Perilous Prosperity

Intro: The story of the tortious and the hare has found an appropriate place in our cultural consciousness as a warning against complacency.

Pervasive Pride

The Voice of Propaganda - a goal to get you to lie to you.

We are the foremost nation (v. 1)

Begins as a “woe oracle”

They are self satisfied because they feel so important.

We are the ones who people come to for advice.

Look at our enemies (v. 2)

Ignore the future (v.3)

Look at our strength (v. 13)

The Description of Their Indulgence

At ease (v. 1)

Feel secure (v. 1)

Lie on beds of ivory (v. 4)

Stretch out on couches (v. 4)

Dine on lamb and beef (v. 4)

Sing idle songs (v. 5)

Drink wine from bowls (v. 6)

Anoints with the finest oils (v. 6)

Revelry (v. 7)

The Problem of Complacency

Dictionary: adjective smug and uncritically satisfied with oneself or one’s achievements.

Complacency is:

Rooted in pride

I have arrived.

I’ve done my part it is time for someone else to get involved.

Disconnected from reality

Complacency is a false notion that you have reached the peak of the mountain so now it is time to relax.

The reality of complacency is that either you did reach the peak and in your slumber you fell backwards and are rolling down the other side or you never really reached the top to begin with and you are falling back down the path you already climbed.

In our relationship with God we are always either moving forward or backwards. There is no peak and there is no plateau so what room is there in the Christian life for complacency?

Closer than you think

Well then, I sure am glad that I am not complacent.

Well then, you just missed the point.

Neglects our salvation

Hebrews 2:1–3 “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,”

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

“What we have heard” = the gospel and subsequent doctrine

Illustration: How many marriages that ended in divorce come with the excuse, “we just drifted apart”?

Relational drift is very real, which is why the author of Hebrews tells us to “pay much closer attention”.

Spiritual drift is what happens when we relationally drift away from God, and this is often caused by complacency.

For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

In most relationships the drift happens in two directions because there are two people. However, when there is spiritual drift it is always in a singular direction because it is never God who moved.

Why would we expect God to ignore the sins that caused us to drift away from Him?

He didn’t ignore them in Israel and He won’t ignore them in us. He chastens whom He loves.

So what will eventually happen to the complacent Christian?

Providential Punishment

First in Society, First in Exile (v. 7)

Abhorrent to God (v.8)

God’s chosen people were abhorrent to Him.

Specifically it was their pride that He found abhorrent.

Don’t forget what complacency is always rooted in, pride.

Destruction Declared (v. 9-14)

Strongholds (v. 8)

Their cities and strongholds will be delivered up.

The Israelites would be asking, “to who?”.

Amos is declaring that they will be conquered.

Casualties (v. 9)

Even if only ten are hiding in a house they will be found and killed.

The scope of destruction is vast.

Description (v. 10)

When the dust is settled and your relatives come to claim your bodies they will call out for survivors.

What few survivors there are will cry out for him to be silent lest the wrath of God be incurred again.

Houses (v. 11)

Amos leaves no doubt that it is the LORD who is the source of their destruction.

Their houses are struck down into fragments and bits because God has declared it.

Conquered (v. 14)

A nation raised up against you. - Assyria

The LORD, the God of Hosts - a not so subtle reminder of the God who they have scorned.

Oppressed from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah - represents two borders points in the nation of Israel with Lebo-hamath being a northern most point and the Brook of the Arabah being a southern most point. Thus the point of this phrase is that this oppression from Assyria will engulf the entire nation.

But God...

Aren’t we Your chosen people? Why would you do this to us?

It is precisely because you are My chosen people that I am doing this to you.

An important question about God: Does God allow those that are His to live in constant, continual and unrepentant sin?

Jeremiah 8:5 “Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.”

1 John 5:16 “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.”

Backsliding doesn’t usually happen overnight. It is the slow drift of complacency.

Pride Illustrated (v. 12)

Comparison of Absurdity

Do horses run next to cliffs?

Do you plow with an oxen next to a cliff?

Even a horse has enough common sense to stand back from the edge, and here you are dancing on the precipice without a care in the world. Complacency is not rooted in reality.

You have turned justice into poison.

Justice isn’t suppose to be a poison to society. Justice is fundamentally good, and is a part of the glue that holds a community together.

What the world often seeks to do is take some good attribute of God redefine it, according to their standards, then accuse you of not being that thing.

They accuse you of not being just or loving or kind, but they are not working from the same definitions we are.

They murder a baby in the womb and say that it was the most loving thing they could do. We are not working with the same definitions.

They enable and encourage someone’s mental illness by supporting their gender dysphoria.

You have turned righteousness to bitterness.

As they redefine morality they take things that should bring joy and cause them to bring only bitterness.

The things that they call righteous leave only a bitter taste in our mouths.

Concluding thoughts:

Pride leads to complacency and complacency is the slow drift that leads to a backslidden state.

Take heed lest you fall.

Just as every sinner may come to Christ so too can every backslidden believer be restored to fellowship. God’s grace is sufficient for these things.

The church has a responsibility toward those who have wandered away:

Galatians 6:1 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

James 5:19 “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,”