The Setup (Amos 1:3-2:6)
Amos, a shepherd from Judah, starts out his prophetic ministry to Israel with a setup. He starts out declaring God’s judgement on all of Israel’s neighbors. It is not just a setup. The accusations and the judgements were authentic. But they serve a greater purpose. You can just imagine Amos’ audience, cheering him on as he preaches.
“God’s going after Syria? Cool! He is going to judge the Philistines? That sounds right!”
They relish in righteous pride and affirm every judgement Amos announces. But then Amos delivers the blow starting in 2:6 when he turns his sights—and God’s worst judgements—on Israel itself.
I recently sat in a sermon that reminded me of Amos…to a point. It was a good and righteous sermon from a pastor I really like. He started listing the sins we see today in the world around us: gender confusion, abortion, rejection of God. As he mentioned each evil the crowd became more animated. They could cheer the sermon on because he was listing all the clear evils that no one there struggled with. I kept waiting for him to pull an Amos and have us think about our own sins. Our own idols. Our own changes that God expected of us. He didn’t take the opportunity.
Amos would. Much like the Israel of his day, he would have us look at our materialism, excess, and consumerism. He would have us consider the way we treat the foreigner and the orphan. He would call judgement on us for our riches and our false show of religion that is little concerned with justice.
If you read on, that is what God will address with you through His prophet, Amos.
“God’s going after Syria? Cool! He is going to judge the Philistines? That sounds right!”
They relish in righteous pride and affirm every judgement Amos announces. But then Amos delivers the blow starting in 2:6 when he turns his sights—and God’s worst judgements—on Israel itself.
I recently sat in a sermon that reminded me of Amos…to a point. It was a good and righteous sermon from a pastor I really like. He started listing the sins we see today in the world around us: gender confusion, abortion, rejection of God. As he mentioned each evil the crowd became more animated. They could cheer the sermon on because he was listing all the clear evils that no one there struggled with. I kept waiting for him to pull an Amos and have us think about our own sins. Our own idols. Our own changes that God expected of us. He didn’t take the opportunity.
Amos would. Much like the Israel of his day, he would have us look at our materialism, excess, and consumerism. He would have us consider the way we treat the foreigner and the orphan. He would call judgement on us for our riches and our false show of religion that is little concerned with justice.
If you read on, that is what God will address with you through His prophet, Amos.
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