Introduction
We have been looking at what it means to please God. We saw that it must start from faith. We also looked at what it means to please God with our minds and then this morning we looked at what it means to please God when we have disagreements. This evening we look at passage which tells us that God was displeased with his people. So hopefully if we can see what displeased God then we can avoid it and instead please God.
This passage from Amos 5 is interesting because the complaints that God has are not the ones that usually spring to mind. When most people think about the Old Testament prophets complaints against the people of Israel, is that they turned to foreign gods. They aren’t giving God their best. There not observing the correct sacrifices. There’s a standard list. But we should add one more to that list. It shouldn’t be a new one to you, since we’ve looked at it before, but I think it would surprise most Christians if they read through the Old Testament prophets and truly paid attention to how often it comes it. And then to notice what kind of language is used to talk about it and then go back and reread the Old Testament prophets and notice how often this language is used and see just how much the Old Testament prophets keep harping on about the same thing.
The importance of the issue
What we are looking at is of course social justice, the stopping of people exploiting the poor and favouring the rich. We tend to see this very much as an after thought to Christianity. That the important thing is to ourselves right with God, then get Church right and then if we have any time left then we can begin to do a bit for the poor as long as it doesn’t get in the way of what the church is really about. You may not believe that, but I’m sure you’ll have heard that kind of attitude, if not stated in those precise words or even explicitly then certainly in the way people act. Or even we’ll let this group do the social bit while we get on with the real Christianity. The problem is that this concern for social justice is not something tacked on at the end of Christianity, it is right at the beginning.
Often when we approach this topic we look it at from the perspective of what the church can do. In one sense this is very proper. There are immense problems in this world, the aids crisis in Africa, where in some countries more than half of the adult population is infected. When the sars virus swept through Asia there was world wide panic and crys of how terrible it all was. Yet, the death toll was hundreds if that. The death toll from aids is millions. If as many people died from a new strain of flu in the western world, instead of aids in the third world, there would be an absolute outcry. If half the population of the UK, suddenly developed a virus and within 20 years 75% of those people were dead, it wouldn’t be academic exercise for other people to worry about. If there were drugs available which might help but weren’t available because they were too expensive. Yes, there are big problems in the world and to help these and even some of the social problems in our own country and town, they do call for a church level approach. These are often things that we as a church can help with in a way which we as individuals can’t.
Unfortunately, this does create this situation where we regard social justice as something a bit further down the list than it should come. It’s only natural. The way our churches are set up, our first goals are to keep open and increase our numbers. Then if we have anything left in terms of time, labour and money then we begin to think about social issues, maybe. We have a hard enough time getting people to clean the church, why should we bother trying to get people to volunteer for some social thing. Or we have a hard enough time paying for the upkeep of the building, paying the pastor and doing evangelism, why should we spare money for social stuff. And yet we do. I’ve spoken in the past about what we as a church do and our priorities as a church. We are doing some stuff, for example we gave our harvest offering to .... And we as a board are looking into opportunities that we can realistically do as a church. Unfortunately we’re not quite as far along in that as I would have liked, but then again quite often it’s my fault we’re not moving faster.
But I don’t want us to think about what we as a church can do. I want to return social justice to it’s rightful place at the very heart of Christianity by looking at what we as individuals can do and are called to be. Because this is where Amos is targeted. Amos wasn’t a prophet to a king or a government. He wasn’t like Nathan or Samuel who seems to have spent a large amount of time in palaces talking to Kings and leaders. He wasn’t like Elijah who’s main concern was the wickedness started and supported by Ahab and his wife Jezebel. No if we read the book of Amos, we find instead a picture of a man who was out preaching in the fields and the streets to the people who lived there. When he speaks instead of saying ‘Here O King, is what God says”, we find in chapter 2 “Hear this word the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel-against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:” He was talking to the average person, the normal citezan. In the chapter we read, his complaints are to the house of Israel. Not to the royal house of Israel, but to the normal everyday people.
This is the first thing we need to notice. The complaint here is not something that is out of the control of the people to whom the prophet is talking. He is not condemning for the action of their leaders, their priests, their king or any of their leaders. He is condemning them for what they themselves have done. That’s not to say that there is nothing wrong with these others and indeed other prophets do attack these things but here Amos is not so much concerned about what the people’s leaders are doing, but what the people themselves are doing. True not everything Amos says applies to all the people. Some of it is reserved for certain people with in society, but others of it is applicable to all of them.
Let’s look at the complaint of Amos. He’s not complaining that the people are not observing the right rituals. They are making the right sacrifices. They are observing all the write feasts and fasts. They are not skimping on their offerings to God. They are paying their tithe in full. They are not giving substandard animals to God as sacrifices, they are offering of their very best. But they are oppressing the poor, they have corrupt courts, when someone does want to stand up for justice they are despised. Those who feel that perhaps something is wrong, keep quiet.
Because of this God has rejected their sacrifices and worship and told them to get right with God. Now we can see why this is at the heart of Christianity when we bring it down to the level of the individual. What did I mention was the most important or first thing in being a Christian. Getting yourselves right with God. Well if we are doing any of these things that Amos describes then we are not right with God. We need to repent of them and ask forgiveness and then do them no more. That is why social justice is at the heart of Christianity. Because the way we live our lives is at the heart of Christianity.
Us
So how does this apply to us. How does this social concern, these things that Amos attacked the people of Israel for, apply to us? I’m guessing that none of us, owns a vineyard or a farm where we exploit those who are working the land for us. Anyone got a vineyard they haven’t been telling us about? No, I thought not. Although, this picture is not as far removed from our society as we might like to think. Watching the news in the past week about President Bush’s immigration law changes, some things attracted my attention. They mentioned that over half the workers on American farms are done by illegal immigrants, mainly from Mexico, for sub-standard wages. So what does George Bush want to do, change the law to make those immigrants work legal. Fair enough, but to do so, so that they are exempt from the laws protecting American workers to do with conditions and pay. Bad, he is just legalising the exploitation and unfair treatment of people, but because they don’t vote he can get away with it.
But anyway that doesn’t really apply to us, or does it. We might not be the ones doing the exploitation, but are we profiting from that exploitation. Encouraging that exploitation by buying goods that are made or farmed by exploited workers. By shopping at places that put getting the lowest prices above the conditions and terms of employment of it’s workers or it’s supplier’s workers. We’re not talking about objecting to paying foreign workers at less than Western wages, although if we every progress to a truly global economy this would nice in the future, but now practically, the cost of living in other countries can be lower. But we are objecting to conditions that we wouldn’t accept, long hours for not enough to feed their families, send their children to school and keep a roof over their heads. If we are part of the process that uses and causes the demand for such labour then we should bear some of the responsibility.
We can look at it from our perspective and say, look all I’m doing is going to the supermarket and buying the cheapest product. I’m not oppressing anyone, that’s up to the supermarket to change it’s policy and if they have to charge more then I’ll pay it but while it’s on offer I’ll buy it. I’ve got a family to feed, what about my families needs. You’re being completely unreasonable. Well, think what a woman who has to work 13 hour shifts in appalling conditions for so little money that her 7 year old kid has to work along side her so that they can get enough money to eat, but still not enough to provide a clean, sanitary house with running water. Let her see our lives of TV’s, DVDs, our stocked cupboards and warm comfortable houses and ask her what she thinks. Then think what God thinks, who sees all sides and cares for all the people in the world and see which side he thinks has the more reasonable approach.
So what can you as individual do. Well, I guess the most obvious from this section, is to buy fair trade stuff when ever possible. Remember if a shop is selling fair trade and stuff that isn’t marked that way. Then its essentially declaring that they are not paying a fair wage to its workers and or not giving them fair conditions for the other stuff. How can we justify buying such stuff and still serve a God who calls for justice and cares about these workers just as much as he cares about us. This isn’t something for the church to do, although having said that we do need to look at what coffee and tea we buy for after services. It is something for you as individual to consider.
In other cases it does mean completely boycotting some companies who exploit 3rd world workers while making large profits themselves. As I said before, this is not about companies who choose to reduce costs by using foreign workers, given that the cost of living in some countries is lower than it is here. Like a lot of call centre work that goes to India because they can university graduates there for less than what we would pay unskilled workers here. No it’s about companies that exploit these people, that pay unfair wages and give unfair conditions. By all means give people in the 3rd world jobs. But give them fair wages to although them to live, to send their children to school and to have acceptable houses to live in. But again I return to the personal. We don’t control these companies, but we can control whether we buy from such companies or not. I have a poster pointing out one of these companies, Nike. But they’re not the only one and I’m not even saying they’re the worst. What I am saying is that is it pleasing to God to buy stuff produced like this. I don’t think it is.
It’s all to easy to say, I didn’t do it, I’m not responsible. As long as we support companies like this and products like this, we are part of the market that says we don’t care as long we get what we want. Companies only exploit people because other people are willing to buy what they sell. If nobody was willing to buy such goods, the problem would disappear instantly because companies only do things that allow them to make a profit. But if enough people just don’t care, it continues.
And God says to the people of Israel, I don’t accept your worship or your service because you do these things. I reject you.
But what else does he say. Yes, there’s more. You see Amos doesn’t leave it at those who exploit the poor or those who profit from their exploitation. No he names another group as well. This group aren’t involved in exploitation either because they do it or because they profit from it by using the products of exploitation. No this group, looks on and disapproves. But they remain silent. The NIV uses the word prudent for these people, but it is not something Amos approves. The times may be evil and you may only prosper or avoid persecution if you remain silent about others exploitation, but it is not God’s will. You can almost see Amos thinking or saying, why did God have to send me a foreigner from Judah to the south. to tell you these things. When you have people living among you who know this wrong. Where are your voices? Where are the prophets from Israel that should be standing up and denouncing this wickedness, this evil. And so because you remain silent you will suffer along with the wicked, because you say their evil and you refused to speak up.
Again we are returning to this issue. Are you part of the group that is willing to stand up and say this is wrong. Are you willing to suffer, by paying more or not being able to chose the same brands as everyone else to make a statement that this wrong and I will have no part of this.
Conclusions
This is what it takes to make God pleased with us. Here we have this passage that in Amos in that says your doing everything right as far as sacrifices, offerings, festivals, what we normally think about is religious or spiritual life, but I’m not accepting it. To update the language to our Christian practices, your worship services aren’t acceptable, I will not come and be part of your communion services, I will not listen to your prayer meetings, your songs of worship are a clashing din to me. Why? Not because there is anything wrong with them themselves. But there is something wrong with you. There is all this injustice, sin and exploitation going on, half of you are involved in it or reap the fruits and profits from it and the other half are just silent, no-one is willing to speak up for what is right and for the oppressed. I’m not claiming those figures or accurate or that all of us fall into the same boat here, I’m just trying to apply the ancient issues to the more modern ones but give the same message.
This puts social concern far from the fringes of church right at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. It says do you really want to please God. Then lets prove it by doing things that hits us in the pocket and sometimes especially for younger people affects our social standing with the in-crowd because we refuse to buy some labels and from some stores. But will we or will we just go away and not really treat this issue with the seriousness that Amos and God appear to treat it. In the past I certainly don’t think I have treated it with this seriousness. And as I encourage you to do this, I am also setting out my future plans as to how I will behave in the future.
