Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
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Judging Others
At Faithlife we recently completed our “annual review process”.
This is a fun time of year where you get to judge all your peers and they all get to judge you.
Sure, there is “constructive feedback” where you encourage them in all the ways they are great.
But then there are questions like “what’s something this person should stop doing?”
And you spend some time thinking.
Well, nothing comes to mind… but I’m sure if I think about it for awhile I can think of something they do that annoys me.
Let me watch for that over the next couple days… Let me start a list!
The joy of judging people.
I can, of course, see their problems and shortcomings quite clearly.
It’s easy, because they affect me.
I see when they mess up, when they respond incorrectly or inappropriately… and it’s easy to remember those because they bothered me, or made my job harder.
Judging others comes completely naturally.
It is the default operating mode of the human.
From the moment we got “knowledge of good and evil” we saw “they did it.”
“Eve did it.”
“Snake did it.”
They are wrong.
The other part of the 360 review is getting all that feedback.
And the good stuff feels good, it’s encouraging.
But every now and then someone touches on a nerve.
Not generic feedback like “Oh, you, stop being so awesome :D”
…but something that touches on a real struggle.
Maybe it’s phrased nicely, but someone picks on something you know you’re great at and they’re wrong you are actually really good at that and how dare they not see that!
Or it’s something you worked so hard at, and you thought you were growing in that area, but I guess not, if “Todd” says “you talk too much in meetings” and “forget you, Todd!”
Judging others?
Fun.
Being judged?
Not fun.
Amos
The prophet Amos writes maybe 100 years after Elijah and Elishah, 8th century BC.
He is possibly the first of the written prophets.
He isn’t a “professional” prophet, not part of one of the schools, didn’t go to seminary… he is a shepherd.
Maybe a sheep breeder.
Amos writes in a period of relative peace and prosperity.
Jeroboam II was not a good king in the list of kings, not righteous, chased after idols, one of the worst in that way… but he was a very successful king politically and militarily.
Unlike most of Elijah and Elisha’s ministries, Amos isn’t interacting directly with the King, but apparently speaking to the peoples, to Israel the nation as a whole.
This book is a collection, one big Sermon, a collection of Poems or “words” and a collection of visions.
God looks and doesn’t like what he sees.
Zion - where God delivered the law.
Jerusalem - where the temple sites.
The top of Carmel where Elijah did the cool thing with the fire from the sky.
From the “holy sites” God sees and judges.
Judgment is the comparing of your present behavior to the expected standard.
God has a standard, let’s see how the nations are doing.
Judgment
Damascus
.. and then SMOTE!
Get ‘em!!!
How? I’ll read this one:
Gaza
Get ‘em!!!
Tyre
Get ‘em!!!
Edom
Get ‘em!!!
Moab
Get ‘em!!!
And even our brothers to the South...
Judah
At this point the Israelites are all on board.
They’re like “Yeah, get those other nations!”
It’s a Trap
We see this again and again in Scripture.
Get everyone on board with how awful the “they” are.. then the old Uno Reverse Card.
Romans 1 is like this.
Cataloguing the horrible sins of others and then
Now, this isn’t false, it isn’t fiction, these nations really are sinners!
And God really is going to judge them.
So this is true prophecy.
Just like Romans 1 is a real list of sins of the nations, of all humanity, all have fallen...
And Amos accurately describes what lies in the future of all these nations.
Assyria is coming and it will “kill all Moab’s princes” and “devour the strongholds of Jerusalem”.
Those things are going to happen, the instrument of God’s judgment and justice.
But this isn’t really the focus of Amos’ ministry.
It’s his opening, get the crowd riled up and listening to something they LOVE to here.
Judging all the neighbors… on every side, everyone but MEEEEeeeee.
and then Amos really gets going.
What’s his real subject?
Judgment on Israel
The crimes:
In summary:
Abusing the poor
Weird father-son sex stuff
"Garments taken in pledge” - likely like a creditor repossessing the literal clothes off their back.
More abuse of the poor.
Stealing from worshippers (and drinking the offering instead).
Likely more abuse of the poor or powerless.
Corrupting Nazirites and prophets
The punishment:
You’r fast?
No, you can’t run.
You’re strong?
Not strong enough!
Translation:
I know where you live and I’ve seen where you sleep.
I swear by all that’s holy, Your mothers will cry when they see what I’ve done to you!
What should Israel be doing?
Not worrying about the other nations.
We can safely assume God has that in hand.
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