When I was a kid I remember having a friend over and playing cricket in the back yard. We repeatedly hit the ball over the fence into the neighbour’s hard and trampled all over their flower beds retrieving it. We were caught mutilating the backyard flora and my mother proceeded to berate me sternly. As it happened, when we were caught it was my friend who had been clambering over the fence and not me, so when my mum was giving me grief about the whole thing, I felt it was a bit unfair. Why wasn’t he getting it, too? He was the one too stupid to wait until my mother was away from the window til he climbed the fence! But here we were, him standing quietly to one side and me copping the shalacking.
Despite my feelings of injustice, it really made sense, though. I was the one who lived in that house in the back corner of leafy Lugarno, the Promised Land. I was the one who knew that I wasn’t supposed to be squashing the daisies and camellias. I was the child and my mother my parent – my friend just happened to be there for the view. I had that privileged position – but with that privileged position also came responsibility.
The people of Israel are the children of God. He chose them not because they were numerous or powerful or righteous – he chose them because he loved them. And, as vs. 2 reminds us, all the families of the earth, it is only them he has chosen. They are in an incredibly privileged position. Look back to 2:10-11. God brought them out of Egypt and gave them the Promised Land, the land of the Ammorites. He saved them from slavery and oppression, led them through the desert and then fulfilled his promise to Abraham by delivering to them the land flowing with milk and honey. He has raised up prophets and Nazirites to minister to them, to speak his Word to his people. He has chosen them and loved them and blessed them.
So what now? -
AM 3:2 "You only have I chosen
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your sins."
The privileged position the Israelites held as God’s chosen people made them particularly responsible for their sin. Because God chose them, so he will punish them. This is a message Amos is speaking to all the people of Israel and Judah – “the whole family I brought up out of Egypt”. Amos is from Judah but he is a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel – and his message is universal - you will be punished.
Last week we saw precisely what they are being punished for: rejecting the Law, following false gods, injustice, sexual immorality, ignoring the prophets and rejecting the very Word of God. And 3:10 sums up the situation nicely – “They do not know how to do right”. These special chosen people of God who have the Law who have the words of the prophets – they don’t even know how to do right.
The concept that those who are granted much knowledge and much privilege will be judged more strictly and punished more harshly occurs throughout Scripture. Turn with me briefly to Luke 12:47-48 LK 12:47 "That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
The Israelites have been given much, so much will be demanded of them. The LORD is a jealous God and demands that his people are faithful to him. And when they are not he will rain down his fire upon them.
This is not to say that the pagan nations will not be held accountable. We’ve already read in chapter 1 how Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom and Moab are all to be subject to God’s judgment. I caught two kids at school smoking a little while ago. One was, shall we say, well known to the school’s disciplinary committee. The other was a one who I knew went to church and called himself a Christian. Both were punished, but it was the second student who I had the strongest words with. More so than the first kid, he should have known better. I expected more of him. It’s the same situation here. The nations will be punished for rejecting God, but more is expected of the chosen people, Israel.
Amos continues with a series of images which demonstrate cause and effect in vss. 3-6, concluding with the point his is really trying to make – that God is sovereign. When a disaster comes to a city, the LORD has caused it. Amos is preparing Israel for the judgment that is about to fall upon it and saying in no uncertain terms that this judgment is from God. He has revealed these plans to Amos, the prophet, the servant of God. God himself has spoken. He has roared from Zion. As vs. 8 says, the Sovereign LORD, he who brings calamity and disaster and devastation and judgment, HE has spoken and Amos can do nothing but prophesy. He probably likes these messages of doom no more than anyone else, but God has spoken and he must speak them.
The trouble with both Israel and Judah at the time was that both nations were experiencing times of great prosperity and political power. They had summer and winter houses, mansions adorned with ivory, they spent their days lounging around on beds and couches. They felt no threat from the nations surrounding them – they were in control. What was this wealth built on, though? It was built on greed, oppression, exploitation. They horded the plunder and loot in their fortresses, they trampled the heads of the poor into the dust. And they did not follow the LORD. They did not know how to do right.
There is a very destructive, misleading and evil heresy being taught in some churches today, and this passage warns us against it. It’s often called the “Prosperity gospel” and what it teaches is that, if we are faithful followers of God, then we can be expect to be blessed by the LORD with health, wealth and happiness. Indeed, many go as far as to say that such blessings from God are a sign of one’s personal faithfulness. It is a doctrine that is not taught in the Bible and it is offensive to the many faithful Christians who do not enjoy such material plenty. It is a doctrine that takes our eyes off the hope we have of heaven and transfers our focus to treasures on earth. Take, for instance, the book “You Need More Money” by the senior pastor of the Hillsong church, Brian Houston. Here’s how he summarises the main message of the book: “If you and I can change our thinking and develop a healthy attitude toward money, we can walk in the blessing and prosperity that God intends for us. We will never have a problem with money again” and that “it is the will of God to see you whole and beautiful. Health is one of the promises of God for our lives.”
Any reasoned reading of Scripture will tell you that God promises spiritual blessings, but not necessarily monetary ones. And, moreover, this prosperity gospel can give us false confidence and a misleading idea that we are right with God when we’re not. The experience of Israel under Jeroboam II demonstrates just how wrong the prosperity gospel is.
Israel are experiencing prosperity, they’re experiencing success. And this success does indeed come from God – but it doesn’t mean they’re faithfully following him. In 2 Kings 14, where the events of this period in Israel’s history are recorded, we see that Jeroboam does evil in the eyes of God and yet God still uses him to grant Israel the prosperity they are enjoying at the time of Amos.
But this wealth and this power is temporary. They might think they are invincible, they might think they are right with God, but they’re fooling themselves. They’re worshipping idols
After King Solomon died Israel was divided when the northern tribes led by Jeroboam I rebelled against Rehoboam, the king of Judah. So that the northerners wouldn’t have to go too far to worship, Jeroboam had golden calves built at Bethel and in Dan. And now, some 150 years later, they’re still worshipping there, still degrading the name of God by bowing down to worthless idols.
But not for much longer. They might have fallen into the same trap as Brian Houston, but God will demolish their mansions, destroy their altars. Vs. 14 says “I will destroy the altars of Bethel, the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.” What people used to do as a way of receiving the blessing of the idol was to grip hold of it’s horns – but that will be cut off. An enemy will come and overrun the land. And perhaps even more humiliating for this wealthy chosen people, in vs. 9 we see Ashdod and Egypt invited to come to Samaria to witness the immorality of the people and, ultimately, to witness their downfall.
Now I’m certainly not suggested the western world is chosen people of God -but we too face this danger, the danger of complacency. Owen mentioned last week that westerners, and particularly those in the United States, are very ready point out the sin of other cultures but are blind to the judgment they are facing – just as Israel are blind to the wrath God is going to unleash upon them.
Are you similarly complacent and self-righteous? The vast majority of us live in comfort if not prosperity. We should thank God for that, but it is not that sort of blessing we should be looking for. The vast majority of kids that I teach think they’re right with God. They think that things are going just fine. As Christians we know that they are sadly mistaken. We know that God will punish them for their sins. But we, as the chosen people of God, the people brought together under the headship of Christ, we too need to wary. Beware of the prosperity gospel, the gospel which would say that these Israelites in Amos 3 were blessed by God and pleasing to God. They weren’t, and neither are we if we are distracted by our wealth or made complacent by the comparative ease of our lifestyles. The lion has roared and we need to fear. We are incredibly privileged – God has chosen us. But that also means God expects more of us and deserves more of us. In fact, he doesn’t just deserve more of us, he deserves all of us – because, in the end, all the summer houses and winter houses and mansions and ivory adornments will be destroyed and the only ones left standing will be those who are the people of God.
Amos hints at the salvation of the remnant of Israel in vs. 12. To prove to the owner that a sheep had been destroyed and had not been stolen, a shepherd would bring back leg bones or ears. That’s all that will be left over when the nation of Israel is destroyed. But out of the broken bits of that carcass, God has raised up the true Israel, the true people of God. The death and resurrection of Jesus show us that we have something beyond worldly prosperity to look forward to – something much greater, something eternal. We have been chosen by God, out of all the families of the earth, to inherit his kingdom. Israel failed to live as God’s chosen people. They put their confidence in idols and wealth, and rejected God’s Word. Make sure you don’t make the same mistake. Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Outline
Amos 3
Punishment for God’s People
Chosen People
Privilege (2:10-11)
Sin (2:4-8, vs.10)
Responsibility (vs. 2; cf Luke 12:47-48)
God is Sovereign (vss. 3-8)
Wealth, Complacency, Unfaithfulness (vss. 11-15)
Dangers of the prosperity gospel
The false prosperity of Israel (c.f. 2 Kings 14)
The Remnant: Leg bones and a piece of an ear (vs. 12)
The new chosen people
