What We Like Doesn't Matter

“And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.” (Am 4:5 AV)

Just as a reminder:  there was to be absolutely no leaven offered with sacrifices unto the LORD.  And, as a reminder what that might have looked like:  unleavened bread is absolutely plain, flat, and little can be done with it aesthetically.  When one adds leaven to the bread, it rises.  When it rises, all sorts of shapes, designs, and added ingredients can be incorporated.  In short, unleavened bread doesn’t take a whole lot of human input and from the eye of the observer, it rather uninteresting.  Leavened bread, on the other hand, is attractive and varies quite a bit.  It would make complete sense for those who worship to want to be creative and produce what they consider the best of what they have to offer.  The problem with that is pride becomes the main ingredient.

This theme is as old as Cain.  Can brought the best of what he could produce.  Not the best of what God required.  Some things never change.  The idea that mankind could do anything for God to impress Him of our worth is ludicrous.  We do this not because God likes it.  We do it because we like it!  That is the problem.  This challenge is an old one.  This challenge is a stubborn one.  As a preacher, it is a temptation to preach in such a way that it pleases the hearers, or it pleases my ego.  This must be surrendered before one mounts the pulpit.  What we do must be for the glory of God and Him alone.  Whether it pleases us or not.  Whether we like it or not.  There are principles in the word of God that govern what we do.  Too bad if they are not to our liking or we think them too boring!  Too bad!

I know this will rifle a few feathers, but so be it.  It seems our contemporary friends believe that emotion is all that counts.  As long as we feel it, then God accepts it.  We like it.  No matter how biblical it may or may not be.  We read corrupted bibles because we like them.  We dress immodestly or cross-gender because we like it.  We come to church when we like to.  We serve when we like to.  We tithe when we like to.  We use the music we like to.  We stay for as long as we like to.  Then we have the audacity to expect God to accept what we like to do.  My father used to handle this attitude rather well.  If we ever said that we didn’t ‘like to’, he would say something like, “I don’t really care what you like or don’t like.  Do it anyway or you’ll get a spanking.”  That works for me!  Who cares what I like or don’t like when it comes to the LORD?  He doesn’t.  So, I shouldn’t either.