Read the sermon · 30 min
Introduction to Amos
Good morning, good to see all of you this morning. I just want to thank you for being here, and if you're new, thank you for being here, and also if you're watching online, thank you for being here this morning. Today we're going to be in the book of Amos, the whole book of Amos. So as you flip to it, just to help you out: if you're seeing Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, or Joel, you're getting warmer. If you hit Jonah or Micah, you need to turn around, because you've passed it and you've gone too far.
Before we start diving into the text this morning, I want us just to wrap our minds around who Amos was, what we know about him. First, let's start off easy. Amos was a prophet. He was just this ordinary, uneducated guy, and he was called by God to be a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. If you remember, or if you read in the books previously, there's actually a civil war going on. After the death of Solomon, who was King David's son, we had this split into two kingdoms. We had the north, which was the kingdom of Israel, and we have the south, which is known as the kingdom of Judah. Amos grew up in the southern kingdom of Judah, and he was from this small little place in the Judean village of Tekoa. I brought a map, and hopefully you can see where that is, the red marker there. It's pretty close to Bethlehem, about five miles or so southeast of Bethlehem in the southern kingdom of Judah. And yet God calls him to speak in the northern kingdom of Israel. I think what's interesting also is that Amos isn't mentioned anywhere in Scripture outside of his book.
The meaning of his name
Before we continue, I need to acknowledge also that I've been saying Amos this entire time, and I'd like for everyone to do this with me. On account of three, everyone say Amos with me. One, two, three. Awesome, so we all spoke Hebrew. Similar to Josh last week with Joel, I've had about thirty years of conditioning of saying his name is Amos, so I just wanted us all to say it together and acknowledge the right way to say it, so I can just go on saying it the wrong way, the way that's ingrained in me.
His name is the same in English as it is in Hebrew, but in Hebrew his name has a meaning. So are you ready for the meaning? His name is burden. Of all the names to be dealt in life, burden. And we just thought that people were naming their kids weird things these days. Just picture his parents: he's born, and, "So what should we name our child?" "Well, I'm just going to be honest here and hear me out. What about we call him burden?" "Oh, I love it, hurry up, write it on the birth certificate."
However, his parents pretty well hit the nail on the head with that name, because we find in Scripture that he's called up as this prophet into the northern kingdom, and he carries with him a burden for God's people.
An ordinary man called by God
If he's called up as a prophet, that means he's not always been a prophet. He's not a prophet by vocation. In fact, by his own admission, he basically says in chapter 7 that he even felt unqualified to be a prophet. Amos chapter 7, verse 14 says:
Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, 'I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.'
What's he saying? He's saying, I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son. I didn't come from prophets, and there aren't prophets in my lineage. Just an ordinary guy. And thank God for that, because how often do we see God calling ordinary people for his extraordinary work? All the time. It's kind of rhetorical, but I'll answer: all the time. In this case, an uneducated shepherd and fig picker is who God called.
I love that, because that means that he wasn't trained. He wasn't this eloquent and just insanely gifted speaker, and in fact at times he just said it like it was. You ever known someone like that, someone that just tells you right where they're coming from? You don't have to guess. That can be nice at times, because you know right where they stand. But at other times it can be kind of like Amos in chapter 4, where for example we see that he has no problem calling the women of Israel "you cows of Bashan." Some translations even have it as "you fat cows of Bashan." So that's just how this kind of sheep farmer, fig picker talks.
His ministry occurs through the reigning of two kings. In the south we have King Uzziah from Judah, and in the north we have King Jeroboam of Israel. So even though his name's not mentioned outside of this book, we know, because these two kings are ruling, when the events in this book take place. They take place right around the mid eighth century BC, right around 760 to 750 is where it's thought that these events take place. Since we know those dates, we can also fit it in with other texts of the Old Testament, so that puts his ministry occurring right around Second Kings chapter 14 and chapter 15.
The words of Amos
Now that we all have the same foundation and the same background on Amos, I think it's time that we actually get to the text today. Follow with me in Amos chapter 1, verses 1 and 2:
The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said: 'The LORD roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.'
One of the parts that I want us to focus on occurs in the verses that immediately follow these first two verses, in chapter 1 verses 3 through 15. In these verses, Amos is wasting no time just getting right to it. We're not going to read all of it, but I want to give you the main gist of it, and feel free to read it on your own. This straight shooter type of talk is what we're seeing. Ultimately, through these verses, and it's even into chapter 2 a little bit, he denounces eight different nations or regions.
The first one is Damascus. Specifically God is saying through Amos, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. The second is Gaza: I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. Tyre: I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. The next is Edom: I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword. The fifth, the Ammonites: God says through Amos, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead so that they might enlarge their border. Sixth, Moab: God says, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.
And he doesn't stop there. Not only does he denounce these six surrounding nations or regions, but then in the next two he denounces God's own people, Judah and Israel.
Judgment on Judah and Israel
I want to specifically read these two announcements. It's in chapter 2, starting in verse 4:
Thus says the LORD: 'For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked. So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.'
Thus says the LORD: 'For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father 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 the wine of those who have been fined.'
And that's gross. So let's pause there. There's a picture that's being painted here. Just as a quick side note, whenever we read "for three transgressions of Judah, Moab, Israel, for three transgressions and for four I will not revoke punishment," we can loosely translate that to mean, I've had mercy for three sins, but for the fourth I'm bringing judgment.
Just to summarize a few of the topics that he speaks about in Judah and Israel: injustice, idolatry, prostitution in the temple where one man sleeps with the same prostitute that his son sleeps with on a different day, and, like I said, that's gross, extorting the garments from the poor, and people are toasting their success with wine that was bought with money dishonestly gained. So this is the spiritual condition of Judah and Israel.
God tried to get their attention
Then Amos's attention really zeroes in specifically on Israel, because after all, that's where he's called, into the northern kingdom. In chapter 4, verses 6 through 10, he's talking about how throughout this time God tried to get their attention. I'll summarize the various ways that God tried to get their attention. In verse 6 he says, I sent famine, yet you did not return to me. In verses 7 and 8, drought, specifically, I withheld rain, yet you did not return to me. Verse 9, he says, I struck your crops, which is crop failure, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured. Maybe this is God reminding you of anything else? Exodus, Moses. Yet you didn't return to me. And thinking, okay, well, maybe these people are bad at connecting the dots, so I'm going to be a little bit more on the nose. Verse 10, I sent plagues in the manner of Egypt, yet you did not return to me.
So God's using all these different kinds of means and methods to try to get their attention. I sent famine, I sent drought. Okay, it seems like you're not getting it, so maybe they're just confused. Well, here's some of the plagues that I brought against Egypt; maybe now they can connect the dots. Time and time again they didn't listen to the warning.
What was it going to take? See, that's actually the question sometimes, isn't it? What's it going to take? What's it going to take for you to give God your attention? What's it going to take to really submit ourselves before the Lord?
I know we spent a while in the background of Amos and what's going on here, but I don't want us to miss the big picture. In chapter 2 we see Amos showing up and describing right to Israel their spiritual condition, and then in chapter 4 he's describing, as a result, everything God was trying to do along the way to get their attention.
The remedy in chapter five
Now as we come upon chapter 5, the book of Amos is about nine chapters long, so it's right here in the middle of it, in chapter 5 we see already God provides a remedy for their situation. He provides a remedy for everything, basically saying, if you would just respond to me, here's how I'm going to show you mercy. Amos chapter 5, verses 14 and 15 say:
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Like we saw in the section before, in chapter 4 they weren't really connecting the dots with all the ways that God tried to get their attention, and so now we have a message that's pretty hard to miss. It's almost spoken like a caveman: seek good, not evil; hate evil, love good. Pretty easy to understand, right? Pretty black and white. No way to misinterpret that.
Now here's the problem. What if your definition for good and your definition for evil isn't the same as God's? What if your idea of what is good and your idea of what is evil is not God's idea of what's good or God's idea of what's evil? This is Israel's problem. Time and time again we see in Scripture that they're deciding that they knew what was right and they knew what was wrong, they knew what was okay and they knew what wasn't okay. It's their definition. And there can be a real danger when a society or individual becomes self-deciding, self-defining in that area. So what happens when those decisions of what's good or evil don't align with God? Well, there's not really much hope for remedy in one's culture, society, or life, is there?
So it starts simple enough. It starts with just being on the same page as God with what's right and with what's wrong. That's the foundation, and that's what was plaguing Israel. They weren't on that same foundation. And since Amos just tells it like it is, I'm going to as well. This is what's plaguing our culture too. It's the very issue staring our culture right in the face.
Who is your objective moral standard
Here's the thing. Every single one of us in this room, watching online, myself, every single one of us in our life is going to answer this following question, whether we know it or not. Here it is. The question is: who or what is your objective moral standard, for which you measure what's right and wrong?
The way that that question is answered determines what you or what I or what anyone else believes is good or evil, right or wrong. And I'll help us out a little bit with some clues as to what isn't the objective moral standard in our world. The first is government. The government is not the objective moral standard. The second is culture, what's the most popular opinion or what most everyone believes. That's not the objective moral standard either. Me, Josh, any of us on staff, I'm not the objective moral standard, as big of a surprise as that is. Or you. None of us are the objective moral standard.
So as followers of Christ, and I believe that y'all can probably see where I'm heading, the answer to that question is this: God and his word is the objective moral standard. This is what God is wanting Israel to understand through the prophet Amos. Over and over and over they made themselves the decider of what was right and wrong, not God. And God's saying, if you would just get on the same page as me for what's good, if you'd get on the same page with me as to what's evil, to seek good and not to seek evil, to hate evil and to love good, then that's where we find the remedy. That's where we find hope.
Three visions
In his mercy and in his grace, God doesn't leave the Israelites or us without direction on how to get there. I think that's why we have this remedy right here in chapter 5, because then as we move past that, even into chapter 7, we see God giving us this direction of how to get there. Read with me in chapter 7, verses 1 through 9:
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, 'O Lord GOD, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!' The LORD relented concerning this: 'It shall not be,' said the LORD. This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, the Lord GOD was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said, 'O Lord GOD, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!' The LORD relented concerning this: 'This also shall not be,' said the Lord GOD. This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD said to me, 'Amos, what do you see?' And I said, 'A plumb line.' Then the Lord said, 'Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.'
So what do we have here? Amos describes to Israel these three visions that the Lord has given him. These almost seem kind of just doom and gloom when we read them, but if you stay with me, I think what we'll see is that they're really not. It's really just a beautiful and amazing picture that God's painting here.
The locusts and the fire
The first vision, what is it? It's locusts. God shows Amos this impending judgment of locusts just ravaging the land. Many, many times in the Bible we see God using locusts trying to get the attention of people. We see it in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Joel, Amos, Nahum, First Kings, Revelation. It's kind of all over the place. So he shows Amos this vision of impending doom from locusts, and what does Amos say to God? He cries out. He cries out for mercy, saying, O Lord God, please forgive, how can Jacob stand, he is so small. Or again, loosely translated, Amos is asking, just please forgive us, don't do this to your own people, please don't bring this swarm of locusts. And then in verse 3 we see that God relents and he tells Amos, it shall not be.
This vision, it's not a doom and gloom vision. It's a vision rather of God's mercy. It's a vision of his grace. Amos saw the consequence for their actions, and God decided not to bring it. Why? Because Amos prayed. He prayed specifically for forgiveness, he prayed specifically for mercy, and we see that God relented.
Then in the second vision, a vision of fire, we see fire swallowing up the great deep, or again the sea, as well as their land. And again, how does Amos respond? Prayer. He prayed specifically for forgiveness, he prayed specifically for mercy. And then in verse 6 the Lord relented. Do you see a pattern kind of emerging here? I think there's a real tendency at times that we can almost underestimate our prayers to God. So I'm here just to say, don't underestimate prayer.
The plumb line
And then vision three, the plumb line. In this third vision we reach a part of the text where I'd like to camp out here just for a second. God's standing on a wall and he's holding his plumb line, and he asks, what do you see? A plumb line. And God says, I'm setting this plumb line in the people of Israel, I will not pass by them anymore. So God's saying, I'm not just going to pass by their sin anymore, so I'm setting in their midst a plumb line.
I know I've said that word quite a few times. So, I'm going to stand up for a second, this is a plumb line. It's used by masons, builders, to this day. I bought this on Wednesday at Home Depot for twelve dollars, aisle 10, bay 4. What was weird enough is the string for this was like four aisles over. I think it'd make more sense to have it four aisles over but also have it by the plumb lines, because you have to have it, but that's beside the point.
I also found myself going down this YouTube rabbit hole of watching masons explain how plumb lines were used, and that's something that I thought that I'd never ever watch ever, and there I was Wednesday and Thursday watching masons describe plumb lines. That being said, for those of you who know about construction or building or that sort of stuff more than I do, which if you're sitting in this room that probably means you, just bear with me as I explain this.
What these masons will do is they'll hang this plumb line, and what it will do is, because of this weight, you use gravity, pretty simple, it lets them know exactly every time. It will let people know when they're building these walls if the wall is true, or if it's perfectly straight. Because you can't just eyeball it. If you start laying the brick for a wall and you don't have a plumb line and your wall is just a little bit off, well, okay, maybe it's not that big of a deal to you, but if you decide to just keep building the wall, well, eventually by the end you're going to be way off. Without the standard of keeping your wall straight, you're going to be off. It's not going to be true.
How many times have you tried to hang a picture and you're just up close to it? You're hanging a picture on the wall, you nail the nail into the wall, and you step back and you realize, oh, it's crooked. And not only is it crooked, it's also not centered on the wall. So okay, well, I'll just take the nail out and I'll move it over a little bit and up this time, and now I'll nail it in, and then you step back and it's also crooked and it's also just a little bit not even centered on the wall anymore either. Same thing. And so, well, okay, I'll just move it over a little bit now, and same thing. Eventually you might get there, but just grab a level. It's so obvious, yet how many times in life do we just accept things as crooked?
Again, this plumb line helps builders or masons know that their work is being aligned with the plumb line, to make sure that it's true, to make sure that it's straight. And this is what God is telling Amos. He's saying, listen, Amos, I'm inserting myself in the culture of my people, that I'm the plumb line. They have to decide that their lives are going to be measured against me, their values are going to be measured with mine and that they're aligned with mine. They'll understand what's wrong, because they can look at this plumb line and they can see if they're off, because they can see the standard.
I brought this cheap prop to use with me for this illustration, but the thing is, we all have the plumb line. Whether it's on your phone or you grabbed it out of the back of the pew in front of you or you brought it with you, we all have the plumb line. Anything not aligned with the plumb line is crooked. It's off. It's not true.
Earlier I asked you, who or what is your objective moral standard for which you measure what is right or wrong? And whether you answered that question to yourself, or you whispered it to the person next to you, or you wrote it in your notes, God answers it for you right here. He does it regardless. He's the standard. He's the plumb line.
So across these three visions that Amos describes, we get this beautiful message that's being painted before us. If God's people would just align themselves with his standard, then they would be the recipients of his mercy. If they would define good the way that he defines good, and if they would define evil the way that God defines evil, and if they would love good and hate evil, that simple message, they would be aligned with the standard. They would be, as we can see holding this, they would be vertically true.
The same standard today
Even though we're living on this side of the cross in history, this remains the same for us today. How many of you have heard someone say, well, you know, that's just from the Old Testament, so we don't really use that part of the Bible anymore, there's not really much application to it or for it for us today from the Old Testament? Or, well, the Bible's great and all, but it's really old, so a lot of stuff has changed, it wasn't written in our society today or our culture, and people have changed so much, so I know that there's some good lessons in there, but I don't know if there's really that much application or really much that we can take away from it, because it's so dated. Those people, I'd like to say, well, I'd like to read your Bible, because it can't be this one. It can't be the one that I've been reading.
God's the perfect standard. That was true when he spoke to Adam in the garden. That was true when he spoke to Noah. That was true when he spoke to Moses in the burning bush. That was true when he spoke to Amos, and it's true today. What else is true is that throughout all those examples, and to this very day, popular culture wants you to believe that man is the perfect standard.
Let me just ask this. How many times are laws made that suit the standard of man? How many times are laws changed that suit the standard of man? How many times are laws made that deviate from the perfect standard established in Scripture? It doesn't have to be by much. How many times does our culture become just a little bit more crooked, just a little bit at a time? Oh, it's just a little bit off, it's not really a big deal. Eventually it's going to be.
A crooked generation
Here's the thing: this isn't unique to just our own era. I know I've been speaking to our culture a lot. It's not unique just to our own culture today. We talk about our society and our culture, the current state of things, a lot, because we're living right now, and there's a great benefit to that. But this is also a common theme from every generation that has ever existed that has set themselves as the standard of right and wrong. Because our instinct is to be at the center of our own world. And if you don't think so, just remember that phrase that I just said, our instinct is to be at the center of our own world, the next time you're on a plane and someone's trying to shove a bag into the overhead compartment. It's clearly too big and there's a line backing up behind them and they still think that it's going to fit. It's not going to fit. But just remember, our instinct is to be at the center of our own world.
And on a way more serious note, when we put ourselves at the center of our own world, and that's the temptation, we ultimately end up deciding for ourselves what's right and what's wrong. And Scripture defines generations that place man at the center as, and get this, it defines those generations as a crooked generation. It's the actual original language that's used there. I think the Greek is closest, and that's where we get scoliosis for spine. But it defines it as a crooked generation. The Hebrew does as well; I don't know the word for it, so I apologize.
We don't see this language just used in one place in the Bible either. We see it all over the place. First we see it in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verses 3 through 5:
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation.
The next place that I want to point out, Proverbs 21, verse 8:
The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is right.
Next one, Philippians chapter 2, verses 14 and 15:
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.
And don't ask Cassie if I do that. Next, Acts chapter 2, verses 38 to 40:
And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.' And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, 'Save yourselves from this crooked generation.'
What's God saying throughout the Scriptures? He's saying, if you're a follower of mine, I want you to align yourselves with me. I'm the standard. I'm the plumb line. It's not in one place that he says that. He's saying it all throughout the Bible.
So the call for you, the call for me, the call for every single one of us, is to be reflections of this plumb line in a crooked and twisted generation, shining a light as a follower of Christ. We do this by aligning our lives with God and with his word. This is how we help others find hope in Jesus Christ in a twisted and crooked generation.
A warning and a call
Ultimately what we're seeing here in Amos is two things at once. It's both a warning and it's a call. The warning, and I'm going to strip it down like we did kind of in the caveman terms for love good, hate evil, here it is: the warning is our generation is crooked, every generation has been crooked, don't be crooked with it. And then the call: live your life in a way that's reflective of Philippians chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. Now, I can tell you firsthand, I'm going to be right there working on that with you, like I said, especially that grumbling part.
So to boil this down: shine forth Christ. The warning, don't be crooked. The call, shine forth Christ. The call is to be an example. The call is to be vertically true.
And even if we think that we can do this or we can't do this because of who we are, we just go back to that question: is God the objective moral standard in your life? Is God the plumb line in your life? Are you willing to let the way that you speak, the way that you interact with others, the way that you carry yourself, the way that you treat your spouse, the way that you raise your children, the way that you manage your money, do all of those things represent that plumb line?
God uses ordinary people
I wouldn't blame you at all if you're sitting there thinking, well, cool for you to say that, you don't really know me, so you don't know my past and you don't know what I've been through. So there's that. Who am I to be an example to anyone? Who am I for God to use me?
God can use us. Moses stuttered. David's armor didn't fit. John Mark was rejected by Paul. Timothy had ulcers. Hosea's wife was a prostitute. Amos's only training was as a fig picking sheep farmer. Jacob was a liar. David had an affair. Solomon was too rich. Abraham was too old. David was too young. Peter was afraid of death. Lazarus was dead. John was self-righteous. Naomi was a widow. Paul was a murderer, so was Moses. Jonah ran from God. Miriam was a gossip. Gideon and Thomas both doubted. Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal. Elijah was burned out. John the Baptist was a loudmouth. Martha was a worrywart and Mary was lazy. Samson had too long of hair. Noah was a drunk. And also, did I mention that Moses had a short fuse? Because so did Peter, and so did Paul, and so did a whole lot of folks.
The point is, and this is the beautiful thing, is that God doesn't require a job interview. He doesn't hire and fire like most bosses, because he's more like our father than our boss. He's not prejudiced. And as we learn in all of the Bible, and again in the book of Amos today, he's not deaf to our cry and he's not blind to our need. And as much as we may try and do things ourselves, in our way, God's gifts are free, when he's the plumb line.
It's Satan that tells us that we're not enough. He tells us that we're not worthy, or that we can't be used by God, or for whatever reason. I'll be fully transparent with y'all and tell you that when I moved into this position there's been multiple occasions that I've even had thoughts of, well, who are you to be teaching anyone anything about the Bible? Thoughts like, well, you're not going to change anything, you're not going to be enough. And the amazing thing is that Jesus says, well, so what, I am.
Satan wants us to look back on our lives and only see mistakes, only see our failures and our shortcomings, and God just wants us to look back and see the cross, and just to align ourselves vertically with him, to be vertically true.
Prayer
Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for everybody here. Also, thank you for our desire to learn your word. And I just pray that as we go out into the world this week that we align ourselves with you, that we be vertically true. I pray that we hear the warning and I pray that we listen to the call, and that we shine forth Christ. It's in these things that we pray. Amen.