Losing My Religion

The prophecy of Amos is unique in that he stands out from all the other prophets because he himself is not identified as a prophet nor was he the son of a prophet.  He is just a shepherd of Tekoa in the southern kingdom of Judah.  Amos 7:14,15  He wasn’t recognized as a prophet, didn’t come out of a school of prophets.  He didn’t have the credentials, but he had the heart and the devotion that God gave him along with a vision in verse 2.  He becomes a prophet to Israel in 760 BC for about 10 years and overlaps with Hosea towards the end of his message.  Israel would fall to Assyria in 722 BC

An Overview of the book of Amos

THE TRUNK   Amos 1,2, Obadiah

The relentness prediction that judgment is going to fall on the nations.

Prepare to meet your God, the day of the Lord is not only for other nations, it is for you.

·         All the nations answer to God especially the chosen ones!

He has a message that is very broad in that he never speaks on behalf of the ‘God of Israel’.  He had a much wider application in that the LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem, but the shockwaves go out to Damascus, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah and Israel.  There is no gap between what is being said to the neighbouring nations and to the ‘chosen people’. 

We see the patience of God in each nation in the phrase. ‘for 3 sins even for 4’and at the same time He shows no double standard for the people of Judah and Israel.  Each one awaits the same judgment because of their total disregard for God.

Now for Edom, we move to the shortest book of the OT prophets and find an expanded treatment on the nation of Edom in Obadiah. (Read Obadiah 3:3)Edom historically goes back to Esau, the brother of Jacob and they are judged harshly for not coming to Israel’s aid and in fact for taking advantage of Judah  when she fell in 586 BC after being invaded by the armies of Babylon.  In fact they thought they were completely secure in their own rock like fortress only to see their own demise as well.

Five visions of Judgment  Amos 7:9-10

1.        Swarms of locusts  that would devour the crops.   Amos intervenes in prayer. 7:1-3

2.       A Fire that would dry up the waters and destroy the land.  Amos prays, begs…God relents 7:4-6

3.       A Plumb Line – a device used to keep a wall straight and Israel’s walls were going to crumble.  Their ways were completely crooked.  The high places will be destroyed, the sancturaries 7:7-9

The response is not favourable 7:10

Don't think it strange that sometimes your own testimony falls on deaf ears. The justification for speaking the Word of God is not the certainty of converts but the certainty of God's call.

John Piper

4.       A Basket of Summer Fruit – The people were once beautiful but now they are rotten and ripe for punishment.   8:11-13

5.       An Altar of Judgment – a place where punishment would be executed. 9:1-10

THE ROOTS of the Tree  Amos 3,4

·         The Reason for Israel’s Impending Judgement

 Amos 3:2 The Reason For Judgment – Israel was a chosen nation, to represent the relationship that God can have with his people and they looked just like every other nation.  They were sinful, selfish, focused on self-gratification at the expense of all those around them.

Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.  God is always speaking.  He is calling us to listen in 3:7

·         Israel’s Blatant Sins – they had completely forsaken God

Amos 4:4  Israel’s blatant sin – Sarcastically Amos tells the people of Israel to come to Bethel.  Bethel  meaning house of God) It was here that the northern kingdom chose as their place of worship.  Gilgal was the first campground in the Promised Land where  Joshua had renewed the covenant with God (Joshua 4:19) and the place where they celebrated Passover and anointed Saul as king.

There was everything going on in these places but true worship of God.  It was here that they worshipped their idols that King Jeroboam had placed there.

In  4:6-11, God sent 5 warnings aimed at winning the heart of the children of Israel, but they fell on deaf ears and the people remained oblivious.

The BRANCHES of the Tree  Amos 5,6

A WAKE UP Call To Repentance

 5:4,5   Amos is telling them don’t do all the external  elements of religion, none of that matters if your heart is far from me.

When I travelled to Israel 2 years ago, I walked the Via Dolorosa and into the church where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is located.  It was there that I watched many people from different parts of the world gather to pour oil on the floor and once again wipe it furiously, but it just struck me as an external act of worship, more superstitious than a true seeking of the Lord.

5:11 You trample the poor – injustice.  There is this calloused attitude towards the poor and then they wish for the day of the Lord to come and to judge other nations oblivious to their very own.

But you have no idea what you are wishing for.  The day will not bring light and prosperity, but darkness and disaster.  5:18NLT

In 5:21-27  God tells them  I hate, I despise your religious feasts – the mere appearance of religion makes God sick

Lose your religion!

They live with an addiction to Luxury in 6:1,4-6.  Complacency has completely set in.  They lounge in luxury and are unaffected by the message.  There is a false sense of security

And yet in spite of this focus on judgement and the consequences of their sin, God continues to display His faithfulness through his prophet

UPROOTED and REPLANTED   9:11-15

·         There is a coming restoration. A remnant would return to the Lord following their exile and the goal of discipline is always restoration.

The TAKEAWAY

We lose our religion when we hunger and thirst to hear and obey the voice of the Lord

Idols in your life cannot simply be removed.  They must be uprooted and replanted  by a living encounter with God.  There is repentance but there is a greater joy, a greater level of satisfaction when we listen and obey His voice.

 Amos 8:11,12  speaks of a famine in the land, not a physical one, but a spiritual famine of hearing the voice of the Lord.

The word for hearing in this passage is SHAMA in the Hebrew which goes beyond a mere hearing of actual words to an understanding and obedience.

Faith comes by hearing the message and the message is heard through the words of Christ.  Romans 10:17

John 10:14, 15  I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep…v16b they too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Do we have idols that we chase after?

Tim Keller wrote in Counterfeit Gods, ‘ The true god of your hear is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else demanding your attention.  What do you enjoy daydreaming about.  What occupies your mind when you have nothing else to think about.

Another way to discern your heart’s true love is to look at how you spend your money.  Matthew 6:21  Your money flows most effortlessly to your heart’s greatest love.

If God and his grace is the thing in the world you love most, you will give your money away to ministry, charity, and the poor in astonishing amounts. 2 Corinthians 8:7-9.  Most of us, however, tend to overspend on clothing, or on our children, or on status symbols such as homes and cars.  Our patterns of spending reveal our idols. 

What happens when you pray and work for something and you don’t get it?

One more test.  Look at your most uncontrollable emotion.  Is there something you must have at all costs?

David had an uncontrollable emotion as he displayed in Psalm 132:4   

I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.

So, my question is, ‘How has God got your attention lately?’

This week was a very interesting one for me. 

I had plans…but God had other plans.  Sharon and Brynley were off to a scrapbooking tradeshow, Rylan and Addi were at camp and Jordan and I were at home.  He would also be leaving during the week to be with friends in Milton.    I had plans to train hard for my next triathlon, get in a few games of hockey maybe, I have even had plans to paint Rylan`s room and it all fell apart Monday night when I hyperextended my knee after  cross training between biking and running.

It slowed me right down to the place where God had my full attention.  There was nothing left to do except lie down, elevate my knee, ice it and God spoke and I listened.  One evening as I was looking for a book to read and drops a picture of me and my father and usually one that I look fondly on, but that afternoon it brought me to my knees.

One area that God needed to speak to me on was on running ahead of Him, running ahead with my own sense of being driven and the importance of learning to wait on Him, hold His hand and follow His leading.

The fact is that just like the nations that Amos spoke to, everyone answers to God. 

We all must give an account to God for the way that we live, the decisions we make or lack thereof.

At this time in the life of Israel no one could really see the crash that was coming.  Everyone was optimistic, life was good, business was booming so Amos was like a wet blanket at a great party.  All their self-sufficiency had led them into a false sense of security.

It is very easy for us to coast in a place where there is little or no perceived need so don’t let your spiritual life slide into neutral.  Fight that tendency!

Don’t ignore those who are truly in need.  Be people of mercy.  We need to respond.

With the world scrambling to rescue 12 million people on the brink of starvation in the Horn of Africa, UN emergency official said the fact that children are dying of hunger is "immoral" in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Somali, Djibouti,

Without access to south Somalia, we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg — those refugees arriving in Kenya and Ethiopia," Amaral said. "There are many more — we estimate 3.7 million — that need emergency assistance," she added.

The al-Qaida-inspired Shebab group has banned humanitarian aid agencies like the World Food Program from working in the region, although FAO has been able to operate several small programs to help farmers through local partners.

Going through the motions is no substitute for real faith

Amos’ challenge was to bring a message to people who were quite comfortable with where their lives were at. 

Are you comfortable with your spiritual life?  May God give us a holy discontent for the status quo!

What is your counterfeit God?  Can you identify it?  What does default look like for you?

By God`s grace, allow Him to uproot it and replace it with His joy, His peace, His presence.

His sheep follow him because they know his voice.  John  10:4

And they are like TREES in Psalm 1:2,3  and that looks nothing like religion.

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers. 

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night. 

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.