Who's ready for good news today?

I have some, but it's buried, and we're going to dig it out, okay?

Welcome to week three in our series called A Maverick Spirit. We are listing to God speak. Specifically, we are listening to him speak to us today through this book in the Bible called Amos. 

 

The time is eight centuries before Christ. The place is Israel. Specifically, Israel refers to 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel, a nation that split after a Civil War. Ten tribes in the north called Israel. Two tribes in the south called Judah. Different kings. Different capital cities. Different destinies.

 

These were God's people. God loved them. He showered his blessings on them. He freed them, led them, delivered them, watched over them, enriched them, and said you're free. He made them his own special people. He cared for them perfectly.

There was between the people of Israel and their God, a special bond of affection called a covenant. It was a covenant of Grace in which God promised to bless them. And he did bless them over and over again.

But as the years and the centuries wore on, the people did what most people do — they began to forget their God... and then other things happened.

When my kids were little one of their favorite books, I mean one of my favorite books to read to them, was called If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.

Brilliant. If you give a mouse a cookie, it's going to ask for milk. If you give it milk, it's going to ask for a straw. If you give it a straw... and it keeps building and building and getting worse, all because you did the little thing of giving a mouse a cookie.

It's funny. And it's sweet. But it's also really deep. There's a deep truth in it. It's the fable of a slippery slope.

All you did, was the very little thing of giving a mouse a cookie. But that led to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing until you have a mess.

"Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of sandals. They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, And pervert the way of the humble. 
A man and his father go in to the same girl, To defile My holy name. They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge, And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god." (Amos 2:6-8)

Here is our scripture to get started. I warn you, like everything else. In this book it is harsh.

"Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of sandals. They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, And pervert the way of the humble. 
A man and his father go in to the same girl, To defile My holy name. They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge, And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god." (Amos 2:6-8)

 

This style of writing is called an oracle of judgment. It is number eight in a sequence of eight oracles of judgment. Amos comes riding into town and begins to preach. He preaches these oracles first against six other nations. Then he sets his sights on nation number seven, which is Judah. And then finally he brings it home to Israel. That is where he was. That is who he is preaching to.

Let's just meditate on this paragraph for a minute.

For three transgressions, and for four... that means they went too far and they crossed a line.
I will not turn away its punishment... that means their nation is in trouble with God, and there's no escape.

Then we get a list of some of the reasons why they are under God's judgment.

They perverted justice. "They sell the righteous for silver..." The people in power abuse their power. They take bribes. Justice is for sale. Influence is for sale. The whole power system is corrupt.

God instituted governments to protect freedom. He established government to ensure fairness and honest laws. But when those in power abuse their power, the court of last resort is always the Supreme Court of heaven. And when God has to step in, look out.

They oppressed the poor. "They sell the poor for a pair of sandals... they pant at the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor..." They won't stop taking and stealing until they get everything, even the dirt you have to brush out of your hair. The level of greed is truly over the top.

The laws of God are loaded with protections for the working class. If those laws were followed, nobody would be poor in Israel. Nobody would be in slavery. Nobody would go hungry. That was God's plan. But again, the wealthy and the mighty abused their positions and ground the poor into dust.

They practiced immorality. "A man and his father go in to the same girl, to defile my holy name..." For generations, now, the Jews have been worshiping idols. One of the tragic practices of idol worship in those days was called ritual prostitution. I am not going to describe it, but it is worse than you think.

Sexual sin rips at the fabric of family, which rips at the fabric of marriage, which rips at the fabric of society, which rips at the fabric of our covenant with God. God designed sex to help you create bonds of affection, and to really understand your true identity. But all of that blew up. You can never separate moral corruptions from your psychological health. And you can never separate moral corruptions from your covenant with God... "they defile my holy name."

They practiced sacrilege. That means they were spitting in God's face. "They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge, And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god." The law of God said that if a man owed you money, and he gave you his coat to hold onto it while he went to get the money, no matter what happened you had to give him his coat back before sunset. But no, they are using it as a blanket. And they are doing this by their altars. Not only are they taking advantage of the poor, they are using their evil gains for the worship of idols. And they're sipping their wine and getting drunk in the houses of their false gods.

There are multiple tragedies going on. One of the greatest is that these people see nothing wrong with what they are doing. They think they are good. They think they are right. They think they are holy. They think they are better than everybody else.

They are blind to their own sin... and they are deluded about the righteousness of their own cause.

But all of this is even deeper because of where they came from.