Life Ministries

A Lack of Knowledge
Hosea 4:1-4:7

     In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was called to be a nation of priests. Israel was to be a bridge between the nations and God. This is what the church today is supposed to do…bridge the gap between the world ( those who do not know God ) and God. We are to be “his ambassadors” the Word says, “reconciling the world to God.” (2 Cor. 18-20) Now, 1 Peter 2:9 says “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

    The nation of Israel was accepting the ways of the world. They were not carrying out God’s will because they were pushing God aside and were being absorbed by the world. The people were worshipping other things besides God. The people were living in religious hypocrisy. The nation was going through the motions of religion…Does this sound familiar?
    The problem is a lack of knowledge. The problem is that we do not know God. Where some parts of Scripture emphasize the “fear of God,” Hosea emphasizes a knowledge of God. When we lack knowledge about God, we do not – and in fact, cannot - develop a relationship with Him. Our relationships are built upon the foundation of knowledge. A lot of marriages fail because the relationship is just based on emotions or the satisfaction of needs. To really love someone you really have to know them.
     The Israelites did not have an intimate knowledge of God or a relationship with God, and, Hosea lists six things that resulted:
#I. NO FAITHFULNESS
The people were struggling with their faithfulness to God because of the lack of knowledge and because of the lack of a relationship with God. As God’s chosen people looked around them, they saw the pagans worshipping. Pagan worship looked fun to them; it was loose and just about anything was allowed. There were really no rules. This looked good to the people of God; they constantly struggled with Baal worship and other forms of idolatry. What would you compare that to today?
We will struggle with being faithful to God because we will have no foundation for our faithfulness. If you do not know God, what is it that keeps you in line? Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” How can we know, much less please or even desire to please someone with whom we have no relationship?
#II. NO KINDNESS
Luke 6:27 "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” How many of us want to do this? How many of us want to be kind to people who do not like us? Jesus told us that if we are only good to those who are good to us, then we are no better than the pagans who do the same. Do you find it hard to be kind to some people? As you grow closer to Jesus, you will find that being kind to people becomes so much easier. If we are not kind, we will not attract people to Jesus. I remember the story that Jesus told of the Good Samaritan. Remember, a man was injured, the priest and the Levite walked right by the man, but the Samaritan stopped and helped the man. The punch line was that the Jews hated the Samaritan’s so this story really struck a nerve with them. When people in your community need kindness and compassion, I hope that it is God’s people who are there. Showing kindness to people will go a long way. One of the benefits of knowing God is that we will start seeing people the way that Jesus saw them, because we as we grow in our knowledge and love for Jesus, we are being transformed into His image. (2 Cor 3:18)
#III. IGNORANCE
This passage says that the people did not have knowledge of God, this is ignorance. Ignorance breeds even more ignorance. Ignorance is dangerous. If we are ignorant of something, we will believe anything about it. The Constitution of the United States is a good example. How many of you know that the Constitution speaks about the separation of church and state? It does have that phrase in it doesn’t it? No, it does not. We have a whole nation of people who think that is in there, so based on that assumption, we are allowing a minority the power to remove God in our society. When we are ignorant of God’s word, we will not know when we are being sold a bill of goods. What if the church buys into the thought that all roads lead to heaven, so there is really no difference in religions and that doctrinal differences mean nothing? When the people are ignorant, they will believe everything except the truth!
#IV. A LIFE OF SIN… VS 2-3
Look at verses 2-3. A lack of knowledge makes us ignorant to the truth. We do not know what God wants us to do in our lives. If we do not know God’s word, then how are we supposed to live for Him? Ignorance of God and His word leads to a life of sin. Notice the items mentioned here… They are all direct violations of God’s Law. The “People of God” were being swept away by the sinful life-styles of the pagans around them. Is this happening today? Why is this happening to the church? We have allowed the teachings of the world to infiltrate the church. 1John 2:15 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him”. I’m afraid we have fallen too much in love with the world and its ways to keep it out of us.
#V. NO REPROOF
Romans 1:32 and “although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” We have a whole nation that wonders why things are getting so bad socially, and when we tell them why, we are told we are intolerant, narrow-minded, bigots. There are absolutes even if over 70% of the people say there are none. If God says it is wrong, it is wrong for everyone.
When we lack an intimate relationship with God:
#VI. FUTURE GENERATIONS ARE AFFECTED VS 6-7
Ignorance breeds ignorance. God says to the Israelites that He was going to turn from the children of the people because the more they had, the more they sinned. We are raising a society of people who know little to nothing about God and we will pay, and are paying the price for that. The nation of Israel suffered because one generation did not teach the other. If we – who sit in the church - do not know God, how in the world will we teach our children, and how will they teach their children?
God’s word to us is the same today as it was then; “My people perish from a lack of knowledge.”