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Amos--A Plea for Justice

CONNIE: What does God want most from us--worship, or right living? Join us today as we look at the message of the prophet Amos, who minced no words in telling people just what God wanted from them.

Giving God's trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I'm Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I'm Lonnie Melashenko. As you mentioned Connie, today we're looking at one of the Old Testament books known as a "minor prophet."

CONNIE: What is it that makes him minor--as opposed to a major prophet?

LONNIE: It's certainly not the scope of his message. Jesus picked up the theme of Amos and gave it strong emphasis when He said that God desires "mercy and not sacrifice." Amos, you see, lived in a time when the people were very religious--but their religion didn't do much to change the way they treated other people.

CONNIE: And that was the same thing that Jesus pointed out about the Pharisees in His day, wasn't it?

LONNIE: Indeed it was. So, Amos is no light-weight when it comes to prophets. In fact the only reason he's called a "minor prophet" is because his book is shorter than the books of the "major prophets" Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

CONNIE: So it's a small book with a big message!

LONNIE: That's right. And I'll be focusing on that message in my sermon today. But first, let's listen as Ken Wade takes a look at the man who wrote the book, the prophet Amos.

KEN: God often chooses humble people and calls them to greatness. Have you noticed that?
Abraham was a humble shepherd when God spoke to him and told him to leave his homeland and his family behind and set out for a new land. All he had was the one thing God was looking for: A willingness to answer the call, to be led by God and used by God. Yet today he is known as the founding father of three of the world's greatest religions.

David was the youngest son in a large family--he wasn't even considered important enough to be invited to the house when the great prophet Samuel stopped by for a visit. But under the anointing of the Holy Spirit he became the greatest king in Israel's history.

When Jesus came to earth, He didn't pick famous or powerful men and women for His disciples. No, He went up to Galilee and found humble fishermen, a despised tax collector, and others who weren't great by worldly standards. All they had to offer God was what Abraham had offered--a willingness to listen to His word and to follow.

And what about Jesus Himself? He could have chosen to be born in a palace, or at least in a home with running water and a few servants to tend to His needs. He could have elected to grow up in a home where the children got to go to school during the day. But instead He chose to be born in a stable, and to be raised among the working class, splintering His hands with rough-cut lumber, and probably even mashing His thumb from time to time in a carpenter's shop.

But Jesus exemplified what it is that raises a man or woman above the common and allows them to make a difference in the world. " 'I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me,' " He said (John 6:38 KJV).

Total dedication to the will of the Father lifted Him above His humble birth and upbringing, and allowed Him to fulfill the greatest mission ever attempted on earth--the salvation of the human race! He won our salvation by surrendering Himself to His Father's will.

In our program today we look at the life and message of another of God's humble servants. We know almost nothing about Amos, his family, his upbringing. We only know that when God found him and called him to the prophetic ministry he was a humble shepherd and tree pruner. He worked outside in the heat of the summer and in the chill of winter. When I picture Amos, I see a rough-handed man with a weather-reddened face. Clothing chosen for its warmth and practicality rather than for its fashion statement. I see sandalled feet, creased, callused, and scarred from walking among stones and thorns in hot summer sun and cold winter snow.

When I see him walk, it is not with a proud bearing or imperious gaze, it is with humility. He is not accustomed to being respected or looked up to.

But when I look into his eyes, I see something else. I see sincerity. Fervor. Dedication. I see a man who has abandoned it all for the sake of the call to speak the word of the Lord. He is a man whose message you cannot gainsay, because he has been with God. And he has surrendered his life to live it only for God.

His eyes--his vision--are focused on one thing and one thing only: The will and the word of God. And that is what has lifted him above the common--lifted him from his humble shepherd's life to be one of the first and greatest of Israel's prophets.

CONNIE: That was the King's Heralds with a song appropriate for a man like Amos--who had a mission that demanded vision!

LONNIE: It's also, of course, appropriate for all of us. As Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Maybe we won't all have visions in the same sense that the biblical prophets did, but we all need the clear-sightedness that God's Holy Spirit can give us as we seek His guidance.

CONNIE: God has been very gracious to us through the years, in sending prophets like Amos, not only to point out problems and missteps, but to point us in the direction we should go.

LONNIE: Now, if you would like to get better acquainted with the major prophetic messages of the Bible, here's something I think you'll enjoy. It's a Bible study course called Focus on Prophecy that you can take by correspondence.

CONNIE: There's a lot of good things about this course--but one that most people really appreciate is that it's absolutely free. It's a service of Voice of Prophecy--the oldest prophecy-oriented radio broadcast in the world.

LONNIE: You can enroll in the Focus on Prophecy Bible course by visiting our website at www.vop.com. Just click on "Free Bible Guides" and you'll see a page where you can enroll. The lessons will come to you by mail. Now, we must mention that this course is only available in the United States and Canada, but we have another course, the Discover Bible Course that can be studied via the Internet from anywhere in the world.

CONNIE: You can also request the Focus on Prophecy course by writing to us at Voice of Prophecy, Box 53055, Los Angeles, 90053. Again: Box 53055, Los Angeles, 90053, or by calling our toll-free number, 1-800-872-0055.

LONNIE: We'll give that information again at the end of the program, so you might want to get a pencil and paper ready.

CONNIE: But right now, we're ready for your message of the day, Lonnie. "Amos--A Plea for Justice."

Amos--A Plea for Justice

LONNIE: What does God want from me when everything seems to be going all right? When everything seems OK?

In our broadcast two weeks ago we looked at the prophecies in the book of Joel--a book that was written just after a terrible plague had struck Israel. There we found the prophet of the Lord appealing to His people to turn back to God in sincere repentance--to plead for God to bless them again.

Today we look at the next Old Testament prophet, Amos, and we find him living in a time when things were quite different from Joel's day. During one of the most prosperous times in Israel's history.

Amos was a poor man, a humble man--a field worker. But God called him to stand before kings, priests, and princes proclaiming a message from heaven. He was called to the prophetic office during the reign of King Jeroboam II--one of the most powerful and prosperous kings in all the history of Israel.

Amos lived in the kingdom of Judah, which had its capital and its temple in Jerusalem, but the Lord gave him a message to deliver to the kingdom of Israel, to the north. Israel's capital was in Samaria at this time, and its people worshiped at the two temples that their first king had established--one in the north at Dan and the other in the south at Bethel.

Amos's younger contemporary Isaiah complained a few years later that the people didn't want to hear genuine prophecies from the Lord--" 'Do not prophesy to us right things;' " they would say. No, no. We don't want to hear it. Rather, " 'speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits' " (Isaiah 30:10, NKJV).
Well, let me assure you that Amos was not one of the prophets who fell into that trap. He wasn't a prophet who operated on opinion polls and did market research to find out what people wanted to hear before he stood up to speak. He was a man with the courage of his convictions, a sense that God had given him a message, and an urgency to deliver that message--whether people liked it or not.

Coming from Judah--whose spiritual center was on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem--he announced his mission in no uncertain terms. Here's the introduction to his first sermon: " 'The Lord roars from Zion, and utters His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers' " (Amos 1:2, NKJV).

The image is powerful. Obviously the Lord is not pleased with some of the things that are going on in Israel. And He doesn't just quietly mutter something about "I wish you people would change your ways." No. Amos says that when the Lord speaks, he roars from Mt. Zion. And the effect? The top of Mt. Carmel withers. Check your map. Mt. Carmel, up in Israel, is 70 miles from Jerusalem--the way the crow flies!

But it's not only Mt. Carmel that is going to suffer as a result of sin. Amos immediately launches into a list of nations that have done wrong and are about to suffer judgment. All the rest of chapter 1 and the first verses of chapter 2 focus attention on nations like Syria, Ammon, and Moab.

This focus on the sins of other nations is an almost unique feature of Amos. Most of the biblical prophets were concerned with what was going on in Israel or Judah. But Amos--along with his contemporary Jonah--reveals that God is concerned with justice and righteousness in all of the world, not just in His own land.

Amos begins his prophecy with rebukes for six "foreign" nations--six kingdoms whose territory bordered on Israel and Judah. The rebukes focus mainly on unjust things these nations had done in war--things like taking whole communities captive and killing women and children. These prophecies set the stage for the message Amos is about to deliver to Israel.

But before he gets to Israel, Amos has a brief message for his home country, Judah. Judgment is going to come on that nation as well, "because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes" (Amos 2:4, NRSV).

The messages to the surrounding nations, plus the message to Judah, sum up in a nutshell the Lord's complaint against Israel: Injustice rules the day, and the people ignore God's laws. But Amos adds one more thing when he addresses Israel. And I believe that it is this aspect of his message that is especially challenging to Christians living in America in the 21st century. The message that is especially addressed to us--to me!

Amos, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, speaks boldly against the injustice done in the land, but that's not all that the Lord has him speak against. He takes it a step further, beginning in chapter 2, verse 8. Listen:

"they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed" (NRSV).

Here we see the depth of the corruption that is eating away at the spiritual lives--the religion--yes, even the worship--of God's people in Israel. They have absolutely no qualms about robbing the poor in order to enrich themselves, then going to the temple and praising God for blessing them--even using their ill-gotten gain in the worship service!

A good friend of mine tells about the years he spent ministering to convicts in the federal prison system. He became well acquainted with the Roman Catholic chaplain at one institution. One day as the two of them stood watching the prisoners filing into the chapel for morning mass, the chaplain confided that several of the men in his congregation were powerful Mafia figures. Men whose money had been made through drug running, confidence games, shakedowns, protection rackets, money laundering, even murder. These men, the chaplain said, were some of the most faithful members of his congregation--never missing a chance to come and worship the Lord! In fact, even when they weren't in prison, most of these men were faithful members of their local congregations.

Somehow in their minds they were able to make a complete separation between what they did for a living and their spiritual lives. Somehow the Lord's call for righteous living floated right past them. They seemed to think that all they needed to do was go to church once or twice a week--that's all that religion consisted of for them. It didn't touch the depths of their lives--the way they lived from day to day.

And that's the very type of thing that was going on in Israel in Amos's day.
How little things have changed in the past three millennia! There was no lack of religion in Israel. There was no paucity of worshipers at the religious festivals. No! The people loved to go to the temple at Bethel and have great feasts--to honor the Lord!

But they didn't honor Him in their day to day lives.

To these worshipers who feigned devotion to God at yearly festivals while doing injustice on a daily basis, Amos spoke clearly. His voice boomed from the stairway leading up to the temple at Bethel, delivering the message of the Lord:

" 'I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.

Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!' " (Amos 5:21-24, NIV).

Friend, when I read these words of Amos, I must confess. They touch my heart. They bring up questions in my mind--questions about my own walk with the Lord. Do they do the same to you?

It's easy to go to church every week. I'm in church every weekend, and often in between. I stand in the pulpit often, leading souls to know the Lord. I love to sing--my family and I get together and give concerts whenever we can. My brother and I recently produced a CD together. Good, Christian music. And there's nothing wrong with that. In fact it's a very good thing.

But Amos makes me ask myself: Is it enough? Is this all the Lord really wants from me? As I study this book, I see over and over again the appeal for justice. That I as a Christian should involve myself in seeing to it that right is done for the poor, the needy, the war-torn. That going to church every week and singing the praises of the Lord is not enough.

Amos challenges me. I hope it challenges you, too. To do more for the Lord. To involve yourself in defending the downtrodden, upholding the unfortunate, helping the homeless. To re-examine every aspect of your Christian walk. To ask of every activity: Is this doing justice? Is this not only legal--but the right thing to do?

Oh, friend, I have to confess. Amos is a hard book to read. He had a hard message for his people. So hard in fact that King Jeroboam wanted to banish him from the land. But it's a message God's people needed to hear. And it's one we still need to hear today.

Are we listening?

But before I discourage you so much that you'll never want to go and read Amos, let me close with a little bit of good news. Although Amos is largely a message of condemnation--a heart cry against the injustice being done in his day--he doesn't end his message that way. He doesn't just tell the people that judgment is going to fall on them and leave it at that. Oh, no. Our God is not that way. He doesn't speak these words to discourage us, but to cause us to look up--to expect better things..

The end of the book of Amos is full of promise. Because God wants His people to reform their lives. And when they do, He wants them to know that He has good things in store for them. There is a better day coming, my friend. When the injustice, the sickness, the sadness, the troubles of this world will all be over. Listen to this promise from chapter 9, verse 13

" 'Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it' " (NKJV).

You know, friend, the Lord is good. So good that He doesn't hesitate to tell us when we've gone astray. Doesn't hesitate to send men like Amos to rebuke us when we need it.

But He also wants us to know that He has good things in store for us, when we turn to Him. He wants us to lead honest and righteous lives. But most of all, He wants us to be ready to live with Him eternally--in His kingdom where, to paraphrase Amos 5:24, "justice will roll on like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

That day is coming, and coming soon--sooner than you might expect--but the Lord will stand by His word. The prophecies are being fulfilled, and will be fulfilled, when Jesus comes again.

CONNIE: Amen

LONNIE: That's gospel music at its profoundest and best.

CONNIE: Absolutely.

LONNIE: Friend, have you noticed it? The prophecies that have been in the bible for thousands of years are indeed being fulfilled. You know, Amos had a message specifically for his people in his time but there is something more there as well. As we look forward to the future when all injustice will be done away with, he was looking forward to the kingdom of God that would come about after the second coming of Jesus.

CONNIE: Well Lonnie, the song says that the signs of the times are everywhere and that people are anticipating the soon return of Jesus but you know, how do they know? How are people supposed to recognize that prophecies are being fulfilled?

LONNIE: Well, those who are in the know about prophecy are people who have spent serious time in bible study.

CONNIE: Do you suppose some of them took the Focus on Prophecy bible course that we offer?

LONNIE: I don't just suppose so Connie, I know so because thousands of people have already begun studying this course which first became available only a couple of years ago and you know what?

CONNIE: What?

LONNIE: I'd like to invite all of our listeners to join that "in the know" group.

CONNIE: How can they do that?

LONNIE: Well, a good start would be to enroll in the Focus on Prophecy bible course.

CONNIE: And how much does it cost?

LONNIE: Well, it is expensive but for our listeners, how does free sound?
CONNIE: I like that word.

LONNIE: That's the price of Focus on Prophecy bible course and it's available now to our listeners in the United States and Canada. It comes in the mail and when you enroll you will receive the first lessons. When you mail in the answer sheets you will receive the next lessons and you can keep doing that until you finish the course.

CONNIE: And there's no charge for it?

LONNIE: No charge at all. It's made available to our listeners through the kind donations of others who want more people to know and understand the great prophecies of the bible.

CONNIE: And listeners can begin studying the lessons just by writing to us at Voice of Prophecy, Box 53033, Los Angeles 90053.

LONNIE: That's right and if they live in Canada, their letters and lessons don't have to cross the border, they can write to us at Box 2127, Oshawa, Ontario L1H7V4 and ask to be enrolled in the Focus on Prophecy bible course.

CONNIE: And what if they want to call our toll-free number, 1-800-872-0055? Can they enroll that way too?

LONNIE: They certainly can.

CONNIE: We'd be delighted if you'd study this course and learn to understand bible prophecy in a deeper way. So why not contact us today by phone at 1-800-872-0055?

LONNIE: Well friend, our time today is just about gone but before we go, we want to thank you for joining us. We also want to thank Ken and Armando, our engineer and producer. Now as we close, may the amazing grace of the master Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Amen.