Preach Truth

Amos 9:10

(10) All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, 'Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.'

I realize that I beat this drum fairly often, but it shows up enough in the prophets that it is inescapable. It is clear that sometimes God's just wrath will come upon disobedient people. It certainly happened for Israel. Yet many chose to instead preach what people wanted to hear.

Our age of "tolerance" is certainly no different. We like to have our ears tickled by hearing how great we are. But are we really? We all still need to hear a message of repentance.

I'm being trained to preach truth. It seems pretty easy to be bold while sitting in a homiletics class. I've had times talking to people where I know that I turned them off by telling them what I believe to be truth. It was certainly not easy. Will I be able to do this in front of a congregation? Time will tell. I do know that the more I think about preaching the more I respect the faithful men who do preach truth. It's much easier to be liked.

Watch What you Wish For

Amos 5:18-20

(18) Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light,

(19) as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.

(20) Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

I love this little passage for a couple of reasons. One is that it really exalts God's holiness and justice. The other is that I like somewhat sarcastic imagery Amos uses to describe how the day of the Lord will be for his readers. They had an idea that it would be a good day for them. Amos informs them otherwise.

I think we all have a sense of personal justice in that we think that we are going to be vindicated for how we think and live. We believe that perfect justice will see us in the right and others in the wrong. This passage tells us differently. Much later on in Scripture we get a pretty vivid description of this day from Peter:

2 Peter 3:9-12

(9) The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

(10) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

(11) Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,

(12) waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

The Lord is waiting until all of His elect are in the fold before He comes back in justice. My hope is in the fact that the day will come. I have assurance that I will be safe from the upcoming judgment because I am in Christ. It won't be pretty for a lot of people though. If you don't know Jesus I advise you to give this consideration. The world had a start and it is going to have an end. Are you going to be ready?

Worship the Creator

Amos 5:8-9

(8) He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name;

(9) who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

There is a similar passage earlier in Amos 4 that mentions how He made the mountains as well. According to my ESV Study Bible notes, this stands in contrast to the beliefs of some people that there were gods in the mountains or that the constellations were gods. While the passages both certainly stand on their own in describing God's great power and majesty, I think the background information adds a little texture.

The point is that we are faced with the same choice every day. Do we worship the Creator or His created? It's a lot easier to worship the created and we seem to do it very naturally. We worship sex, money, power, fame, comfort, etc. After all, these things are right in front of us and they do demand our attention. We decide whether they will get it or not.

Worshiping the Creator is a bit more difficult. He reveals Himself to us through His creation, but we cannot ever fully grasp who He really is. All we have are analogies. We can compare His greatness to finite things that we can understand, but none of them fully capture just who He is.

There are many folks who say that studying theology is a waste of time. Why do I need to worry about details when I just want to worship? The answer is because we cannot trust ourselves. We need to get focused on the object of worship if we are to worship correctly. That's why studying theology is important. That's also why I update this blog regularly with my findings in Scripture about who God is. I need to work this out and make the connections as much as anyone.

Pressed Down

Amos 2:13-16

(13) "Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down.

(14) Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life;

(15) he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life;

(16) and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day," declares the LORD.

We went to a local pumpkin patch and corn maze yesterday, so this passage kind of jumped out at me. There is a big difference between the way an empty cart rides and when the hayride is full of parents and kids. The ground certainly shows the difference too.

That's the image used here to describe how the Lord will press down His rebellious people. It's not a pretty sight, is it? This view of God is a little different than the one typically peddled here in the United States. We want our God to make things better for us. We interpret grace to mean that it doesn't matter if we transgress His laws because He is like some kind of cosmic grandfather who winks at sin.

We see a different view here. This is not to say that God delights in pressing down the disobedient. However, He will do so if that is what they need to repent. A subsequent passage makes it clear that a remnant would survive, but it won't be pretty:

Amos 3:11-12

(11) Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered."

(12) Thus says the LORD: "As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.

I am not saying that God will beat us down if we are disobedient, though that might happen. My point is simply to show God's character. The gospel is necessary because apart from the atoning work of Christ we are destined for His just wrath. It may not be popular to discuss God's wrath these days, but I think that meditating upon that aspect of His nature makes grace seem that much more amazing.