Return to God

Youth Group games

I’ve been involved in various youth ministries on and off since leaving high school. Now in those years I’ve learnt a few things. Actually, it is true to say that I am still learning lots as I minister to these young people.

But there is an observation that I’ve made, even if enacting on this observation often proves harder than you might think.

The observation is that when you can convince the young people to not only be involved in the organised activities, but also to obey the rules, they have a lot more fun.

During times when I’ve been involved in youth groups where the night is full of different activities, sometimes you’ll see some kids think they’re too cool for it and just sit out. They usually get bored very quickly.

You see other youth who think it would be fun to do a bit of cheating. The problem is, rather than being fun, it actually just makes the activity frustrating for everyone.

The games always work best when everyone is involved, everyone knows the rules, and everyone works within those rules.

Adults

Now as adults we can shake our heads at these young people. Surely it shouldn’t be too hard for them to realise that following the rules makes things better.

But...

Are we any better?

It’s easy for us to look down on them, because we’re not playing the games like they do. But let’s take a step back and think about life.

You see, here’s the thing. When everyone helps each other out. When we look out for those who are struggling. When we act with justice and even mercy - then guess what? Life becomes better for everyone.

Now, despite some people probably thinking this is some sort of modern way of thinking - it of course isn’t. This is in fact the way God has designed things from the beginning.

But unfortunately, though it should seem obvious that if everyone just helps one another out that we should be better off, it is never that easy. That’s because we believe the lie that says that if we need to look after ourselves first or no one will.

It’s really the same as the youth group student that thinks the games will become more fun if they twist the rules in their own favour.

Israelites

Well, as we open up the the book of Amos, we find the Israelites caring a whole lot more about themselves than they do to others.

For those who ended on top, that seems to have worked out nicely for them.

Unfortunately, as Amos points out to us time after time, this is coming at the expense of the poor and marginalised.

Today I’m going to be focusing on chapters 4 and 5, and if I just confine myself to those chapters, look how many times the Israelites are called out for shameful behaviour on the most vulnerable.

Chapter 4 verse 1: the women are oppressing the poor and crushing the needy.

Chapter 5 verse 7: they turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.

And then he really gets stuck into them in chapter 5 verses 10 through to 13.

They detest the one who tells the truth. Imposing burdens on the poor. In verse 12 they oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

This is not how God intended it. God made his design for humanity clear early on. Love God. Love others.

When you stray from that, you end up in a world of trouble - and that, essentially, is exactly what the message Amos is giving to these people.

Now this morning, in these two chapters will find lots of things that we could spend a long time discussing. In fact, I almost made this into two sermons.

But what I’m going to do, is to show that despite the mess the Israelite made (and that we can make today), God still says: return to me - return to me.

And so, I’m going to find three different ways within these two chapters that can help us return.

God’s punishment

But before I do that let’s quickly explore what God is doing to get there attention.

The first three verses in chapter 4 continue a similar theme to the previous chapter that we looked at last week.

We can perhaps laugh at the little insult he drops along the way, calling the rich women “cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria”. I won’t get too caught up on this term, but it designed to reflect their lifestyle.

But they are then reminded of the punishment to come. The coming time when, despite their supposed prosperity, they will be taken away.

Past disaster

But God wants to make it clear that it’s not like this future event came without warning. God has been trying to get their attention for a long time. And from verse 6 he provides them with a list of the ways he has tried to get their attention.

There was famine - but no return to God.

In verse 7 he reminds them of the drought - again, no return to God.

Verse 9 he reminds them of other disasters. Gardens and vineyards destroyed. Locusts devouring fig and olive tress. And still, no return.

He continues in verse 10 reminding them of plagues. Still no return.

Some of them were even overthrown and still no return.

God was trying to get their attention and they would not listen.

Our own list

I think in 2020 we could probably re-write this passage to our own situation.

God sent us droughts - yet we did not return.

God sent us bush fires, destroying large areas - yet we did not return.

God sent floods - we did not return.

God sent a pandemic, that has rocked the world sending lives and the economy into chaos - yet we still do not return.

God sent social upheaval in the form of riots and disharmony - yet we do not return.

Does God really do this?

Now before I continue, there is an important question that this all raises.

Does God really cause these things to happen?

Now that is a complicated question and I’m only going to give a cursory answer.

Perhaps the quickest answer is to say yes and no.

In one sense, God is in control of everything and he is working all things for his purposes.

In another sense, God is not responsible for evil.

Now there is a theological wrestle you can have here, and it is profitable to have such a wrestle, but for now, let’s just settle ourselves with the knowledge that God can use all things, whether good or bad, for his purposes.

It is too simplistic to say that God is causing all these things I just mentioned for a single purpose. His ways are far bigger than ours.

So while there is a bigger picture in play, we should allow these events to be a wake up call for us. A wake up call to say: we can’t keep relying on ourselves - we need to return to the Lord.

How we return?

Well, this brings me to the point I want to focus on.

You see, we, just like the Israelites have had this wake up call.

Our attention should have been grabbed - but assuming God does have our attention, now what? How do we actually return to him?

Humbly Worship

Well, perhaps I can actually start by suggesting what it isn’t.

We don’t return to God by putting 50 posts on Facebook about how great God is and how we should all turn to him. This might serve a purpose - maybe you might encourage someone - but this does not improve your relationship with God.

You also don’t return to God by telling your pastor and all your other Christian friends about how much you pray and fast and whatever wonderful thing you might be doing. That might impress me - but again, telling others isn’t what we need to be doing.

In fact, if you look in chapter 4 starting at verse 4, you see God mocking this kind of attitude.

Interestingly, if you look, God is actually using sarcasm to mock them at this point.

He tells them to sin and sin yet more.

But then to bring their sacrifices every morning, and their tithes every three days (actually, if you’re looking in the NIV it says three years, but there is a footnote which suggests three days which many of the other translations use). What might not be immediately obvious in the sarcasm, is that these frequencies are a lot more than what was proscribed.

It would seem that the Israelites seemed to think they could make up for their deficiencies by just doing more of the God stuff.

If you look at verse 5, they boast and brag about this God stuff.

But God isn’t interested in this. This is not what it’s about.

So returning to God is not about keeping up appearances with others - rather it is about humbly turning to him in genuine worship.

We actually see this in the teaching of Jesus.

In the famous sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, Jesus speak about giving, praying and fasting. But there is something he seems to emphasize in each of these.

He speaks about doing it in secret.

That’s not to say there shouldn’t be a public expression of these - certainly corporately praying is important - but when we turn to God, we need the humility to come to him and say, this is not about me, I just want to stand in your presence and acknowledge your greatness.

To return to God, we need to humbly worship him for who he is.

Lament

Now the second aspect I want to draw from this passage that can assist in us returning to God is actually something we probably wouldn’t initially think of as part of the process. But it is something we find happening in chapter 5.

In the first verse of this fifth chapter, it says: “Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you”.

What follows is a lament of the fall that Israel is about to experience.

Now there is something very interesting in this lament.

You see, at the point at which this message is being given, Israel actually haven’t fallen - in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Israel are doing perhaps the best they’ve done in centuries. As I’ve explained in previous weeks, they’ve regained territory. Things from an economic and political perspective are good.

But the language here is something that has already happened. If you want to get technical, then the word “fallen” is actually what they call a perfect verb, that is, a word describing a completed action.

So this lament, in one sense, is anticipatory, but what I believe it shows is a stance that can be made that puts us in a position to move forward.

You see, a lament acknowledges the situation for what it is. A lament expresses sorrow. It allows us to also pour out our fears and frustrations.

The problem is, we’re normally too keen to move forward, that we don’t want to honestly acknowledge what’s going on.

This can be a problem because, without this honesty, we’re not actually sure what we’re turning from.

And so, if we want to return to God, we need to recognise the need to return - something that is hard to do without a time of lamenting.

Lament in Amos

So, let’s quickly look at the lament we see in Amos 5. We actually see it in two places. It starts with a lament in the first three verses, and it ends with a lament in verses 16 and 17.

In verse 2 it describes the desertion that they will feel.

In verse 3 it talks about the devastation that their once strong army will experience. If you look at the number you realise ninety percent of the army will be decimated.

In the latter two verses of this passage, that is, verses 16 and 17, we see a different aspect of the lament. It describes the process of the wailing in the street, the anguish in the public square and the wailing in the vineyards.

Now we don’t need to get caught up in the exact form their lamentation takes, but rather the posture of it.

In this chapter, they are being asked to return to God, and to do this, these Israelites need to recognise the mess that they have got themselves in.

Why lament?

Now, it’s worth pausing for a minute to consider a question that could be asked at this point.

You see, we live in the New Covenant, that is, in the time when Jesus has died for our sins and set us free from the bonds of death through his resurrection.

And so we can ask, if we’ve already been freed, it is appropriate to lament as people living in this new covenant?

Well, I believe the answer is that it is still appropriate because while Christ did win the victory, the final consummation of that victory has not come, and subsequently we live in a time when sin and evil still exist.

And so, while sin still has a hold, there is a need to lament.

Without lament we can easily become oblivious to the dangers of this world.

How to lament

So, if I’m suggesting lamenting is part of returning to God, what does this look like for us in practice.

It certainly doesn’t mean that we walk around gloomily all the time. In fact, we are to be people of joy.

But we need to put time into our routine where we can acknowledge how things are right now.

Now we don’t need to be legalistic here. There is no prescription for exactly how much to do this.

I would however suggest that it can be helpful on a regular basis, perhaps even daily, to at least have some acknowledgement before God of our sinfulness and sorrow at the way of the world.

But perhaps more often than not, this will be more of an acknowledgement rather than a deeper time of lament.

And on a less frequent basis, and I’ll leave it up to you to consider how frequently it should be, it can be good to allow a longer period of lament.

One way of doing this is to take one of the lament Psalms, like I’ll do shortly with Psalm 13, and use it as a means of expressing our sorrow.

The great thing about using the Psalms, is that not only will be get caught in our sorrow, it will help us to move that sorrow into a trust that we place in God.

After I finish this message, we’ll move into a time where I’ll demonstrate how we can do this.

Seek God

So from these chapters in Amos, we can see that once God’s got our attention, he wants us to return to him through humble worship and through the use of laments.

The third aspect of returning that I want to draw from this passage is what we see most clearly in Amos 5:6 when it says: “Seek the Lord and live”.

Three times in this chapter it tells us to seek.

Verse 4: Seek me and live.

Verse 6: Seek the Lord and live

Verse 14: Seek good not evil, that you may live.

You see, I’ve spoken about humbling ourselves before God. I’ve spoken about acknowledging the situation we’re in. Both things we need to do to allow ourselves to return to God.

But there is an active part in this as well, we’re we don’t just sit back and look around us, but actually move towards God.

To seek, involves a process of actually finding out about who God is.

And each time he tells us to seek him, did you notice follows it with: “and live”

We need to be active in the process of moving towards God.

Study his word. Listen to his voice. But don’t just listen, obey.

Conclusion

God wanted to get the attention of the Israelites in the time of Amos.

He had blessed them, but they thought the blessing was due to their own greatness.

But God was saying no. He was saying, you need to listen to me.

He tried to get their attention through big actions. He tried to get their attention through the prophets.

But they didn’t want to listen.

God is doing the same for us today.

As I mentioned before, I don’t want to suggest we can simplify this years events into a simple point, but at the same time, I think we can see one component of these events as God saying: I need you to listen.

It is time to return to me.

God wants us to return, and the best way for us to do that is to humbly fall at his knees and worship him, to acknowledge our current state through times of lament, and to actively seek him and live.

My prayer is that you will each hear God’s voice, but not only hear his voice, but to take steps to actually return and draw close to God.

Let me pray...