Amos 6
Amos • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsI am speaking from Amos 6 about pride and complacency
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
There is a famous quote, commonly attributed to Edmund Burke, although there is debate on whether he actually said it
The saying is so familiar, that when I start saying it, you’ll know how to finish it
-The saying goes: “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
The quote has proved incredibly poignant over the years
-And the reason for this is because people have a tendency to slip into complacency, and when that happens, disaster and hardship are often soon to follow
Well, long before this quote originated, a man named Amos preached a sermon on the danger of complacency
Background
Background
The year is 755BC
The Kingdom of David has long since split apart into 2 kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah
The Southern Kingdom has had the occasional good king reigning over them, and at the time of this book, Uzziah, a good but flawed king, is ruling over Judah
The Northern Kingdom, however, has not had any good kings
-Currently, the king of the North is Jeroboam II.
-By earthly standards, he is a competent ruler who has brought peace and prosperity to Israel
But God sees not as man sees . . .
-Jeroboam II serves as an apt reflection of the nation as a whole:
-outwardly competent and prosperous
-But inwardly wicked, corrupt, vile, and ripe for judgment
At this point in Israel, every level of society was rife with corruption
-people were taken advantage of, cheated, even attacked physically
-The rich and the those in power took advantage of the poor
-The corrupt justice system was of no help to those being exploited
So into this bleak situation God sends neither a politician nor an entrepreneur, but a prophet
This prophet seemed neither to have an impressive family tree, nor formal training . . . but he did have a Word from the Lord
-He was a humble sheepbreeder, a tender of sycamore trees, a man named Amos
God commissioned Amos to leave his home in Judah and go to the Northern Kingdom and delivers God’s message of confrontation and judgment
Amos goes and his overall message is this: “God is not pleased with outward shows of religiosity when they are not accompanied by relational and societal righteousness”
In other words, God is not impressed with looking godly outwardly when there is no love and fairness towards other people
It is the OT equivalent of John’s statement: 1 John 4:20
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
This brings us to chapter 6, where Amos preaches his next sermon:
**Read text*
1. God Hates Complacency and Desires Concern
1. God Hates Complacency and Desires Concern
Vs. 1
-Notice that Amos is primarily addressing the leaders of the nation of Israel
-This audience would primarily include politicians, wealthy influencers, and religious leaders
And the inditement against these people is that they are confidently complacent
Why are they complacent and confident?
-These leaders are very confident in the wealth and security and prosperity of their nation, and they shouldn’t be
How do we know this?
Look at verse 2
-Amos commands them to go and look at 3 other cities
-These 3 cities all once controlled larger amounts of territory, but now, at the time of writing this, their territory and influence has shrunk
-And Amos essentially asks, “do you think this can’t happen to you? Do you think that your territory and the prosperity of your nation will protect you from harm?”
Notice what Amos says next **verse 3**
Amos accuses these leaders of putting far away the day of disaster
They are complacent, comfortable, and they are confident that this day of disaster will not come
-You can almost see these leaders roll their eyes and dismiss Amos as a conspiracy theorist or a fear-mongerer when he warns of God’s impending judgment
And yet, while they simultaneously claim that the day is far off, they are actually causing it to draw near
How are they doing this?
In the Mosaic Covenant, God promises that when the Israelites unrepentantly broke the covenant, God would bring the covenant curses on them
Here are some of the specific curses that would come on them:
“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.
“The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.
Moses goes on to the give the reason explicitly for these curses:
“Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.
And so the leaders of Israel simultaneously wave off any claims of judgement, while they hasten the day with their sin
In the next 3 verses (4-6), Amos paints in detail the gross excesses of Israelite complacency
Outside of the palatial estate of the wealthy politicians and influencers, violence and injustice are the norm
-widows are taken advantage of
-the righteous are silenced
-the poor are oppressed
But safe inside of their wealthy homes, these leaders in Israel are unconcerned
Instead, they lounge around in lazy indulgence
-Notice the descriptive words that Amos chooses to use
As opposed to the poor and oppressed who must work hard all day,
-These leaders lie on their beds of ivory
-They lounge in leisure on their couches
As opposed to the normal Israelite who may only eat meat a handful of days a year, often on feast days to the Lord,
-These leaders regularly dine on choice lambs and fattened calves
While widows do anything they can to scrape by,
-These leaders lay around and strum away at their musical instruments, making up new tunes and songs like they’re King David
These leaders drink wine, not by the cupful, but by the bowlful
They use the finest lotions
But you know what they don’t do? (and this is the heart of the passage)
They don’t “grieve over the affliction of Joesph”
That’s it, that’s the inditement
-Notice that God is not necessarily inditing them for being rich
-For having lamb or singing songs
No, it’s not that in a vacuum that God is opposed to His people having these things:
It’s that these leaders love these things far more than they love God or people
They’re so caught up in their comfort, in their food, in their entertainment, in their interests, in their stuff . . . that they don’t care about the awful condition of their nation and the people around them
They don’t care about the fact that justice has been trampled . . . because it either benefits them or it doesn’t affect them at all
They don’t care that people around them are getting taken advantage of
-They don’t care that their nation has turned from true, heart-driven worship of Yahweh
They simply don’t care, because they’re too preoccupied with other things
-Things that may not necessarily be evil in and of themselves, but things that have become far more important than God
Application:
Brothers and sisters, can we talk about this for a little bit and let God’s Word do it’s work of being a two-edged sword?
What is complacency?
a simple dictionary definition I found online is this: “self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.”
Some of the synonyms listed were: “self-satisfaction, self-admiration, pride, laziness”
Now, I think it’s important to distinguish a few things, because we want to be very biblical and very precise in applying God’s word:
-God is not against Christians who have stuff:
-God certainly blesses people, and there are Christians who are rich
-God is certainly not against joy, or happiness, or contentment!
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
But you know what God is against? Complacency
What is complacency?
a simple dictionary definition I found online is this: “self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.”
Some of the synonyms listed were: “self-satisfaction, self-admiration, pride, laziness”
Did you know that it’s possible, even easy to be a lot like these Israelite leaders?
Maybe we don’t live under a theocracy where our nation is in a covenant with God
-And maybe we don’t live in a society where all the same sins or excesses are present
But you know what can happen?
We get comfortable where we’re at in life and with our stuff
And it can happen so easily:
-We’re in a decent place financially
-Maybe the kids aren’t burning things to the ground
-There’s relative peace in the home
-I’ve got a brand new hobby
-Or the same old hobby that I’ve had for a while
-I’ve found a TV show that I like that’s got 9 seasons
-Or my sports team is doing ok
And we’ve kinda constructed our lives how we want them
-We’ve got all our supports in place to keep things from crashing down around us
-good insurance
-some money in savings
-we’ve got the kids happy
And we begin set it in neutral and do everything we can not to upset the balance of equilibrium in our fragile little world
-And we don’t care that our neighbor is going to hell
-we don’t care that there are real sin struggles that need mortifying in our own lives
-we don’t care that there are people in my church who could really use some discipleship or pouring into
Or maybe we tell ourselves that we care, but we’re just too busy to do anything right now, or we’re not the right person
Oh, we still go to church! We still read our bible or our little devotional thing most days
-Our walk with God doesn’t appear to be in shambles
-So let’s just coast and keep up the status quo
Brothers and sisters, if this makes you feel uncomfortable, then I’m right there with you
I was just having my normal Wednesday happening, and then I started working on this text
-And it’s uncomfortable
-Because most of us don’t like our lives and our routines to be messed with
We like our stuff and our comfort
-We don’t like to think about our neighbors or family members who are lost
-We don’t like to think about how sinful and messed up we really are at times still
-We don’t like to think too much about that church member who could really use some intentional time spent with them because they’re life is a mess right now
Why?
-Because those things take time
-and are messy
-and are uncomfortable
-and mess with our stuff and routine
Let’s talk about three specific areas where this manifests itself:
1. It’s uncomfortable to build relationships with unbelievers
-It’s uncomfortable to share the Gospel with that family member or friend
So what do we do?
-We come up all kinds of excuses as to why we’re too busy to have that conversation or build that friendship
2. It’s uncomfortable to confront the sin in your life
-It’s uncomfortable to repent and deal with the anger in your life, or your bitterness, or your worry, or your selfishness
So what do we do?
-We convince ourselves that we’re ok
-We work to make sure that people around us don’t see those problems in our lives
-We make sure we don’t let fellow Christians have access to get close enough to recognize these struggles
-We don’t invite our pastors or fellow church members to tell us what sins they see in our life
3. It’s uncomfortable to pour into Christians in your church
-There are people in every church who are a mess
-Young Christians who are immature
-Christians whose family might be a mess
-Christians who may need help and time and money
-Christians who need discipling
And guess what? That takes time and effort to help those kind of people
-And that’s uncomfortable because we like our time and our money
“I need that money to be able to spend on this habit or pleasure”
“how am I going to have enough time for facebook if my time is taken up helping so and so.”
-So we make excuses as to why we can’t disciple
-Why we can’t spend time with this person or that person
-Why we can’t be around our church family more
Brothers and sisters, we can really struggle with complacency, can’t we?
And do you know what it ultimately stems from?
We think that our stuff is more enjoyable and rewarding that Christ is
And this really is the difference between contentment and complacency:
-Contentment finds it’s joy in Christ supremely and is thankful for all the other things that Christ gives
-Complacency finds it’s joy in other things and desires to just do enough to not upset God and lose these other things
It all comes down to what the highest joy of your life is:
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
But we don’t believe that
-We honestly fool ourselves into thinking that our comfortable lives are more enjoyable than Christ is
Why would anyone do these kinds of uncomfortable things like be burdened for the lost and for missions, like courageously pursuing Christlikeness and dealing with sin, like persistently pouring into my fellow Christians?
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Christ died for us so that we could live for Him and experience the abundant joy of fellowship with Him!
Why would we want to live in complacency?
2. God hates pride and instead desires of pursuit of righteousness
2. God hates pride and instead desires of pursuit of righteousness
Amos goes on to proclaim what God Himself is saying
The Lord God has sworn by Himself,
The Lord God of hosts says:
“I abhor the pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”
This is what complacency is: it’s pride
-These leaders thought they were fine!
-They thought they were doing great!
-They took security and enjoyment in their stuff and in their nation’s privileged position with Yahweh
But God says He hates it
-He loathes their materialism and self-sufficiency
And because of it, God would visit them in judgment
Vs. 9-10 describe a horrific scene
Vs. 9 says that the inhabitants of the city of Samaria would die
-If there were 10 in one house, they would all die
Vs. 10 speaks of just how terrified the inhabitants of the city would become of Yahweh
The picture here is painted of those going around the city to burn the dead bodies. There will be people hiding in the houses who will be so terrified that they won’t even let people speak the name of Yahweh for fear of Him because His judgment has been so severe
Vs. 11
-the Lord says that he will break both the great house and the small house into bits when he comes and judges his people for their complacent arrogance
Amos then shows the absurdity of the Israelite’s behavior by asking a couple of questions in verse 12:
Amos 6:12 (NKJV)
Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Of course not! Why would someone ride a horse over jagged rocks or try to plow it with an ox?
-That would be absurd!
But even more absurd is the way that the Israelites have turned justice and righteousness on it’s head
Justice and righteousness should be sweet and refreshing to a nation and a people
-But instead the Israelites have turned it sour and inedible
It’s absurd, because a society needs a measure of justice and fairness amongst its people to maintain a healthy society
-And yet Israel has completely subverted justice within her lands
Vs. 13-14 show first the arrogance of Israel
-They point to their military victories that they believe that they have won by their own strength
-But God promises them that their might will not save them when He raises up a nation to defeat them in judgment.
As Proverbs 16:5 says
Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.
Application:
Application:
So brothers and sisters, in closing, how can we seek to show proper reverence and worship of our Lord in the way that we apply this text?
-How do we honor the Lord what we’ve heard about complacency and pride this evening?
Let’s take our approach from Ephesians 4:22-24 and talk about how we can put off/renew/ and put on
Put off
-If God has revealed areas of complacency in your life this evening, areas in which you’ve grown proud and are worshipping comfort more than worshipping Christ, let me encourage us all to repent of these areas
-God promises gracious forgiveness and cleansing in the sacrifice of Christ
-Please don’t leave hear having been convicted, but unrepentant of what God has revealed
2. Renew
-We must renew our minds in the truths of God’s Word
-Let me give you three biblical truths to renew your mind about that will help us in our struggle with sinful complacency
A. Christ has died for our sins and risen for our justification
-When we grasp this truth, it will fill our hearts with gratitude and love for who He is and what He has done for us
B. Christ alone gives true joy and He alone is worthy of living for
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
C. The only way to true life and joy is sacrifice for Christ
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
If you can grasp and meditate on and apply these three simple truths, God will keep you from apathy by His grace
3. Put on
-I want to encourage you to make concrete change based on what you’ve heard this evening
-Maybe it looks like limiting your social media time or TV time to be able to spend more time in the Word
-Maybe it looks like witnessing to the neighbor or family member who needs the gospel
-Maybe it looks like pouring into a fellow church member
Please, don’t let this message go in one ear and out the other
Brothers and sisters, we need to wake up from our complacency
about 800 years later, another prophet, a man named Paul, had this to say:
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.