AMOS SERIES

 #1 - THE ROAR OF THE LORD

Amos 1:1-2

Rev. John R. Hannem, Calvary Baptist Church, North Sydney, NS  September 4, 2005 

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   When a lion roars it is one of the most awesome and frightening sounds anyone can ever hear.  It can be heard up to 5 miles away.  When a lion is committed to an attack, he let’s out a roar which is intended to paralyze his victim with terror.  The deafening roar is a big part of why the lion has earned the title “King of the jungle” or even, “The king of the beasts”.  Many years ago, a man named Amos used the roar of the lion as an analogy to describe the warning that God was giving to His people.  It doesn’t take much imagination for us to figure out that the roar of the Lord is far more awesome and perhaps far more frightening than the sound any big cat can make.

   Tonight we begin what, Lord willing, is going to be a 10-12 week journey through the book of Amos.  In case you have forgotten, Amos is one of what is called the Old Testament Minor Prophets.  The book of Amos is about two-thirds of the way through the Bible—after Hosea and Joel.  This book was written 750 years before the birth of Christ.  Why are we going to devote our time to exploring it?  Well one reason is to help us get a little more balanced diet.  Many of us are quite unfamiliar with the Minor Prophets such as Amos.  Since the entire Old Testament (2 Tim 3:16) has been breathed out by the Lord.  Amos contains the very words of God.  These words are as 2 Tim 3:17 says, useful in teaching us what to believe and how to live.  I suspect Amos contains at least for most of us, some undiscovered, unmined spiritual gems that God will use to strengthen our souls.

  A second reason why we will devote these next few months to Amos is because I believe there are significant parallels between this situation in ancient Israel and the situation we as Christians face in our country today.  Listen to these words from J.A. Moyters’s intro to his commentary on Amos.  “Affluence and exploitation were the most notable features of the society which Amos observed and in which he worked.  Standards had gone to pot.  Authority and rule of law were despised.  National leadership, while reveling in the publicity and dignity of position seemed to be contributing to the complete breakdown of law and order.  When Amos turned his gaze upon the church, he found a religion which was very religious, but which had shaken free from divine revelation.”   What does that remind you of? Does any of that make you think of our current situation and the context of today’s society?

  As we begin this journey through Amos I am confident the Lord is going to speak to us in significant ways. And so let’s pray that He will enable us to hear and understand the roar of the Lord through His Word.

   AMOS 1:1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa, what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.

    The mention of these 2 kings enables us to date Amos’ ministry as between 660-650 BC.  For almost 200 years, since 930 BC when the reign of Solomon ended, Israel had been divided into 2 kingdoms.  The southern kingdom was composed of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, while the other 10 tribes made up the Northern Kingdom.  Amos was from Tekoa, a small town located in the southern kingdom about 11 miles from Jerusalem.  Though this was Amos home, he ended up preaching primarily to the Northern Kingdom.

    Those of you who know your Old Testament history are aware that in just a few years, 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom would be conquered by the Assyrians.  It wasn’t until 135 years later, 586 BC that the southern Kingdom would fall; the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar would destroy Jerusalem.  Unlike some other prophets who had important positions in either the political or religious circles, Amos was a shepherd.  In chapter 7 we learn that he also cared for sycamore-fig trees.  Now we’re not sure if Amos owned this flock and grove, or if he just worked as a hired hand.  I suspect the latter. He is apparently a working class prophet, though clearly a very intelligent one.  There is no reason to doubt that Amos is one who, under the inspiration of God’s Spirit took these prophecies which he had proclaimed over the years and put them in written form which we now have in the Bible today.

   AMOS 1:2  “He (Amos said),  “The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up and the top of Carmel withers.”  This picture that Amos paints is very vivid and very clear.  The Lord, Yahweh, Jehovah, the God of Israel, the only true God, speaks with such power, such force, such certainty; it is like the roar of a lion or a loud clap of thunder.  The voice is so strong and the content of the message so severe that the grass of fields in southern Israel and the lush green hills of Mt. Carmel, a landmark in Northern Israel, both dry up.  Of course, this is figurative language not literal.  Amos’ point is this—what the Lord says is devastating because it speaks of the judgement which the people of Israel especially in the Northern kingdom are about to face. 

   This verse is an obvious intro to the first section the book which moves through through Chapter 3:8.   In many ways though, it is a prelude to the entire book. The message which God has for His people is not a pleasant one for His people to hear—either in Amos’ day or our own.  There are many folks who find it much easier, much more convenient to simply ignore the roar of the Lord.  We can cover our ears and pretend everything is going just fine.  We can try to keep enjoying the frivolous pleasures, which tend to absorb our time.  But to do that is just foolish.  The roar of the Lord is a warning that we can’t afford to ignore.

    I suspect that for many people today, the message of Amos seems like it comes not just from a different time, but from a different planet.  This talk about warning of impending judgement and doom seems so foreign to many modern churchgoers.  They would say, “Hey, wait a minute.  God is love.  Doesn’t the Bible say that?”  Yes, it does.  My god loves me, forgives me, helps me and gives me the things I need.  He is my Father.  He loves everyone.  He is everyone’s friend.  He is a good god.”  Now, the more theologically sophisticated will add, “this God of wrath is the Old Testament God.  The God we serve, however, the god of the New Testament is a God of love.  Then they might add that God has matured; that what we see in the Bible is a God who is becoming the merciful and gracious God we know in the New Testament.

   Let me first address that last statement.  It is a bunch of hogwash.  In Malachi 3:6, God says,  “for I the Lord do not change.”  That truth is repeated in the New Testament.  James 1:17 describes God the Father as the one in ‘whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”  The Lord is not growing or maturing.  He is the one who was and is and shall be evermore.  Despite what some may think, that is how the Bible describes Him.  Yes, the Old Testament describes god’s wrath and judgement, sometimes in very vivid detail. It also tells us of His gracious love.  Psalm 103:8 says—The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  This precise description of God is found in four different passages of the Old Testament.  Evidence of His love is found throughout the Bible including the book of Amos, as we shall see in the weeks to come.

   The New Testament does indeed trumpet God’s love and mercy in a marvelous way, focusing on the salvation He gives us through Jesus Christ.  It also speaks very clearly of Gods’ wrath and judgement.  2 Thess. 1:7-9 says—when the Lord is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels (8) in flaming fire, He will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  (9) They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power.  In Matthew 25—we have the Lord Jesus’ own description of the terrible day of judgement. He says to those who do not belong to Him in Matthew 25:41, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  In the Old Testament, the Lord is a gracious, loving God who sometimes exercises His wrath,  In the New Testament, the Lord is a gracious, loving God who sometimes exercises His wrath.  Nothing has changed.  Nothing ever will change.

   I can almost hear someone thinking, “But Pastor, I’m not comfortable with that type of God.  I prefer a god who is kind and gentle, a soft God.”  Where did we ever come up with the idea that we have some type of constitutional right to design our own God.  Again, I hear people say, “Well, your God may be that way, but my god is this way— Well it is not as if there are bunch of different models of god that we can choose from.  There are not.  It would be like saying, “When you play golf, the low score may win, but when I play golf the high score wins.”  You can say that, but the game you are playing is not golf.  There is only one God, the true God, the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Any other god is a false god.  We don’t get to decide what He is like or what characteristics He has. He created us; we did not create Him.  God is who He is, was and always will be.  He is who He reveals himself to be through His Word, the Bible.  None of us fully or perfectly understands what God is like, but if our view of who God is and what He is like contradicts or varies significantly from what the Bible teaches, we have created a false god in our own mind and to worship and follow that god is idolatry.

   I know what I just said is rather scary.  All of us to some extent have an imperfect understanding of God.  That is ok, because through Jesus, God graciously accepts us. He even accepts us with our distorted thoughts.  I believe, that in heaven we will have all eternity to grow to a fuller understanding of who the Lord is. 

   I also said that if our understanding of God contradicts or varies significantly from what the Bible says, then we are guilty of idolatry, which is a terrible sin.  If we care at all about the health of our soul, we don’t want to be in that boat.  So……..the very important question is. “How can we make sure our less than perfect understanding of God is not a significant misunderstanding?  How can we make sure that the God we worship and serve is not some figment of our imagination, not some God we created, but rather the true and living God?

   The answer is: through this book, the Bible.  It is here that God has chosen to reveal Himself to human beings.  There are other ways God has and does show us.  These are secondary.  The Bible is the primary way that someone gets to know God.  The Holy Spirit takes these words and instills them in our minds and hearts. This is why it is so important that we make reading the Bible a regular part of our schedule.  A daily quiet time where we spend even 10-15 minutes reading and thinking about a portion of Gods Word is very valuable.  Listening to sermons here at church or to a solid Bible teacher on the tv or radio can be very helpful.  Group Bible studies are excellent ways to get to know the Bible and God better.  Remember, each and every page reveals something about the Lord to us.  That is why if we focus on just our favorite parts of the Bible and ignore books like Amos, we can end up with a distorted understanding of who God is.

   There are folk who would say, “Yes, Pastor the Bible is a good book, but you seem to be talking about knowing God in your head.  I want to know God in my heart.  I want to experience His presence in my life.  I want to feel the power and the joy of the Holy Spirit in every fiber of my being.” ...   There is nothing wrong with that desire.  It is a desire that each of us should have. Our experience of God must be built upon an accurate understanding of who God is---a foundation of truth, which is revealed in God’s word, the Bible. 

   A book that I was reading a while back, notes that 20 years ago the evangelical church was all about “knowing God.”  Jim Packer’s book by that title was a very popular text for lots of adult Sunday school classes.  Expository preaching, going verse by verse, through a book of the Bible so that Christians will know what the whole Bible taught was taught.  Now, the evangelical church is primarily about “experiencing God”.  Henry Blackby’s book by that title is popular and the text for a lot of adult Sunday school classes. Narrative preaching which focuses not on the facts taught in the Bible, but on helping us feel the stories the Bible writers weave is what is in vogue.  People often evaluate a church or worship service on the basis of whether it helps them “feel” close to God.

   Well I don’t believe we have to choose between knowing and experiencing God.  In fact, it is a big mistake if we try to do that.  I believe we can not truly know God unless we experience Him. We can know lots of facts about Him just as I may know lots of facts about Wayne Gretsky, but apart from a relationship with God I will never truly know Him. We can never really experience God and have a good relationship with Him without knowing who He is and what He is like.  Our knowledge of God gained as He speaks to us through His Word, is the foundation on which He builds a relationship with us and on which we experience in His presence.  When we have a significant misunderstanding of who God is and what He is like, it hurts our relationship with God big time.  If the misunderstanding is significant enough, it may mean that we are not relating to the real God at all, but only to a god we have created in our mind.

   This idea that knowledge and understanding of the truth is the foundation of a good relationship is not something foreign to us.  We know that to be true in relationships with other people.  It is true in our closest relationships, like marriage.  Merri-Sue and I have been married for 28 years.  She knows me pretty well, but she doesn’t know everything about me.  I’m a guy, so sometimes she finds it’s like pulling teeth to get me to talk about certain things, but she still knows me pretty well.  Yet, what if many of the things that Merri-Sue thinks she knows about me simply were not true.  What if I am really a secret agent. Getting married, raising a family, going to seminary, pastoring a church and pretending to be a conservative Christian are all just my cover as a spy to aid me in my goal of helping terrorists take over the world.  When I get up in the morning and turn on the computer, I’m not really working on my sermon as I tell her, but I’m sending emails to other secret agents.

   Now I know that sounds far fetched and I assure you that it isn’t true.  I hope you can see though, if it was true, any relationship my wife thought she had with me would be an illusion.  I have read stories about men who have 2, 3 even more wives and families in different places.  Each thought they were the only ones.  Because that was not true, the relationship they thought they had was a sham; it was not real.

   Friends, all this is a plea for us not to be content to worship and serve God “As whomever we may conceive Him or her to be.”  That is a phrase very popular among college and high school commencement speakers, but it is not one of my favorites.  Rather than worship God “As whoever we may conceive him or her to be, we must worship and serve God as He really is, the true and living God who reveals Himself through His Word, the Bible---the God who discloses something more about Himself to us on each page of the Bible---the God who in the book of Amos tells us about certain aspects of His character,  what He is really like.  These are things that we may have missed if we have focused just on our favorite passages in the New Testament.  This is the God whom we need to know and experience, because any other god is a false god.  This is a plea for you to join us, enthusiastically join us, as we journey through the book of Amos this fall.

   I realize that most folk in this room are not going to be here every Sunday night.  Try to be here as often as you can. 

   The book of Amos is ancient words.  Yet, they are words that are ever true.  They are words that will change both you and me.  They will change how we think about God, how we think about life and how we think about the people around us.  They will change not only how we think, but how we live and how we feel.

   In the Chronicles of Narnia, those magnificent books by C.S. Lewis, “Aslan is not a tame lion”.  The lion that ruled the kingdom of Narnia was good and kind, but he was not tame.  He answered to no one, but himself.  Aslan, of course, represents the Lord in the real world---the lord who is not a tame God, the God who answers to no one but himself.  That is not just how C.S. Lewis pictured God.  It is how the Bible describes Him.  It is how the book of Amos vividly portrays Him and it is who God really is. 

   This fall, through God’s Word and by His Spirit, we are going to get to know this God better.  Friends, let me assure you, we will not be disappointed.  God will seem bigger, more majestic, more powerful, more holy and more awesome than we ever realized.  I hope that in the right way, we will fear God more than we do today and by His grace, learn to love Him more.  The bigger our view of God gets, the less tame He seems to us and the more we realize how truly amazing His grace is.  This awesome God is the one who loves us, who has saved us through the blood of His own son, the Lord Jesus Christ and who now, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, has become not just the Lord who roars, but our loving Father.

   The Lord who roars and whose breath withers the grass, is the same God now through Jesus. This is the God we need to know and experience—the Lord who roars and is our loving Heavenly Father

#4 – How Great Thou Art