WARNING–DANGER AHEAD
Amos 1:1
INTRODUCTION:
READ: Amos 1:1-2
I suppose that as long as there have been schools, someone has been accused of being the teacher’s pet. While I’m sure that most teachers try to give equal attention to their students, sometimes there is a closer bond with a few of the students. May be because of a troubled home life. It may be because the child seems to do exceptionally well. It may be because the student shares the same interests.
ILL> When our son went into the 9th grade he took a science class under Mrs. Pfeiffer. Many of the students didn’t care for her style of teaching, but our son loved it from the start. They were studying forensics which has always been of great interest to him.
Because of their close relationship we have some unique items around our house. She had a spare cat that had been used for dissection, so she gave it to our son and a friend who tore into it. She gave our son a large crawdad which he has in a jar in his room, next to the fetal pig that she also gave him.
For the past 2 years he has spent one semester as an aide in her class.So, you might say that he has gotten some special privileges.
In the OT Israel was God’s chosen people. At times they felt that as God’s chosen special that that gave them some unique privileges and I suppose that it did. However, what they found out that this unique relationship with God did not grant them a license to go about and just do whatever they wanted. They learned that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. They discovered that God does not play favorites.
ILL> The place was New York City, during the time of the subway rush in the evening of a hot summer day. People were manning into the subway cars as they were moving out of the station and each car was loaded to capacity. One man happened to be just the last man to push and jam his way inside of a car, and he stood facing the door. The doors closed and the car moved off. He stood there, packed against this door, pressed up against it with the awful push of humanity in the car. As it went down the tracks, waving and swaying, he began to feel a little sick. The further he went, the sicker he got, and just at the critical moment, the car came into a station and the door opened and he got sick all over the man standing on the platform right opposite him. But without anybody moving, the door suddenly closed and the car moved out of the station. The man on the platform stood there looking at himself, and then he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Why me?”
That’s kind of how the Israelites felt when Amos prophesied before the people. Even though they deserved God’s rebuke, they felt like everyone around them was worse–and besides, they were God’s chosen people.
There were other elements that need to be considered. Amos was from Judah, but some of his harshest prophecies were for Israel. Now Israel was at the height of its power while and was doing very well economically. That’s another reason that Amos’ message of doom and gloom did not go over well.
ILL> We might think back to the days of the dot.com bubble. When a lot of money was being invested in the internet during the presidency of Bill Clinton, the stock market was running over 14,000 and the NASDAQ was over 4000. It was Alan Greenspan, however, that warned that the stock market was like a bubble and someday it was going to burst. Greenspan took a lot of ridicule for his failure to jump on the bandwagon.
However, the bubble did burst. People went from being millionaires to penniless in a matter of a few days–in some cases, in just a few hours. We are still trying to sort out the mess as companies like Enron and Tyco were falsely reporting their economic situation.
Just because you don’t like the message of doom and gloom doesn’t mean that it’s not correct. Amos was making his prophecies around 787 BC. About 50 years later (722 BC) Assyrian conquered Israel. In a very short period of time they had gone from a political and economic power to nothing.
THE BACKGROUND OF THE PROPHET
So who was this Amos?
We have already said that was from the southern kingdom of Judah, but his prophecies dealt with Israel and many of the surrounding nations. He would have prophesied around the same time as Hosea and Isaiah. One of the interesting things about Amos is that he was not trained to be a prophet. He did not go to one of the schools of the prophets. He was a herdsman or a cattleman, or as it states in the first verse–a shepherd. Because of that, some refer to him as the cowboy preacher.
HIS MESSAGE WAS NOT WELL RECEIVED
We learn something else about Amos over in chapter 7. READ: Amos 7:10-15.
VS 14 tells us once again that Amos did not have any formal training as a prophet. But, it also tells us that he was a vine-dresser–he took care of sycamore fig trees. So, he was taking care of trees and tending the flock when God called him to proclaim his unwelcomed message.
Let’s go back to VS 10-12. Why did Amaziah the priest and Jeroboam the king have a problem with the prophesies of Amos? The prophesies were not really against the king. Amos was simply a messenger and they did not like the message that he was bringing.
So what do you do if you don’t like the message? You have 2 options (3 actually) –you either change the message or you change the messenger.(The third option is to change your mind, but most do not want to exercise that option.)
So, if you don’t want to change you mind, you need to change the message or the messenger. They decided to change the messenger–“Go home”. VS 12
Some try to change the messenger. Some try to change the messenger in hope that the message will also change. In a sense, that is what elections are about. However, there are guys (like Michael Moore) who are willing to go to extremes and present fiction as fact. He was trying to change the messenger.
ILL> Sandra Day O’Connor has resigned. Even before a nominee has been chosen the political pundits (on both sides I might add) are discussion what kind of person should be picked.
Some have stated that the president should choose a non-controversial nominee to fill her seat on the Supreme Court. How would you describe a non-controversial nominee? They are trying to change the messenger to a person that goes along with their own philosophical views.
Many try to change the message.
ILL> There’s an old saying which says that “figures lie and liars figure”
Pollsters are experts at making the figures say what they want them to say. I really believe that there are times In our world today, that poll takers decide before hand what they message they want the numbers to convey and then ask questions in such a way as to get the majority of the people to answer the way they want. They want to change or manipulate the message.
When a new pope was being chosen recently, it was suggested by many that the Roman Catholic Church chose someone that was more open-minded on issues such as abortion and gay rights. I did read one article that had it right, however
ILL> Kansan.com, “Don’t expect Catholic pope to advocate liberal ideals” (By Vince Myers Published: Friday, May 6, 2005)
“Now nearly everyone has taken his turn on the Whack-A-Pope machine and condemned Joseph Ratzinger — now Pope Benedict XVI — as a hard-line reactionary opposed to such universally accepted things, such as abortion and gay marriage (note the sarcasm).”
The Catholic Church opposes abortion, and I highly doubt that it will ever change that stance. There is no biblical justification for abortion. The church will also probably never accept gay marriage.... If liberals think the pope should uphold secularism, that’s because they’re confused; it’s not because the pope is wrong.
They are trying to change the message.
I stated more than 10 years ago that homosexuality was going to be the biggest issue for the church–and it is. There are some who are now openly accepting the gay and lesbian lifestyle as normal.
ILL> In November of 2003, Gene Robinson (an openly gay minister) was chosen as the bishop of the New Hampshire diocese in the Episcopal Church. His partner, Mark Andrew, even took part in the consecration service.
ILL> The United Church of Christ voted Monday (July 4) to endorse gay marriage at their general synod which met in Atlanta, GA. The Presbyterian and Methodist Churches are also wrestling with this issue.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NIV) “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
They are trying to change the message
AIDS and HIV is an epidemic in our world today. Thousands of people are dying each year around the world. It is especially an epidemic in 3rd world countries.
So what is the message that is being shared? They are saying....
“We need to raise awareness.” So there are concerts, quilts, and special days in order to raise awareness.
“We need condoms” (which by the way is a word that I thought I’d never use in a sermon when I first went into the ministry) Some believe that will keep AIDS from spreading.
“We need education” And everyone seems to be so surprised that it’s not working.
ILL> The answer to AIDS is not difficult to figure out. Condoms are not the answer to AIDS. More education is not the answer. Concerts and fundraisers and holding hands across America is not the answer. Better drugs are not the answer.
The answer to AIDS is very simple, but no one is saying it--a godly lifestyle. 99.9% of the people who contract AIDS do so because they are involved in an ungodly lifestyle.
CONCLUSION:
The problem is the same as it was in the days of Amos
READ: Amos 7:16-17
You don’t like the message?–change it or send it away. But nothing is going to change until people’s hearts are changed–until God changes them.
2 Timothy 4:3 (NIV)
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
