What God Really Wants

Reading: Amos 5:18-27

Amos 5:18–27 ESV

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? 21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Prayer

One of the most famous American poems was pinned by a man who called himself “Phin.” Ernest Thayer was his real name, and he was the humor columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. On June 3, 1888, “Phin” introduced us to baseball’s best-known fictional character.

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;

the score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.

And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,

a sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

It tells the story of Casey, mighty Casey, on whom rested all the hopes of Mudville. Fans know that if they are to have any chance at victory, then it lies in the hands of Casey. The problem is that there are two outs already, and the next two batters aren’t exactly All-Star material. But against all odds, both batters get hits and end up in scoring position. Yes, in fact, Casey will get to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;

there was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.

And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,

no stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Casey sounds like a confident man. The way he strolls to the plate, smiling and holding his head up high. The crowds loved him. His teammates looked up to him. The press of that day fawned over him.

There’s something about confidence that attracts people. People who have confidence tend to do better. They do better in sports. They do better in school. They do better in business. Casey is one of those kinds of people - the kind who hold their shoulders back, puff their chest out just a bit, and almost never look down.

I imagine that the religious people of Israel were like that in Amos’ day.

Israel Had Confidence in Its Holiness

They exuded confidence. I say that because they seem to assure one another about their entitlement to the blessings of God. After all, God has chosen them from among the nations. No other people has such a direct relationship with God. Why, it is only a matter of time before the LORD comes in all his splendor, punishing their enemies and blessing his people. Israel had, however, three critical misunderstandings, and it is up to Amos to address their errors.

First,

Israel Misunderstood the Nature of Their God

For the Israelites, God was almost a national asset. You couldn’t separate the patriotic from the religious in ancient Israel - everything that was associated with worship had a uniquely Israelite sort of feel. They thought of God as sort of a national icon. Because they were his people, he would always fight for them no matter what.

Maybe that’s why Amos goes into the detail he does earlier in chapter 5. He describes God as one who breaks out like a devouring fire (6), who fashions the celestial bodies and controls all of nature’s cycles (7), who destroys the strong and their strongholds (9), and who knows the full extent of their wickedness (12). In all of chapter 5, Amos names God as LORD (YHWH) 12 times, as God of hosts (Elohim Saba’ot) 4 times. He’s calling Israel back to the true God and away from their false gods. That’s why in verses 25-26, he says:

Amos 5:25–26 ESV

25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves,

Sikkuth and Kiyyun were likely false gods (possibly the same false god) that the Israelites worshiped instead of the True God. God tells them: you’ve got the wrong god! You’re worshiping a phony god! Israel misunderstood who God really is. They traded the authentic for the counterfeit. As a result, they had confidence when they should have had caution.

The second misunderstanding is closely related to this:

Israel Misunderstood the Corruption of Their Sin

Take time to consider God’s holiness, and it will not be long before you recognize your own lack of holiness. Think about how good God really is, and your sin will become blatantly obvious. Because Israel had a false perception about God, they also misunderstood just how corrupt they were. It would be like asking someone to describe air - it’s such a basic part of our lives that we often don’t even think about it (unless something is wrong with it). Corruption was simply the air that they breathed.

Again, earlier in chapter 5, Amos tells Israel just why they face judgment. They denigrate justice and righteousness (7). They dismissed and often disrespected those who stood for truth rather than accepting bribes (10). They unfairly and cruelly taxed the poor and built expansive estates from the proceeds (11). They refuse to listen to those seeking true justice in favor of those who can pay the price (12).

One preacher called this section “High Crimes in the Present.” There was so much sin in that day that no one blinked an eye. Before we chastise them, I think it behooves us to check our mirrors first. Do you know just how bad your sins are? Not compared to others - God doesn’t grade on a curve. Compared to holiness. We have to be very careful, don’t we?

There’s a third misunderstanding the Israelites had:

Israel Misunderstood the Gloom of Their Doom

The Israelites had great confidence in their standing before God, but they were wrong. Nothing like a man who is confident he is right, when in fact he isn’t. (My wife is shaking her head because it’s me I’m talking about here.) In fact, look how confident they were:

Amos 5:18 ESV

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,

They couldn’t wait for the day of the Lord. They honestly thought the day of the Lord would bring blessings and liberation and prosperity and glory to Israel as God defeated and humbled all of Israel’s enemies. After all, they were God’s chosen people. Did you know this is the first mention of the day of the Lord we find in the Bible? Already, some 750+ years before Christ, Israel anticipated a coming day of judgment for those wicked heathen enemies of theirs.

But it never donned on them that the day of the Lord would not be pleasant for them. Look at verse 18 - Amos says that if you want the day of the Lord to come quickly, you’re only going to get woe! “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!” They wanted God to hurry up and come, but they didn’t realize that when he comes he’s coming to judge them!

“Why do you want the day of the Lord?” asks the prophet. It’s darkness. It’s gloom. Rather than being a joyous occasion, the day of the Lord is terrible!

Amos 5:19–20 ESV

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?

The day of the Lord will be a day of tragedy. It will be a day when the false confidence that Israel has will be completely erased.

I titled this sermon “What God Really Wants,” and thus far I have yet to deliver that message. I felt that we needed to lay the groundwork that the shepherd-prophet has given us so we are ready to hear what God actually, truly wants from his people. But before we ask what God wants, I think it’s important to ask what God doesn’t want. Amos tells us this in 5:21-23:

Amos 5:21–23 ESV

21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

God is going to judge his people, but they have this false confidence that they are really right with God. That’s why they carry on with all the feasts and assemblies, all the sacrifices and offerings, all the songs and music. They think their holiness amounts to the rituals they perform. But:

God Does Not Want Us to Pretend to Be Holy

It’s not that God hates all the ritual. God actually came up with a lot of it himself. The Law he gave to Israel showed them what offerings to bring. It provided a psalter with songs to sing in his presence. It determined the days to set aside for religious observance.

The rituals aren’t the problem - the problem were the hearts of the people. It was all pretend. They pretended to be holy, doing all these good things without a genuine heart for God. They were not looking to be righteous - they were looking the part. It was simply an act.

Perhaps some were genuinely trying to please God. Perhaps others were simply checking a box on a “to-do list.” Maybe some more concerned about keeping up appearances. God sees through all those things, by the way. He knows your heart. Don’t play pretend before God - the only one you’ll fool is yourself. No, God does not want us to pretend to be holy. Instead,

God Wants Us to Practice True Holiness

God wants us to live out our faith by doing what is right.

Amos 5:24 ESV

24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

In Israel, there are not many rivers. The Jordan River is the main one, in fact. But there are wadis, small “rivers” that carry water to various parts of the promised land. Here’s the thing about wadis - unless it’s the rainy season, they are dry. Wadis only have water when there has been ample rainfall. And when the wadis were full of water, they could be gushing out, flooding the surrounding areas.

The picture of this verse would have been stark: let justice and righteousness be like a river - a wadi - that never dries up but that flows continually. Let them burst forth from the natural boundaries and spread life-giving water all over.

God wants us not to pretend holiness, but to practice true holiness. To spread justice and righteousness all around us. To be ever-flowing wadis that give life to those around us. That’s what God really wants.

By the way, if you’ve never heard the story of Casey at the Bat, or you’ve just forgotten, here’s how it ends:

They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,

and they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;

he pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.

And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,

and now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

the band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

and somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;

but there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

So it is with all of us who have false confidence before God. Let us not pretend…let us be truly holy in all our thoughts, in all our words, and in all our deeds.