Amos: Let Justice Roll

Amos – Jacob Racklyeft

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

So let me begin by setting the scene. The year is 750 BC. Gods' chosen people had become split into two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the South.

Society had become at the time was shaped by affluence, exploitation and profit margins. The rich were affluent enough to have several houses apiece - The status symbol was to have a second home, what they called a summer house., full of expensive, luxurious furniture. This led to one of the biggest areas being real estate, property prices went sky high, developers, monopolies, it was all happening. The rich could treat themselves to whatever they liked.

The poor were really poor and shamelessly exploited; they suffered from property, legal and business rackets, and the defenceless man/woman with no influence came off worst every time. Society was preoccupied with material things and became a covetous society.

The effects of all this affluence on their morals were clear, there was bribery and scandals, even the judiciary system had become corrupt. There was no justice in the courts. They soon turned to seven days a week trading. Sexual laxity was the new norm and alcohol consumption became excessive.

Surprisingly, at first sight, religion was incredibly popular. But this was not the religion of their ancestors. Pagan faith, dodgy religious practices had crept in and caused corruption. In particular religion had been turned to look towards the creation rather than the Creator. At both the temples there were prostitutes, male and female, and one way to worship God was by having intercourse to bring fertility to the land.

The trouble is everyone was complacent with these developments - they had happened subtly over time. People didn't want to be thought of as old fashion, so they accepted new norms.

And these people were supposed to be God's Holy nation, set apart, a light to the nations - but they were just like everyone else! God could have started again, but when God makes a covenant, he will not break it.

Instead, he sends two prophets to the north, Hosea, who Peter explored a couple of weeks ago and now Amos.

Amos was a no-one, a Sycamore farmer in the South. The Sycamore tree's fruit is also known as a poor man's fig, Amos came from nothing. He had not been to prophet school, he didn't have any religious training, or qualifications, and coming from the South he would not have been respected in the North. And yet God still chose him, God didn't choose him for what he was, but for what he wasn't. In the same way that God chose Israel for what they were not, (Deut 7:7-8; 9:6). The reasons for God's choice lies in him, not us. (1 Cor 1:26-31).

(And we see this all through Scripture, God doesn’t choose people by earthly standards, rather he looks at our hearts., and our willingness to say ‘yes’.)

Amos is sent by God to stand at the temple gates and preach to the people. Amos’ prophetic words form three main parts:

the first is accusations against the nations and against Israel,

the second is a collection of poems exposing Israel's hypocrisy and injustice

and the third part is a collection of visions about what is to come - the Day of the Lord.

In the first two chapters God pronounces judgments over the nations, one by one, until he gets to Israel, where God lays out a judgement that is longer than all the others and more serve. Gods accuses Israel of:

Injustice - they sell the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals.
Idolatry in the land
Lack of justice in the courts
Prostitution in the temple
Where one man, and his father have sex with the same girl,
A man who keeps himself warm with a garment extorted from the poor
Who toasts his success with wine bought with money dishonestly gained by exploiting the poor

God, through Amos, then explains how he had given them warning, how over and over how God tried to get Israel’s attention.

In chapter 4 we hear how God sent famine, trying to get the people’s attention, and yet they did not return. God sent drought, blight and mildew, but nothing grabbed their attention - they did not return.

God even sent plagues and pestilence, similar to the plagues in Egypt, and yet even then, they still did not return to him.

What more would it take for Israel to notice God? And I wonder what would it take in our lives for God to get our Attention? When we see these types of things, where do we look? Towards God or towards man?

When we see these types of things, where do we look?

Do we look to the Lord our God, or do we look to science, to medicine, to personalities, to government…or something else?

It is in chapter 3 that God has spoken, God has roared like a Lion, a trumpet blown in the city, trying to get the people to see their errors - to wake up - to take the warning (3v3-8)

In chapter 5, God lays out a remedy for his people.

In our first reading today, in verses 14-15 take us to its heart:

God says - renounce evil and embrace good. If you want my grace, my blessing, my favour, if you want me to be with you and on your side, then you must renounce all that is evil and do what is good.

And we hear it repeated in verses 21-24 - the people need to abandon their false worship, they need to return, whole heartedly to their God - for he is true justice… a justice that can penetrate every area of life- rolling down across a nation, a community, a life - a righteousness like an ever flowing stream.

And here we get to the root problem - Israel’s definition of what is good and what is evil is not in line with God’s.

Israel had become a self-determining nation, they had decided that they were the moral standard in which to decide what is right or wrong, that they knew best.

This is similar to the very problem facing our own culture today. Who or what is the objective moral standard? In order for us to understand what is good or evil. Let's start by looking at what it should not be. Firstly, culture, what the most popular opinion or view is should not define what is wrong or right. Secondly, government is not the objective moral standard. Thirdly, you, I, we are not an objective moral standard. Our emotions and opinions change, they should not define what is our wrong and right.

So, if we truly believe in God and believe in His Word, there should only be one objective moral standard and it should be him - God alone.

Amos lays this out clearly in his message.

‘Seek ME and live’.

The only way for them to be saved is if they got on the same page as God.

In chapter 7 God gives Amos a picture - a vision. In the third Vision the Lord stood beside a wall with a plumb line in His hand.

(explain what a plum line is….)

God is saying to Amos that he is placing himself right into the culture to be a plumb line. He is saying that people must align their values with God, they must measure themselves against the Lord. Otherwise, they will be crooked. If they are willing to do this, they will receive his mercy.

And we see this in our generation, humanity is trying to define what is right and wrong away from God. This problem is not unique to our time. Humanity has always tried to make themselves the centre. And the Bible in both the Old and New Testament has condemned these people as a crooked generation. (Duet 32:3-5)

(Philippians 2:14-15) Regardless of how the world defines right or wrong, God wants us to be aligned with Him.

As God’s people, we are called to shine as lights in this crooked generation but it starts with us being blameless and innocent. Blameless doesn't mean perfect but living in such a way where we don't give in to crooked ways, living without accusation. See if we are going to effectively be a light in this world, we first must examine our own hearts to make sure there is nothing crooked in our own lives.

I'm sure many people in Israel didn't realise the state they were in. Religion and their morals had become perverted and twisted over time. If it had happened instantly everyone would have seen the change and objected. But over the years though many little compromises, here and there, their eyes and lives drifted away from God, from His ways and laws. Many people would've thought that they were following what the temple taught but at that point the temple was home to prostitution and God says that he would no longer accept the offerings.

We have to be wise about these things. It is so easy to be deceived by clever and logical arguments, or emotional reasoning and the Bible warns us of this. (Colossians 2:8 says.) There is a warning that our minds can be taken captive by the reasoning of this world and Paul says don't let this happen, remain true to God's truth.

And again, in Romans 12 he warns that we must not conform to this world but instead let the Spirit renew our minds so that we may be able to test and approve what the will of God is.

And we should be set apart, that includes doing what is right and just by Gods standard.

So how do we avoid becoming crooked and our morals not aligning with Gods? We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, looking to God’s ways. We must spend time within God's word studying what he has revealed and spoken. We must also spend time in prayer.

God’s goodness, His holiness requires that if the people did not return back to him, he would have to punish them. And this was eventually the case when the Assyrians invaded.

But in Amos’ last prophecy, in the midst of all the destruction, there is a hope.

The Lord promises that there will be a remnant of Israel, a small group of people who remained faithful to God throughout. And through them he promises to restore the fortunes of his people, rebuild their cities, they shall plant vineyards and gardens and eat and drink from them, and that they shall never again be uprooted from the land that God has planted in. Gentiles being grafted in.

And so the cry resounds again, this time through Amos - return to the Lord you God, seek Him, do what is good, embrace His ways of truth. Amen.