Imagine someone telling you that you are committing sin when you go to your local church, and that you are sinning all the more when you visit another church. This would be a shocking statement. How can we be sinning in our place of worship when we go to church to honour God?

Until this point in his prophecy to Israel, Amos' condemnation of their religious practices has been clear and obvious. He has pointed out that their places of worship are sinful and objectionable to God (see Amos 3:14). Now, the prophet begins to deepen his criticism, dissecting Israel's religious practices to reveal the rotten core.

In 4:4, Amos tells the Israelites that they are sinning simply by going to their places of worship in Bethel and Gilgal. These places represented a rejection of worship in Jerusalem. Worship at Bethel and Dan was idolatry because Jeroboam I had golden calves made and proclaimed them as Israel's gods there (1 Kings 12:25-33). Not only had he violated one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:4), but he had also credited God's miraculous works to those idols (1 Kings 12:28, see also Matthew 12:22-37 about attributing the works of God to others).

But idolatry was not the only sin Israel was guilty of. Amos is also accusing the Israelites of having wrong motives and wrong hearts in their worship of God (Amos 4:5). While they were performing all the prescribed sacrifices, tithes, and offerings, the problem was that they were not doing these things in obedient response to God, but so that they could brag about them (v. 5). They loved to show everyone how religious they were.

There are many warnings about this approach to religion in the New Testament. In Matthew 6:1-18, for example, Jesus warned against doing good things for others to see and praying for others to hear. James, too, reinforces this focus on motives when he tells his readers that they do not receive from God what they are asking for because they are asking with wrong motives–so that they can ″spend what you get on your pleasures″ (James 4:3).

Our motives for doing such things like giving, praying, and fasting are as important as the actions themselves. God cares deeply about why we do something, not just what we do.