Woe to Those At Ease!

Reading: Amos 6

Amos 6 ESV

1 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! 2 Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, 3 O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence? 4 “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.” 8 The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” 9 And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And when one’s relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, “Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.” 11 For behold, the Lord commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits. 12 Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood— 13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, “Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves?” 14 “For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts; “and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”

Prayer

The Idol of Comfort

A False Sense of Security

We can easily put our trust in the things around us to keep us safe. We put locks on our doors to keep dangers out. We are like little kids, thinking that when we hide under the covers we are hidden and no one can find us. Comfort lulls us to feel safe. That’s what the people of Israel did:

Amos 6:2–3 ESV

2 Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, 3 O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence?

We talked a lot about this already - the Israelites saw themselves as God’s people, and they were. But they thought that meant God would protect them no matter what they did. They could be as evil as possible, but it wouldn’t matter - God would have to rescue them. They felt secure in their comfort.

The security we feel from our comfort is false. It looks real, but it does not last. It’s like having an expensive lock on our door, but leaving the door wide open. Our comfort doesn’t really protect us - not from any real danger. It just makes us feel safe.

God tells the Israelites to look around. Calneh and Hamath were territories to the north of Israel - both overrun by Assyria by the time Amos delivers his message. He turns their eyes southward to Gath, that infamous home of Goliath along the southern coast. The fearsome Philistines could not hold out against Assyria.

A Deep Lack of Compassion

Another danger of the idol of comfort is that it takes away our ability to care for others. When you are comfortable, when your needs are met, it’s easy to forget that others are still in need. It’s easy to put those others out of mind, for you have everything you need. Look at how Israel’s leaders are described by the Lord:

Amos 6:4–6 ESV

4 “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

They are comfortable. They have the ability to lounge around and pursue enjoyments rather than spend all their time and effort to “make ends meet.” They engage in pleasurable pursuits. They have good food to eat.

Do you notice that there is no sin really pointed out here - at least no committed sin. They are not accused in these verses of terrible deeds or vile iniquities. They are not oppressing or harming or cheating anyone. Here’s the danger of the idol of comfort - it feels good and there’s nothing wrong with any of its accouterments. It’s not wrong to eat good food or enjoy singing and music. It’s not evil to have good grooming habits (that’s the anointing verse 6 mentions). None of these things are wrong in-and-of themselves.

But there is sin here - it is a sin of omission. In all their comforts, they lack compassion for the hurting and afflicted, the poor and the needy, the orphan and the widow, the destitute and the outcast. It’s right there at the end of verse 6: they “are not grieved over the ruin of Jospeh!”

Folks, it’s hard to grieve over the misfortune of another while you’re comfortable. You have to be very careful to guard your compassion, or creature comforts will rob you of that fundamental characteristic. We must make sure our comfort isn’t an idol that blinds us to the hardships faced by others. That might mean, by the way, sacrificing some comfort so we can alleviate their suffering. It might mean enduring hardship with them so they don’t have to bear it alone. It might mean all sorts of things; we must be willing to use the resources we have to benefit others rather than merely maintain our own comfort. The idol of comfort can cause us to lack compassion for others, so we must watch out!

A Twisted View of Justice

The third thing the idol of comfort can give us is a twisted view of justice. This one seems a little more difficult, but God points out that our worship of comfort does interfere with doing what’s right toward others:

Amos 6:12–13 ESV

12 Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood— 13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, “Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves?”

The two questions in verse 12 are rhetorical. He knows the answer is “no.” You know the answer is “no.” Everybody knows that horses don’t run on rocks (and if you didn’t know, then now you do!). Everybody knows that you don’t plow among rocks (if you don’t know that, then just try it!). Everybody hearing Amos’ message knew these scenarios didn’t make any sense.

Amos then tells them, in effect, “if you know these things don’t make sense, then how come you don’t see that what you’re doing doesn’t make sense either.” When you turn justice into poison, you do something that everyone should know better - especially God’s people! Justice isn’t something to use against people who don’t deserve it. Justice is supposed to fairly adjudicate, with no regard to anything but the rightness of the argument and the righteousness of the cause.

Go today to Washington D.C. and look at the Supreme Court building. You’ll see this statue: Lady Justice, blindfolded, weighing the cases before her with no bias. Comfort doesn’t have this kind of justice. When we are comfortable, the temptation is to put our comfort ahead of justice. We begin to cheat and connive in ways to keep our comfort rather than to do what is right. We start to round off the corners of justice, assuring ourselves that it’s okay to cheat a little here or there as long as it’s only on “the little things.”

Before we know it, our justice looks nothing like true justice. We are willing to do others wrong just so long as it works out for our benefit. We exchange truth for a lie, we substitute others in the place of God and idolize all sorts of nonsense. We find ourselves willing to say whatever will get us more clicks, more lucrative contracts, or more praise. Comfort becomes the arbiter of truth for us.

We must be so careful not to let comfort be our idol!

Woe to Those Who Worship the Idol of Comfort!

Just like every other idol, comfort will never satisfy us. It will impact us, however, in some negative ways:

Comfort Deletes Your Purpose

Look back at verse one, but notice this time to whom God is addressing his message:

Amos 6:1 ESV

1 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!

Who is Amos preaching to? He’s speaking directly to the “notable men.” Who is that? The distinguished leaders.

In ancient Israel, everything came down to what tribe you are in. It’s kind of like states in the US, but with more direct lineage. Everyone in the tribe of Manasseh, for example, was family. They looked to the heads of their clans as statesmen. The tribal elders were very highly regarded and respected. As they went (whether good or bad), so went the people.

Amos is looking these leaders straight in the eye and telling them, “Woe to you!” Why? Because they allowed comfort to be an idol, and in the process they lost their purpose. They should have been leading Israel in following the ways of God. They could have been godly leaders who made such an impact on so many. Instead, they traded away their position for comfort. They lost their purpose.

Comfort can and will do that to you too, if you let it. That doesn’t make comfort something terrible to avoid, but there is danger in letting comfort guide you. Woe to all of us who worship the idol of comfort! Another way comfort has negative impact on us is that:

Comfort Desensitizes Your Heart

We talked earlier about how comfort takes away our compassion. Recall the end of verse 6:

Amos 6:6 ESV

6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

You cannot be compassionate for someone else if you are worried about being comfortable yourself. Compassion requires selflessness, but comfort cultivates selfishness. The two are at odds. Woe to anyone who allows their own comfort to dull their senses to the pain and suffering of others, especially within the body of Christ! One more negative impact:

Comfort Destroys Your Future

When we worship the idol of comfort, it always robs us of God’s future promises. Look what God says about those who worshiped comfort in Israel:

Amos 6:7–8 ESV

7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.” 8 The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”

Not only will the comfort pass away, but those who long for it will suffer first. They will be the first ones to go into exile. They will be the first ones to experience the gloom. They will bear the brunt of the coming judgment of God. All because they worshiped a god who was no god at all.

They think they will be safe and secure. They think they have much to look forward to. They think they are something special:

Amos 6:13 ESV

13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, “Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves?”

Lo-debar is not just a place, it’s one of those Hebrew word plays. The literal meaning of Lo-debar is “nothing.” They rejoice in nothing. They think they have so much but in reality it’s all worth nothing. And in the end, even what they have will vanish:

Amos 6:14 ESV

14 “For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts; “and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”

Comfort is a poor choice of a god.