Propheting: Taking God Seriously = =20 Amos 1:1-2, 9-12; 2:6-8; 5:18-24

Propheting: Taking God Seriously = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; Amos 1:1-2; 2:6-8; 5:18-24

We come this morning = to the third message in our series, “Propheting in the New Year.” Maybe you’ve noticed that we’re not following the order in which we find the Minor Prophets in = the Bible. That’s because t= he messages of certain prophets fit better with particular observances going o= n in the life of our church:

1)&n= bsp; Joel and his emphasis on “Including Everyone” was perfect for our combined service with Charity Springs;

2)&n= bsp; And last week as we ordained five new deacons, Jonah’s journey toward “Caring Deeply” seemed the right emphasis.

Beginning today with = Amos, though, we will follow the order found in scripture with the exception of t= he first of the Minor Prophets, Hosea. We just have to save that incredible love story for Valentine’s Day.

So in case you were wondering why I was “skipping around,” or you like to study ahead—and some of you do (not many!)—now you know the game plan. This morning, we turn o= ur attention to the writings of the prophet Amos:

Amos 1:1-2

¹ The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.

² He= said:
       "The LORD roars from Zion
       and thunders from Jerusalem;
       the pastures of the shepherds dry up,<= br>        and the top of = Carmel withers." ……..<= o:p>

Amos 2:6-8 Judgment on Israel

⁶ This is what the LORD says:
       "For three sins of Israel,=
       even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
       They sell the righteous for silver,        and the needy for a pair of sandals. <= /p>

⁷ Th= ey trample on the heads of the poor
       as upon the dust of the ground
       and deny justice to the oppressed.
       Father and son use the same girl
       and so profane my holy name.

⁸ Th= ey lie down beside every altar
       on garments taken in pledge.
       In the house of their god
       they drink wine taken as fines.

Amos 5:18-24 The Day of the Lord

¹⁸ Woe to you who long
       for the day of the LORD!
       Why do you long for the day of the LOR= D?
       That day will be darkness, not light. =

¹⁹ I= t will be as though a man fled from a lion
       only to meet a bear,
       as though he entered his house
       and rested his hand on the wall
       only to have a snake bite him.

²⁰ W= ill not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightnes= s?

²¹ &= quot;I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies. <= /o:p>

²² E= ven though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
       I will not accept them.
       Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
       I will have no regard for them. <= /o:p>

²³ A= way with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.

²⁴ B= ut let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing str= eam!

Our topic today is “Taking God Seriously,” but I feel that I need to qualify this = just a bit. Because, you see, it&#= 8217;s possible for us to take some things in our lives too seriously. Know what I mean?

Tom Mullen wrote a bo= ok called Seriously, Life Is a Laughing Matter. He tries to make the point that the Christian life doesn’t have to be so somber. Actually, it can be a lot of fun!<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

Listen to what he say= s: “All of us know Christians who have taken themselves so seriously they have spoiled the message. We = know mothers and fathers who worry constantly over their children, transforming motherhood into ‘smotherhood.’

“There are teetotalers who drive us to drink, pacifists who make us want to fight, and super-patriots who are living arguments for defecting. When righteousness becomes self-righteousness, the result is something other than what Jesus intended.”

He continues, “= Life, after all, is serious; but it’s not that serious. A key to abundant living is knowin= g when and how to treat it seriously and when and how to roll with its punches…”

I don’t know ab= out you, but I kinda’ resonate with that; I couldn’t help but chuck= le when I read it. Maybe this is= why I find the prophecies of Amos hard to read.&= nbsp; He is SO serious. Don’t you find this to be true?

The shepherd from Tek= oa shows up one day at the royal shrine of Bethel. Now you need to know this: that wa= s the king’s church. All the = people who really counted economically and socially were members. Bethel is where the in-crowd gathered each Sabbath.

Amos was NOT part of = that group. He was a shepherd, aft= er all. But on this day, he not only goes = to the king’s church; he stands up in the middle of the service and starts preaching:

&nb= sp; "For three sins of Damasc= us, even for four (an idiom, “I could go on and on), I will not turn back= my wrath…” (Amos 1:3) Then he begins listing the sins of the Damascans. The people were sh= ocked by what Amos did. But then, t= he Damascans were their enemies, so they let him continue. So he says:

"For three sins = of Gaza, even for fo= ur, I will not turn back my wrath…”&= nbsp; Amos then describes their sins; and since they were also on the enemy list, that was okay with the B= ethel congregation too. In fact, th= ey were enjoying this. They wanted to= hear more.

Amos continues: ̶= 0;For three sins of Tyre, and Edom, and Ammon, Moab, and = Judah…even for four.” They were really getting into this now. Maybe = Judah w= as getting a little close to home, but, hey—it wasn’t them! So “You go, Amos—let ‘em have it!”

Then it happened--a classic “done stopped preach= ing and gone to meddling” moment. Amos had been doing so well; but then he shouted:

&= #8220;For three sins of Israel= , even for four I will not turn back my wrath. They sell the righteous for silver= , and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poo= r as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.” (2:6-7)

Amos was no longer talking about their enemies. He was talking about THEM! And they were not about to stand f= or that! “Go back to where= you came from,” they shouted, as they ran him out of town. So Amos went home, and put his mes= sage in a book.

I. There ARE some very serious matter= s, and old Amos forces us to confront some of them. First, he accuses the people of Israel = of what we might call “RELIGION WITHOUT CONVERSION.<= /p>

These were religious people. They wouldn’t d= are NOT show up at Bethel on the Sabbath Day. But what = they did in church was not affecting who they were when they left for home. Their religion wasn’t improv= ing the quality of their living. No c= hange, no difference, no conversion.

So Amos, speaking for= God, says, “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.” (Amos 5:21) The people of Bethel didn’t think Amos should have said that, of course—so that sent= him packing!

Worship is an encount= er between people and God. It= 217;s okay if we enjoy it, or even if we’re entertained by it in some way—but that’s NOT its purpose. If worship does not result in an o= penness to what God wants to do in our lives, and the change to which this will lea= d, then it’s not really worship at all.

Amos points out the o= bvious: that their lives did not reflect the character and purposes of God. They were religiously “unconverted.” Th= ey were unmoved, and unchanged.

What do you think? Do we ever struggle with anything = like this today? Well, maybe some = people do—those folks over at S= t. John’s or Grace or NewSpring--of course, they do. But I’m talking abo= ut us. We’re the only ones we have = to answer for.

We say we believe in conversion—that this is how we come to Christ, receiving Him as Savior and becoming part of His Body, the church.= But just try getting a group of Baptists together to talk about what= the requirements should be for people to remain on the church roll.<= /span>

Some faithful attende= r will point out that they should at least be present in church occasionally. A good steward will say that giving should be a requirement for membership. Someone who is serving will propos= e that everyone should have a job, some ministry, in the life of the church.<= /o:p>

Hard to argue with th= at list. These things are all ma= ndated in Scripture, right? But list= en: you would be hard-pressed to get a majority vote on any of the three, let a= lone if you try to take this a bit further to include how we live outside these walls.

We say we believe in Christian conversion--probably claim to BE converted. Amos simply pointed out to the people in his day—and ours—that it really doesn’t matter = what we say. If we know God, He ch= anges how we live. If Christ is Lor= d, the difference will be obvious!

How often do you come= into contact with someone who has been disillusioned about Christ and His church because of the poor attitudes and actions they have observed among those who claim to be followers of Christ. Pettiness, selfishness, bigotry, gossip, bad habits, hurtful language, and so much more that simply reflects the world about us and not the Christ who we claim dwe= lls within us—no wonder people go off in search of something else.

Religion without genu= ine conversion is useless, even harmful. Sort of like the examples Mullen gives us in his book—these fo= lks just get on people’s nerves.

Our challenge is to k= now and love Jesus Christ, to follow Him, and to be changed by His grace: “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, and the n= ew has come.” (II Corinthians = 5:17)

II. It’s amazing how well Amos k= nows us, isn’t it? And he doesn’t stop with conversion either.= He goes on to talk about prosperity: PROSPERITY WITHOUT RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUSTICE. Th= is is the best known verse in the book of Amos (5:24): “But let justice rol= l on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”<= /span>

This was a time of gr= eat prosperity for Israe= l. There was peace in the land. The economy was booming. These should have been good times = for everyone, but there was a problem. <= /span>

Prosperity had given = rise to greed. Those who already h= ad so much found they could have even more by taking advantage of those who didn’t have the power to prevent it…or didn’t know any better than to let it hap= pen.

Now, of course, nothi= ng about them could have anything to do with us or our situation today. Could it! The prophet says that some in Israel = are living lives of great luxury and self-indulgence, throwing elaborate feasts= and hoarding houses and land.

And would you believe= this—Amos says those who control the wealth also have all the power. So laws were enacted to benefit th= e rich and not the poor. =

Even if some law did = get in the way, though, as long as they had enough money, they could work the syst= em in their favor. Just bribe the judge! I guess today they wou= ld get lobbyists and run big expensive “PR campaigns” to continue controlling all that power and wealth.

The result of this was that terrible poverty existed r= ight beside tremendous wealth. So = God sent his prophet to tell them it’s wrong. “They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the p= oor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.”(2:6-7= )

Surely nothing like that would ever happen in our nation. Friends, I have some serious concerns. Democracy i= s not a perfect approach to government, but I believe it’s better than any other we have available. I wo= uld say the same about capitalism and free enterprise in the economics sphere.<= /p>

But here’s a personal observation—take it = for what it’s worth. These systems have served our nation well, I believe, because they have been coup= led with, and to some degree held in check against abuse, by a shared Judeo-Christian ethic.

I don’t think we can do “democracy” = with everyone yelling at each other and nobody listening and giving consideratio= n to the concerns and opinions of others. Nor do I think capitalism can serve us well when we only care about = how WE are doing, without regard for HOW what we are doing affects OTHERS.

What we might call fairness and civility and concern f= or the common good, Amos called “righteousness and justice.” Without these guiding principles, = this shared ethic, prosperity cannot last.

Maybe you don’t see this relating to our day, bu= t I find it extraordinary how very closely it relates. God is still speaking through Amos—but now, he’s speaking to US!

III. Which brings us to one other warni= ng issued by the prophet. He con= demns PRIVILEGE WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY.&n= bsp; Listen to his words in Amos 3:2: “"You only have I chosen= of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins."

Amos began his prophecy by talking about the sins of <= st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Israel&= #8217;s enemies and neighbors. He res= erves his harshest rebuke, however, for Israel. Why? Because Israel had received the great= est privilege—they were God’s chosen people.

Friends, God’s call in our lives, His grace and salvation, always come laden with responsibilities. This was true for Israel.= It’s true for us.

But Israel’s response to God was no better than their neighbors. They accepted the privilege, but s= hunned the responsibility. So Amos t= ells them that, for this, they deserve greater punishment.

Jesus said something similar: “To whom much is given, much is required.” (Luke 12:48= ) Along with Amos’ message, th= ese should be sobering words for us. I mean, WHO has been given more—economically or spiritually—than = WE have?

1) Friends, Amos spea= ks a clear and relevant word to us: Religion is more than ritual. It’s conversion: a new heart= , and a new life!

2) He tells us there = must be a rightness and fairness about our actions and a genuine concern for all people, especially the poor.

3) And he tells us th= at if we have received much, whether in earthly or in spiritual treasures—a= nd for most of us, it would be both—then much is required of us as well.=

There are some things= we need to take more seriously, starting with our relationship with God, and w= hat we do because of who we are in Christ Jesus. We do need to get serious about th= at!