It seems that we are not the first generation or culture to take this approach in our service to God.  Israel, God’s covenant people, struggled in these ways.  They assumed that since God had set them apart as a people He would not really care how they worshipped or how they lived.  Many passages in the Old Testament, particularly in the prophets, were written to address this error.  Psalm 50 is one of those passages.

The psalm begins with God gathering His covenant people to pronounce judgment.  Look at verses 1-6.  The Lord is the Mighty One and before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest.  The language communicates that God is not one to be trifled with.  He is the Judge of all the earth and we should fear Him as such.  God calls to the heavens above and to the earth to be witnesses as He judges His people.  Then He calls for His people to be gathered.  They are described as my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.  This is probably a reference to the covenant that God made with Israel in Exodus 24:1-8, which involved animal sacrifice for ratification.  So then, we get to the end of verse 6 and the stage has been set: the witnesses have been called (the heavens and the earth), the ones being tried have been gathered (Israel, God’s people), and the Judge is ready to speak.  So what then does He say?

God’s message of judgment to those going through the motions (v. 7-15):

God begins by telling them what He is not rebuking them for.  Look at verses 7-8.  It is interesting to note that God is not judging them for their lack of sacrifices.  It seems that they were bringing sacrifice after sacrifice, which is what they were supposed to do according to the covenant.  So then, what exactly was the problem?  Why is God rebuking them?  It seems that in their offering of sacrifices they were merely going through the motions.  Perhaps they thought that God was like all the other gods who needed the sacrifices from their followers.  Yet, the Lord makes it clear that He is not needy for bulls and goats.  Look at verses 9-13.  Note the contrast between the possessive pronouns ‘your’ and ‘mine.’  God does not need bulls from your house or goats from your folds.  Why?  Because all the bulls and goats belong to Him in the first place.  He makes it plane: they are all mine.  It seems that many in Israel were taking pride in their sacrifices.  They figured, ‘We are giving God so many bulls and goats, surely He will be satisfied with us and not expect much else.’  But God was not after the bulls and the goats.  He had no need for them.  He was not hungry or lacking in anything they could provide.  And the same is true today.  God does not need anything from you.  What then does He desire?

God desired from Israel (and desires from us) a sacrifice of thanksgiving.  Look at verses 14-15.  God did not want Israel to offer bulls and goats and be prideful about their great sacrifice.  He wanted them to offer everything they have with thanksgiving.  Why?  Because it all belongs to Him.  We cannot offer Him anything that He did not first give to us.  Isn’t that a strange way to think about sacrifice?  We give what He has given.  Therefore, we should not give with pride about how much we are giving.  No, we should give with humility and thankfulness because we know that everything we have to give we have received from Him.  It is when we realize our desperate need before God and come to Him knowing that all we have is His that He delivers us and is glorified in such deliverance.  We do not glorify God by all that we can do for Him or offer to Him as a sacrifice.  We glorify Him by recognizing our need and confessing to any and all that He has delivered us, He has provided.  We do not do this by just going through the motions or by taking pride in our sacrifices.  Such action only leads to condemnation from God.

God’s message of judgment to those offering lip service only (v. 16-23):

God addresses a more particular group in verses 16-23.  Look at verses 16-20.  God is still addressing people from the nation of Israel, for they are those who recite my statutes and take my covenant on (their) lips.  These people know what God expects of them.  They too are going through the motions in one sense.  What fault does God find in them?  They only offer lip service devotion to the Lord, for they are continually walking in sin.  The Lord mentions several sins (hate discipline, ignore His words, keep company with thieves and adulterers, speak lies and slander) that demonstrate some of the different ways that these people were disobeying.  They were fine with considering themselves a part of the covenant people as long as that had no impact on their lives.  They were fine with the assurance and the provision as long as they could keep living however they wanted to.  Unfortunately it sounds like many who call themselves Christians in our day.  Yes, they want forgiveness and the promise of eternal life as long as it starts after they are finished doing whatever they want to do in this life.  Yet, such an approach to following the Lord reveals that we are not truly His (as we saw in John’s letters).  Being a part of God’s people means that we will look and act like His people.  Otherwise, we may be honoring God with our lips, but we are not giving Him the devotion that He deserves and demands.

Why do people make this mistake?  Look at verse 21.  We all have a tendency to make God in our image.  We figure that if we sin and God does not immediately judge us, then He must not care that much about our sin.  Since sin is not that big of deal to us it must not be that big of a deal to Him either.  This is seemingly the error that many in Israel were making.  God’s silence meant to them that they could continue in their sin with no consequences.  But the Bible teaches us over and over again that God is not like us.  He is other than us in all His ways.  He is other than us in His love and care.  He is other than us in His mercy and grace.  Likewise, He is other than us in His holiness and justice.  His silence is merely patience, not ignorance or indifference.  We cannot view God like one of us, for that will lead us down a myriad of wrong paths.  Rather, we need to know that He will leave no sin unpunished and that even in His silence He is ever aware.  He will bring all things into account.

These truths lead to God’s warning in verse 22.  Look at that verse with me.  Why does God give us this warning at this point?  Because He is kind and merciful and patient.  But make no mistake about it, His kindness and mercy and patience are meant to lead us to repentance (see Romans 2:4).  Thus, He warns those who are offering mere lip service devotion so that they may repent and offer the true devotion that He describes again in verse 23.  Look at that with me.  God wants both of these groups to turn from their false devotion for the one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God.  This is not works salvation, but as we saw in the letters of John, a person who has truly been redeemed by God will follow after Him in love and obedience.  Any who think that they can ignore these realities are sadly mistaken.  To them God calls for repentance and faith, to turn from their evil ways, and to offer true devotion to God.  It is this one, the one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice, who truly knows and glorifies God.

The Lord gathers His covenant people and judges their false devotion to Him.  He calls them away from pride and arrogance in their sacrifices and rebukes them for thinking that they can continue in their sinful ways.  The Lord desires true devotion, devotion that begins and ends with thanksgiving to Him for all that He is and all that He does.  How do we make certain that our devotion, our worship, is what God truly desires?  How do we avoid the mistakes that God judges in this psalm?

In order to offer true devotion to God that is characterized by humility and thanksgiving we must maintain a high view of God.  In one sense all false devotion begins with a low view of God.  Is that not the case with both of the errors that God rebukes in this psalm?  First, those just going through the motions and taking pride in their sacrifices were convinced that somehow God needed their bulls and goats.  Since God was in need of these animals, they believed that all He required of them was repeated sacrifices.  How does God correct this?  He makes it plain that He has no need of their bulls and goats.  He is the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  Everything on the earth belongs to Him.  He corrects their false devotion by reminding them who He is and just how great He is.  Second, those offering lip service devotion believe that God’s silence indicated that He was unaware or unconcerned with sin.  They thought God was like men.  God corrects their false devotion by warning them and reminding them that He knows all, sees all, and will judge all. 

If we are going to avoid these mistakes, then we must know what is true about our God.  He is not needy in any way.  God is not in the heavens this morning desperate for our sacrifices and our praise.  He is not ‘lucky to have us on His team.’  He does not need us at all.  He is the Mighty One, God the Lord.  He himself is judge.  He is God, your God.  He declares: the world and its fullness are mine.  God is not needy.  No we are the needy ones.  We are the ones who are desperate for reconciliation, desperate for a relationship, desperate for a sacrifice to offer.  We are the needy ones.  Only when we remember this will we offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.  Only then will our devotion be what He demands and deserves. 

 Likewise, God is not like us.  He is not unaware.  He is not busy.  He is not distracted.  And He is not unconcerned with sin.  He does not take it lightly.  No, He is the One who will rebuke you and lay the charge before you.  He is the One who warns us and calls us to repentance lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver.  Oh Church if we are ever going to offer true devotion to our God then we must begin with what He has revealed of Himself in His Word.  God sent us His Son, not because He needed anything from us, but because we needed everything from Him.  Christ died not because we were good people, worthy of His sacrifice, but because we were desperate sinners in need of a Savior.  Brothers and sisters, may our devotion always begin there so that we might worship and honor God as we should.  All glory and praise belong to Him.  Amen.

~ William Marshall ~