Measuring up?

Amos 7:1–17 CEB

1 This is what the Lord God showed me: The Lord God was forming locusts at the time the late grass began to sprout. (It was the late grass after the king’s harvest.) 2 When they had finished eating the green plants of the land, I said, “Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” 3 The Lord relented concerning this: “It won’t take place,” says the Lord. 4 This is what the Lord God showed me: The Lord God was calling for judgment with fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up part of the land. 5 Then I said, “Lord God, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” 6 The Lord relented concerning this: “This also won’t take place,” says the Lord God. 7 This is what the Lord showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” “A plumb line,” I said. Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will never again forgive them. 9 The shrines of Isaac will be made desolate, and the holy places of Israel will be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” 10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, reported to Israel’s King Jeroboam, “Amos has plotted against you within of the house of Israel. The land isn’t able to cope with everything that he is saying. 11 Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will be forced out of its land.’ ” 12 Amaziah said to Amos, “You who see things, go, run away to the land of Judah, eat your bread there, and prophesy there; 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s holy place and his royal house.” 14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I a prophet’s son; but I am a shepherd, and a trimmer of sycamore trees. 15 But the Lord took me from shepherding the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now then hear the Lord’s word. You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’ 17 Therefore, the Lord proclaims: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be measured and divided up; you yourself will die in an unclean land, and Israel will surely be taken away from its land.’ ”

Measuring up?

I was happy when they opened up the Harbor Freight store in Somerset. I jokingly refer to the store as a “candy store.” I might go in for one thing in particular but always walk out with more than I intended to buy.

I am not any great kind of carpenter, plumber, electrician, or mechanic. I know just enough to be dangerous. One thing that I have learned is that if you have the right tools then the job goes much easier.

If you are going to hang a picture on the wall it helps to have a level. You might try to eye-ball it, but that is not the best way.

We’ve got an antique mirror hanging in the living room. It is hanging there with a wire stretched across the back of it. That mirror will not stay level. It seems like every time that I straighten it out so that it is hanging properly then the next time I walk by it is crooked again.

The thing about tools is that you’ve actually got to use them to derive any benefits from them.

When we think about our relationship with God, He has given us all the tools that we need in order to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Those tools include Himself, God the Holy Spirit who comes to indwell us and to transform us into the very likeness of Christ. He has given us the Bible, His written word to instruct us. He has given us the Church, instituted by Jesus Himself. We couldn’t ask for anything better. What more could He give besides Himself?

The problem that we run into is that we often don’t use the resources that God has provided us. Paul wrote the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians. Those fruit are produced by the Holy Spirit who lives within us.

Paul wrote:

Galatians 5:24–25 (CEB)

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit.

If you truly belong to Jesus then you’ve crucified the flesh, you’ve taken up your cross and you’re following Him. If you’re still allowing sin to remain in your life then you don’t truly belong to Jesus. You need to repent and turn to Jesus and turn away from sin. There is no room for sin in the life of a Christian.

Paul is saying that the normal Christian life is one lived by the Holy Spirit, that’s the expectation, not an exception. He says that since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

When we keep in step with the Spirit or walk in line with the Spirit we can proclaim as Paul did back in chapter 2 verse 20:

Galatians 2:20 CEB

20 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The prophet Amos in our Scripture text points out three visions that God showed to him. The first two visions are visions of locust devouring the land and fire sweeping through the land. What is interesting about these two visions is that the people do not repent. It is God, he changes His mind after Amos pleads with God to not allow those events.

The Israelites had walked away from God. One commentator wrote:

The moral condition of the nation was clearly revealed by the prophet’s shock at the cruel treatment of the poor by the rich, at the covetousness, injustice, and immorality of the people in power, and at the general contempt for things holy (2:6–8). Trampling on the poor, taking exactions of wheat (5:11), afflicting the just, taking a bribe, and turning aside from the needy (v. 23) stirred the indignation of the prophet, and gives us insight into the morals of the day. These people were ready to “swallow up the needy” and “to do away with the poor of the land”—that is, to let them die (8:4).

In political circles there was tumult and oppression, violence and robbery (3:9–10). People hated any judge who would reprove them or speak uprightly (5:10).

Then suddenly, against this background of prosperity and oppression, a man who knew poverty appeared from Judah. For a few short months, he denounced the sins of Israel and promised judgment.

Amos was a native of Tekoa, a town about 12 miles south of Jerusalem. A farmer and herder, he had spent his life caring for sheep and harvesting the sycamore fig, the “food of the poor.” He was used to hard work and accustomed to a frugal life. He stood in sharp contrast to the “beautiful people” of Israel.

Shocked by the moral, social, and religious situation in the Northern Kingdom, Amos stood at Bethel (the center of worship established over a century before by Jeroboam I) and denounced the lifestyle of Israel. In a series of scathing sermons, he confronted the wealthy and ruling classes, exposed their sins, and pronounced in flaming anger the punishment that God was to impose.[1]

That is the culture of Amos’ day. Those are some of the reasons that God was going to bring judgement on the Israelites. Both times that God said He was going to bring judgement on them Amos begged God to not do it and both times Amos writes “So the Lord relented.”

God gives Amos a third vision. The vision of a plumb line. A plumb line is used in construction like a level as a tool to ensure that something is being built plumb in a vertical manner. If you were to install a new door or window in your house, you would check to make sure that it is level. That means that on the horizontal that it is level across. You also check to make sure that it is plumb on the vertical axis making sure that it is not leaning out or leaning in.

God says there in verse 8:

Amos 7:8 CEB

8 The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” “A plumb line,” I said. Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will never again forgive them.

When God brought the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, He established a covenant with them. The basis for that covenant begins in Deuteronomy chapter four where Moses says to the people:

Deuteronomy 4:1–2 CEB

1 Now, Israel, in light of all that, listen to the regulations and the case laws that I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and possess the land that the Lord, your ancestors’ God, is giving to you. 2 Don’t add anything to the word that I am commanding you, and don’t take anything away from it. Instead, keep the commands of the Lord your God that I am commanding all of you.

In chapter five of Deuteronomy Moses gives the ten commandments to the people. Those ten commandments provide the boundaries or the fence around them that demonstrate how they are to live different lives than the nations that will surround them.

In chapter six of Deuteronomy we read the great commandment where Moses tells the people:

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 CEB

4 Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! Only the Lord! 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. 6 These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. 7 Recite them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. 9 Write them on your house’s doorframes and on your city’s gates.

Over in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18 we read the Holiness code for the Jews. In that chapter we find the second greatest commandment:

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

You might be thinking “I really wish the pastor would get to his point” or “that’s nice but what does it have to do with a plumb line?”

I’m glad you’re thinking that because those scriptures that I just pointed out are the very reason that God said that He was setting a plumb line among the people. God was using the plumb line of His word, His commandments to see how the people were measuring up.

Based on what God says to Amos in verse seven of our text the people didn’t measure up. God said:

Amos 7:8 CEB

8 The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” “A plumb line,” I said. Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will never again forgive them.

Going back to Leviticus chapter 19, God starts that chapter by saying “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” That is the measure against which everything we do is compared to. God is holy, that is His very character and He is telling the people that they need to be holy like Him.

If you’ll take time to read that entire chapter and you’re not careful you would quickly think that God is laying out a list of do’s and don’ts. A careful reading is that the list that is presented there is more than just do’s and don’ts, rather they are more about attitudes and respect for God and others.

Over in another obscure book of the Old Testament, Micah, we read God’s indictment against the Israelites. God says through the prophet Micah in chapter 6 these words:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

God doesn’t lay out a list of do’s and don’ts rather He speaks about attitudes of the heart. When God first created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He created them and us with a free will. That is the ability to choose to love and serve God or to choose our own way. That choice doesn’t come from following a list rather it comes from a decision of the heart to either love God or to reject Him. Adam and Eve choose to reject God and now we live with the consequences of their decision.

Ever since that fateful decision of Adam and Eve, God has been at work seeking to be reconciled with His creation. God called the Jews to be a special unique people. They were to be missionary people with a mission to be witnesses of God in the world. Isaiah for example writes that God said:

I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. (Isaiah 66:19)

The Israelites in Amos’ time were not living up to the holiness and righteousness of God. They were violating everything that God had instructed them on. Throughout this book, Amos writes about how the Israelites were failing to live up to the holiness and righteousness that God has called them to live.

Jeroboam II was the king of Israel during this time. It was a time of expansion of the boarders of both Israel and Judah. They were at peace with the major foreign powers such as Egypt and Assyria. This was a time of prosperity as both nations “enjoyed increased trade and the revenue generated by controlling major trade routes. Archaeological evidence confirms the wealth of Samaria during this period. Israel and Judah were at their economic and political peak.

Such a climate was bound to breed optimism and a confidence in the prospects for the future. The nation doubtless regarded its prosperity as a sign of God’s favor and a confirmation of their policies and practices. The prophets Amos and Hosea gave a vastly different evaluation of the situation and predicted the catastrophe which would come with surprising quickness.[2]

The world of Amos’ day was very much like our day. The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. The people believed that God was blessing them when in fact God was standing with a plumb line, measuring them and they were seriously out of plumb.

The Church of the Nazarene in Gulfport Mississippi that we were members of was an older building. At first glance it looked to be in really good condition, but it had a hidden problem on the southern wall. It was seriously out of plumb. At some point a large metal rod was put across the sanctuary and hidden by the drop ceiling to connect the southern wall with the northern wall to keep it from collapsing. There was a string placed on two nails from the far western corner of the wall to the far eastern corner of the wall to keep a measure of how far the wall was out of plumb. Every couple of months one of the men would measure how far the wall was from the string.

That is what God was doing with the Israelites. He held that plumb line down the wall of their lives and measured to see how far out of plumb they were. They didn’t measure up because God says to Amos in verses eight and nine:

Amos 7:8–9 (CEB)

I will never again forgive them.

9 The shrines of Isaac will be made desolate, and the holy places of Israel will be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Look there at verse 17:

Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.

Because the Israelites didn’t measure up, God is about to bring judgement on them. We know from the Bible that judgement did indeed come upon both Israel and Judah and the people were conquered and taken into captivity.

It didn’t have to turn out that way for the people of Israel. If only they would have followed the covenant that they had made with God things would have turned out very differently.

What about us? How does this vision play into our lives? God has called us to be Holy people. Our plumb line is Jesus. God became incarnate in Jesus who came and lived as one of us. His life is the standard against which ours is measured. Jesus took our sin upon himself when he died on that cross. After Jesus ascended into heaven the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell us, to live within us, to empower us to live the life that God has called us into.

How do the walls of our lives measure up against the plumb line of God? The great news of Jesus is that He is the master builder of our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to try to live this holy life on our own. God the Holy Spirit dwells within us, transforming us from the inside out. Our part of the building project is surrendering our lives to God and allowing the Holy Spirit to do what He needs to do within us. We’re called to live obedient lives to God. It’s not so much about keeping a list of do’s and don’ts rather it is all about our obedience and surrendering our will to God’s will.

The plumb line of God exposes the hidden leanings of our lives. The Holy Spirit points out where we are out of line with God’s will for our lives. We have two choices. We can continue to do our own thing and risk the judgement of God or we can choose to be obedient to God and allow the Holy Spirit to bring our lives into plumb with God’s will.

How does your life measure up with God today? Is the wall of our life out of plumb with Jesus? If so, don’t waste a moment of time to seek God’s forgiveness and allow the Holy Spirit to bring that area of our life into plumb with God’s will.

[1] Richards, Larry, and Lawrence O. Richards. The Teacher’s Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1987. Print. [2] Ogilvie, Lloyd J., and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Vol. 22. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1990. Print. The Preacher’s Commentary Series.