Don't Shoot the Messenger
DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER
Amos 7:10-17
Think back with me to the days of the dot.com bubble. When a lot of money was being invested in the internet during the U.S. presidency of Bill Clinton, the stock market was running over 14,000 and the NASDAQ was over 4000. It was Alan Greenspan, however, that warned that the stock market was like a bubble and someday it was going to burst. Greenspan took a lot of ridicule for his failure to jump on the bandwagon. However, the bubble did burst. People went from being millionaires to penniless in a matter of a few days–in some cases, in just a few hours. And now we are still trying to sort out the mess as companies like Enron and Tyco were falsely reporting their economic situation.
In some ways, the situation was the same in Israel as we will find out in our text this morning. Remember that Israel too was experiencing a time of great wealth and security. However, they too were warned that they could and would lose it all. They would be defeated and exiled in the near future. Just because you don’t like the message of doom and gloom doesn’t mean that it’s not correct.
Let’s pray as we look into God’s Word this morning. PRAY
And so we meet someone else at this point of the book. His name is Amaziah. You may ask (as I did), who is Amaziah? Well, we only have to read the first phrase of verse 10 to see who he is. He is the priest at Bethel. Oh! Hey! That’s great! He’s a priest. Oh, and he is the priest of Bethel – “the house of God”. Remember Bethel? When Jacob was running from Esau? Jacob just stole Esau’s birthright and blessing and is now on the run? He receives the vision of the ladder with angels of God ascending on descending upon it. It was then and there that God promised Jacob that He would be with him and bless him. Jacob awakens and names the place Bethel – because surely the Lord is in this place. And Amaziah is the priest of this place. Why that’s fantastic!
No, sorry. That’s not so good - because the times had changed since then. We need to look back to the reign of Jeroboam I. He was the first king of the Northern Kingdom when Israel split into the north and south. 1 Kings 12:25-33 reads,
25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. 27 “If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” 28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 29 He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. 31 And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. 32 Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. 33 Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.”
Alright, so it appears they have several things working against them here. First, the calves. What is it with Israel and these golden calves? Jeroboam I says, “Behold your gods that brought you out of Egypt?” Talk about a slap in the face to God! They put one calf in Bethel and one in Dan. Then they appointed priests that were not of the sons of Levi. That’s like strike three. If I were God at this point (good thing I’m not), I would have been like, “that’s it! I’m done with you!” And then I thought that it’s a good thing that God doesn’t play our form of baseball. He allows us a lot more than three strikes. If it were three strikes, I wouldn’t have made it out of the crib. In fact, if we wanted to be theologically accurate, I would never have been in the game!
READ TEXT
Amos 7:10-17 (NASB95)
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words. 11 “For thus Amos says, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’ ” 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying! 13 “But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence.” 14 Then Amos replied to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. 15 “But the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me, ‘Go prophesy to My people Israel.’ 16 “Now hear the word of the Lord: you are saying, ‘You shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac.’ 17 “Therefore, thus says the Lord, ‘Your wife will become a harlot in the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil. Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’ ”
Finally, Amos’ words have gotten somebody’s attention. Of course Amaziah finds these words offensive. And he cannot contain himself anymore. He says, “Wait a minute! We’ve had enough of these words. Now you’ve brought the king into it. You’ve crossed the line.” He sends word to the king and frames it as conspiracy against Jeroboam personally. It was a slightly inaccurate statement but sure to get the king’s attention nonetheless. Amos has prophesied in the midst of the people and has targeted the king and Israel. And the land could not endure these words. Why was Amaziah so concerned with what Amos was saying?
Well, Amaziah had a good thing going. Actually, you may remember, the nation had a good thing going. They were experiencing a time of security and wealth. Times were good. And Israel had become comfortable and complacent. And now here comes Amos – rocking the boat. And, you know this not unlike some churches today. Some are quite content to go through the motions of Christianity without acknowledging sin, without conforming to Christ, and without proclaiming the truth. And I would suggest that this is no Christianity at all! To be “Christian” is to follow after Jesus Christ – to turn from your sin and to the Savior and follow him. There is no other way to salvation than that. And would you believe that some that call themselves Christians actually find that offensive? Some say we need a broader tent, an open mind. I prefer an open Bible – a Bible that says the road is wide to destruction and narrow to salvation.
Well, we know the world too finds this message offensive, intolerant, exclusive. But this is only because they do not understand the Gospel fully. What is not to love about a God who created people in order to have a relationship with them, bless them, protect them, and spend eternity with them? Why He even made every provision for us to do so! He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross as the just penalty for our sins so that we could be viewed as righteous before him – justified. And this is not what we deserved. For at the very beginning of Creation, we rebelled against Him and said we are in control of our own lives! We deserve death. God says come to me so that you may live and we say we’d rather die than to submit to you! We would rather worship golden calves than acknowledge you! We are in control!
So what do you do if you don’t like the message? You have 2 options (3 actually) –you either change the message or you change the messenger. (The third option is to change your mind, but most do not want to exercise that option.) So, if you don’t want to change your mind, you need to change the message or the messenger. Amaziah decided to change the messenger.
He refers to Amos as “seer” in light of the visions that Kevin discussed last week. He is likely using this term in a derogatory sense. You can almost see his lip curl as he mouths the word. “Seer” These are words they don’t want to hear. Who would? Especially not those who were in direct violation of God’s commands – those who have set up calves to worship, appointed their own priests, and living completely as pagans. All throughout the Scriptures, those who were pronouncing the words of God were often not welcome. You only need to look at Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Paul, Jesus, and many others to find that when you proclaim the truth, people become hostile to it and to you. They want nothing to do with it.
So Amaziah confronts Amos. I have this picture of an old western flick in my head. It’s high noon. Two gunmen alone on the dusty road come face to face with one another. The vultures are circling overhead. Tumbleweeds pass by the two men as they approach. Their skin rough and their eyes squint from the noon day sun. Hands ready to draw at any moment. And Amaziah says, “Son, this town ain’t big enough for the two of us!” Right? Amaziah is like, “Amos, do you realize what’s going on here? We were quite content until you came along pronouncing judgment, accusing us of all these wrongdoings. Why don’t you go back to where you came from? Go back to Judah and make your living there. Go back to your own kind”.
We know through the Old Testament that there were prophets who prophesied for financial gain. They called themselves “Prophets for profit”. I’m kidding. But that’s what is understood here in verse 14 when Amos says he was not a son of a prophet. A son of a prophet was someone in a prophetic guild – mentored by another. In fact this is a very difficult phrase to translate. And I think it is better translated as the English Standard Version does. Amos says, “I was no prophet, nor a son of a prophet”. So the sense here is that Amaziah is accusing Amos of prophesying in Israel for financial gain. But the question I would have asked Amaziah is “who’s going to pay for this message??” I think the offering plate would be a bit light that week!
Amos replies that he was making a decent living tending to the flocks and growing sycamore figs. He wasn’t in it for the money. And again I would have said to Amaziah, “Do you think I left the things I was comfortable doing while making a living to come up here to preach judgment for money? No, Amaziah. There was a greater compulsion for me. You see the Lord God himself called me!”
And if Amaziah had been listening more closely, he may have been clued in to this. Did they not hear Amos say that these were the words of the Lord? All along he had been saying “Thus says the Lord” not “thus says Amos.” They had a very limited perspective. It was God’s message that was too heavy for them to bear. Perhaps it was because they were living immorally. And when you are living in sin, God’s words are most weighty. We know what it feels like to be wrestling with a particular sin and then to open up the Bible and see God’s words plain as day. The Holy Spirit convicts us so that it feels weighty to us.
So it wasn’t Amos conspiring against the king and pronouncing judgment on the nation, it was God who was carrying out his justice to a sinful people.
I love this next part. Verses 14 and 15 say, “ 14 Then Amos replied to Amaziah, “I was not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. 15 “But the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me, ‘Go prophesy to My people Israel.’” He recognized the call of the Lord. God took Amos right out of the field and said I want you to go talk to my people. Go and prophesy!
And you know what? He still calls us today. Did not Jesus tell us to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Did he not say to go and make disciples – baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? We too have been charged to take a message to the world.
God calls shepherds to be prophets, fishermen to be disciples, persecutors of Christians to be proclaimers to the Gentiles, truck drivers to be pastors. And it doesn’t necessarily need to be a change in vocation. We are called to make disciples wherever we are. Jesus tells us to go and make disciples. Whether we are accountants, truck drivers, truck mechanics, jewelers, homemakers, police officers, students, husbands, wives, children… the command is the same: go preach the gospel. They’re not our words.
We need to remember that, like Amos, we declare the very words of God – because we have them in written form. We can expect to be met with opposition like he did. But we can also be confident that God will carry out that which He has promised.
In Isaiah 55:11, it says, “11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
Paul tells us in 2 Timothy that though he is in chains the word of God is not. It continues to do what God intends.
And in Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”
It won’t be received well by everybody. There are people who are comfortable and content where they are. They don’t mind going through the motions. They may not like you rocking the boat.
But you know what is equally true? Many people do want to hear the message. There are people who do not know that there is a God that loves them and wants a relationship with them. How many people out there (or in here for that matter) are on an unfulfilled spiritual journey? You know what? We have the answer. We have the message that many long to hear.
Some may know there is a God and yet do not know how to initiate or cultivate that relationship. That’s where we come in. For some reason God has chosen shepherds, fisherman, tax collectors, weak and sinful people to declare his message and point people to him. And this is to show that it is not about us – it’s about Him! We are merely the servants.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:5-7, 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
So, let me encourage you. Don’t be intimidated by the task. Some do not like the message. That’s obvious. It’s been that way throughout history. Just look at the prophets and the responses they got. People don’t like to be called to change. But how rewarding it can be to watch lives changed by the power of God and His gospel!
There’s something else worth noting. Did you notice Amos’ response to God’s call? It was right there in verses 15 and 16. He just told Amaziah that God called him to prophesy to the people of Israel. The very next words are “thus says the Lord”. No hesitation from this guy! I don’t see any fear on his part. He was firm in what he believed and immediately obedient to God. And finally verse 17 tells us that God will take care of those in opposition to him and his message. It is a serious offense and not our responsibility.
I close with the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 1:7-14: 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. 12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. 13 Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
Let’s Pray
- bold witnesses like Amos
- humble earthen vessels
- powerful message
- Jack Purdie
- Bob Sherlock
Benediction – Col. 3:15-17