, they become targets for His judgment.
The Consuming Fire (v. 6)
The invitation is repeated, but this time it is paired with a severe warning of the alternative.
"Seek Yahweh that you may live, Lest He come mightily like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel," (Amos 5:6)
The choice is binary. It is life or fire. There is no middle ground, no third way. If you do not seek Yahweh for life, you will meet Yahweh as a consuming fire. Notice the power: "Lest He come mightily like a fire." This is not a campfire; it is a forest fire, a divine conflagration. The "house of Joseph" refers to the northern kingdom, particularly the dominant tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Bethel was their primary royal sanctuary. God is taking direct aim at the heart of their corrupt national worship.
And this fire is unquenchable. "None to quench it for Bethel." All their religious activity, all their sacrifices and prayers offered at that corrupt altar, will be utterly useless as a fire extinguisher. In fact, their false worship is the very kindling for the fire. When the judgment of God falls, no human institution, no religious ritual, and no amount of frantic effort can stop it. The only safety is to flee to Him for refuge before the fire comes.
The Poisoned Society (v. 7)
Finally, Amos connects the dots. Why is God so angry? Why is this fire coming? Because their false worship had produced a rotten society.
"For those who overturn justice into wormwood And put righteousness down to the earth." (Amos 5:7)
This verse gives the reason for the coming judgment. Their vertical rebellion against God had resulted in horizontal corruption among men. The two are always linked. Bad theology always produces bad ethics. Idolatry always leads to injustice.
They "overturn justice into wormwood." Justice, which is supposed to be a source of health and refreshment for a society, had been turned into something bitter and poisonous. This is a direct reference to the courts. The judges were taking bribes, the wealthy were exploiting the legal system, and the poor and vulnerable had no recourse. They had taken a gift from God and made it toxic.
And they "put righteousness down to the earth." The standard of God's holy law, which is meant to be lifted high as a banner for the people, had been thrown down and trampled in the mud. They had no regard for God's transcendent standard of right and wrong. Their standard was profit, power, and pleasure. When a nation despises God's law, it will inevitably begin to prey upon itself.
Conclusion: True Worship and True Justice
The message of Amos is a perennial one. A nation's social and political health is a direct reflection of its worship. If a people worship a manageable, domesticated god who makes no ethical demands, their society will inevitably become a place where the strong devour the weak.
The call to "seek Yahweh" is therefore not just a call to a private, spiritual experience. It is a call to societal reformation. When people truly seek the living God, they begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates. And God loves justice and righteousness. He hates oppression and corruption. A revival of true worship will always, without fail, produce a passion for public justice.
The choice is before us, just as it was for Israel. We can continue to make our pilgrimages to our modern Bethels, our shrines of political self-righteousness, theological compromise, or comfortable consumerism. We can have our impressive services and our busy programs. Or we can heed the warning of the prophet. We can abandon our idols, which cannot save, and seek the living God.
The fire of His judgment is real. But the invitation to find life in Him is just as real. And that invitation has a name: Jesus Christ. He is the one who took the fire of God's wrath for us on the cross, so that we who were destined for destruction could be offered life. To seek Yahweh today is to seek Jesus Christ. To abandon Bethel is to abandon all other grounds for our salvation, all other trusts, and to fall wholly upon Him. Seek Him, and you will live.