Streams of Living Water
Hope Floats in the Compassionate Life
Amos 5:21-24
November 7, 2004
Mark Eberly
This morning we are going to examine the compassionate life. For it is in the compassionate life that hope is often lifted up. It is in this stream or tradition that hope floats and rises to the top of our lives.
The compassionate life is the tradition also known as the social justice tradition. Jesus continually was concerned about the injustices of His day especially as they would relate to the “scribes and Pharisees.” He condemned them. He spoke out against them. He worked actively to correct them. He taught His disciples to get the log out of their own eye so they could see clearly. Let’s look at Amos 5:21.
Speaking of getting the log out, a wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband.
Suddenly her husband burst into the kitchen.
“Careful ... CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my GOODNESS! You’re cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They’re going to STICK! Careful... CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you’re cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don’t forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!”
The wife stared at him. “What the in the world is wrong with you? You think I
don’t know how to fry a couple of eggs?”
The husband calmly replied, “I wanted to show you what it feels like when I’m driving.”
Let’s hear the word of the Lord. Amos 5:21.
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of the well-being of your fatter animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. (WHY?) But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.
These are not comforting words. Basically God is saying that if we neglect issues of justice and righteousness then even the best worship and gifts are unacceptable to Him. Throughout Amos’ book, we are confronted with a just God that deals in justice. He is angered when those in power take advantage of those who do not have power. He despises the abuse of power because those in authority have been given the responsibility of making sure that justice is done. This is social rightness or social righteousness.
Let me give you a couple of other examples. Look at verse 10 of chapter 5.
They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth. Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have build houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins – you who afflict the innocent, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate.
The gate was where the leaders dispensed justice and settle disputes. Those that reprove the gate had total disdain for justice and the judicial process. The gate was wear the innocent could receive a fair hearing but bribes denied them this. The levies of grain spoke of overcharging tenant farmers for the use of the land. Rents were too high. Most likely the land had been fraudulently stolen from these farmers in the first place and now were burdened with high rent and taxes.
Turn to 2:6. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals – they… trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed.
Huge injustices! Selling the poor into slavery, engaging in illicit sexual intercourse, taking financial advantage of the helpless. This all is the abuse of power. Amos calls for social justice. He calls for the compassionate life. What is the compassionate life?
Compassionate Life
A. Justice (righteousness).
The Hebrew word is mispat. It means justice or righteousness. Psalm 103:6 declares, “The Lord works vindication and justice (mispat) for all who are oppressed.”
B. Shalom (peace).
This is peace but it is peace with wholeness, unity, and balance. Shalom is a vision of an all-inclusive (every is welcome) community of loving persons. Shalom begins the bible and it is the end of the bible. It is harmony with God; harmony with our neighbor; harmony with nature. Justice and mercy abound. Faithfulness prevails. Peace and unity reign. It is a caring and consideration for all people.
C. Compassion (love).
The Hebrew word is hesed. It is a word that is hard to translate. God’s hesed love is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Ps. 103:17) and it “endures forever” (Ps. 106:1). It is a steadfast love full of compassion. For example, the Hebrew law says that if a neighbor borrows your cart and leaves his coat as a pledge, you must give the coat back before sunset even if he doesn’t return your cart. Why? Because the night is cold and he needs his coat for warmth. A widow’s coat could never be taken as a pledge because it was probably all she had. This is compassion in the highest order.
Even the earth deserves some hesed. The land is to have a year of rest. The ox shouldn’t be muzzled so it could eat while it worked. This is hesed.
This means right relationships and right living. It means that we make fair judgments and have fair business dealings. It becomes a stewardship of integrity and justice. This means that there are three arenas of struggle.
Three Arenas of Struggle
1. Personal Arena.
You cannot work for justice and live injustice. So we stand against all forms of pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust within ourselves. Issues of sexual purity are serious. At the same time we work to promote the virtues: temperance, fortitude, prudence, justice, love, faith, hope and so on.
The weapon to be used in the arena is prayer.
Our weapon is prayer.
We wait in the power of God. We develop a long for the deep things of God. From prayer we discern evil from good. We discern action that needs to be taken. We hear a fresh word from the Lord to address the injustices of our day and call for a return to righteousness.
2. Social Arena.
This is the arena of our interpersonal relationships. As much as it is possible we live in peace with all people. This means we work (actively work) for healing and reconciliation, for compassion and shalom.
We feed the hungry. We help the helpless. We reach out to the orphan, the widow, the weak, the shove aside. We fight for justice in the slums of America as well as the Cambodian houses of prostitution and the Indian sweathouses.
Our weapon is Christian community.
Showing the world an alternative way of living of love and acceptance, of peace and freedom, of hope and vision, of nurture and accountability. We love one another so that the world will declare, “See how they love one another.”
Early in the church a man named Cyprian reportedly told his friend Donatus, “This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see. Brigands on the high road; pirates on the seas; in the amphitheater men murdered to please the applauding crowds; under all roofs misery and selfishness. It is really a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. Yet in the midst of it I have found a quiet and holy people. They have discovered a joy, which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians … and I am one of them.”
3. Institutional Arena.
When Jesus cleansed the temple, He was defeating an institutional structure that had become corrupt. Our task is to envision and work for a society in which it is easier to do good and harder to do evil. It is one where the institutions and laws and public policies provide justice and enhance life for everybody not just a select few.
It seems overwhelming but facing the institutional arena although complicated must be done. The plight of the unborn. Problems of poverty and housing. Issues of nationalism and militarism. Of war and peace. Of terrorism disguised as religion. Of racism. Of sexism. Of ageism. Of consumerism. Of environmentalism. Of healthcare. Of pornography. Of materialism.
It is complicated but we are not left without a weapon.
Our weapon is prophetic witness.
We are the conscience to these expressions of institutional life. When commend the state when justice prevails and bring a prophetic critique when it fails. When we stood together during the Life Chain, a young lady in a car shouted profanities along with “Mind your own business!” I just smiled and thought, “We are. This is our business.”
What are some perils to watch out for?
Perils of the Compassionate Life
a. Forgetting Spiritual Needs.
It is easy to get so caught of in serving and meeting the needs of others (especially physical needs) that we can neglect dealing with the spiritual reality that all people face. It is too easy to just let our actions speak without actually proclaiming that Jesus is the reason why we live the compassionate life.
b. Legalism.
After the holy life tradition, this tradition has the greatest temptation for legalism. It becomes real easy to harshly condemn those that may disagree with our position.
c. Politics.
If you read Billy Grahams autobiography Just As I Am, one of Grahams greatest continuing struggles was how to minister to political figures without become too closely identified with their agenda. Likewise, because our faith is political and makes judgments on political concerns, we must be careful not to be co-opted into a political persuasion or an agenda. Getting too cozy with any political entity could blunt our prophetic edge.
Honestly, this is one of the weaker streams in my life as it is in the life of our church as a whole. So what can we do to grow stronger so that we may better live out the compassionate life allowing hope to float?
Practicing the Compassionate Life
1) Be Willing.
God works through willing vessels. He uses simple, ordinary people like you and I for His purposes and for His Kingdom. We just need to be willing.
Willingness is not automatic. You begin by praying for it. Make it your daily prayer that you might be willing to be used by God to bring justice around you. Many times we don’t want to be willing because it seems so overwhelming and scary. But our God is bigger than all these problems that we face.
2) Get the Facts.
Become a global citizen and know what is going on in the world around you. Don’t withdraw but find out what is happening in Sarajevo and Ghana. This will take patience and perseverance as well as discernment to determine what is true and what is misinformation.
3) Get Your Hands Dirty.
Support relief agencies (such as the City Rescue Mission) with your time and money. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity or His Hands Ministries.
4) Influence Public Policy.
Get involved in the political process to determine public policy. Make your voice heard. Write letters. Sign petitions.
In Germany during World War II there was a Protestant church the stood near some railroad tracks. These tracks often carried Jewish families on their way to be exterminated by the Nazi death camps. The cries for help and justice were sometimes very loud and disturbing especially as the congregation worshipped.
The solution was a call for the congregation to sing louder so the cries wouldn’t be noticed. I wonder how many times we turn up our worship music or stick our noises deeper in the hymnal so we can pretend not to be aware that injustices abound around us.
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of the well-being of your fatter animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.
As a recent song has said, “Your justice flows like the ocean tide.” What do you need to do to respond to God’s call for justice? Deeper community? Deeper prayer? Have a greater voice? Get your hands dirty? Be better informed? Or just pray for willingness? Respond as we worship.
