What Amazing Grace!

Amos 7:10-15

So imagine you’re going along on your normal day. None of you are pastors. I think there’s one of you here, two of you here, who are training to eat. No, there’s three of you here who are training to be pastors, but that’s it. Imagine that the Lord came to you and said, “I want you to go to Mecca “and proclaim my message to all the Muslim folk in Mecca.” How would you feel? Do you think you might be just a little bit nervous? Think it might take you just a little bit off guard? Oh yeah. Well, maybe that’s the way Amos felt when God came to him. Amos wasn’t a pastor. He wasn’t a prophet. Notice he’s a prophet’s son. That probably means he wasn’t training to be a prophet. He wasn’t training to be a pastor in our parlance. No, instead he was some sort of keeper of animals. The Hebrew word that’s used there could go a couple of different ways. But he somehow took care of animals, whether that was just a few, or if it was a relatively larger flock. And he also was a cutter of figs. It’s not the good kind of figs that you and I would like to eat. It’s a kind of fig that you have to cut the end off of to let out the poisonous gases so that those figs can then ingest water and can become food for cows. Amos was a normal guy, and he was busy doing his normal things. When God came to him and said, I got something else for you to do, Amos, I want you to leave the southern kingdom of Judah, and I want you to go and proclaim my message. Oh, and by the way, Amos, you’re not just gonna go anywhere in the north and do that. You’re gonna go to Bethel. Why is that important? Let’s do some quick review. Saul was the first king of the Israelites, followed by David, followed by Solomon. Solomon was great until he wasn’t. Marrying 300 wives, and 700 concubines, it was a domination against God. And he allowed his wives and concubines to lead his heart astray. And he began worshiping other gods, heathen gods. It was awful. And eventually, God’s, in fact, the hill where Solomon kept most of his wives’ concubines, to this day is called the Hill of Shame. The people knew it was just dead wrong. So God’s patience ran out, and he said, okay, because of my promise to David, Solomon’s line will continue to have two of the 12 tribes, but the other 10 tribes I’m taking away from the line of David. And he gave them to a man named Jeroboam. And God came to Jeroboam and made this breathtakingly gracious prophecy, prophecy, not prophecy, prophecy. No coffee this morning, I’m telling you. (congregation laughing) He made this wonderful prophecy to Jeroboam. If you remain faithful to me, I will make your dynasty permanent, very similar to David’s dynasty in the South. Just be faithful to me. And guess what one of Jeroboam’s very first official acts was? To set up idols at the north end and the south end of the land at places named Dan, and Bethel. God had told the Israelites there was to be one temple in Jerusalem, and they were only to make their sacrifices in Jerusalem. Jeroboam said, no, it’s too much of a thing for you to go down to Jerusalem. You worship the Lord here at Dan and Bethel. It was outright rebellion against God and it put the northern kingdom of Israel on a very fast, very steep, slippery slope. To the point that about 100 years after Jeroboam, the Israelites are openly and officially worshiping Baal and Asherah under King Ahab and wicked Queen Jezebel. And it didn’t get better. What happened later, or what continues to happen is the Israelites continue to worship false gods even though God faithfully sent them prophets, men like Elijah and Elisha. And we know God kept a remnant, but for the most part, the northern 10 tribes, the nation of Israel, went on a downhill slide. Now fast forward another 150 years-ish. And Jeroboam II is on the throne. No relation to Jeroboam I. Jeroboam I’s dynasty was cut off very quickly. And there was a whole succession of people who overthrew the king and seized the throne. It’s a mess. But Jeroboam II is probably the most powerful king that the northern kingdom ever had. There was no real powerful king in Assyria. There was no real powerful Pharaoh in Egypt at the time. And so Jeroboam II actually stretched the northern kingdom’s boundaries further than they’d ever been stretched before. And everything looked great. In the book of Amos, Amos talks about how people have, some of the people, the richer people, had both a summer home and a winter home. How they laid down on beds which were decorated with ivory. How they had the finest oils to anoint their skin with in a very dry climate, lotion-type things are really important. How they could strum away on musical instruments and even invent new musical instruments. Things looked awesome, things looked great. But spiritually, oh we’ve got a problem. And it’s not getting better. So what does God do? He says, Amos, time to stop watching the flock for a while. Time to stop snipping the figs. I need you to go talk to some people. And oh the message you’re gonna have to deliver is not gonna be a lot of fun. You’re gonna have to tell them that they’re gonna go off into exile. You’re gonna have to tell them that the house of Jeroboam, the descendants of Jeroboam are gonna be cut off with from, bla bla bla, cut off by the sword. That they’re gonna be put to death. It’s not gonna be a fun message. But you need to go. (audience member sneezes) And how was it received? Not well. Amaziah, who is the priest, now remember, Jeroboam had set up his own line of priests. Jeroboam had set his own special festivals, his own sacrifices. So none of this was God-pleasing. All of this was rebellion against God. So Amaziah is a priest who really has no authority whatsoever. Because he’s not been sent by God, not been chosen by God, and is in direct rebellion against God with the work he’s doing. And yet he comes to Amaz and what does he say? Get out, you seer. Go back to Judah. Eat your bread there, that’s what the Hebrew literally says. Do your prophesying there, he’s basically accusing Amos of being a televangelist. He’s just doing this to make some money. Remember that little detail I told you as we started the text, or as I was reading the text? What Amaziah literally says to Moses, or to Amos, not Moses, what Amaziah literally says to Amos is, “Go, you seer.” And now listen to Amos’s answer. The Lord said, “To me.” And in Hebrew, the emphasis is on, “To me.” It’s in there twice. And what did the Lord say to Amos? “Go.” So Amaziah’s saying to Amos, “Go away.” God says to Amos, “Go to.” Which go should Amos listen to? By telling Amos to go, Amaziah was putting himself in direct rebellion against God. Which is also what you and I do every time we sin. And if you heard his answer, if you listen carefully to it, you could see it. Notice what Amaziah does not say to Amos. Amaziah does not say to Amos, “Go away, Amos, “because this is the temple of the Lord.” He says, “Go away because this is the temple “of the king and the house, not of the Lord, “but of the king and the kingdom.” Oh my. How easily we get caught up in thinking about the things of the kingdom of this world, how easily we lose sight of the things of the kingdom, which is eternal. Amen? There’s a reason we decided to not start today’s worship hour with a statement about yesterday’s tragic assassination attempt. We hate it because God hates all sin. God hates all violence. Just as we hate the people who get killed in the car wrecks here in Milwaukee who get killed by shootings, we hate it, it’s sin. But finally, that is a thing of the kingdom of this world. And in an election year, it’s really important for the people of God to remember who we are first and foremost, that we are not citizens of this world first and foremost. We have a much higher kingdom, a much higher calling, and a much higher caller who calls us to be the salt of the world and the light of the world, to be witnesses to Jesus. Milwaukee is our baffle, if you wanna put it into the words of our text. This is where God has called us to be his witnesses, because this is where he’s put us, amen? But oh, isn’t it oh so easy to get caught up in the things of this world, and to lose sight of the things of God? I know I do it. I have no doubt that many or most of you struggle with the same thing. Whether it’s political things, whether it’s wealth things, whether it’s health things, whether it’s relationship things, whether it’s power things, whether it’s ownership things, how easily we get caught up in the things of this world, and lose our focus on the things of God. Which is why, it’s with a wonderful sense of amazement that we hear God’s call to Amos again. The Lord, do you notice how it was spelled? All capital letters. That’s that word that reminds us that God is full of grace and mercy and faithfulness. He will always be consistent to what he has promised, always. The Lord was the one who said to Amos, go and prophesy to the people Israel. No, that’s not what he said. What did he say? Read it. Go and prophesy to my people. Israel. Did you catch it? As sinful, as rebellious, as horrible as those people had been, what does God still call them? My people Israel. This, by the way, is one of the texts that helps you understand why you send your pastors to learn Greek in Hebrew. You know what the word my is in Hebrew? It’s a comma. In the Hebrew, that’s a letter. And it’s the letter that denotes, in this case, ownership. You lose that comma, you lose the good news of this text. Do you want the good news of this text? Yes, that’s why you made me go and learn Hebrew, which is why assistant pastor Gisper is learning Hebrew. Why, Victor Phil, learned Hebrew. Why Noah is learning Hebrew. Because we want the gospel of the text. Go prophesy to my people Israel. Yes, they were awful. Yes, they were terrible. Yes, for the most part, they were in rebellion, but they were still the people of God. And oh, my brothers and sisters, that is amazing grace. And can you imagine? It’s with that same wonderful grace that God looks at you and God looks at me, and God says, “You are my people too.” How do I know? How do I know that I’m one of God’s people? Because on the day you were baptized, you were baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God put his name on you, and God said to you, “You are my people.” Amazing grace. Oh, and more. Every time you and I hear the word of God, every time God assures you that your sins are forgiven because Jesus died for you and Jesus rose for you, God is saying to you, you are my people. What amazing grace. And oh, even more, when we gather around the Lord’s altar or continuously do it, whichever way we’re doing it, and God feeds us with his Lord’s supper, he’s giving us Jesus’ true body, Jesus’ true blood. And it’s as if God is whispering into each one of our ears, you are my person. You are my son. You are my daughter. You collectively are my people. Oh my. What amazing grace. And now what do the people of God do? They be who God has made them to be. We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. The world needs you a hundred times more than it needs any political candidate. That doesn’t mean political candidates are unimportant or that God doesn’t work through him, he does. But ultimately their work lasts about this long. Your work as a believer in Jesus will last forever, is correct. Love hearing it. Your work will last forever. And oh, there may be times when we’re faced with situations where we’re going holy cow, I don’t know what to say, holy cow, I don’t know what to do, holy cow, you’re seriously sending me from tending the animals to go up to Bethel, really? Remember who’s got your back. It’s the Almighty God, the one who rules the heavens and the earth. He’s got your back. And oh my, that is amazing grace. Amen? And amen.