Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro: Some years ago I read a book by Thom Rainer entitled “Autopsy of a Deceased Church”.

He outlines 14 churches that he was called to consult with to help revive them, but they all died because they would not heed his advice.

In his book he gives the ten most probable causes of dying churches.

Of those ten he mentions two that are the most prevalent causes of a dying church, and they are;

1.

The Great Commission Becomes The Great Omission [Chapter 6]

2. The Church Rarely Prayed Together [Chapter 9]

With those two thoughts in mind, I want us to look at Israel this morning and see that they did the same thing and it brought God’s judgment.

I want to talk about “Fat Cows and Dead Religion” this morning.

Text: Amos 4:1-5

1. Fat Cows; 1

Why did Amos call these women cows of Bashan?

Not because these women were overweight and looked like cows, but because by their sins they were fattening themselves up for the coming slaughter.

Bashan was in the Transjordan area east of the Sea of Galilee, and was famous for its lush pastures (Jer.

50:19; Micah 7:14), and its well-fed cattle.

These cows were like show cows are today.

Well fed, pampered, groomed and sleek in appearance.

They were the limousine of cattle!

These upper class women demanded attention and pampering from their husbands at the expense of the poor and needy.

They had forgotten what God said about helping others.

Helping the poor was to let them glean the fields, lending money without interest, giving bread and water, meeting needs without burdensome requirements.

These ladies were acting like “The Real Housewives of Atlanta”.

They demanded their husbands give them what they want or else.

And their foolish husbands complied.

Wine- this is more than just drink, it is a fleshly appetite.

They craved more and more of whatever it took to satisfy their flesh, even strong drink, which suggests a craving for sexual pleasure.

[Side note] The word “cows” was used in a feminine sense but also included the homosexual/lesbian crowd.

Many rulers of that time practiced such abomination.

We know from history that when a nation starts to go down, homosexuality comes to the forefront.

It was that which began the downfall of Rome.

This certainly can be brought up to date.

What is taking place in our own country is alarming, and it can spell our national doom.

McGee, J. V. (1991).

Thru the Bible commentary: The Prophets (Amos/Obadiah) (electronic ed., Vol. 28, p. 52).

Thomas Nelson.

John Wesley

Israel had forgotten their calling;

1.

To be the channel through whom the Lord would send His Holy Word and the Savior (Messiah) into the world

2. To bear strong witness to the world that the Lord—He and He alone—is the living and true God

The Great Commission Becomes The Great Omission because they were thinking only of themselves!

[Thom Rainer, chapter 6] As I looked at the fourteen churches, I saw a common pattern.

Obedience to the Great Commission faded; it usually faded gradually...

It was a slow erosion.

Instead of Great Commission amnesia… perhaps it would be more truthful to say these dying churches had “Great Commission disobedience.”

They chose not to remember what to do.

They chose their own comfort over reaching others with the gospel.

The church in America today may be coming Fat Cows!

2. Slaughtered Cows; 2-3

What do you do with fat cows?

You carry them to the slaughter.

The Lord God swears by His “holiness” that these people will be led away to the slaughter.

Holiness- God’s existence as completely separate from his creation and, at the same time, to his pure and utterly incorruptible nature.

Fishhooks- When you catch a fish, you are taking him out of his place of comfort and putting it into the frying pan.

That’s the picture here.

The Assyrian practice was to put hooks in the noses or lower lips of their prisoners, attach ropes, and lead them away like animals, either to captivity or to death.

These wealthy elites who prospered off the backs of the poor, these cliques in the church who placed themselves above others, the congregation who did not live in obedience to the Great Commission will be taken out of their comfort zone and judged!

Posterity- future generations of people [children, grandchildren]

The fat cows selfish priorities and sinful examples were being passed on to their kids.

The wealthy younger generation in Israel had everything money could buy, but they didn’t have the things money can’t buy, the things of the Lord that make life worthwhile.

God will not punish children for their fathers sins.

But what parents do in moderation, the kids may do in excess or extreme.

The deception that Abraham practiced with Sarah was picked up by his son and grandson.

With each generation, the deception increased.

Harmon is a place that is not identified in scripture, but that it was beyond Damascus.

But it is no doubt a place of humiliation and suffering being that all that these people put their trust in will be destroyed.

If we live like Fat Cows we will be slaughtered like fat cows!

3. Dead Religion; 4-5

Amos now uses religious sarcasm of their dead religion.

Amos is simply saying “that to continue in the same way without repentance is not going to change your outcome!”

Bethel and Gilgal were notable places in the history of Israel.

Bethel was the site where Jacob worshipped God after receiving the promise of Abraham from God (Gen.

28:10–22; 35:1–15); and Gilgal, which was near Jericho, was where Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan after the children of Israel crossed over into the Promised Land (Josh.

4:19–20; 5:1–10).

Instead of being used to remind the people of God’s faithfulness, they had been turned into places of idol worship.

Bentley, M. (2006).

Opening up Amos (p.

52).

Day One Publications.

Go there and continue to sin [multiply transgressions].

Bring your sacrifices … your tithes … a thank-offering … your freewill offerings’.

All of it is “dead religion” because no one is bringing a sin offering!

The thanksgiving offering was given with leaven which was forbidden by God, so it was unclean.

The freewill offerings [voluntary offerings] were done in a manner to draw attention to self, not God.

The people of Israel “loved” going to religious meetings, but they didn’t love the God they claimed to worship.

Making a pilgrimage to Bethel or Gilgal was the popular thing to do in that day, and everybody wanted to keep up with the crowd.

There was no confession of sin, no brokenness before the Lord, but only a religious event that made the participants feel good.

The whole system was corrupt; the people were sinning when they thought they were serving the Lord.

The application to today’s church is obvious.

It’s very easy for us to join a large, happy religious crowd, enthusiastically sing rousing songs, and put money in the offering plate, and yet not be changed in our hearts.

The test of a spiritual experience is not “Do I feel good?” or “Did we have a big crowd and a good time?”

The real test is “Do I know God better and am I more like Jesus Christ?”

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996).

Be concerned (p.

38).

Chariot Victor.

Religion is worthless without a real relationship with Jesus Christ [Amos 5:4-5]

That relationship begins with a prayer and is maintained by prayer!

Close;

At the end of Thom Rainer’s book, “Autopsy of a Deceased Church”, he gives 12 ways to keep your church alive based upon its symptoms of sickness.

But he also makes it clear that these 12 ways are not some magical, easy fix solutions.

To the contrary, he says, “They are more of a cry to God to intervene, and to create a willingness on the part of the church members to be obedient.”

Let me ask you a question about Westview Baptist Church this morning and I want you to be honest about the answer.

Is Westview Baptist Church a Fat Cow with Dead Religion?

If the answer is “Yes”, then we all need to repent and change our ways!