Themes of the Bible: Justice (Amos 5)

 

Themes of the Bible: Justice (Amos 5)

For next week, I need you to read Jonah, the first chapter. Okay back to something a little more familiar for many of you, Jonah chapter one for next week, a man on the run, the story of Jonah, at least the beginning of the story agenda this week was Amos chapter five because I wanted you to feel really good about yourself. I had you read the fifth chapter of Amos, I don't know if you've ever heard of a bait and switch before, I shouldn't say that most of you have heard of a bait and switch, but if I put you on the spot and I asked you what is a bait and switch you might not be able to explain it to me one of the easiest ways to define things is to give examples, if you hear an example then you know what that is.

Here's an example of a bait and switch. We were booking flights to Hawaii and went with Sun Country Airlines. Never heard of it before, but we went with them because they have cheap flights. It was a lot cheaper than all of the others, and it was only $168 for a flight from LAX to Honolulu. So, I buy the $168 flight and then it takes me to the next screen, you know the next screen is your bag. Like, I don't get a bag included with my ticket? They expect us to go to Hawaii with just my toothbrush in my pocket. Alright, well I got to have a bag. And so then I look, it's $55 for a bag. So now our $168 ticket isn't really $168, it's $223. And then it dawned on me, I'm not planning on leaving our bags in Hawaii, we’re going to want that bag to come back with us, so that's going to be another $55. So now I'm up to $278 per ticket. Well, this isn't the deal that I thought it was, and I click the button and then it takes me to the next screen, you know what the next screen is: your seat. How is it that you can buy a ticket on an airplane and not have a seat to sit in? Was the original $168 just to go in the luggage rack or maybe underneath the plane. Is there a charge for the blanket because I think it's going to get chilly in the baggage hold. And after all of that, if you want to sit next to each other its double, and so none of the family got to sit next to each other. That is bait and switch, and we see that all the time. You get baited with something, and then the deal changes on you.

A bait and switch is also a rhetorical device, a device that effective authors will use, they'll get you to let your guard down with what they're writing, and then once you've let your guard down, they hit you with the points that they were trying to bring. It works for apostles. Remember Romans 1, this powerful passage looking at the ungodliness of the world. You remember the part around verse 18, that God turned them over to the shameful lusts because they rejected Him, God gave them over to a depraved mind, and then we start reading that the rest of the world, they're filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity, they're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, they're gossips and slanders, they’re insolent, arrogant and boastful, they invent ways of doing evil, and all of us Christians, just like all of those Christians in Paul’s day, we're like ‘you get them Paul, get them all these ungodly people, let them know what's coming, God's going to get them for all their sinfulness’ and then what happens? Chapter two. ‘You Christians therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else. For whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself because you who pass judgment do the same things.’ And remember, even though we say, ‘well I don't murder people I don't do all of that, we get the teaching from Jesus that what we're doing in our hearts, in God's eyes, is the same as doing it with our bodies, and that we are just as guilty of all of these things. The bait and switch worked for Paul when he was addressing Christians in the New Testament, and it also works for prophets, prophets like Amos, that's what I had you read this week.

Let me give you a quick background. If you don't know this, the Old Testament is not laid out chronologically. It seems like it'd be a lot easier if it was, but the reason I need to point that out is because Amos is actually speaking before where we've been the last few weeks, Jeremiah and then the book of Daniel in exile. That will happen after Amos did his preaching. Amos is actually speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel. Remember that they had their civil war yet Israel up in the north and Judah down in the south, and then Israel gets destroyed by the Assyrians and then Judah is hanging out, then that's Jeremiah and then they get destroyed by Babylon, and then they're in exile.

So, Amos is speaking before Assyria has come and wiped out the northern kingdom. Now I didn't have you read it, but the bait is chapter one, where the prophet goes after all of these ungodly nations that are threatening Israel and God's people. He's condemning Israel's enemies because of their injustice and their violence, and the whole time the prophet Amos is doing this, you know what the Israelites are doing, they're cheering him on. ‘You go Amos! That’s absolutely right, all these despicable ungodly people all around us, they need to be condemned, God needs to punish them,’ and then all of a sudden, Amos turns and starts denouncing Israel for doing the exact same thing, it was the bait and switch. Just like Paul did with the Romans, all these evil things that people around you are doing and then he turns and says Israel's doing the same thing, and now Israel has no escape. They have applauded God for announcing judgment on all of these ungodly people, they are applauding God, because he has announced he is going to punish the evil of injustice, of all of these other nations, and they are acknowledging that what they are doing is worthy of condemnation and then Amos turns around and says, ‘it's interesting that you think that because you all do the same thing.’ You have already said that that should be condemned and now I'm proving to you that you do the exact same thing. He hits them for violence and oppression, you saw that in Amos chapter five if you've read it. Let’s look at chapter 5 starting in verse 11. [Read Amos 5:11-13]. So, he is hitting Israel for violence and oppression. The wealthy are taking advantage of the poor, they are getting wealthy off the backs of the poor, and they use bribes to pay off the court system, so they're abusing poor people and then when they should be getting in trouble for it, they use their wealth that they've gotten off of the poor people to bribe the courts so they get out of it. That's what's happening in Israel at this point in time, and it's so common and it's so widespread that look at verse 13, ‘the prudent people, that means godly people, who know better, they kept silent,’ they don't speak out about all this injustice. Why, because it's an evil time, because they fear retribution. It’s as if they’re saying, ‘If I speak out about this injustice and this evil, I'm going to get hammered as well so I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.’ The righteous knew it would do no good to speak to this, because everything is corrupt, and everything is unjust, and everything is evil. Amos expresses what God's punishment is going to be for all of this, Amos says yeah, ‘all you wealthy people, you people who have taken advantage of others to build up your stone mansions and your lush vineyards, you've gained a lot out of oppressing the poor, and it may look good right now, like you're going to reap the benefits, but hear me, it's not going to happen.’ God's not going to let this go unpunished, God's making sure you understand your exploits are only going to be temporary.

God is just and His justice will not sleep forever. Is there a message for us in all of this? Well, let's go a little bit further because Amos isn't done. If you kept reading this, he not only hits them for violence and oppression, but he jumps all over God's people for their religious idolatry and their corruption. Look at verses 21 through 23. These are some of the most alarming verses to me in Scripture, look at what this says. This is God speaking. I hate. And when God says He hates something that is a strong emotion, and it should cause us to pay attention because we don't want to be on the receiving end of what God hates. [Read Amos 5:21-23]. God is saying everything you're doing to be religious, I despise it. That would have shocked and offended the people of Israel. Why? Because they have done so well observing the feasts and festivals. That's the way they've always understood how to honor God. And what they're hearing now from Amos is the very things that we're doing to honor God, He hates. He wants nothing to do with those things. That would have been shocking to them. It would have been offensive to them, but God is communicating to them that He is offended by their ceremonies, because their ceremonies are totally detached from righteousness, and compassion, and justice. You are not showing any justice, you are not showing any compassion, you are not righteous and yet you're coming into these assemblies and acting like you're one of mine. Your profaning My name is what you're doing.

That should sound familiar to what Jesus teaches in Matthew chapter 5. “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, [there's some sort of injustice between the two of you] leave your gift in front of the altar [don't sacrifice it, leave your gift.] First go and be reconciled to them, and then come and make your sacrifice.” Don't have this injustice in your life and then come before God, and praise His name, and sing praises and make your offerings. God is telling Israel right here through Amos.

Please don't miss this because it’s a message to Christians filling churches today as much as it was for the Jews Amos was speaking to. All the stuff you do to be religious, is meaningless to God if there is no righteousness in your dealings with others. If you go out the doors after your feasts and have no justice in the way you deal with other people, if you have no concern for justice, if you are not righteous in your dealings with your fellow human beings, if you don't love your fellow man, then you are misrepresenting me and I don't want to hear any of it. That's what God is saying to the children of Israel. Now, Amos is clearly a prophet speaking to people, Israel, Amos did not know that you and I would ever exist. But God did. And God has preserved the words of the prophet Amos for us to read. Why might that be? Maybe because God is speaking to us. Your church going and your praise singing, your communion taking, it is meaningless to God if there is no righteousness in your dealings with others. Don't think that it doesn’t matter to God. Have you ever wondered why Paul says that a person should take account for themselves before they take communion because if they don't, what are they doing, they are eating and drinking judgment on themselves, it's the exact same thing that Amos is talking about here. If you are not righteous in your dealings with others, if you are not concerned with justice, then do not come and sing my praises.

I think is been over a year now, but we did a series on the 10 commandments, I don't know if you remember the 10 commandment series but when we went through each of those commandments, we said that the first commandment which is that ‘you shall have no other gods before me.’ I don't want to say it's the most important, because you can't really say one is more important than another, since not murdering someone is kind of important, so we don't want to say one is more important than the other, but we did say the first commandment to have no other gods, is the linchpin around which all of the others are built, because if there is not God at the center of your life, then all of the other things will fall apart, there'll be no godly values, there'll be no godly virtues. If you want to do something, even if it violates a command, why do you care if there is no God. If God isn't the center of your life, why should you follow all of those others? Breaking the first commandment, then putting something else in the place of God, whether it's yourself or culture, whatever it is, that's the first domino and all of the others are going to fall after that. And you know what you find, if you read the other prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, they'll say the exact same thing, if you read Ezekiel 22, you will find Ezekiel condemning Israel for breaking all of these commandments and for doing all of this horrible stuff, being awful and unrighteous, and then he concludes, why it is in verse 12 He says, “You have forgotten me, declares the Lord.” He’s saying that you forgot me you replaced me with other gods and as a result of that, you have broken all these other commandments, and you have been bad people. That’s the result, and the religious theatrics only makes it more insulting to God. It's one thing to forget God, and it's one thing to have forgotten God and therefore do a bunch of bad stuff because he's not the center of your life, but how awful that once you have done all that to still parade around like you're some kind of religious Christian people. People who are acting like the world, and yet wearing the name of Christ. They had forgotten God, but they were acting like they hadn't, still offering public displays of religiousness. Speaking of religious things, all while perverting justice, and God found that egregious, and I'm telling you that the character of God has not changed. He finds it egregious when his people who claim to love him, are unjust in their dealings with others, or lacking in righteousness with the way they deal with their fellow man. It is egregious in the sight of God. The prophet Isaiah said this in chapter 1 verse 13, “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me.”

 

 

 

If you ask Americans today, American Christians, what sins are the worst, we can list all kinds of terrible things: sexual depravity, greed, social injustice, corruption, and all of these other things, and yet for some reason we're blind to what God is saying he hates. What this passage of Scripture is telling us that God despises is the fake religion stuff. Why? Because we're dragging His name through the mud. We're acting like the world but we're attaching His name to it. That’s why He says in Isaiah 1, “New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”

I cannot read this and not fear a little bit about what we do here. Are we guilty of this? Is God saying the same thing to us, ‘your new moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate, with all my being, they become a burden to me’ This is why I had you read Amos 5, because God takes matters of fake religion and counterfeit faith very seriously, so we need to as well. He makes it very clear though what He desires. That's why right in the middle of this lng list of condemnations, he throws in this great verse, verse 24 and just sticks out like a sore thumb. It's like the only relief in this massive condemnation. It says, “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” That's awesome. That's what God wants justice and righteousness. That's what He's after.

Here's the point of the sermon: this justice and righteousness, that is the character of God, and therefore, it must be the character of his people. Now, let's be honest about where this conversation always goes, when I start talking justice, what do we do, even God's people, everything becomes political. The moment the idea of justice comes up, we start to gravitate towards our manmade political tribes, and we have folks on the left side of the political spectrum that will stand up and say, ‘exactly, if the church is not speaking to the rampant homelessness problem in our area, then it is not pleasing God and God doesn't want to hear the religious worship of those people, because they do not take justice seriously.’ And then the people on the right side of the political aisle get all puffed up and they say, ‘Listen, if the church is not talking about the lack of justice, and the slaughter of innocent babies in the womb, do not claim to be a godly person, do not claim to care about justice if you are not talking about that injustice,’ and then once we've made our points. Now, we’ve got to respond to the other people's points, and the people on the left will say to the people on the right it's interesting, you're just pro birth. You don't care about people once they've been born. All you care about is having more babies in the world and that you don't do anything to take care of them, and then the people on the right say. . .

This is where we are, nothing is settled. Nothing is accomplished, God's people are caught up in worldly debates, nothing's achieved, no bridges built, no justice is actually done. God is not glorified and Satan wins. That's how it always plays out. That's how it always plays out because we are too obsessed with worldly strategies. I think one of the major reasons that is how it always plays out is because Christians often don't think like godly people, we think like worldly people. We become way too worldly, and our thinking is worldly methods and worldly strategy. How are we going to achieve justice? And we immediately start thinking of government policy. That's where our minds go, as to how we achieve justice. We think of things that center around politics and power, rather than imitating our Christ and bearing our own cross. It's very interesting how that works, isn't it? And I think that Satan loves it when we focus on worldly approaches because worldly approaches will divide people, and worldly approaches will drive people from the church.

I’ll close with an example of Christians actually doing justice. I don't know if you know who Tony Evans is, but he is a minister in a church in Texas and the church sits across the street from a big golf club. And it's one of those it's been around for a long time where black people were not allowed to go and play golf at that club. Tony Evans says, “Well, we went through an era where all the laws changed, the laws have changed, and you can't prohibit a black person from being in the club. But this is how systemic injustice works, they changed the club’s rules so the only way you can be involved, the only way to become a member, is for a current member of the club to sponsor you. Okay. And then once you've been sponsored 75% of the membership of the club has to vote you into the club, and its secret ballot. So, they can gladly say we're not prohibiting black people from being in the club, but they set up a system by which those people are never going to be approved for membership. That's how it happens. That's the idea of systemic injustice.” So, guess what Tony Evans and his church did. They did not stage a sit in to draw attention to themselves, they didn't mark on the state legislature demanding some sort of legal change. The laws had already been changed. They didn't call their congressmen so that they could get MSNBC to come down and do a town hall meeting and draw attention for the church. What these Christians did, was that they actually did justice. I love this. Their justice was, they bought the golf course. They raised the money, it's a wealthy church and they bought the golf course and totally changed the rules for membership, that's doing justice.

That's what we're talking about, as Christians, we’re called to do things differently. That’s why I had you read Amos 5, because God is serious about justice, he is serious about righteousness, and the degree to which we demonstrate that we are too, that is the degree to which we are representing him and his interest in justice, to a watching world. Amos, his words, stressed to God's people then the sin of injustice, and the false piety, and the idolatry that goes with it. And I'm suggesting to you that God has preserved those words for us to hear in our time as well. And I'm praying they don't fall on deaf ears.

Let’s pray.