Well, football pundits are not known for being people who have great deep insights into life.
They might have great insights about football formations or managers strategies, but rarely about fundamental principles of life.
However, I clearly remember one great exception. A long time ago, it was the 94-95 football season. Newcastle United were playing in some European tournament.
I think they were playing a big team. I think it was Barcelona. I can't remember. That doesn't matter.
And they were 2-0 up at half-time at St. James' Park. And the pundits back in the studio were raving about the performance.
And at the end of the match, they squandered it. I can't remember if it was a draw or they lost. I don't recall.
But I went back to the studio and Des Lynam, who was the anchor man at the time, just turned to Alan Hansen and just said,
Well, Alan?
And Hansen delivered a line that only a sort of Church of Scotland minister of my youth where I grew up could deliver.
He stared at the camera and in his low tones uttered,
Complacency is an evil word.
And he may not have been talking about Newcastle United.
He could have been talking about Israel in 760 BC, the year that Amos was preaching.
They were complacent people.
They took God's grace for granted.
They enjoyed the privilege of being God's people,
but had forgotten the purpose for which they were God's people.
They enjoyed the privileges, but forgot their purpose in God saving them.
Not only that, but the way Amos has been speaking up to now might have confirmed them in their complacency.
If you read through chapter 1 up to chapter 2 verse 5,
you'll see that Amos has been declaring God's judgment against all the nations around them.
Against their bitter enemies, the Amorites,
who in chapter 1 verse 13 had invaded a bit of Israel and killed pregnant women, ripping them open.
The Israelites would have been delighted to hear God's judgment against them.
And then Amos had pronounced God's judgment on Judah to the south,
their tiny insignificant neighbour,
those self-righteous ones who had the temple in Jerusalem,
who were still under a king in David's line.
And of course that meant Amos had preached against seven nations.
Seven, the Hebrew idea, number of completeness.
So at chapter 2 verse 5, the congregation are expecting Amos to sit down.
They're cheering.
Well done, God's going to judge those horrible people around us.
They'd be confirmed in their complacency.
But Amos has a shock for them,
in that the longest judgment is the eighth one.
I've told my sermons like this,
they feel like I'm coming into land and then I take off again.
That's what Amos does.
That's a warning for later on, by the way.
That's what Amos does here.
He takes off again and God's greatest judgment,
the longest piece of text is directed against Israel in verses 6 to 16.
Against their complacency.
They are enjoying the privileges of being God's people,
but have forgotten the purpose.
Now I wonder how often we can be like that as Christians.
We can turn up at church,
we can enjoy the gospel message
that we are forgiven freely by God's grace,
which we are.
And we enjoy that privilege,
but become complacent about the purpose for which God saved us.
What is that purpose?
Well, it's the same as the purpose of saving Israel in the Old Testament.
Exodus chapter 19, verses 5 and 6,
God had said,
you will be to me a holy nation,
and a royal priesthood.
And those are words that Peter picks up in 1 Peter chapter 2,
where he says this of Christians today,
you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people for God's own possession.
Why?
That you may proclaim the excellencies of him
who called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light.
As those who have been rescued by God's grace,
were to show his beauty,
his excellencies,
and declare those to the world around us.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are God's people.
Once you have not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
The people of Amos' day were complacent
because they just counted the privilege
and forgot the purpose.
We can become complacent
when we remember that God is love,
but forget that he is light.
When we remember what we've been saved from,
sin and death and hell,
but not what we've been saved for,
to be a holy nation and a royal priesthood.
So Amos' words to Israel in 790 BC
are also relevant to us today.
Because his message is essentially
that God has graciously provided
everything you need for salvation.
And therefore, God's people must show his holiness
in every facet of our lives.
Well, how were the people of Israel
failing to do that?
Well, in two main ways.
They dishonoured God by their actions.
That's verses 6 to 9.
And they despised God's gracious gifts.
Verses 9 to 12.
Let's look at those things first
before we turn and see how it works out for us.
So first of all,
they despised God's character
through their actions.
Look at verse 7 for a moment.
To the end of verse 7.
There's a key phrase there.
What does Amos say?
My holy name is profaned.
They were supposed to be a holy people
showing God's excellency and glory and light.
But they were dragging God's name through the mud
by the way they acted.
They did that in three particular ways.
First of all,
by their social interactions.
And then by their sexual practices.
And then finally,
by their self-centred worship.
So first of all,
they're social practices.
That's what Amos is talking on about
in verse 6 for example.
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.
Now the righteous in this context
are not the morally perfect,
but they're the legally innocent.
They're the innocent party
in a civil case in the law courts.
But what's happening is
rather than the judges
exercising justice fairly,
the judges are being bought with a bribe.
You can pay them silver
and they're ruling the rich person's favour.
Or give them a bit of land.
Perhaps that's what the sandals refers to.
Land being transacted.
And they'll make the right,
they'll call the innocent person guilty.
There was no justice there.
And yet the Lord is just.
So they're dishonouring his character.
Also there's a lack of mercy.
The Lord is merciful.
Remember in Israel's history
he rescued them
out of slavery in Egypt.
Not because of anything they had done,
but because he heard their cry
and was faithful to his promises.
Yet look how,
look how the Israelites
are treating the poor and needy.
Look at verse 7.
You who trample the head of the poor
into the dust of the earth
and turn aside from the way of the afflicted.
The afflicted are downtrodden
with no strength or resources of their own.
And yet where God has shown mercy
to the Israelites,
they are not showing mercy to each other.
They are despising the weak and the needy.
Now what we need to remember
as we read these words,
who they're addressed to.
It's very easy, isn't it,
to look out on the world
and see injustice around the world.
Or look out on our society
and see where the poor
and the afflicted are trodden upon.
But this is not written
to any particular nation.
This is God's word to Israel.
Israel were his covenant people.
People who had entered into relationship
with God at Mount Sinai.
The people he called for his own possession.
So first and foremost,
we need to read this as to us,
the church,
to God's people on earth.
And not worry about the sins
of the nations around us
or the culture we're part of.
So the challenge for us
as we read about Israel's social sins
is what are our social practices?
Do we dishonour God's name
in the way we act together
as a people?
I'm sure we're good and tender-hearted
towards those who are financially
poor and afflicted.
See they drop in here
as I look at the news sheet.
That's great.
But I wonder how we deal
with other kinds of affliction.
I know of people who have struggled
with mental health issues in church
for years,
be it depression
or bipolar disorder.
And they never feel
they can voice their difficulties
and voice their problems
because they feel they'll be judged
and disregarded
and maybe trampled on.
How do we deal with those
in that kind of affliction?
Are we merciful and compassionate
as God is?
Or do we disregard,
turn aside from the way of the afflicted
as the Israelites did?
So they dishonoured God
through their social practices
but also through their sexual practices.
Look at verse 7.
The end of verse 7.
A man and his father
go into the same girl
so that my holy name
is profaned.
There's a pattern here.
Once again,
it's the powerful
exploiting the weak.
The powerful,
the men
who had the rights
and the property
and everything else in society.
Oppressing
the vulnerable,
the weak,
the girl in this case.
And again,
whereas the Lord
is faithful,
here's a picture of a man
totally bailing out
in his marriage vows
and maybe even
taking his son along with him.
It's a picture of sexual promiscuity
of the worst type.
Because the question for us
is how does our sexual conduct
honour God?
In a sex-mad society,
a society where
we read that 50%
of men in a church
will be addicted
to internet pornography.
Does our conduct
in private
that God sees
honour him?
Well, it wasn't just
their social practices
and their sexual practices,
it was also their
self-centred worship practices.
Look at verse 8.
They lay themselves down
beside every altar
on garments
taken in pledge.
In the house of their God
they drink the wine
of those who've been fined.
Almost every line there
is a contradiction
of the law of Moses.
The bottom line is
they were being
completely self-centred
in what they did
when they gathered
to worship God.
It wasn't God
they were worshipping.
It was their own desires,
their own lusts,
their own satisfaction.
You can imagine
the kind of conversations
these guys would have had
when they went into the office
on the next day,
the day after the Sabbath.
If you can imagine
them going to an office
the day after the Sabbath.
What did you do
on the Sabbath then?
Oh, it was great.
I just went up to the shrine
just behind my house.
It's very convenient.
You don't have to go anywhere.
It's just up there
on the hill.
And there's a very nice
shrine prostitute up there
so I spent some time
with her.
And I didn't want to get
my own coat dirty
so I took the coat
that I'd taken from the beggar
at the end of our road,
the guy who owes me some money.
Now he must have been cold
last night
because I hadn't given
this coat back to him.
I know you're supposed to
but hey,
I don't care about him.
I was able to lie down
on his garment
so mine didn't get dirty.
I had a great time
up at the shrine
and then the priest
came around at the end
with all the wine
he confiscated
from the fines
from other people
and we had a wild party
and drunk till dawn.
It was great.
In fact,
it's a miracle
I've been able to get
into work this morning
I've got such a bad hangover.
Now,
I know that doesn't go on
here at IPC,
it doesn't go on
at Duke Street
in Richmond either.
But,
but,
we need to see behind this
the self-centeredness
involved in this.
Not only the self-centeredness
but the way
they were worshipping
their God
was not the way
God had declared
they should
through the scriptures.
but it was the way
the nations around them
were worshipping
their gods.
Shrine prostitutes
and all that kind of stuff
altars wherever
you wanted them
lots of alcohol
that was what
the nations around them did.
This was
syncretistic worship.
It was borrowing
ideas and practices
from the world around them
rather than
faithful worship
of the true God
the way he had revealed.
Now,
are there ways
in which we can borrow
ideas from the world
around us
and they incorporate
themselves into the way
we worship God?
Even here
in a good
solid church
like IPC Ewing
or even in
Duke Street in Richmond.
Well,
let me suggest
a couple of ways
we can end up
doing this
inadvertently.
In this day and age
Eastern religion
is very popular,
isn't it?
Fits in with our
culture of post-modernism
and the idea
of meditation
is a popular idea
especially a stressed
out busy age
where
everyone feels
like they're online
24 hours.
So meditation
is a very popular
thing.
But Eastern meditation
is all about
emptying your mind,
having nothing
in your mind.
Biblical meditation
is about filling
your mind
with God's word.
That's one area
where sometimes
we can talk
very loosely
about meditation
and we end up
thinking about
all sorts of stuff
that isn't what
the Bible describes
as meditation.
So we can dishonor
God in our
worship practices.
Or when going
to church
is all about
our own preferences,
the kind of music
we like,
the kind of things
we like,
we can end up
just fulfilling
our own selfish
practices.
Or I have
friends who go
to some churches
who will say,
oh we had a great
time of worship,
which they've just
been singing,
and we sang
such and such
a song several
times and
and then God
really showed
up.
Really?
Do you think
you can cajole
God into action
by the amount
you play your
music or by the
way you sing?
That's not a
service of corporate
worship,
that's a rock
concept.
What you're
experiencing is
just your own
emotions.
Our emotions
are good,
our emotions
should be engaged
in worship,
but if we
confuse our
emotions with
God's presence,
if we act like
we have to do
something to
make God
appear,
then that's
just the same
basic idea as
every religion
in the world,
that what God
does is dependent
upon what we
do.
The Christianity
and the gospel
is the other
way around.
What God
has done
leads us to
do what we
do.
See, they
dishonoured God
with their
self-centred
syncretistic
worship practices,
with their
sexual practices,
and with their
social practices.
They dishonoured
God in all
those ways.
In their
complacency,
they didn't
just dishonour
God through
their actions,
but they
despised God's
gift in their
attitudes.
That's what
Amos is talking
about in
verses 9-12.
Can you look
at those?
Look at verse 9.
He reminds them
there that the
Lord defeated
their enemies.
What does the
Lord say?
Yet it was I
who destroyed
the Amorite
from before
them.
The Amorites
were the big
guys who
they'd been very
scared of as
they left
Egypt.
Numbers 13,
the spies
who Moses sent
out,
specifically
incite the
Amorites as
a good reason
not for going
into the
promised land.
Yet the
Lord destroyed
them.
The Amorites
whose height
was like the
height of the
Caesars,
and who
were as
strong as
the oaks,
are destroyed
their fruit
above and
their roots
beneath.
They were
completely
wiped out
by the
Lord.
He wiped
them out
because of
their sin,
as he
promised
Abraham
back in
Genesis 15-6.
And yet
now Israel
were living
in the
Amorites
land as
if they
just deserved
it,
as if they
got it by
right or
by their
own strength.
They despised
God's gift
and their
attitude to
it.
Not only
does the
Lord defeat
their enemies,
he delivered
them from
slavery.
Verse 10,
also it was
I who
brought you
out of
the land
of Egypt.
They
couldn't have
saved
themselves as
poor slaves
in Egypt.
It took
God's
great,
powerful
action,
and strong,
mighty arm
to deliver
them,
to give
them freedom,
just as we
cannot save
ourselves from
slavery to
sin.
The Lord
also taught
them dependency
in the
wilderness.
Look at
verse 10,
continuing,
I brought
them out of
the land of
Egypt and
led you for
forty years
in the
wilderness,
to possess
the land
of the
Amorite.
Do you
remember what
happened in
those wilderness
wandering?
At every
point the
Lord provided
for their
need.
We want
food.
He provided
manna from
heaven.
Six days a
week,
fifty-two
weeks of the
year,
forty years
they were
walking.
He provided
water from
rock.
He looked
after them,
he cared
for them.
The soles
of their
shoes didn't
even wear
out.
What was
he teaching
them?
He was
teaching them
that they
were dependent
upon him,
not on their
own power or
their own
strength,
but on
him.
And how
does that
apply to
us?
Well, the
Lord has
defeated our
enemies,
hasn't he?
The Lord
Jesus Christ
on the
cross triumphed
over the
powers and
authorities,
as Paul puts
it in
Colossians 2
15.
He defeated
our enemies.
He has
delivered us
from slavery,
from this
present evil
age, from
our slavery
to sin,
from the
slavery of
having to
try and earn
our way to
God.
Jesus has
defeated all
that, delivered
us from
that, through
the cross.
And he's
teaching us
dependency upon
him.
Like the
Israelites in
the desert, we
are currently
wandering in
the wilderness,
on our way to
the promised
land, on our
way to the
new creation
that we
receive when
Christ returns.
And in
this life, in
this pilgrimage
through the
wilderness, we
are dependent
upon him.
He pours his
spirit into
our hearts
when we trust
in Christ,
who changes
us, who
transforms us,
who gives
us gifts,
to rely on
him throughout
our lives.
So we have
these same
gracious gifts,
but exponentially
bigger than what
the Israelites
received.
And that wasn't
the end of the
gifts.
Look at verse
11.
Now the
prophets were
God's gift to
instruct his
people, and
the Nazarites
were God's
gift to
inspire his
people.
The prophets
declared God's
word to them.
That was their
job, not to
tell the future,
but to speak
God's word, to
help them keep
on track, to
remind them of
their covenant
commitment, and
of God's covenant
commitment to
them.
The Nazarites, you
can read about
in number 6,
they were people
who took a
vow to be
separated to
the Lord.
And as such,
they were a
kind of example,
an illustration,
an inspiration to
Israel for what
their lives could
be, as those who
were set apart
for God.
But one of the
key parts of the
Nazarites'
vows was that
they wouldn't
drink alcohol.
You know, look
at how the
Israelites despised
their gift.
verse 12.
You made the
Nazarites drink
wine, and you
commanded the
prophets, you
shall not
prophesy.
In other words,
they despised
God's gracious
gift, they
despised the
prophets, I
don't want to
listen to your
word, God, they
despised the
Nazarites, I
don't want to
see an example,
an inspiration of
what a life set
apart to you is
like.
Now how does
God give us
those things
today?
Well, he
doesn't give us
prophets anymore,
because he's
given us the
final prophets.
The Lord
Jesus, Hebrews
chapter 1, verse
1, God spoke
to us in the
former days
through the
prophets, but
in these last
days, he's
spoken to us
by his
Son.
Not only
through Jesus
the word
incarnate, but
now through
the word in
scripture, the
Bible that we
have, and the
Holy Spirit, who
helps us to
grasp this
truth.
God speaks
to us.
So how do
we tell God's
word to be
silent now?
Well, maybe
some of you are
thinking, Stuart,
be quiet, we've
heard enough, so
you might want to
be telling me to
be silent.
But aren't
there other
ways we do
it?
We've got God's
word in our
own languages.
Yet isn't it
true we sometimes
find it easier to
check out the
internet, to
surf on Facebook,
to see what
people are doing,
rather than open
the scriptures?
Christians.
The sense in which
when we're doing
that, we're
despising God's
gracious gift of
his word to
us.
It's like telling
the prophets to
be quiet.
What about
Nazarites?
He doesn't
give us
Nazarites
today.
But can't
you think of
people who
God has brought
across your
life, who are
inspirations to
you of a life
devoted to the
Lord's service,
where you see
God's grace so
clearly?
I think of a
dear lady in
our own church,
who was a
missionary for
many years in
Thailand, who
as a single
lady, she would
love to have
had children, but
instead she's
invested her
life, she says
I've got hundreds
of grandchildren
and children now,
in the way that
she's loved and
opened her heart
to people of
every generation.
She's an
inspiration to me
of self-giving
and love for
Jesus.
Or think of
families I know
who, yes, they've
got pots and
pots of money,
but they use
that so
generously,
supporting Christian
service, opening
homes, giving
holiday homes to
people to use.
They're an
inspiration of a
life set apart
for the God.
Now what do we
do with those
people?
Do we thank God
for them?
Do we encourage
them?
Or do we try and
ignore them?
Or do we even
discourage them,
even if we try and
sound loving at
the point, as we
talk to them?
Oh, it's great what
you're doing, but
maybe you need to
just take it easy,
take a bit more
time for yourself,
look after yourself.
Do we sometimes
inadvertently
discourage people?
A bit like the
Israelites saying
to the Nazarites,
go have a drink,
relax, don't take
everything too
seriously.
Well, these are
God's gracious
gifts.
Do we despise
them in our
attitudes, or are
we grateful for
them, as the
Israelites were
not?
Well, in their
complacency, they
dishonoured God by
their actions, they
despised God's
gifts through their
attitudes.
So what was going
to happen to
them?
Well, verse 13
to 16, let's
prepare to be
destroyed by God's
judgment.
Look at verse
13.
Behold, I will
press you down in
your place, as a
cart full of
sheaves presses
down.
The images of a
loaded cart at
harvest time, pressing
down on the ground.
Israel are going to
be pressed down by
God's wrath, his
punishment against
them for the way
they have treated
him and broken
their covenant
promises.
And who's going to
escape the
squashing?
Who's going to
escape God's
judgment?
Verse 14.
Flight shall
perish from the
swift, the
strong shall not
retain his
strength, nor
shall the mighty
save his life.
Usain Bolt cannot
outrun it, the
world's strongest
man cannot stand
against it, the
world's greatest
survival expert and
brave man, be it
Bear Grylls or some
die from the SAS,
will not be able to
outlast it.
It goes on.
He who handles the
boat shall not
stand, he who is
swift of foot shall
not save himself, nor
shall he who rides
the horse save his
life.
No weapon can
stave off God's
wrath.
No bravery, no
military power.
Verse 16.
And he who is
stout of heart among
the mighty shall
flee away naked in
that day, declares
the Lord.
Do you hear what
God is saying?
You've been
complacent, you've
dishonoured my
character, you
despised my
gifts, after all
I've done for
you.
No one is going
to be able to
stand when I
act in anger.
But sure
enough, 722
BC, the
Assyrians came
in and destroyed
Samaria, wiped
out Israel.
The punishment
they thought could
never come came.
Now it's easy
isn't it for us
to say, well
hang on, we're
under the new
covenant now, we're
not under the law
like these people
were.
Surely it's
different for us
Christians.
Well, it's
different in the
grace we have
received is even
greater, the
rescue we've
received, the
deliverance, the
gifts, all even
greater through
Jesus.
So our
responsibility to
accept and remain
in those is
greater.
Hear these words
of Jesus, you
might want to
turn if you like
to John chapter
15 in your
Bibles as we
get near the end.
What does
Jesus say?
John chapter
15 verse 1, I
am the true
vine.
He's picking up
language from
Jeremiah chapter
2, Jesus
is saying, I'm
the true Israel.
I'm what Israel
was supposed to
be.
You, my
father is the
vine dresser.
And verse 5, I'm
the vine, you
are the branches.
You are the
branches.
If we trust in
Christ, we are
branches in him,
rooted in him,
built into him.
What does Jesus
go on to say in
verse 5 of John
15?
I'm the vine, you
are the branches.
Whoever abides in
me and I in him,
here it is that
bears much fruit.
For apart from me
you can do
nothing.
How do we
ensure that we
are truly forgiven?
How do we
ensure that in our
actions we don't
dishonour God?
How do we
ensure that in
our attitudes we
don't despise God's
gracious gifts?
We remain in
Jesus.
We remain in
Jesus.
We have his
words in him.
We trust in him.
We do not move
from that.
We remember his
gracious promise that
he will never turn
away anyone who
calls on him.
We remember why he
came.
The son of man did
not come to
condemn the world,
but to save the
world.
We remain in
Jesus.
And as we trust
in him, as we
remain in him,
so we bear
fruit, so we
are transformed.
So we do
honour God with
our lives and
are fit for
purpose to be a
kingdom of priests
and a holy
nation.
But, listen to
how Jesus goes
on.
Go back to
verse 2.
Every branch
of mine that
does not bear
fruit, he, the
Father, takes
away.
Every branch
that does not
bear fruit, he,
the Father, takes
away.
Or verse 6.
If anyone does
not abide in me, he
is thrown away like a
branch and withers.
And the branches are
gathered, thrown into
fire, and burned.
So that's the choice we
face, isn't it?
Do we abide in
Jesus for a life
where he works his
fruit through us, so
that we do honour
God in our actions, we
do honour him in our
attitude, so that we
can be, fulfil the
purpose for which he
saved us, to be a
kingdom of priests,
showing the world his
greatness.
Or do we fail to keep
holding on to the
gospel, fail to keep
trusting in Jesus, fail to
have his words remain
in us.
In which case, what
happens?
The branches are cut
off and thrown into
the fire.
What happened to
Israel, it says, is a
warning to all of us,
not to be complacent,
not to accept really the
privileges of being
God's people, but also
remember the purpose.
Not just to remember
that God is love, but
to remember that he is
light.
That by his grace we
might bear fruit to
him and be the
kingdom of priests, the
holy nation, that he
called us to be, that he
might declare his
excellencies in a needy,
broken world.
Let's pray.