Amos, Pt. 6

Chapter 7:10-17 is the only narrative part of Amos. He is confronted by the king’s priest Amaziah who tells Amos to stop preaching there and go home. Amaziah is even building a case against Amos to the king, but in doing so mixed truth with fiction and put words in Amos’ mouth that he never said, “Jeroboam will die by the sword.” It is true Amos warned Israel that they were going into exile. When confronted, Amos appeals to his calling and even states this was not what his life was about, but he is following the Lord so he must preach. Amos sticks to the truth, and while he said nothing about Jeroboam dying by the sword, he does warn Amaziah that his children will, and that his wife will become a prostitute (after all, in this society if a woman has no husband or sons to take care of her, what else can she do?), and that Amaziah will die in a foreign land. Amos has no use for comforting people who are already living lives of extreme comfort and indifference to the plight of those around them. He is jarring them to attention, and all they want is for him to stop so they can return to their materialistic lives.
Amos motivation is not money or pats on the back or attention. He is preaching the truth in love by faith. Amos doesn’t want this to happen, after all this comes right after Amos is pleading with the Lord to relent. But Amos loves these people to much to not warn them and call them to repentance. Amaziah is motivated by preaching what the people want to hear and being a spokesperson for the king. Amos is motivated by his faith and love.

What kind of preaching do we want? Do we want to live our comfortable lives while we hear preaching we can agree with that rails against everyone else and tells us we’re okay, or do we respond to preachers like Amos that tells it like it is and calls God’s people to repentance. He will not let us languish in our comfort while a world is going to hell and our comfort is part of what’s taking them there.

We can preach all day against abortion, homosexuality, immorality, etc. and we ought to. But do we welcome preaching against greed, materialism and spiritual pride? Do we try to control a church by threatening to take away our contribution or ask a preacher to be fired because they aren’t preaching the “right” truth (right defined as preaching against others sins but leaving us comfortable)? It’s easy to preach against things that are “out there,” which Amos started his preaching by doing (chapters 1-2) but when someone steps on our toes and calls us to repentance for our own lives it requires change, which is difficult and uncomfortable. But in the church we are still sinners that are more affected by our “me” culture then we would like to admit. The big sin in Amos is materialism and injustice. We can fight for all the right things doctrinally while ignoring our own neighborhoods. Who cares if we are right if it is not leading to salvation, justice, and holy lives.

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”-2 Timothy 4:3