MPC 21st July 2019.July 21 - Amos 9 - "Too Late?"
MPC 21st July 2019.
Jeremy Wales
Sometimes in life you need a wake up call. Something that stings at the time. But snaps you out of your complacency. And helps you change... before it's too late.
If you're at school or you've got kids who are. You probably just received the semester 1 reports cards. And for some students, that report card is a wake up call. Those lower marks than you expected send a clear message: spending every afternoon reading comics, listening to music, playing video games - instead of homework - it's not going to work forever.
That's certainly the message one of my kids got from their report card a couple of days ago. I don't want to say if was it Joanna, Xander or Miriam. I just really hope HE has learnt his lesson! I did actually ask Xander if it was OK to make that joke. I can't recall what he said but I definitely did ask!
A wake up call always stings, doesn't it? In fact if it doesn't hurt, it doesn't work. But even though it stings, it can be just what you need to set you on the right path.
And that's the book of Amos. It's a wake up call. To those us who are comfortable with our lives as they are now. Those of us who think we can live our lives our own way, without God at the centre. Who think God won't really do anything about it, because really he's just a big softie.
Amos says: don't fool yourself. God's not a pussy cat. He's a LION. Even when it's his chosen people Israel. In fact especially when it's his chosen people... if they're living like they're not. God will do something about it. You need to hear the wake up call. Before it's too late.
If you've been with us for any of our series on Amos. You'll know Amos was a farmer in the southern kingdom of Judah. But God sends him to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel. To give them a wake up call. Amos says to northern Israel: you're not living the way God told you to. You're neglecting the poor and needy. And you over-indulging yourself in sex and food and wine.
Don't think being God's chosen people gives you a free pass. It's the opposite. God's going to punish your self-indulgence and your neglect of others especially because you're his chosen people.
Don't think giving God sacrifices and singing him songs will help. You need to actually do right by those around you. Just like God always told you.
That's what will mean God is really with you, like you think he is already.
Israel, you need to wake up from your complacency. Before it's too late. Before God sends the Assyrian army to destroy your whole kingdom and take you all into exile.
Your life of self-indulgence will come to an end, one way or another. If you don't stop it yourself, God will stop it for you.
The prophet Amos was a wake up call to northern Israel. But the book of Amos is more a wake up call to US
You see, in the end, Israel never listened to Amos in person. They tell him: Shut up, go back to Judah, stop spoiling our fun. They hit the snooze button. Ignore the wake up call. So by the time we get reach the end of Amos. Chapter 9. Our reading this morning.
By now it's already too late for Israel. It's past the point of no return. Now the only ones who can learn from Israel's wake call up are those who read this book later. People like us who have a chance to not repeat Israel's mistake. Because for Israel themselves, it's already too late.
See, what we get in the first 7 verses here is really a sharp summary of what Amos has said before. But there's an important difference. See if you can spot it. What we get in the first 7 verses here is a point-by- point take-down of all the ideas Israel are kidding themselves with. All the thoughts that make them feel so comfortable in their complacency. Nailed one-by-one. Just as we've heard from Amos before. But here there's a difference. A difference that shows it's now too late to for Israel to change. Let's take a look.
If Israel still thinks sacrifices will save them... Amos gives them the start of v1. See where's God standing? He's at the sacrificial altar. He's in the temple that houses the sacrificial altar. The temple that God is about to bring crashing down on their heads. So much for their sacrifices there. But maybe they think they'll have a lucky escape? See the end of v1. "Not one will get away, none will escape." Wherever you are. Wherever you hide. You'll be found and caught. No one's going to escape the punishment they deserve: v2-4.
Or perhaps they're thinking God's not strong enough to punish like that? Look at v5 and 6. God's the creator. He just touches the earth. And it melts. He might just be strong enough after all. Or maybe they're still hoping for special treatment as God's chosen people. Well, read what God says in v7:
Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites? "Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?
Israel, you're not as special as you think you are. God can be kind to lots of nations. And he can punish them all too. In fact, especially you Israel. You say, 'But God's always watched over us and protected us.' Yes, but see the end of v4.
Now he watches over you, not to protect you, but to make sure you get every last bit of punishment that's coming to you. Just because you're OK now. Just because God's been kind to you so far. That's no guarantee God won't punish you when you abuse his kindness.
Now, if you've been here for the previous talks on Amos. You'll agree, Amos has said already said similar things before. But did you spot the difference? What's missing here? Earlier, Amos would also say what Israel's doing wrong. He calls out their self-indulgence and neglect of the needy. And he spells out what they must do instead. So that they can change. But notice: There's none of that here. Why not? Because the chilling reality is this: now they've left it too late. There's no longer any point telling Israel what they're doing wrong and what they should be doing instead. They've left it too late to change. Their punishment is sealed.
The Victorian bushfires in 2009 included Black Saturday. Australia's most lethal day of bushfires ever. And just two weeks later my Dad was at his property in Daylesford as bushfires approached. So we'd just had Black Saturday, right? So I'm on the phone to Dad: Dad, you've got to get out of there. Get back to Melbourne where it's safe.
And you'd think Black Saturday would be enough of a wake up call. But Dad's like: Well, they're still not sure how close the fires will really get. And if they do come it could be important to stay here and protect the property.
So he delays, and because he delays, by the time he decides to leave, they've declared it too late to leave. More deadly to be in burning car than in a burning house. He just left his decision too late.
Now, in this case, Dad was lucky. The flames got close enough for him to see, but it wasn't another Black Saturday. And he was fine. But how bad is that: to leave your decision til it's too late.
Well, as we reach the end of Amos. That's what Israel has done with God. They've ignored the wake up call. Now it's too late for them to leave their lives of self-indulgence and turn back to God. They've left it too late. And unlike my Dad, there's no chance of escape.
Or is there? Because you may have noticed, the passage makes a big shift in v8. Have a look at v8. God says "I will destroy the sinful kingdom from the face of the earth. Yet I won't totally destroy the descendants of Jacob." It's too late for the kingdom. That's gone and never coming back. But apparently God will spare some of the people.
As v9 explains, Israel's deportation at the hands of Assyria - it's going to be like sifting wheat. Every person is going to have to be shaken. The good grains will get through the process. But not even one pebble will. v10 not even one sinner who refuses to accept their punishment, is going to survive.
Now, these few survivors, the small remnant of northern Israel. You might wonder what comfort it is to survive... when you've got no kingdom to go back to. Which is where v11 comes in. Take a look. God promises that though the kingdom of northern Israel will never be restored, the southern kingdom of Judah will.
The Israelites be exiled from northern Israel. But the repentant survivors will return to southern Judah. And there's a huge irony here. Israel will lose everything they tried to gain through their sin. But those who turn back from that sin. They are the ones who'll get it all. In fact, they'll get the very same things, many times over. Jeroboam, king of Israel tried to strengthen his kingdom through sin. Taking people's crops. Accusing Amos of treason. Well, that sinful kingdom will be destroyed: v8. But for the repentant survivors. A new, stronger kingdom will be put in its place. With a new, stronger king in the line of David: v11.
Israel wanted the other nations punished for their sins. Edom, Moab, Ammon, even Judah. Hoping Israel alone would be spared. Leaving them top dog over all their enemies. Well, when the nations are punished... but so is Israel along with them. Only their repentant survivors. They'll be7 under the king of Judah. And he'll be over everyone. Not just the remnant of Israel. But the remnant of their former enemies like Edom. That's v12. And remember Israel's elite? Instead of feeding the poor they took their grain. And from the proceeds they drank wine by the bowlful. Well, they'll lose all those sinful gains in the exile.
But for the repentant survivors. They'll have far more than the rich ever had. Look at v13. There'll be grain be so plentiful they'll still be trying to harvest it all when it's time to plough again. Good problem to have. And forget bowls of wine. How about streams of wine flowing from the hills?
So you see it's not that God doesn't want to give Israel these good things. God himself is the creator of sex and food and wine and life itself. It'd be wrong to leave Amos thinking God just wants to punish people and not bless them. The point is: he'll bless you on his terms. Not yours. If only Israel could've learnt that in time.
Though perhaps we should be glad they didn't. Perhaps we should be glad, because it's through Israel's failure to obey God, that this ultimate party has been opened up to us too. Hundreds of years after Amos. After Israel had been exiled by Assyria. After Judah had been exiled by Babylon.
Remarkably, a few Israelites did make their way back to Judah. And they did rebuild, just like Amos said.
But it wasn't yet the restoration Amos promised. Because the new Israelites were just as sinful as the old ones Amos addressed. That only changed with the coming of Jesus The king in the line of David. The one who died to take the punishment others deserve. The one who rose again to offer forgiveness and new life.
See, Israel was never going change themselves. They needed Jesus to change them, from the inside out. And then, change they did. Where old Israel built luxury houses at the expense of the needy. The book of Acts tells how the Jewish Christians sold their houses to give those in need. The exact opposite of old Israel. And that's attractive, isn't it?
So attractive, that many non-Israelites wanted to join the party. So many Gentiles, actually, that the Jewish Christians didn't know what to do with them. Even whether they should be allowed in at all. Acts 15 recounts of the council they had to have to decide the issue. And it's worth hearing their conclusion. Read it with me on the screen:
James spoke up.
Brothers, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: "After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name."
So did you pick up what James is quoting? It's the end of Amos. And do you see what James is saying?
James is saying: remember Amos. We Israelites only made it back to Judah ourselves out of God's undeserved mercy. So who are we to stop Gentiles from receiving God's undeserved mercy at the same time? In fact that's what Amos always envisaged!
Now, I don't know about you. I'm a bit disappointed that James doesn't go on to mention anything about super harvests and streams of wine. Maybe that says something about me. But there's obviously a lot more fulfilment that's still to come when God makes the whole world new.
The point is that the "Amos" program of restoration has already started. In Jesus, it's underway. Which means you can be part of it NOW. If you choose to be.
If you're willing to turn from serving yourself to serving Jesus. You actually join with everyone else around the world who's done that too. You join a world-wide community formed around Jesus.
And you can do that now. We get to live out this fulfilment of Amos. The key thing is to not be like old Israel, and leave it too late. Israel didn't hear their wake up call. But you can. Sometimes it's easy to ignore your own wake up call, like Israel did. Sometimes it's easier to learn from someone else who left it too late.
I joked earlier about Xander's report card being a wake up call. Probably more instructive to him would my experience at high school. See, I never worked, just scraped by. And people always said to: Jeremy, you have ability, if you only did some work, you could do well. Which to me just meant, I don't need to work now because whenever I do decide to work, I'll just do well then, so everyone keeps telling me. I never heard the wake up call.
Until grade 12, and I actually wanted to get into uni. So I start trying to work. But by then I've formed so many bad habits, it's really hard. And worse. I remember one of my friends helping me get ready for our maths exam. And I say, I see why you did this and this step, but why did you did do that one? And my friend just stares at me and says: Jerry, we learnt that in grade 9. See, I didn't just have a semester to revise. I had several years of inattention to make up for. And now it was too late. No matter how hard I tried couldn't do very well at all. And now you see me here, a poor, under- educated preacher! Now kids, that's a life-lesson you should take on board.
Now, I don't really know if Xander can learn from my mistakes. But I hope you can learn from Israel's. If you think about it, Amos would've sounded completely crazy as he tried to speak warnings of punishment into Israel's lives of luxury. Wouldn't he? Just like I probably sound crazy as I say that if you let slide your chance to turn to Jesus then it'll end up too late for you.
But see, as crazy as Amos must have sounded, what he warned about did come true. We know this from actual world history. So wouldn't the really crazy thing be to ignore that? Wouldn't the really crazy thing be to keep living a comfortable life without Jesus at the centre? Or to say you follow Jesus, when actually you're not living much differently to how you would if you didn't?
Wouldn't the really crazy thing be to repeat Israel's mistake, when we actually have the chance to learn from it instead? Let's pray that we can.