Amos Series “The Roar of the Lord
#6 - Religion Is Not Enough
Amos 5:1-13By Rev. John R. Hannem,
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The following statistics come from the 2001 Canadian Censes:
- 72% of Canadians say they are Christians but only 30% of Canadians believe religion is important
- Protestants in
- By the time of the next census (2006), it is expected that non-Christians will exceed the number of Protestants in this country.
- In 1986, only 26% of adults reported that they had not attended a religious service in the previous 12 months. In 2001, this number increased to 43%.
- In 1986, 28% of respondents said that they attended religious services weekly.
By 2001 decreased to 20%
- In 2001 – 43% of Canadians said they did not attend a religious service in the past 12 months
- 4.8 Million Canadians (16%) Reported no religious affiliation
- The percentage of Canadians who identify themselves as Christian has been dropping by about 0.9 percentage points per year. This is identical to the rate of decline in the U.S. If this trend continues, then by about the year 2023, non-Christians will outnumber Christians in
- NOTAS" (term for "None Of The Above") who report themselves as Agnostic, Atheist, Humanist, secularist, or simply "no religion " represent the second largest religious group in the country, being exceeded in numbers only by Roman Catholicism
- Fastest Growing religious group in
What I find maybe more troubling is that many of the 72% who profess to be Christians have beliefs and lifestyles contrary to what the Bible teaches. A few months ago we talked about a survey which George Barna did of those who claim to be born again Christians, which is almost 40% of all those who call themselves Christians. Barna discovered that half of self-described born agains think a life of good works, rather than God’s grace experienced through faith in Jesus Christ gets one into heaven. Thirty five percent of these folk do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Their views on moral and ethical issues are just as disturbing. Barna found that 33% of the born again Christians in his study think homosexual unions are ok. Thirty nine percent believe it is all right for couples to live together before they are married. Thirty percent do not think abortion is wrong and twenty four percent think pornography is morally acceptable. A similar percent, about one fourth of those surveyed, say they have no moral problem with profanity, drunkenness or in some cases, adultery. For a number of years, Charles Colson has been describing the North American church as many miles wide, but only a few inches deep. The phrase means the church is very wide, a very large group of people, but those who say they are Christians are not that much different than anyone else.
Friends, this problem also existed in the nation of
Amos’ message in Chapter 5 begins with a lament or almost a funeral dirge. Amos 5:2,3 says “Fallen is Virgin
Those three names may not mean a lot to us, but they were the centers of religious life in Amos’ day. These three places all had great historical significance in the Jewish religion and had become the home of religious shrines. These were originally set up for worshiping the Lord. But by this time, the shrines were used to worship other so called gods as well.
The next place that had become a popular religious center in
Then
Now, I suspect many of the folk who heard Amos’ message got a little defensive at this point. What’s wrong with our religion, they may have asked. We faithfully make pilgrimages to these sacred shrines and offer generous offerings and sacrifices. Why wouldn’t God be pleased with our religious efforts? In verses 7-13, Amos answers those questions. My summary would be that though the Israelites may be pretty religious, they are in realty a bunch of corrupt and wicked people. Listen to some of the things the Lord says about them through Amos. Verse 7 -- “You wicked people! You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the poor and oppressed. Righteousness and fair play are meaningless fictions to you.” Verse 10 – “How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth!” Verse 11 – “You trample the poor and steal what they have through taxes and unfair rent.” Verse 12 – “I know the vast number of your sins and rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Things are so bad, so corrupt that (verse 13) those who are wise will keep quiet, for it is an evil time.” In other words, if you are concerned about what is good, right and just, you are better off keeping your mouth shut, because other folk will not like what you have to say and may even try to shut you up permanently.
Because of all this, judgment is going to come. The one who (verse 6) made the stars, the one who is sovereign over night and day, who rules sea and land, the Lord, the true and living God is going to punish the people for their sin. Within 30 years, through the Assyrian army, (verse 9) the cities of
That was the message to the people of
1. It is possible to be very religious without being godly. That was happening in Israel.It happens today, and it happened a little over a hundred years ago in the state of Missouri. Jesse James killed a fellow in a bank robbery and shortly thereafter was baptized in the Kearney Baptist Church. Then he killed another man, a bank cashier and joined the church choir and taught hymn-singing. He liked Sundays, Jesse did, but he couldn’t always show up at church. On two Sundays, he robbed trains.
Jesse James, the famous outlaw was a religious man, but he was not a godly man. There are a lot of other folks who fall into that category. Many of them, of course, embrace another religion other than Christianity. Radical Muslim terrorists, who are murdering people all over the world are often very religious people, but are certainly not godly. Folk who embrace various New Age religions are often very devout in their spiritual practice, spending hours in prayer and meditation, but sexual immorality tends to be the norm in their personal lives. We need to be most concerned, however, about those like Jesse James who embrace the Christian religion, but whose lives are characterized by ungodly attitudes and actions. You may see someone like that in this room today or you might even bump into that type of person in the mirror sometimes.
Now maybe you are uncomfortable referring to Christianity as a religion. I kind of like
the slogan, “Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship, a relationship with Jesus Christ.” Yet the NT uses the word “religion” to describe the Christian faith. It simply makes a distinction between good and bad religion. James 1:27 tells us, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” That is true religion. It really has nothing to do with how often someone goes to church, how many hours someone spends listening to Christian music, how many religious plaques someone has hanging on their wall, or how many Bible verses someone memorizes. Don’t misunderstand; those are all good things. It is possible, however to do all those things and be what most folk would consider religious, but not being religious in a way that pleases the Lord. The only good religion from a biblical standpoint is one that is built upon a genuine faith in Jesus Christ and which is characterized by obedience to God’s commands and love for other people. Any other religion is empty and of little value.
2. True religion focuses on the present, not the past. For the people of
Now, I’m afraid some people, maybe even some of us, pretty much embrace a religion of the past. A Lutheran pastor once told me there had not been a good hymn written since the 1700’s. Usually it is a more recent past that we cling to. Many of us, at least those of us who grew up in Baptist churches, remember going to a Sunday evening service where the pastor would ask something like this, “Is there anyone here who would like to give a testimony of how the Lord has worked in his/her life?” Mr. Jones would then get up and talk bout how 45 years ago, after having spent his teenage years in sin and degradation, the Lord had marvelously saved him. It was a fine testimony, at least the first couple of times we heard it. After hearing the same report a dozen times, it started to get a little old. We were certain God had worked in Mr. Jones’ life 45 years ago, but we weren’t quite sure anything had happened since then.
All of us probably have times that we look back on fondly as high points in our spiritual lives. You don’t have to be an old person to do that. The golden past that we look back to may be a church we used to attend, what this church was like 30 years ago or the youth group we were part of years ago. There is nothing wrong with nostalgia and fond memories; but if you are focusing on the past instead of the present, if you are looking back rather than ahead, you are missing out on what genuine faith, true religion is all about. The time to love, serve and worship the Lord is today, not yesterday.
3. True religion doesn’t focus on a particular place. In the real estate business the three things that matter the most are said to be location, location, location. That is not true when it comes to genuine faith. Now, you could argue that in the Old Testament, location was somewhat important. At times God did gave the people specific instructions about where they were to worship, but that is not the case in the New Testament. As Acts 7:48 says, “The Lord does not dwell in houses made by hands.” In one sense, God is no more present in this room than in your bathroom at home. There is, of course, something very special about a time when God’s people meet together to worship Him, but again that could take place in a room like this or out in the middle of a hay field.
Today there are still shrines where people go to worship God. Some of them are called shrines and usually are a specific place where God has supposedly spoken to someone or where a great miracle has occurred. Other times, a church building can be treated that way. People will vote against constructing a new building, because the old one holds so many fond memories for them. Bible camps and conference centers are locations often considered special places for special experiences. In fact, I think Homestead Camp has used “A Place To Meet God” as their motto.
Then there are folks who take pilgrimages to particular churches. In recent years it’s
been to places like
4. Religious people don’t necessarily experience God’s salvation. This is the conclusion of Amos’ message and it is still true today. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He encountered some extremely devout religious people, the Pharisees, who were heading
straight for hell. One of the important themes of the New Testament is that religion is not enough. The only kind of religion that can enable anyone to experience God’s salvation is one focused on receiving God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. As C.S. Lewis said, it is grace that distinguishes Christianity from every other religion.
Every other religion claims that salvation can be found by earning God’s favor through being religious, whatever that may mean in their particular religion. Biblical Christianity, however, says being religious is not enough. Even the most devoutly religious can never earn God’s favor. Only when we admit we are not good enough the way we are, that we need His grace, and turn to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior do we experience God’s salvation. Friend, if you are trusting in religion to save you from God’s judgment and give you eternal life, you are making a big mistake. You need to turn from your religion and place your faith in the Lord Jesus. If you are not sure what I mean please talk to me.