The starting point for our story this week is when Amos gets the sack.

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy any more at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”

The messages of judgment God gave Amos to deliver were not well-received. Like many of the prophets, Amos was not popular – he was rejected. But we can learn from Amos’s response to this rejection what it means to be, God’s messenger. This applies particularly to prophets, Christians whose spiritual gifts include listening to God and receive specific messages to deliver to the church or to the world. It also applies to Ministers, Missionaries and those who are called to full time Christian ministry and service. But the message is also for every Christian – because we are all called to share the good news of Jesus with a lost world. Amos teaches us about what it means to be God’s messenger. He teaches us about the message God gives us, and the kind of response we can expect as well.

GOD’S MESSENGER
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14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, `Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

Amaziah tries to “sack” Amos. “Earn your bread there” – go be a prophet over there!” But he can’t! Being a prophet is not a profession, like being a priest was. Amaziah got the prestigious job of priest at Bethel passed down from his father and grandfather. But Amos says “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son”.

Being a prophet is not a job but a calling – 15 But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, `Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

Amos wasn’t told by his careers officer at school to be a prophet – he was cut out to be a shepherd. He didn’t answer an ad in the jobs pages, “Prophet of God wanted – no previous experience necessary.”
Amos became a prophet because God gave him a message to deliver and told him to deliver it! A prophet doesn’t choose his audience or his message. That was Amos’s reply to Amaziah. You can’t sack me! I don’t work for you! I work for God!

Prophets, those who listen to God and receive a specific message to deliver to church or world.

We thought a long time ago about listening to God and recognising His voice and delivering his message – possibly the most important of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gift of prophecy. Eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, the inspiration to deliver God’s messages. We need to learn to listen to God more. But then we mustn’t be afraid of sharing what God has said to us. The right to speak comes from being sent by God! But this passage speaks not just to those Christians with the spiritual gift of prophecy, but to others who are called to be God’s messengers as well.

Ministers and Missionaries and everyone who is called to full time Christian ministry.

Being a Minister or a Missionary is NOT a job. It’s not a profession. It doesn’t have set hours, or career progression.
Christian Ministry is a vocation. It is a CALLING.

Ephesians 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The task of prophets and evangelists and pastor-teachers is to prepare God’s people for works of service, To equip and enable and encourage everyone in the church to play their own part, so that all together the church can be built up to true Christian maturity. As such being a minister or a missionary had not got very much to do with training and experience, and everything to do with being called by God and inspired by the Holy Spirit! Don’t get me wrong – training and experience are important. I am sometimes surprised by how little regard is given to training in church life. Somebody would be very foolish to think he could become a solicitor just by watching a few episodes of Perry Mason or LA Law or Ally McBeal or Boston Legal. Training is valuable and essential. But training only equips us to avoid making some of the more obvious mistakes. Training and qualifications and experience alone do not make a good Minister or Missionary. It’s all about the call of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We must always rely on God and not on our training or our experience!

And being called by God gives us something which training and experience will never do. Being called by God gives Ministers and Missionaries the right to speak. Our right to speak comes from being sent by God! And it is to God that we are answerable. Not the church – but God. Because it is GOD that we work for!

But then I need to be clear that in these things Ministers and Missionaries are no different from every other Christian. Because

Every Christian is called to share the good news of Jesus with a lost world.

Sharing the gospel isn’t just a specific job for specific Christians – it’s God’s command to ALL Christians. We are all called and equipped by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses for Christ, to tell other people what God has done in our lives.

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

John 20:21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Again, it’s NOT about training or experience. Some Christians think they couldn’t possible talk to their friends about Jesus Christ because they haven’t ever done so before, they haven’t been trained in evangelism! That’s no excuse!! We speak because God tells us to!

2 Corinth 4: 13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak,
We speak because we have faith and our faith constrains us to speak about the wonderful things God has done for us in Christ!

Sometimes we can feel we don’t have any right to speak about Jesus. People may even say to us, that we don’t have the right to thrust our views on others! But the right to speak comes from being sent by God! Other people have no right to stop us from sharing the Gospel with them. Remember what happened in Acts 4 when Peter and John were brought before the Jewish Council the Sanhedrin because they had been preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.
Acts 4:18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Ministers or every other Christian. Nobody can give you the sack from being God’s messenger! It is what GOD commands us to do!
GOD’S MESSAGE

Prophets are Christians who listen to God and receive a specific message to deliver to the church or to the world.

Sometimes encouraging, sometimes challenging! Amos brought many terrifying messages. In this chapter alone, we have warnings about plague of locusts, destruction by fire, picture of a “plumb line” which reminds us powerfully that our God is a holy God who demands righteousness and justice and holiness from his chosen people.
7 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. 8 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. 9 “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”

The important thing is to find our what message God wants us to deliver – and then to proclaim it fearlessly.

This is true for Ministers and Missionaries. Our task is to proclaim God’s message. It is not to entertain people. We are in God’s business, not show business! Of course we should never keep people out of the Kingdom through boredom. But neither should we pander to people’s wishes by only telling them what they want to hear. Amos certainly didn’t do that!! And Ministers must not compromise their message either.

2 Timothy 4:1 ¶ In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage- with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

The world is full of people who just want to be entertained. They don’t want the words of eternal life. They don’t want the truth which will set them free. But that is what God calls us to proclaim. No watering down. No compromise.
In this consumer culture, and especially with young people and those outside the church, there is the constant pressure to be entertaining. We are scared that if we aren’t entertaining enough then people will go elsewhere. Resist that temptation. Ignore the itching ears. Preach the Word!

Every Christian – because we are all called to share the good news of Jesus with a lost world.

We have a gospel to proclaim. The wonderful Good News of God becoming man, and dying on the cross to save us, and rising from the dead to share His resurrection life with us. We have a message of forgiveness and reconciliation and new life. We must be as courageous as Amos to preach the gospel by our words and our actions to everybody. And that includes even rich and famous and important people. Amos delivered his message to all the people, priests and even the Kings, not just the ordinary people. We are called to reach out to ALL people, not to show favouritism but preaching to ALL! They ALL need Christ! Because the dire warnings of judgement and destruction we find in the book of Amos are only a shadow of the destiny which awaits those who do NOT find forgiveness and new life in Christ. If we do NOT speak – others will perish because of our silence.

And we have the right to preach the gospel not only because God has sent us, but because our message is true. We do indeed have the words which give eternal life.

THE RESPONSE TO GOD’S MESSAGE

The message will not always be popular! The message Amos brought certainly wasn’t – he got into big trouble! Most of the prophets did! Anybody who faithfully proclaims God’s message is asking for trouble!

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This goes for Prophets, those who listen to God and receive a specific message to deliver to church or world.

It also applies to Ministers and Missionaries and all who are called to full time Christian ministry.

Sometimes God’s message will not be popular. Sometimes it will land us in big trouble. Sometimes with the Kings and bigwigs, the headteachers and RE specialists. Sometimes we’ll be in trouble with other religious people – other churches, maybe even with our own church! This shouldn’t surprise us. It was Spurgeon who said, “The gospel not only comforts us in our afflictions but also afflicts us in our comforts.”

The challenge for us is to be certain to find out from God what He wants us to be saying. Then we must be brave as the prophets of old and deliver God’s message. And as long as we are being faithful and proclaiming God’s Word boldly, we can leave God to worry about the consequences.

And this goes for Every Christian – because we are all called to share the good news of Jesus with a lost world.

Not everybody we share our faith with will immediately be gloriously saved! Many will reject us. Or insult us. Or ignore us. But if we are too scared to share the gospel with our friends because we think they might reject us, a lot less of those friends will be with us in heaven! And that will be sad! We have all been entrusted with the gospel to proclaim. God has sent us. Nobody can shut us up!
14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, `Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

You can’t sack me. I don’t work for you. I work for God!

I’ve told you before about my friend Paul. We went to school together. We played sport for the same teams. We sat in the same lessons at school and we went to the same University. It was Paul who introduced me to Crusaders and Church and without his friendship and his witness I wouldn’t be a Christian today.

But when it came to living the Christian life we went very different ways. At school I would be busy arranging Christian activities and speaking in Christian Union meetings and even assemblies. After school Paul worked in a home for folk with learning difficulties. At university I was busy with Bible studies and prayer meetings and running the College Christian Union. Holidays were filled with Crusader Camps and Holiday Clubs. Instead Paul filled his spare moments with helping people. Doing decorating and household chores for single parent families. Gardening old ladies. Working with disabled children. And we would sometimes discuss, which was more important? “Spiritual” activities or practical Christian service?

Looking back now with the benefit of hindsight and rather more understanding of the Bible I have no doubt at all that the prophet Amos would have sided with Paul and against me!

Amos 5:21 ¶ “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. 22 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. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

It was God who had commanded these religious feasts and assemblies. It was God who had set up the whole system of offerings and sacrifices. It was God who commanded worship in music and songs. So why was God so angry with His chosen people Israel?

God was angry because all Israel’s feasts and sacrifices and worship were an abomination to Him, if they weren’t offered by a holy nation living holy lives. The Israelites believed that as longs as they did their worship right, and kept up to date with their sacrifices, God would be pleased with them. But God has another agenda altogether!
24 Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Three weeks ago in Amos chapter 1 we saw Amos prophesying that God’s judgement was going to fall on the pagan nations around Israel. We saw that ignorance of God’s Law is no excuse! Both Leaders and People will be subject to judgement. God is angry about offences against basic human rights. Brutality. Slavery. Treachery. Revenge. Genocide. Sacrilege. Sins against people, against innocents, against even the unborn and the dead. So many examples of man’s inhumanity to man in the time of Amos and just as much today!

Then two weeks ago in Amos chapter 2 we saw how the nation of Israel specifically is condemned for rejecting God’s Law. In the time of Amos the nation is sinking in the swamps of injustice, immorality and corruption, and they are even throwing away their heritage and rejecting spiritual things altogether. These themes occur time and again in Amos’s preaching. We find them again in Amos chapter 5.

There’s INJUSTICE.

5:7 You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground 8 (he who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns blackness into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land- the LORD is his name- 9 he flashes destruction on the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin), 10 you hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth.

There was EXPLOITATION

5:11 You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.

Israel was exploiting the poor and needy – trampling the poor and denying justice to the oppressed.

8:4 ¶ Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, 5 saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”- skimping the measure, boosting the price and heating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat. 7 The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.

There was CORRUPTION

5:12 For I know how many are your offences and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. 13 Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil. 14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. 15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

We still see corruption in many places today, in politics, in big business, in the justice systems of many countries, even corruption in the church. Corruption, Injustice, exploitation, immorality, these things all make God angry!!

And all that sinning completely spoiled any worship or sacrifices that the Israelites were bringing to God.
21 ¶ “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. 22 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. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
There are important lessons we need to learn from this passage.
1. God expects us to live a CONSISTENT Christian life

The Jewish sacrificial system was given by God to help people cope with the terrible problem “I am doing my very best to be holy but I still sin. How can I be forgiven?”
God’s answer was the provision of sacrifices for sin. But instead the Jews in Amos’s time had turned that system on its head. They weren’t trying to live holy lives any more. They didn’t care about righteousness and justice. As long as they always went and offered praise and made sacrifices they thought they could live any way they liked the rest of the week.

Some Christians think like that. They think that as long as they keep up with their Christian activities they can do what they like the rest of the week. But that’s not the way it works!

Lots of people are scared of standing up as a Christian in their workplace or in their school. But many people aren’t scared because they think they might face prejudice or persecution. Many people are scared to let other people know they are Christians because they know that their life during the week is a contradiction of the faith they sing about on Sundays.

I saw a challenging cartoon of a businessman juggling phones making life or death decisions:
“We’ll send them to Taiwan Frank, they don’t bother with safety regulations.”
“That’s no problem Ted – if they make a fuss we’ll just put them into liquidation.”
“Ok Jerry so the product is lousy, but that’s hardly going to bother an advertising agency is it!”
“Barbara, will you phone my wife and remind her that we’re hosting the golfer’s prayer fellowship tonight.”
2. God expects us to BE INVOLVED in issues of righteousness and justice.

24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

For many decades of the 20th century the Christian Church was split into two halves. There were those Christians who devoted themselves to preaching the gospel of salvation. And there were other Christians who spent their lives working for social justice. There were times when the two sides would debate which was the more important mission of the church – evangelism or social action? Saving souls or feeding the poor?

There was a time when evangelical Christians like us were suspicious of Christians who were involved in social and political action. But of course BOTH are part of the mission that Jesus sends His church to continue. Nowadays people see the importance of integral mission – mission which integrates words and actions. I hope the time has now come when all Christians are committed to getting involved in issues of justice and righteousness – seeing the gospel in action on behalf of the poor and oppressed and exploited peoples of the world.

3. God expects US to care for people

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

God doesn’t just expect Christians to preach and campaign about social action. God expects us to help people! Of course, if we love people we will want to tell them about Jesus and about how much God loves them. But we will also want to offer them help in all kinds of practical ways.

James 2:14 ¶ What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. … 24 a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. … 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

The great discovery of the Reformation was that we are not saved by doing good works. We are saved by faith alone. But the corresponding truth is that saving faith is NEVER alone!! True saving faith is always expressed in acts of love and compassion, in foot-washing and sacrificial service.

Some Christians really deserve the criticism that they are “too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use!” Too busy going to prayer meetings and Bible Studies to help their neighbours! Which is more important – believing or doing? Which holds the keys to heaven? Faith or compassionate service? The answer is BOTH! We need both! Jesus makes this very clear in His parable of the sheep and the goats.

Matthew 25: 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
So they received their inheritance – the Kingdom prepared for them since the creation of the world.

Jesus’s teaching in His parable is very clear. What counts is seeing Jesus in other people and helping them in practical ways. Being the good Samaritan! Loving your neighbour as yourself! “If that were Christ would you give HIM your blanket?”

Going to church every week isn’t enough. Going to Bible Study isn’t enough. Singing all the latest songs isn’t enough. My friend Paul got it right and I had got it wrong. God expects us to love people!!

Gavin Reid – Anglican Bishop and Archbishop’s advisor on evangelism

“My world was a cheerful busy world of Christian activity into which world and major social issues rarely impinged. There were, after all, sermons to prepare, the youth fellowship to run, holiday conferences to plan, family holidays to arrange, meetings to address, prayers to say, reading (theological) to ponder over, a wife to embrace, children to play with, letters on the office desk to answer, over-long pseudo-intellectual conversations on the state of the Church to engage in and much else. All was well with
my little world and I was hardly aware that any other world existed. My old happiness therefore, depended on my living out an unreal life in-an unreal world.

Christians in the West, and in particular those of my own Bible-believing evangelical variety, have managed to surround themselves with their own unreal culture. We
have our own entertainers in the popular speakers, preachers, platform personalities and gospel musicians. We are writing our own Christian musicals and raising up our own
Christian poets and writers. None of these things, when viewed individually, is in any sense undesirable. But what happens when all these human ingredients and their
outputs are brought together is that we have the mixture for a pie of pure escapism.

The same dynamics which make Christian communication inward rather than outgoing can be seen in popular big-congregation preaching on the one hand and the incessant round of conferences and conventions on the other. These can so easily be diversions, time-consumers and escape routes for Christian activity. They need not be; they should not be; they often are. Once again the acid test of their worth is whether they help us to face up to the harsh world outside or whether they encourage us to avoid it.

We can have too many Christian activities – we run the danger of organising ourselves out of being citizens of the same world as our neighbours!”

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

1. God expects us to live a CONSISTENT Christian life
2. God expects us to BE INVOLVED in issues of righteousness and justice.
3. God expects US to care for people

Amos 3:8 The lion has roared- who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken- who can but prophesy?

Amos 3:8 The lion has roared- who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken- who can but prophesy?

God was roaring then and is surely roaring now like a lion at all the evil and wickedness of men and nations. The day of judgement is surely coming!
Last week we saw that God’s judgement was going to fall on the pagan nations around Israel. We saw that ignorance of God’s Law is no excuse! Both Leaders and People will be subject to judgement. God is angry about offences against basic human rights. Brutality. Slavery. Treachery. Revenge. Genocide. Sacrilege. Sins against people, against innocents, against even the unborn and the dead. So many examples of man’s inhumanity to man in the time of Amos and just as much today!

This week God’s message through his prophet Amos is directed against the two kingdoms which made up the nation of Israel, Judah in the south where Jerusalem was and then Israel in the north where Amos was preaching. If ignorance is no excuse then, Judah and Israel had even less than no excuse – because they were God’s chosen covenant people. They had received the Law of Moses. Their sins were even worse – because in sinning against God’s Law and breaking his commandments they were deliberately and knowingly rejecting God Himself.

ISRAEL IS CONDEMNED FOR REJECTING GOD’S LAW

4 This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, 5 I will send fire upon Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.”

The fire of God was waiting to fall on the southern Kingdom of Judah for rejecting God and breaking His Laws.

I’m not saying that Britain is or ever was a Christian nation – but at least there was a time when most of our leaders and our politicians cared about what God revealed is right and wrong in the Bible. There was a time when most of them “feared God” and knew they would be accountable to a higher authority for the laws they made and the policies they followed. Those days are long gone!

But last week we saw that nations are judged even if they don’t know God’s revealed Law. How much more will a nation be judged if they DO know God’s Law and then reject it! For centuries Britain and America have acted as if they have a “special relationship” with God. I am NOT saying that specific events are “the judgement of God” on USA or UK – but I am saying that both nations have turned away from the one true God by their actions. We have rejected the Law of God. they have not kept His decrees. We have worshipped false gods, and so God’s judgement will be against our nations. If there was ever a time when honouring God and obeying His Law brought prosperity to Britain or to USA, that time is long past!

God spells out to his chosen people Israel the ways they have rejected him. And we must be ready to put our hands up and admit that our nation had rejected God’s Laws in much the same way!

INJUSTICE

6 This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.

Israel was exploiting the poor and needy – trampling the poor and denying justice to the oppressed. And the rich nations of the world have been doing these things to the poor nations for centuries and only now the church and the world is beginning to wake up to these sins. The problem is that injustice and exploitation are so much part of the fabric of society that we don’t even realise what we are doing is wrong.

Wasting our resources on trivial entertainment while half the world does not have reasonable sanitation and a billion people do not have safe drinking water and around the world every fifteen seconds another child dies from water-borne diseases.

The United Nations judges a person to be in poverty if they are living on less than around a dollar a day. Still we who are so rich insist on paying as little for our food as possible so those third world farmers who are producing our food are left trapped way below that poverty line. That’s what’s called the “free market”. God calls it exploitation – “trampling on the heads on the poor as upon the dust of the ground.”

So much of our consumer culture can be summed up in just one word – greed! Christian businessman Sir Fred Catherwood once said, “Greed is the logical result of the belief that there is no life after death. We grab what we can while we can however we can and then hold on to it hard.”

Exploiting the poor and the weak. This sin is international but we even see it within our own society. The treatment of migrants and refugees is as bad as the way those in the benefits trap are treated.

It has been said that the Referendum decision to leave the European Union was due in part to people who felt left out of the prosperity which belonging to Europe is supposed to bring the United Kingdom. It is being said that Donald Trump owes his election victory in the United States to “a coalition of the forgotten,” rural and working class people who felt left behind by the liberal coastal elites. There is inequality and injustice in the USA and there is even inequality and injustice in England, where benefits claimants and migrants are demonised by the media and the gap between the rich and the poor is growing wider and wider.
They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. We rich nations have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees – in all the injustice we have permitted and perpetrated. And Amos makes very clear to us, God is angry!

IMMORALITY

7b Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.

Incest may not be a problem we are aware of in this country although the statistics of the instances of child abuse are appalling and tragic. But just about every other form of sexual sin seems to be widespread. Just as our nation seems to be waking up to social sins of injustice and exploitation, it seems to be turning a blind eye to immorality.

Adultery seems almost to be the “norm”. Couples living together without getting married certainly is. Homosexuality is not merely tolerated but advocated and even promoted. The false god of “political correctness” is worshipped. In the areas of sexual morality they have certainly rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees.

I saw a fascinating news report this week.
Oxford Dictionaries has declared “post-truth” as its 2016 international word of the year, reflecting what it called a “highly-charged” political 12 months.
It is defined as an adjective relating to circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than emotional appeals.
Oxford Dictionaries’ Casper Grathwohl said: “Fuelled by the rise of social media as a news source and a growing distrust of facts offered up by the establishment, post-truth as a concept has been finding its linguistic footing for some time,” he said. “We first saw the frequency really spike this year in June with buzz over the Brexit vote and again in July when Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination. … I wouldn’t be surprised if post-truth becomes one of the defining words of our time.” BBC News website 16/11/16

Emotional appeals over-riding objective facts. We are indeed living more and more in a “post-truth” world!

And while the world around us had turned more and more against God and His laws, the church has fallen more and more silent. Worse than that, certain sectors of the church and certain prominent churchmen have gone further and replaced the Word of God the Bible with “situational ethics”. The words of Romans 1:32 are exactly right. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them.

And while the church is busy compromising, this actually encourages the world around to run further and further away from God

CORRUPTION

8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.

The press and the TV news are always full of scandal stories. Corruption in politics. Corruption in big business. Corruption in the police and in the courts and in the justice systems of many countries although mercifully not this country. And in some places corruption has been part of the institutional church for centuries. What worries me is that the people who care most about all this corruption seem to be the newspapers and the media who can get good stories out of it. If only politicians and businesses were as zealous at rooting out and dealing with corruption, it would be much less of a problem.

It’s all just greed in another form of course, mingled with dishonesty. And whilst the church over the years has tried to speak out about some kinds of sins, usually the personals sins, issues like integrity and justice have hardly ever been mentioned.

REJECTING SPIRITUAL THINGS

10 “I brought you up out of Egypt, and I led you for forty years in the desert to give you the land of the Amorites. 11 I also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men. Is this not true, people of Israel?” declares the
LORD. 12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

Israel had its special relationship with God. And their greatest sins were the ways they turned away from God and rejected God.

Nazirites were religious Jews who took special vows dedicating lives to God, shouldn’t drink wine. But in Amos’s time they were pressured to break their vows, tone down their commitment!

Even churches give impression that extremes can be bad – too much prayer, too much commitment, too much holiness are frowned upon.

Revision of blasphemy laws to protect ALL religions – political correctness once again. Risk that such a law would make it illegal to proclaim that Jesus is the only way to be saved – because that would offend followers of “false gods” Time may come when it is illegal to proclaim Jesus is Lord. Blasphemy Laws designed to prevent people rebelling against God turned on their head to prevent Christians from proclaiming the truths of Scripture and the gospel of salvation!

Prophets – speaking for God – silenced!!

Silences in the world around – sometimes silenced by the church!!

Rejecting God’s Law. Injustice. Immorality. Corruption. Rejecting spiritual things completely.

JUDGEMENT IS SURELY COMING

4 This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. … 5 I will send fire upon Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.”

9 ¶ “I destroyed the Amorite before them, though he was tall as the cedars and strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.

God has destroyed nations before and He will do so again!

13 “Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain. 14 The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not save his life. 15 The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away, and the horseman will not save his life. 16 Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day,” declares the LORD.

Judgement came on the kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the form of the invasion from Babylon. Judgement may come on nations today in this life in all kinds of ways as the Lord withdraws His blessing and protection from a nation as they reject Him and His Laws. And of course judgement awaits every person in the life to come.

But what about Christians who reject God and disobey His Laws, and teach others that it is alright to do the same. They will also face God’s judgement. But as Amos warns us about judgement, what form will judgement take for those who claim to be Christians.

1. Not everybody who claims to be a Christian is truly born again. Many will have a terrible shock when they stand before the judgement throne of God, politicians and businessmen and church leaders alike when they face His condemnation for the sins they have led others into.

1 John 2:3 ¶ We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
3:6 No-one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No-one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what isright is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No-one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

So if a person who claims to be a Christian is persisting in sin, they need to look very carefully at their life. Are they really saved? If they are – why do they still wilfully continue to disobey God.

But then there are true Christians who fall into sin. If this happens I want to reassure you – as I was saying this morning, once saved always saved. God will not abandon you. God will not reject you. Just confess and receive God’s forgiveness, and start afresh with God.

But true Christians who sin will face judgement. They will have to live with the consequences of their sins. If they have broken the law of the land they will still have to face the just penalties. And then in heaven we will all have to face God’s judgement on the lives we have lived.

1 Corinthians 3:11 ¶ For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly
stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

God is angry. He is angry with nations and he is angry with individuals, for rejecting His laws, for injustice and immorality and corruption, for rejecting spiritual things and pursuing greed. The Lion has roared. Who will not tremble!

Amos 3:8 The lion has roared- who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken- who can but prophesy?

Amos brought his message of judgement in the days of Uzziah King of Judah and Jeroboam King of Israel around the same time as Hosea and Jonah and just before Isaiah around 760 BC. Amos compares God to a roaring lion on the prowl which has cornered its prey and is about to pounce.
Amos 1:2 “The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.”

God was roaring then and is surely roaring now like a lion at all the evil and wickedness of men and nations. God will only put up with injustice for so long. The day of judgement is surely coming! In later chapters Amos’s message is directed at Israel, God’s chosen people. But he begins with messages of judgement against Israel’s neighbours. These are pagan nations. They are not part of God’s covenant people. But that is no excuse for their sins and wickedness. These nations are not being condemned for sins against Israel. Their offences were committed against other pagan nations. But even though they were ignorant of the Law God had revealed to Moses, the nations would still face God’s judgement.
IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE

God created men and women in His own image. We are spiritual beings. We have a conscience which enables us to know the difference between right and wrong. And God has revealed enough about Himself in Creation for people to know that some things are truly wrong. They don’t need another and specific revelation of what is right and wrong. Everybody knows that certain things are wrong, certain actions are evil, in modern words, certain offences are offences against “basic human rights”. And anybody who does such things will face the judgement of a Holy and just God.

Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 ¶ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

The problem is that human beings have deliberately and knowingly rejected God. They have turned away from God to worship false gods – in earlier days idols, in these days materialism and wealth and possessions and success and fame.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Many, many people have rejected God – so God rejects them. They have chosen to live their lives without God. So God has let them get on with it by themselves!
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator- who is for ever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.

So the judgement of God will fall on the world which is running away from Him!

THE LEADERS AND THE PEOPLE ARE JUDGED

“For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath].

Amos’s God is not only the LORD, Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is Above all the Almighty God, the Sovereign Lord. He is the Lord of all the earth, the Judge of all the earth.
Judgement is well-deserved! “For three sins, even for four.” The same for each of these nations. For 3 sins – each of them alone demanding judgement, that would been enough. ample provocation!!! But God is patient, until the fourth sin – the final straw. I wonder how many of the nations of the world are on their final warning – 3 strikes already, one more sin and you’re out!

Judgement is certain! “I will not turn back my wrath.” God has spoken. No escape now!!

5 I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the sceptre in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the LORD.

Judgement especially on the leaders of nations. The leaders are especially guilty. The King. And the King of Ashdod. The king of Ammon will go into exile, he and his officials together, The ruler of Moab and his officials.

Yet also judgement on the people collectively. The whole nation is condemned for its sins. The whole nation will be punished.
The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir, I will turn my hand against Ekron, till the last of the Philistines is dead,”

All these fortresses and cities destroyed. And in every case the judgement will be by fire. Fire raging and consuming and destroying the whole nations.

So what were these SINS OF MEN AND NATIONS?

So many atrocities – so many offences against basic human rights –examples of “Man’s inhumanity to man!” We could as easily find the same sins in the world today.

3 ¶ This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, 4 I will send fire upon the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.

Ancient Damascus – using sledges with iron teeth – ploughs – it’s as if the people of Gilead has been put through a combine harvester! Evil and cruelty against a whole nation! This passages shows us that God cares about how nations wage war, and how they fight terrorism. The tactics of so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq with suicide bombers and using innocent civilians as human shields. The kidnapping of children by Boko Haram in Nigeria are just two examples. And in war, as in every area of life, the ends DO NOT justify the means! NEVER!

6 This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom, 7 I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses.

Ancient Gaza – dealing in slavery. Treating people as possessions, as commodities. God cares how nations make their money! Exploiting other nations or their populations or their resources earns God’s judgement. And slavery didn’t end a hundred years ago. It’s not even just a problem in the 3rd world. In our contacts with Bulgaria we were aware of the problem with an orphanage where the so-called “carers” are selling the children into prostitution. And a newspaper recently reported that very many of the hundreds of prostitutes in one London borough had been trafficked into the country by organised gangs from Eastern Europe.

9 This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood, 10 I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre that will consume her fortresses.”

Ancient Tyre – Slave trading and also dishonesty. disregarding a treaty of brotherhood Breaking their promises. Treachery on an international scale. Stabbing other people in the back. God is as angry when nations betray one another as when individuals betray each other.

11 This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked, 12 I will send fire upon Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.”

The Edomites were the descendents of Isaac’s oldest son Esau, from whom Jacob stole his birthright of his inheritance, his Father’s blessing and God’s promises. The Edomites stood opposed the Israelites ever since. Their sin was vengeance and revenge. Nations today must be very careful to ensure that their “worldwide war on terrorism” is concerned with prevention and protection rather than mere revenge.

13 This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders, 14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses
Ancient Ammon. Slaughtering innocent civilians, even pregnant women, but more than that in doing so wiping out the next generation. Genocide, all “to extend his borders”. Such sins bring God’s judgement.

2:1 ¶ This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Moab, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because he burned, as if to lime, the bones of Edom’s king, 2 I will send fire upon Moab that will consume the fortresses of Kerioth.

In all cultures there is a respect for the dead. For graveyards and burial places. Moab’s sin was desecrating the graves of their enemies. The sins of Auswitz and Belsen.

PAUSE FOR REFLECTION

Brutality. Slavery. Treachery. Revenge. Genocide. Sacrilege. Sins against people, against innocents, against even the unborn and the dead. Man’s inhumanity to man. We can find examples of all these sins and so many more on the world stage today. Paul’s words in Romans 1 are as true today.

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Inventing new ways of doing evil! And all these are not only sins against our fellow men. Even worse they are sins against Almighty God. sins which will bring judgement. The word of the Lord to Amos is as true for the world today.

Amos 1:2 “The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.”

History tells us that the judgements promised DID fall on Damascus and Gaza and Tyre and Edom and Ammon and Moab, as under God’s hand the mighty nation of Babylon invaded them all and one by one these nations were all wiped out. And judgement will come again. There is a limit to God’s patience. God WILL JUDGE all evildoers. The leaders of the nations. And their peoples. And if that judgement does not come in this world, it will certainly come in the next as every single person alive or dead will stand before the judgement throne of God! Ignorance is no excuse.

So-called Christian countries will not escape God’s judgment either. There is a quote from John Calvin which is doing the rounds at the moment. Some are applying it to Britain after the Referendum decision to leave the European Union. More are applying to the USA after their election of Donald Trump to be their next president. “When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers.” Many in the United States trust in their Christian heritage. Their national motto is “In God We Trust” and those words appears on all their coins and bank notes. But that motto does not mean that the United States will escape the judgment of the Holy and Righteous God. And similarly, many people in Britain like to think we are a Christian country but we know that is no longer the case, if ever it was. Our nation too will be called to account for the evil we have done, and the good we have left undone, through ignorance, through weakness and through our own deliberate fault.

We are going to spend some time in prayer now. And I am going to use a prayer written by Pastor Joe Wright of Central Christian Church, Wichita, Kansas 20 years ago for the opening of the Kansas Senate. It is even more relevant today than it was then.

Heavenly Father,
we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, “Woe on those who call evil good” (Isaiah 5:20) but that’s exactly what we’ve done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism;
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism;
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle;

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery;
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation;

We have killed our unborn and called it choice;
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable;

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem;
We have abused power and called it political savvy;
We have coveted our neighbour’s possessions and called it ambition;

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression;
We have ridiculed the time-honoured values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free…

In the name of your son, the living Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.