A Warning to the Complacent and Proud

Trusting others

I remember shortly after I finished the HSC my mates and I heard that we could make a bit of money by picking blue berries. We were all from a place just south of Coffs Harbour, and the Blueberry farm was near Woolgoolga which at the time was a roughly 50 minute drive.

We did it for about a week, after all, it was all just about having a bit of fun and making a few dollars on the side.

So, one of my friends had his own car, which was very exciting. To be honest, I don’t even remember exactly what type of car it was, but think something cheap and nasty and you’re probably somewhere close.

So we all piled in the car, and for the first few days, everything went great. We had a blast. Nothing could stop us.

That is, until on one morning, just as we approached Woolgoolga, one of the tyres blew.

But that was ok, we were 18. We knew how to change a tyre. Except, we realised it’s a whole lot harder when you don’t have a jack.

Now there was quite a story here, but I’ll keep it short. We had quite an adventure trying to get a jack. But eventually there we were. I think about an hour later. And we finally had the wheel off.

Next task: get the spare wheel out.

We did that. But… uh oh! The spare wheel was not usable. By the time we finally managed to get a new tyre on the car, which would have been hours after the initial puncture, we were then utterly deflated, and so we turned around and went home.

Now, as annoying as that adventure was for us, it was actually a valuable lesson. When you’re 18, you can do everything. You’re an adult, so you can make your own choices. Particularly if you have your own car, you can go wherever you like, and whenever you want to.

But you learn a lesson. Things can go wrong. And just because you thought your car would get you somewhere, doesn’t mean it will.

Unfortunately, however, I believe we see the lesson gets quite skewed. You see, if you take the example of my failed road trip, there is one obvious lesson you can take from it. And it would be very wise advice for anyone with a car. That is, always make sure you have you car jack and make sure you spare tyre is pumped up and ready to go.

But I say the lesson gets skewed, because once we get older and wiser, and we’ve learnt those countless lessons we start to think that we now have everything sorted.

Particularly when you get to that age in life where you’re now earning more money. You’ve got a reliable car. You’ve learnt to navigate those tricky relationships. You’ve settled into a new house.

You see, just as the 18 year old is lulled into a sense of invincibility with his new found freedom, the middle aged man is also lulled into this sense of security by the knowledge and possessions they have accumulated.

But out of the blue comes the diagnosis of cancer. Out of the blue comes marriage break up. Or a job loss. Or who knows what.

Suddenly the loan repayments which you could previously manage easily, are now very hard to keep. Those life lessons you learnt, now don’t apply.

You see, this is why I said our lessons get skewed. We think the lesson is: plan better. But this just makes us a more sophisticated 18 year old.

The lesson should be: we need a paradigm shift about the way we think about things. Planning is great. Learning from the mistakes of our past is essential. But there has to be more. Because even with these plans and our lessons learnt, we still will fall.

So what is this paradigm shift? How should we think things through?

Amos

Well, let’s jump into the book of Amos to help us think about this a bit better.

You see, in many ways, Amos is speaking into a context where we’ve seen the same error, only not on an individual level, but on the level of a nation.

A picture of Israel

So imagine the nation of Israel in terms of the life cycle of a person. Their childhood was spent in Egypt. Their 40 years in the wilderness was their coming of age. They were able to come through those rebellious adolescence.

And so they enter the promised land. And they enter that early adult life. That is, late teenager or early twenties. Just read through the book of judges and you’ll get a sense of what I mean. They’re constantly running of the rails, making mistake after mistake.

But then as we move out of the book of Judges and into 1 and 2 Samuel, as a nation they receive a king, and this seems to settle them down somewhat. You could say, it’s a bit like they get married and settle down.

Now they enjoy a nice honeymoon period under King David, but as a nation they continue to wobble around a bit.

But as we get to this time of Amos, it feels to me like they’re entering that middle age period of life.

This is the period I was speaking about before in our life.

The age where again we start to think we’ve got it all together. We’ve got a good job. A nice house. The extended family might have had problems, but we’re at least being civil towards each other.

But here’s the problem with middle age. You’ve now got enough experience to think you’ve learnt the lessons to be learnt. And you get lulled into a new sense of security.

And that’s exactly how we find them now.

Israel have had their problems. But now they’ve managed to get their act together. And doesn’t it show.

Her people are living in fine houses. She proven herself the stronger of her near neighbours.

In fact, the reality is, at the precise point in history, Israel are one of the most powerful nations, if not, the most powerful nation.

Complacency

And what do you get when everything is going right and the power is in your hands. You get complacent.

It’s interesting when you think about it. One of the lessons you normally learn is to remain alert, think of the possibilities. But yet somehow, as you grow in confidence, you actually get complacent.

I saw a video on Facebook recently of sportspeople who started celebrating too quickly. The track and field runner, or the cyclist who are well in front and nearing the line. Knowing that they’ve won the race, they lift their arms in triumph, only for the someone to race in from behind and snatch victory. All because the front runner had become complacent.

Well, look at how this sixth chapter of Amos starts:

Amos 6:1 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come!

He’s calling them out, for the folly of their way. They’ve become complacent in their own ability.

But they’re missing something.

You see, as I said before, the answer to their problem is not just to be more prepared. They need a paradigm shift in the way they are thinking.

Compare yourself

In the second verse, the Israelites are asked to compare themselves to some of the surrounding nations.

Now there are a few different ways to understand the point of verse 2, but I want to suggest that there is a certain level of irony here.

You see, the reality is, that at the point in time when Amos gave this message, Israel was indeed stronger and more powerful than these nations. In fact, it was for this very reason that the Israelites were gaining that increased level of confidence.

But where did that get them.

Well, as it says in verse 3, they were able to put off a day of disaster. That is, it might have got them so far. But while putting off a day of disaster, they were just getting closer to that day when it wouldn’t just be a day, it would be a reign of terror.

You see, I believe this is showing us the folly in comparing ourselves with others.

You see, if it is confidence you want, it’s always easy to find someone who is weaker than you.

The problem is, just because you might be in a more powerful position than someone else, doesn’t actually prove anything.

Wealth

Now if you look at verses 4 to 6, you’ll see their great wealth - and unfortunately, this is the reason for much of their pride and complacency.

When I looked at chapter 3 a few weeks back, I talked about the wealth trap. And this is clearly in picture again here.

You see, when you have a lot of money, it is so easy to put your trust in it.

Money can become a bit of a cushion for tough times. That is, we can think as long as we keep enough aside, it doesn’t matter if we go through a few rough times, we’ve got enough buffer to ride it out.

Well, after describing their luxuries, verse 7 reminds that that their feasting and lounging will soon end. It doesn’t matter how much buffer there is, this will not be the source of their security.

I wonder how much of a buffer you have with your personal savings?

If you are fortunate enough to have a sufficient savings to help you get through a few rocky times, that’s wonderful - but don’t let that lull you into a sense of security that everything will be fine.

Pride

As we move into verse 8 we get more strong language from God, and I want to suggest, we’re getting to the heart of the problem.

The Lord God Almighty declares: ‘I abhor the pride of Jacob [that is: Israel] and detest his fortresses’

You see, at the heart of it is pride.

Now pride is an interesting thing. It’s interesting because today it is seen as a virtue.

In fact, I still remember once in a youth group talk I was doing, when I made an inference that pride was a sin, I got this baffled look as it just didn’t seem right to them.

But now here’s the thing. Pride is really the respectable sin in Christianity. It’s the one we don’t tend to get too worked up about.

We call out the sexual immoral. We call out other gross violations of God’s rules - violence, abuse and the like. We might even be prepared to call out what might be considered less serious sins like gossiping, anger and the like.

But when it comes to pride, we tend to be a lot more reluctant to call it for what it is.

But C.S. Lewis, in his book ‘Mere Christianity”, calls it the “Great Sin”.

Let me just quote this great thinker:

“…the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkeness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”

And I want to suggest that this is the very problem that we face here.

You see, as C.S. Lewis says, pride is the complete anti-God state of mind.

And this is why it is so bad. When our hearts are full of pride we are saying: I don’t need you God, I can do this on my own.

The more we have, the more pride in our heart. And the more pride in our heart, the less room for God.

Destruction

The rest of the chapter then describes the destruction that will result from Israel’s pride.

And it’s not pretty.

In fact, as we’ve been going through the book, there has been this growing picture of destruction.

Back in chapter 2 when God’s finger was directed onto the Israelites, God said he would crush them.

In chapter 3, God tells them that it will be an enemy that overruns them.

So you can kind of see as the prophecy continues, more and more details about the upcoming disaster becomes apparent.

By the end of chapter 5 which we looked at last year, it goes even further and says that they will be sent into exile beyond Damascus.

Now that is the first clear indication that they are about to be sent into exile.

Note that it’s generally considered Amos is prophesying around 760 BC and they were sent into exile about 40 years later.

Well, in our current chapter this morning, we see this disaster being reiterated.

Firstly the comprehensive nature of it. Verse 8 talks of everything in the city being in sight.

Verses 9 and 10 paints a picture of desperation. People trying to hide in houses and in confusion, but only finding death.

And finally in verse 14, again clarifying as he did before that it will be a foreign nation who will be stirred up against them.

Recognising God

Now, I believe there is a clear point being made in this chapter.

You might think that you’ve got it all figured out.

But a day will come when the best plans, the most well thought out strategy, will not count for anything.

At the start I spoke about this idea of thinking we can get it all together, and I said, what we need is not better strategy, but a paradigm shift.

Well, can I suggest that paradigm shift is to recognise that it’s not about you.

What it’s actually about is recognising God and his active role in our life and our world.

You see, this was the problem with the Israelites. They began thinking it was about them. God provides them with a bit of success - and suddenly it’s: look at us, aren’t we just so wonderful.

It was that pride in their heart which meant they didn’t acknowledge God for what he was doing in their lives.

And how easy is it for us to do the very same thing.

A few things go our way, and we think - well, aren’t we just clever.

Thanksgiving

We need to rather constantly check on the pride in our heart.

And one of the best ways in which we can counteract the pride in our heart, is through thanksgiving.

The simple act of saying thanks. Because the simple act of saying thank you, means that we recognise that what we have is because God has provided it for us.

So when you pray, fill your prayers with words of thanks. Thank him for the gifts and talents you have. Thank him for the resources you have. Thank him for the friends you have. Whatever you have, just say thanks.

Submit

And then, with hearts full of thanksgiving, we just need to submit to God.

You see, we can become very uptight about everything. What if this goes wrong or that goes bad.

Well, as 2020 has taught us, the most unexpected things can and do happen.

And while I don’t want to pretend that it is somehow easy to get through, but when we’ve shifted our thinking from being self-focussed to God-focussed, it becomes a whole lot easier to just let God take control.

And this is what I mean by submit.

We want to wrestle back the control. This is in our nature. But God is saying: no, just trust me, and I’ll get you through.

Conclusion

It can be hard to hand it over to God.

From an early age, we’ve been taught to be self-sufficient. We’ve been taught to remember to have a pumped up spare tyre in the car.

But even when we’re as self-sufficient as we can possibly get, we find that it just isn’t enough.

Self-sufficiency will never be enough. We need something more.

But we’ve got more. We’ve got God, the author and creator of all things.

God is calling you to loosen that grip you have on everything. Get rid of that pride in your heart. Because that pride is pulling you away from God.

Instead, with hearts full of thanksgiving, just hand it over to God, and allow him to carry you through.

Let me pray...