Amos 6:1–7

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you distinguished people of the leading nation, to whom the house of Israel comes. ²Travel to Kalneh and look. Go from there to Hamath Rabbah, and go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than those kingdoms? Are their territories greater than your territory? ³You who are trying to put off the evil day, you bring near the session for violence! ⁴Those who lie on ivory beds, sprawling upon their couches, eating lambs from the flock and calves straight from the stall, ⁵improvising tunes on the lyre, composing music for themselves on musical instruments like David, ⁶drinking large bowls of wine—they slather themselves with the most expensive perfumed oils, but they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. ⁷That is why they will go into exile as the first of the exiles. Those who sprawl out at their feasts for the dead will depart.  (EHV)

Dear Friends in Christ,

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Those words of Charles Dickens could well be used to describe the northern kingdom of Israel when Amos was sent to preach and prophecy. He was the last mouthpiece of God sent to them before the ultimate “Famine of the Word” came as they became the “lost 10 tribes.” “The worst of times.”

But it sure seemed to them that it was “the best of times.” For the moment, Assyria, the up and coming super-power to the East, was weakened. That enabled King Jeroboam II of Israel to flex his military muscles a bit. He stole some land from nearby Syria and took some plunder. The royal treasury looked good for the moment. Business was good. The wealthy were getting wealthier. The “elite” of the land were living in the lap of luxury, proud of their military strength and victories and self-assured in their false religiosity. Amos had been a layman—a farmer and a shepherd, until the Lord suddenly called him to be a prophet and inspired him to write his sermons.

In our text Amos asks the people of Israel a probing question: “What Makes You Boast or Grieve?” Are you boasting about yourselves instead of about God? Are you grieving about what God grieves about? Are you boasting that Israel is currently wealthy, but not grieving that it is spiritually poor? As we study Amos’ sermon, let’s ask ourselves in this sermon the same question: “What Makes You Boast or Grieve?”

Strength?

In 722 B.C. the fate of Israel would be forever sealed. In Jesus’ day the northern parts of Israel would be known as “Galilee of the Gentiles” because the children of Israel had long since been deported never to be heard from again. The area around the former capital of this northern kingdom was called Samaria in Jesus’ day, and rightly disdained for its mixed-up religion. Back in Amos’ day they were in the last of their “pride goes before the fall” days. They were mighty. They were unchallenged. They were victorious in battle. The coming threat of Assyria was looming just beyond the horizon, but they didn’t see it. They blinded themselves to it. They turned a deaf ear to Amos, but he sure made clear that the end of their feasting, partying and complacency would come to an end:

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you distinguished people of the leading nation, to whom the house of Israel comes. ²Travel to Kalneh and look. Go from there to Hamath Rabbah, and go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than those kingdoms? Are their territories greater than your territory? ³You who are trying to put off the evil day, you bring near the session for violence! A reign of terror is coming!

Kalneh, Hamath Rabbah and Gath were all once very powerful capital cities nearby that had been reduced to rubble. They’d once seemed invincible. But terror had struck them. Invading armies had conquered them and burned them to the ground.  ‘What makes you think you’re any different?’ Amos is asking. ‘So you think you are strong? So did they. ‘You think your army’s invincible? So did they. And now the same disaster is heading your way.’

These words are written to teach all people of all times, us included. Our country, the United States, became the most powerful nation on earth. Not long ago we seemed invincible militarily. But more and more our country is feasting and partying while turning our backs on God. We seem to have forgotten that all our success and power is in God’s hands, and unless we acknowledge Him as the Source and Protector of all we have and are, should we really boast or be confident?

After Israel was wiped out and only Judah was left, another prophet, Isaiah was sent to them. He warned Judah: Woe to those who [trust in alliances] for help, who put their faith in horses, who trust in chariots because there are many of them, who trust in charioteers​^a because they are very powerful. They do not trust in the Holy One of Israel. They do not seek the Lord. ​²The Lord is wise, and he will bring disaster. He will not go back on his word, but he will deal with those who do evil, and with those who help the wicked (Isaiah 31:1,2).

What Makes You Boast? Amos asks. Your own strength? Or is it your riches in which you place your trust?

Riches?

So for the moment, Israel’s military had brought them victory, and with victory came wealth. Wealth almost always leads to boasting. The Lord will not put up with that. Amos describes them: Those who lie on ivory beds, sprawling upon their couches, eating lambs from the flock and calves straight from the stall, ⁵improvising tunes on the lyre, composing music for themselves on musical instruments like David, ⁶drinking large bowls of wine—they slather themselves with the most expensive perfumed oils.

In ancient Israel ordinary people normally slept on the floor wrapped in their cloaks. Meat was reserved for special celebrations. But the wealthy ruling class in Samaria are sleeping on beds inlaid with carved ivory panels. They’re feasting regularly on choice cuts of lamb and veal. They spend their days and nights partying. Lots of wine, live entertainment, expensive lotions and perfumes. Meanwhile the poor starve.

But far worse, the whole nation was starving on a religious diet that was long on ceremony and style but offered no true substance—no truth at all. Jeroboam I had erected golden calves in Samaria and tried to blend it with the Bible. They had their religious gatherings and festivals, but it was all corrupted. They thought of Israel as rich but they were morally and spiritually bankrupt.

We’ve got it pretty good in America, too. We’ve been living in a time of unprecedented wealth. And wealth has always been one of Satan’s choice tools to lead people away from God. Those who are well to do among us sometimes think it’s entirely because we deserve it, and that those who are poor are only so because they’re lazy. That can easily lead to neglect and disparagement of those who suffer and a smug self-righteousness among those who are blessed. Even Christians can easily buy into that philosophy. In fact, some of the fastest growing churches in our country promote the so-called ‘prosperity Gospel.’

We easily forget how some of God’s choicest Saints have been poor and persecuted their whole lives, and how God, in fact, helped them to keep their lives free from the love of money. God knows how many lives have been ruined by winning the lottery. He also knows how wealth has ruined many a church. It’s a blessing whenever God prevents us from boasting in our own great strength or riches. So What Makes Us Boast? Let it not be in our wealth or our strength. Rather, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

The Ruin of Joseph

And What Is It That Makes Us Grieve? Amos asks.

⁴Those who lie on ivory beds, sprawling upon their couches, eating lambs … and calves … composing music … ⁶drinking large bowls of wine… but they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. ⁷That is why they will go into exile as the first of the exiles.

What made them grieve? It seems nothing. But saddest of all, they did “not grieve over the ruin of Joseph,” Joseph being another name for the northern 10 tribes, the kingdom of Israel. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, that there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). This was a time to mourn: All around them, the very foundations of Israel were collapsing in moral decay: Marriage, family, concern for the newborn, the poor, the sick and the dying. The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them, 2 Kings reports of their times (14:26). Faith in the One true God was corrupted into a new religion where people were told they were serving the Lord God Jehovah by bowing down to golden calves. Other foreign gods had been imported. Baal worship wasn’t as prominent as it had been under Ahab and Jezebel, but it was still around. People had even offered their children up as live burnt offerings to Molech.

And when they claimed to worship the true God, the Lord thundered in response to their hypocrisy through Amos: “I hate, I reject, your festivals! I do not delight in the aroma of the sacrifices at your sacred convocations. ​²²Even if you offer up to me your whole burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them. I will not pay any attention to your fellowship offerings of fattened calves.​ ​²³Get the noise of your songs away from me! I will not listen to the music of your harps. ​²⁴But let justice roll like the waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (5:21-24).

Through Moses, God had warned seven hundred years before, when they first were given the land: “Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.” Within twenty years of Amos, it would all happen. But who cares? Everything’s going great. Let’s party. Wipe the frown off your face and dance!

In our day we see our own moral foundations collapsing as well. Our grandparents would have fallen off their chairs to hear a politician without blushing advocate the killing of unborn children and the people applaud in response. But we’ve heard it so many times that there’s the chance we don’t grieve over it anymore. The shock of gay marriage is wearing off too. Meanwhile, in one church after another the Gospel has been turned into a new law: “Be loving. Don’t condemn sin. Anything goes. Just be nice.”

Do we grieve over the ruin of Joseph? Do we grieve over our nation’s slide into moral relativism? Toward total rebellion against God? Do we grieve over the hollowing out of the American church today? Times were worse when Amos lived than today, but there is a visible trend. Are we doing all we can to prevent the fall of the church and our nation? What issues get us pumped up? Do we care more about pocketbook issues than about the nation’s moral decay and the killing of innocent children? What Makes Us Boast Or Grieve?

God sent His Son to die for our sins of moral indifference. He has paid for our sins of boasting in our own strength and wealth. Your indifference and mine have been paid for on the cross. Let His forgiveness lead us to renewal. May it lead us to pray. May it lead us to act. May it lead us to speak up. Let us join the prophets of old and the watchmen of the church today in boasting in the Lord and grieving with Him over the destruction of all that matters most: the Gospel and the church. May He keep us faithful and make us true spokesmen and spokeswomen like Amos for His cause, for His Gospel. Amen.

Pastor Timothy Buelow

Our Saviour Lutheran Church

Lake Havasu City, Arizona