Title: The Way We Live / Amos 5:1~15
Content: The way we live / Amos 5:1~15
Title: The way we live (Amos 5:1-15)
Deeply studying the words of the Bible, I feel that the Bible is a book that allows us to see the world in a time machine.
This is because the Bible is what makes the lives of people in the past illuminate in detail and allows us to reflect on the present once again and look forward to our future through the reflected images.
In particular, I think that the words of the prophets correspond to certain time machines.
However, seeing the people who do not accept the Word as it is these days, I have a lot of regrets to create a time machine that we can recognize with certainty so that we can see our future in detail.
If you live like this while crying and shouting with a sore throat, even if you cry out that you will be judged when Jesus comes soon, don't get nervous.
Likewise in Amos' day, they did not heed God's warning message. So Amos made the children sing a song called Lamentations.
Children sang that song in every street and every alley, so I naturally let adults hear it as well. The content was that Israel, who seemed to be doing so well now, would be destroyed in an instant.
It is said that the decisive reason for the ruin was that their worship was wrong.
When the Israelites heard this, they were shocked.
They worshiped harder than anyone else. We worshiped every day. And the donations were generously given. I lived a life of giving thoroughly enough to tithe once every three days.
However, all of their worship was not an act of faith in God, but a religious act that stemmed from an old custom. I did the worship service diligently, but I did not meet the God who was receiving the worship service.
In today's terms, for the sake of self-satisfaction, in other words, I was not interested in how God received my worship, even if I judged whether there was grace or not.
What happens when we worship God?
God operates on us. In other words, it changes us.
He says that one day he will suddenly die because of his habit of worshiping otherwise, and that death will be almost wiped out. 90% died and only 10% survived, but all of them were taken prisoner. The reason for keeping 10% alive was to leave it as a lesson for future generations.
The way to avoid death by buying God's wrath is this.
Amos 5:4 The LORD said to the house of Israel, Seek me, and you will live.
These words were also difficult to accept.
It was because they were constantly offering sacrifices in a wonderful place they were proud of. This is what he says to them.
Amos 5:5 Seek not Bethel, do not enter Gilgal, do not go to Beersheba, for Gilgal will certainly be taken into captivity, and Bethel will become futile.
Their pride was in Gilgal rather than in God, and in Bethel, and even higher, Beersheba was their pride.
What do believers usually boast of when they boast of their faith?
They are also proud of the ministry that the church is carrying out.
For example, how much food do you give out because you do a lot of volunteer work, do a lot of missionary work, or do a lot of relief work? It is also something to be proud of.
You may be proud of that, but this is what God is pointing out through Amos.
People of faith should be proud of how much our worship is acceptable to God, and how does the presence of the Holy Spirit appear in it? And through such worship, how are people being transformed into an image that is worthy of God's will? It means it has to be done.
Amos 5:6 Seek the LORD, and he will live, lest he come down like a fire on the house of Joseph and destroy it, lest there be anyone in Bethel to put out the fires.
If you continue to be satisfied with Bethel without meeting God and cling to Gilgal, it is a warning message that God will prepare a judgment of fire and bring it down soon. Once the fire comes down, it cannot be put out by the worship of Bethel. Being vigilant and fasting is not something that can be turned off. When the light is detected, it should indicate a complete change. People created their own system to escape from that fear of fire.
Amos 5:7 You who turn public law into jinjin and cast justice to the ground.
He made the law even more difficult, making himself suffer more like a human being, completely disregarding God's righteousness and throwing him to the ground.
Amos 5:13 Therefore the wise are silent at such times, for it is an evil time.
As they cast away those who accurately conveyed God's will, the wise man with God's will became silent, adding evil to evil.
These days, when I try to actively preach the Word, I experience this phenomenon a lot. If you exhort them to draw closer to God, more and more they flee to Bethel, to Gilgal, and even to Beersheba, throwing stones at them. The only way for us who read this message and hear his voice to find God first, go one step further through worship and meet God is the only way to escape from this wrath.