Scripture: Amos 5:18-6:7
Title: At Ease in Zion?
Many of us spend our lives seeking independence, contentment and security. Surely
nothing could be wrong with such goals? Yet the prophet Amos warns us that we are
in the gravest spiritual danger just when we feel most self-sufficient, content and
secure. Amos calls the people of God to:
DEPENDENCE rather than self-sufficiency
HUNGER rather than contentment
FEAR rather than security
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In a couple of hours many of you will be sitting over in the amphitheatre listening
to speakers tell you about yourselves and your future. Now I do not have the gift
of prophecy, but it does not take a prophet to predict the sort of things you will
hear.
You will be congratulated on your hard work and success; You will be told that you
can change the world -- that there is no goal too high for you; You will be told
that the future belongs to you -- that, in fact, you ARE the future; You will be
reminded of your great potential, and the inevitablity of your success. You will be toasted
and congratulated and told how wonderful you are. And you will clap, and for a few
moments, some of you will even believe it.
And is there anything wrong with all of this? What's wrong with feeling proud of
yourself, and successful and looking to the future with hope and confidence. What's
wrong with feeling like the world is at your feet -- yours for the taking? Surely
there is nothing wrong with being self-assured, confident, secure in yourself?
After all, Commencement is a day for celebrating -- for feeling good about our accomplishments,
for revelling in success -- it is not a day for gloominess. And commencement speakers
know how to play their part.
The Prophet Amos would not have made a very good commencement speaker.
In fact Amos really knew how to ruin a party.
You see when Amos started to prophesy, the nation of Israel was in a partying mood.
The nation was wealthy and properous and at peace. Farmers were enjoying bumper
crops. Interest rates were low. The Stock market was rising with no end in
sight to the bull market. Housing starts were up for the fourth straight year. Unemployment
was at its lowest in 10 years, and nobody knew what inflation was yet so they didn't
worry about it. Israel was in good shape militarily too. And the nation had a
strong leader -- Jeroboam. Committed to a strong national defense. Committed to
playing a constructive role in the world. Committed to a global economy.
Yes Sir -- things couldn't have been better. And not only was the nation well off
materially and militarily-- its religious life was fantastic. Temple attendance
was up. Giving was up. They had never had such great worship experience. People
flocked to worship.
It was a great time to be one of the chosen people. It seemed that God's promises
to the people of Israel were really coming true. The leaders of Israel had every
reason to feel good about themselves -- just as you Mount Holyoke Grads have every
reason to feel good about yourselves today.
Then along comes Amos -- a shepherd turned fire and brimstone prophet -- accusing,
warning of judgment and disaster and destruction -- making a general nuisance
of himself. Like an uninvited guest crashing into a graduation party to tell
you that the what the future really
holds for you is poverty, despair, disaster, disease and finally death.
What could be his problem? Why is he so upset? Why is he so down on Israel?
The beginning of ch. 6 gives us the clue:
6:1-3 : Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure in Mount
Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come.
Woe to you who are complacent in Zion -- Older translations say "Woe to you who are
at ease in Zion." We might paraphrase it, "Woe to you who are at ease at Stony
Brook and to you who feel secure at Mount Holyoke."
The message of Amos is simply this: when we are most at ease -- when we feel strong
and secure -- that is when we are in the gravest spiritual danger. When we feel
good about ourselves -- when everythings going great, when we are at the top of
the world -- that is when we should be most on guard spiritually.
Why? Because when we are most confident in ourselves, we are least likely to turn
to God; when we are most proud of our own accomplishments, we are least likely to
seek His help; when we are most sure of our own rightness, we are farthest from
God's standard righteousness and justice.
And that means that graduation day -- or any day of celebration when we congratulate
ourselves -- is also a day of great spiritual danger. For it is on days like this
that we are most prone to feel secure in ourselves -- to celebrate our own accomplishments and to forget that there is only one source of life and strength and hope in the
universe -- and it is not us.
So to remind you of this lesson -- to help to stick it in your minds -- I would like
to suggest three gift ideas for graduation. Each of these gift ideas comes straight
from the book of Amos.
1. The first, I'm afraid, is rather ordinary -- a fruit basket.
This is a perfectly normal sort of present these days. And really very nice looking
-- not the sort of thing we would expect from Amos.
Now if we could attribute feelings to this fruit, it would probably feel pretty good
about itself. This banana -- perfect color, shape. And this mango -- just perfect.
O, how I do love mangos.
Don't these fruit have every reason to feel proud of themselves? They are such fine
specimens. And they have been especially chosen for this occasion! The chosen
fruit -- has a ring to it.
But now think ahead a week. This banana will not feel so good about itself in 7
or 8 days. A few days of hot weather and this banana will not look so pretty
anymore. [In fact, it will look like this.]
Now what does this have to do with Amos? Look at the beginning of ch. 8 --
Amos 8:1-2 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.
"What do you see, Amos?" He asked. "A basket of ripe fruit," I answered. Then
the Lord said to me, "the time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no
longer."
What's the point? When we feel at ease in our own strength and ability -- when we
are self-sufficient and secure in ourselves -- we are like ripe fruit. We may look
and feel great today -- but after a couple of days of hot weather, we'll be like
over-ripe bananas -- good for nothing -- except, perhaps, for banana bread.
What is the alternative to being like ripe fruit? Rather than self-sufficiency,
God calls us to whole-hearted dependence upon him. This is what Jesus meant when
he said (Jn 15:5), "I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me,
and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."
Now to get practical here -- you know what the single most obvious symptom of ripe
fruit syndrome is? Easy. Prayerlessness. If you think you have your life together.
If you are in the driver's seat, confident and self-assured -- if you think you
know where you are going
-- then of course you will not need to pray. What do you need prayer for if you have
everything figured out for yourself?
2. My second gift idea is a little more unique.
Can anyone identify this. -- A plumb line
What is a plumb line used for? Well, a plumb line is used to ensure that something
-- a wall, for instance -- is built straight. Or to put it negatively, a plumb
line will immediately expose crookedness.
Now people like me do not like plumb lines. They are guilt producing. They expose
shortcomings. I did not use a plumb line for the rabbit hutch that I built -- in
fact I didn't even use a measuring tape. And you can tell.
Now look at Amos 7:7
Amos 7:7-8: This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had
been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord asked me,
"What do you see, Amos?" "A plumb line," I replied. Then the Lord said, "Look,
I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
The people of Israel felt good about themselves. They were good upright citizens,
they went church, they paid their taxes, they even probably even paid their parking
tickets on time. But measured against God's plumb line, they were way off. Why?
Their problem was that they thought they could satisfy God with a check list -- a
set of dos and don'ts -- and if they checked everything off on the list, then they
were "good." They were at ease in their own righteousness -- convinced that they
were good, upright people.
Yet they were blind to injustice. They were empty of compassion. So while they
kept the letter of the law, they neglected its spirit. Listen to God's accusation:
2:6 They sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals
You oppress the poor and crush the needy
5:11 You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain
5:12 You oppress the righteous and take bribes, and you deprive the poor of justice
in the courts
It is easy to feel satisified in our own sense of right and wrong -- our own standards
of justice -- as long as we measure ourselves by ourselves. We feel good about ourselves
as long as we set the standard.
But the righteousness that God desires is not a check list of do's and don'ts but
a deep hunger. He wants hearts that ache with compassion, hearts that are on fire
for justice.
Rather than being content in our own righteousness, he wants us to be hungry for his
righteousness.
3. My final gift from Amos is a bit odd -- it is these rocks.
But these are not just any rocks. I'd like you to imagine these rocks as the rubble
of a great place of worship -- a great temple or cathedral.
Look at the last of Amos's visions in ch. 9:
I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:
"Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with
the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape."
What an awful image! Why would God bring down a temple on the very people who had
come there to worship Him? The very place where they came to worship Him, God
was going to bring down on their heads. This does not seem very nice of God.
And in ch. 5 God says that he hates their worship -- that he can't stand their music.
Look at 5:23-24
Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll down like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream.
Why was God so upset at their worship? Here's why: Because they were using their
worship to try to control God, rather than coming to be transformed by him.
It's like this: Many people come to worship with the same sort of attitude they might
have when visiting a Lion in the Zoo. It's as if God is in a cage at the front
of the sanctuary. And each week we feed him, and bring him some money, and sing
him some nice songs, and we say nice things about him. And we hope that perhaps he will
stay here and be happy with us.
And just as the lion will not follow us home from the Zoo, so God stays conveniently
caged at church. It's really much more convenient that way. We can have the thrill
of visiting him, without any of the inconvenience of having him involved in our lives.
But God is not a caged lion. We come to him not to placate him, but to be transformed
by him. So when we feel at ease in our worship -- when we feel too comfortable
in our relationship with God, it is not really God we are worshipping.
Are you at ease in Zion? Let these three gifts be a reminder to you
-- ripe fruit -- to remind you not to be at ease in your own strength and ability
rather, put your trust and dependence on God alone.
-- a plumb line -- to remind you not to be at ease about your own righteousness
rather,
-- rubble -- to remind you not be at ease in your worship.
rather, tremble with awe and fear at the majesty of God.