1. Introduction (6:8)
2. Afflicting the comfortable—(what does righteous affliction look like?)
a. Afflicted bodies (6:9-10)
b. Afflicted buildings (6:11)
c. Afflicted brains (6:12-13)
d. Afflicted borders (6:14)
3. Conclusion
a. We know what God’s righteous affliction looks like—how do we avoid it?
b. By waking up and acknowledging our past and present sins
c. By waking up and repenting
d. By waking up and serving Him
i. With our bodies
ii. With our buildings
iii. With our brains
iv. Within our borders
AMOS 6:8
Last week when we covered verses 1-7 of this chapter, we looked at God’s pronouncement of woe on Israel. Back in verse 1, He said, “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.” In our passage tonight, He continues that pronouncement of woe. A statement of grief and anguish and mourning. Grief and anguish and mourning over the fact that He is going to have to judge His chosen people. Judge them because they are at ease, complacent. They’re comfortable and laid back and not looking to God. They’re fine with the way things are and only look to God for what He can do for them to make them even more comfortable. After all, they’re God’s chosen people, right? Well, yes. But look at what He told them here in verse 8. God swore by the very essence of who He is that He abhorred the “excellency of Jacob.” That meant that despite Jacob’s seed being His chosen people, He hated what they had become. In this prophetic passage, God tells Israel that despite their status as His chosen people, He was going to deliver them into the hands of their enemies. And then He goes on to outline the affliction He’s going to bring on them as a result. Like He did with Israel, God is still in the business of afflicting the comfortable. When we are at ease in Zion, He sometimes has to shake us up with righteous affliction. To put it in today’s language, sometimes God has to rock our world to wake us up. Tonight, I want each of us to wake up from our ease in Zion. I want us to wake up before God wakes us up. Before He shakes us up with His righteous affliction. In order to do that, we’re going to look at four righteous afflictions God brings on His complacent people. Now, I’m listing these in the order they appear in the text. That doesn’t necessarily mean that God runs down them in order like a checklist. Sometimes He only has to afflict one area before we wake up. Sometimes He afflicts all the areas at one time. The order isn’t what you need to remember. The afflictions themselves are. With that in mind, one type of affliction He brings is afflicted bodies. Look with me in verses 9-10:
AMOS 6:9-10
God can afflict the bodies of His complacent people. The picture this prophesy paints is an ugly one, isn’t it? It brings to mind some of the great plagues of the past. Like the Black Plague of the 14th century. Or different bubonic plagues around the world. We don’t really use the word plague any more, do we? It’s not nearly scientific-sounding enough for us. Instead, we use the word “pandemic”. Things like the bird flu or other types of flu scare us. But, so far, they’re nowhere near the level of destruction of one of the historic plagues. And they’re no where near the level of destruction God said He would afflict Israel with. You mean to tell me that God brings disease and pestilence? Sometimes. At least that’s what this passage says. Sometimes He brings it. Sometimes He just allows it. But all the time, He is in control of it. Why? Because He uses it for His purposes. In this case, He was using pestilence on Israel to wake them up. He was using it to spank them. Why do you spank your kids? To afflict them. To afflict them in order that they won’t do something really harmful to themselves. God told Israel that He was going to afflict their bodies. He was going to afflict their bodies so they would wake up. Because if they didn’t wake up and begin to truly serve God, He would eventually have to judge them. And in the big scheme of things, God’s affliction is a cake-walk compared to His judgment. Look at how He describes the way He will afflict their bodies. He pictures groups of people quarantining themselves together in buildings. Then one-by-one they all die. But people are so scared of the pestilence, they are even unwilling to deal properly with the dead. As you read of the plagues throughout history, that is common with all of them. Whole buildings are burned in order to avoid contacting the contaminated dead. Now, here’s the ironic thing. What is Israel’s attitude toward God in this whole thing? They say not to mention His name. That sounds strange to us doesn’t it? From our perspective, we can look at that two ways. If God were to bring a pandemic on us, who would most people look at to fix it? Government? Science? Probably. But what would the “religious” folks say? Remember, these Israelites were “religious” people. What do we say most of the time when something tragic happens in our lives? Oh, Satan’s attacking me. Hmmm, do you ever think we give Satan too much credit sometimes? Do you suppose that God might be trying to get your attention for some reason? Maybe the first question you need to ask is not, Why is Satan attacking me like this? Maybe the first question you ought to ask is, What is God trying to teach me through this affliction? Remember, either He caused it or He allowed it. Israel didn’t do that. They said, “Hold your tongue—don’t bring God’s name into this.” Don’t ask Him what’s going on. Don’t look to Him in humble repentance. Just burn your dead and move on. God afflicted the bodies of His complacent people to try to wake them up. But they slept on. So He afflicted their buildings. Look with me in verse 11:
AMOS 6:11
God can afflict the buildings of His complacent people. How much value do you place in the buildings around you? How much time do you spend inside as opposed to being outside? Even when I had an outside job, I would say that at least half of my time was spent inside a building of some type. Buildings are very important to us. Not only do we use them for basic shelter, we use them for all kinds of things. Many times they represent more than they actually do. If you don’t believe that we place a lot of value in buildings, think back to the World Trade Center. In the big scheme of things, only two buildings were destroyed. And the sight of those two buildings crashing to the ground moved a nation. But moved a nation to do what? To wake up to its sinfulness and fall on its face before God in repentance? Or to stand up in the comfort and complacency of its own strength and pride and self-sufficiency? What do you think God’s desire was in the destruction of those buildings? I don’t know whether God caused it to happen or just allowed it to happen. I do know that He told Israel He was going to smite all of their buildings. Whether great or small, He was going to bring affliction on them with breaches and clefts. In other words, He was going to try to wake them up by cracking and crumbling all their buildings to the ground. God afflicted the buildings of His complacent people to try to wake them up. He afflicted their bodies and their buildings. But they still slept on. So He afflicted their brains. Look in verses 12-13:
AMOS 6:12-13
God can afflict the brains of His complacent people. I don’t think there is any arguing the fact that we are more educated in America today than we have ever been. It seems we have more people today with PhDs than even had high school diplomas just a few generations ago. The average Joe with an internet connection has access to more information than Galileo, Einstein, Newton, and Edison combined. But where has all that knowledge and education gotten us? Has it made us closer to God or farther away? Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying education is a bad thing—it’s not. It can be a wonderful gift from God. As a matter of fact, my wife says I will probably be going to school till I die. She’s probably right. The way I’m going, it’ll probably take me at least that long. What I’m saying is, it doesn’t matter how well educated complacent people are, they’re still complacent. And if the education and knowledge leads to self-reliance, self-sufficiency and pride, God will afflict it. He will muddle even the most basic knowledge. Look at what He said He would do to Israel. It’s evident in the questions He asks them. Who in the world would run a horse on rocky ground? If you did, the only thing he would be good for after that would be glue. And who would even attempt to plow that kind of ground with a team of oxen? The only thing you’d end up with would be lame oxen and a broken plow. In an attempt to wake them up from their complacency, God afflicted their brains. He afflicted them to the point that the things they thought were just, were really like poisonous venom. That’s what the word translated gall means. God afflicted their brains to the point that the things they thought were righteous were really bitter and toxic like hemlock or wormwood like in the original. Now look at the irony. In verse 13 God says, “You’re rejoicing in nothing.” Now, why does He say that? Because they see their strength as something they’ve developed for themselves. Out of their own wisdom and knowledge, they believe they’ve built their strength. And God calls it nothing. Do you suppose He views all of our technology and strategy and corporate knowledge and military understanding the same way? Shouldn’t the folly of science since the 19th century show us that the more knowledge we try to gain apart from God, the less we really know? The Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. When we grow complacent in OUR knowledge, God can afflict it. God afflicted the brains of His complacent people to try to wake them up. He afflicted their bodies, their buildings, and their brains. But they still slept on. So He afflicted their borders. Look in verse 14:
AMOS 6:14
God can afflict the borders of His complacent people. Remember back to what we have talked about with Israel’s situation at this point in history. They were very militarily secure. More than they had been since the days of Solomon. All the nations around them were significantly weaker than they were. Including their weak little declining neighbor, Assyria. Within 30 years, that weak little declining neighbor would completely overrun the borders of mighty Israel. They would lay siege to the cities, destroy the military and the strongholds, and lead the people away in bondage with hooks in their noses tied to ropes. They would conquer Israel from the northernmost point of Hemath to the southernmost point of the Arabah Wadi, that’s here translated “river of the wilderness.” How could Assyria be able to do that? Because God raised them up. He raised them up to afflict the borders of Israel. God afflicted Israel’s borders to the point that their complete national identity was carted away to Assyria. After the final exile in 722 BC, Israel’s territory bore no resemblance to the land of God’s people. It looked just like the rest of the pagan world. Israel survived only as a remnant preserved by God in a foreign land. There is a lot of political talk about securing our borders in America right now. But do you honestly think a fence will protect our border if God is afflicting it? Do you think a few National Guardsmen or some drones will protect it? No, if God is afflicting our American borders, no amount of effort on our part will stop Him. As was the case with Nineveh in Jonah’s day, only a repentant heart in response to His affliction will stay God’s judgment. God desired to wake up Israel by afflicting their borders. He afflicted their bodies, their buildings, their brains and their borders. But they still slept on. None of God’s righteous afflictions woke them up. They were still complacent. They were still at ease in Zion.
That’s what God’s righteous affliction looked like for Israel. And that’s what it is looking like in America. But what could it look like here in our church? Could God afflict our church body with pestilence and disease? Physical?—He could, maybe not. But spiritual?—that’s more likely. Could God’s righteous affliction result in a spiritual pandemic in this church? A pandemic where we quarantine ourselves from serving and reaching the world and hole up here and wait to die? Could God afflict our church buildings with breaches and clefts? The breaches and clefts of poor stewardship, neglect and abuse? Could God afflict the brains of our church? Could He make it so we are unable to hear and understand and apply His Word? Could He make it so even His most basic truths… Truths like, “Whoever is first will be last.” Truths like, “They will know you are Christians by your love.” Truths like, “Submit one to another.” Truths like, “you are not your own, you were bought with a price.” Truths like, “Go ye therefore and make disciples.” Could He make even those most basic truths incomprehensible? Known only to our heads and never to our hearts? Could God afflict the borders of this church? Could He make it so we have no impact at all? Could He turn around our church borders so that the world gets inside, but the gospel can’t get out? Can He make it so that if our church disappeared off the face of the earth, no one would notice? He can. Those are the ways He afflicted His chosen people Israel. If we’re complacent. If we’re at ease in Zion. I don’t see any reason why He couldn’t afflict us in those same ways. As a matter of fact, if that’s what He needs to do to try to wake us up, you can rest assured He will. Because He loves us enough that He would rather afflict us than judge us. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want either one. We know what God’s righteous affliction looks like. And it isn’t pretty. So, how do we avoid it?
There are three ways that, as a church, we can avoid God’s righteous affliction. The first way is by waking up and acknowledging our past and present sins. Just like in our personal lives, we can say, “Lord forgive me of my sins” without ever really acknowledging the sins we’ve committed. When we do that, do you think that’s really sincere? Is that really confession? Not really. Because the word that’s used for confession carries the meaning of agreement—acknowledgment. See, most of the time we might recognize the fact that sin has been committed in the past. But when we recognize it, we tend to justify it. Well, I didn’t have anything to do with that. Everybody knows that was their fault. If they’d listened to me, it wouldn’t have happened that way. Those things might be true. I’m sure there were folks in Israel who could have said the same thing. But guess what? God afflicted Israel just the same. Why? Because they didn’t truly acknowledge their sin. They didn’t truly confess their sin. They didn’t truly agree with God about the horrible wretchedness of their sin. What about us? Will we as a church wake up and acknowledge our past and present sins? That’s the first way to avoid God’s righteous affliction. The second way is by waking up and repenting. It’s one thing to acknowledge our sin. It’s a whole other thing to turn away from it in repentance. Repentance saying before God that by His Grace and power, we won’t do those things any more. And by the wisdom, guidance and leadership of His Spirit, we will do the things necessary to keep us from doing those things again. If we as a church acknowledge our sins before God, will we then wake up and repent of those sins? That’s the second way to avoid God’s righteous affliction. The third way is by waking up and serving Him. When we as a church acknowledge our sins and repent of them, it doesn’t do any good just to sit around till the Lord comes back. That would be entering into sin again. Because He calls us to serve Him. How? Serve Him with our bodies. Every body that God gives this church should be serving this whole body. This body which is the Body of Christ. Serve Him with our buildings. We should be using every square inch of every building God has given us for ministry for His honor and glory. By the same token, we should be using every other resource He has given us as well. Serve Him with our brains. God has given us brains for one purpose and one purpose only—to glorify Him. We should glorify Him in our teaching. We should glorify Him in our learning. We should glorify Him in our study of His Word. We should glorify Him in the study of His world. Learn, study, teach. Finally, serve Him within our borders. That has two implications. First, protect our borders by keeping the world out of the church. That doesn’t necessarily mean tastes and styles and clothes and haircuts. It does mean worldly ways of thinking, worldly ways of acting, and worldly ways of treating each other. The second implication of serving God within our borders is to expand our borders by keeping the church in the world. We have to begin to understand our church not as a hospital for the sick. We have to begin to understand our church is a medical school for those who go out of here to treat the sick. We’re to be building fishermen—not an aquarium.
So, my question tonight is really for all of us. It is a question for the church as a whole. Is this church awake? Is our church awake or are we at ease? When I ask that question, you know what your answer is. Now, I’m asking you. What are you going to do about it?
