Title Amos 05:4-15 What God Wants
Contents
What God wants (Amos 5:4-15)
Cry for justice and do justice.”
Correct worship with a change of character must be fundamental
There is a famous German theologian named Metz. When the Mets were in the army, World War II broke out and he was captured while fighting the Allies and spent three years in England as a prisoner of war. And when he returned to his village, there was a Jewish concentration camp in the village. Jews were executed there every day. Some of them were members of the same church.
Such was the situation at the time of Prophet Amos. At the time of Amos, the king of Israel was Jeroboam II, and he was a very capable king in the world. So Israel was very wealthy economically. But religion was full of idolatry, and luxury, oppression, and human trafficking were extreme. The exploitation and abuse of the poor by the rich and the powerful was extreme.
Amos sends a solemn message to such injustice with a sad heart. Let's take a look at what God wants through the text.
First, it is proper worship.
The prophet Amos says that Israel will be destroyed, but why are they suddenly destroyed? Is it because you didn't worship? It's not like that. They were zealous for worship. But they did not meet God. I made it to the stage where I could perform religious ceremonies, but I could not truly meet God. This is because they worshiped idols together with God and worshiped full of their own greed without changing their disposition.
We consider coming to church and meeting God as the same thing. But Amos says not. The Israelites thought that going to the sanctuary and worshiping and keeping the feasts well was seeking God and proper worship. In particular, those who thought they had a deep faith went far away to Beersheba, the land of Judah, to worship. But Prophet Amos says that it is not proper worship. It is not worship to come before God to fulfill their desires or to have a sinful heart.
A person who truly meets God is bound to change. Proper worship entails change. If there is no change after worship, that person has not been worshiping properly. Because the people of Israel did not have proper worship, they had no choice but to live unrighteously.
Second, we are calling for justice.
Verse 13 says, “Therefore the wise are silent at such times, for it is an evil time.” Even in a serious situation where justice has fallen to the ground and iniquity is rampant, the wise man remained silent. As of today, the church has been silent. So, God made Amos, who lived in the land of Tekoa in the south of Judah, cry out for justice.
Here are the words of Calvin who preached the book of Amos. “Amos is a bitter medicine that is difficult to swallow.” The content of Amos itself is like a drug with a strong bitter taste that is really hard to swallow. But it is a word that we who live today must swallow and listen to. The church must restore its prophetic mission.
In the early 1900's, as Yasokyo members continued to plead for injustice and corruption, two senior officials from Pyongyang were expelled from their assignments, and a third senior citizen, who should be appointed, filed an appeal refusing to go to Pyongyang. The reason for the appeal was because two Yasokyo believers shouted for justice when they saw injustice. A Christian is to be a just critic in society and a watcher of injustice. Then, a just society will be established on this earth.
Third, it is to do justice.
Let's look at verse 15. “Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gates; perhaps the LORD, the God of hosts, will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.”
There is an important role played in the ancient gates, that of the courthouse. He handled and adjudicated cases involving civil and criminal matters (Deut. 21:18-21; 22:13-21, 23-27; Ruth 4:1-11; Job 5:4; 31:21). There is a reason for the judgment in the city gate. Because it is a frequented place, there is less room for bribery or perverting the trial compared to other places. But as the years go by, there are people who are unhappy at the gates. Because those in power judged according to their own taste. That is why God told us to restore justice from the gates.
God wants us living today to live as Christians who practice justice (Ephesians 2:10).
Sermon notes
The people of Israel lived a life centered on the sanctuary, but they failed to live the life God wanted. What God really wants is to offer worship accompanied by a change of character, to cry out for social justice, and to do justice so that we can become a society where public law flows like water and justice flows like a river.