Preached on Sunday March 22, 2020 in Wellsville Ohio
Theme: Blessing in Disguise
When calamity and suffering come, they are not meant to be the end of the world. Instead they are a blessing because cause us to seek after God and reinforce relationship with Your God!
Amos 4:6 ¶ And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
Amos 4:8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Amos 4:13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.
INTRODUCTION
Most of us have experienced the anxious feeling of having to be somewhere, whether to work, school, or some other important event but had to wait on someone else who was either dragging their feet, having a wardrobe malfunction, or was just plain slow.
You are usually okay and patient early on, but as the minutes went by, and the time to go came nearer, your blood pressure began to rise because it was important that you arrive on time.
Then when you know certain people’s habits, you pad the time by telling them to be ready 30 minutes, an hour, maybe two hours early because you know they will be late!
For those of you who don't know what that feels like, you are probably the one who is always late, always behind and always getting fussed at because you are always taking too long!
Those types of things are not fun, but they don't really affect where you will spend eternity.
But one appointment you don't want to procrastinate preparing for is your appointment with your creator.
Heb 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"
What you do here on earth determines where you will spend eternity.
Rather, what you do with the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection will determine your peace now and your eternal peace.
Our text reveals Amos delivering a revelation to Israel explaining why they were beginning to experience devastation and disasters that they were not used to or prepared for. All these seemingly devastating things were sent by God in order to wake them to the truth and turn as a people back to God!
SERMON FOCUS
When devastation and suffering come to us, it is not meant to destroy us and separate us from God.
Suffering comes in order to draw us closer to God!
It might not look like it, it might not feel like it, and it might not smell like it, but it's a blessing in disguise!
The book of Amos takes place during the Assyrian conquest of Israel in the 8th century BC.
You can get a feel for the moral and social climate and conditions by looking through kings and chronicles.
Amos is unique because he is the only writing prophet who has a narrative story.
Although He was sent by God to prophesy to the Northern kingdom, Amos was actually a businessman and farmer from a Judean village, Tekoa, before he was sent by God to speak God's oracles to the people of the Northern Kingdom.
The northern kingdom was in a spiritually dark place and were disconnected from the worship the Lord.
After Solomon died, Jeroboam revolted causing a civil war, breaking the northern Kingdom off from Judah.
This meant in order to worship they would have to make pilgrimages into the south which the King did not want.
Jeroboam instituted cultic Bull Worship (Golden Calf) and established temple cities in the north in order to keep the people from Going south to worship in Jerusalem.
This would cause knowledge of true worship to be erased from their collective consciousnesses within just a few generations.
In the same way corporations, the entertainment industry, and the media bombard you 24/7 with images and ideas that make you thirsty for trendy fashion, tech products and exotic lifestyles in order to turn off your critical thinking,
Jeroboam succeeded in causing an entire nation established and built by God to forget all about him in order to chase the Israelite dream! Sound familiar?
With that shift came a decrease of God consciousness and an increase of their national pride and patriotism that was void of God.
Though they believed it with all their hearts, God was not with them because as a nation they forsook the Word and the Worship of YHWH for a cheap substitute.
They thought they were on the right road but they had been led astray by the manipulation of a wicked and powerful king who erased the worship of YHWH from their collective consciousness and replaced it with a counterfeit version of religion that felt good, gave them a sense of unity and purpose, but put them on the fast-track to judgement.
During this time the northern kingdom was experiencing economic growth and prosperity on a wide scale where resources were in abundance, trade was profitable, and there was a national sense of invincibility because they were so richly blessed.
Because of their prosperity, they began to believe that gain and profit were a sign of approval from God.
Even if it meant cheating your neighbor and taking advantage of the poor.
Amos 2:6b "…because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;"
It was a time where the poor were cheated out of property and land by the rich.
It was a time when the poor, the fatherless, the widow, and the immigrant were cruelly exploited and at the mercy of the immoral and the wealthy.
It was a time where idolatry, drunken revelry, sensuality, promiscuity, and gross sexual immorality ran rampant in every level of society, yet they thought because they were Israelites and they had been the strongest economic power in the region that God approved of their behavior.
They developed a form of godliness that had no substance or power that was based upon pride in their religious system, national unity.
Therefore, God sent Amos to them to preach the Word and turn their hearts back to God!
Sometimes it takes a reality check to help us realize that we are on the road to everlasting destruction and we need to come back to living God.
In verses 6 through 11 there were five specific and intentional things that God inflicted upon Israel to get them to repent and turn to God.
1. I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places, but you haven't come back to me.
2. I have withholden the rain from you, but you haven't come back to me.
3. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew, but you haven't come back to me.
4. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt, but you haven't come back to me.
5. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, but you still haven't come back to me.
In everything that God did in order to get their attention, they still did not return to the Lord!
God was standing there with his arms folded and his foot tapping, but what was taking them so long?
The spiritual and moral condition of Israel from top to bottom was corrupt to the core and God saw no other way to get their attention except through making them suffer.
· Was everyone in Israel guilty of exploiting the poor? No.
· Was everyone in Israel guilty of sexual immorality? No.
But unfortunately, God could no longer allow them to continue to blaspheme through greed, idolatry, and immorality.
Amos 4:6 ¶ And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
Amos 4:8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Amos 4:11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Not all suffering is caused by God, but all suffering should cause us to think about our condition, examine ourselves, and then draw closer to God. But like Israel, we often rationalize instead of repenting, when what we really need to do is call upon the name of the Lord.
We find ourselves today in the midst of the most terrifying public health crisis in over 100 years and everyone is searching for answers.
Scientists are working feverishly trying to create cures and vaccines, but they admit they are months away. The white house is limiting public gatherings and creating social distance, while state Governors are closing businesses, canceling elections yet the virus continues to spread. It’s not a matter of stopping it but it’s about finding a way to slow it down. People are panic buying toilet paper, guns and ammunition, preparing for the worst possible scenario. It seems the more we know and learn, the more questions we ask.
I do not for one minute believe that God delights in disaster, pestilence, suffering and death. No! God wants to heal you, bless you, and deliver you!
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
God is waiting for you, but he is taking his time because he wants you to come to him before it's too late for you to be saved!
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But what does that have to do with this horrible outbreak of corona?
When Moses was about to lead ancient Israelites out of Egypt, Pharaoh increased his oppression and abuse of them in order to break them. Even though God was working out their deliverance, they felt all of the pain that was being inflicted upon them.
Then one day God told Moses, I'm delivering my people tonight. I'm sending the death angel through the land to take the firstborn of every first-born son in the land.
But I want each family to gather in the house kill a spotless lamb, roast it and have it for dinner. Take some of the blood and apply it to the door post and lintels of your doors.
So that when the death angel comes through the land, I will see the blood, and pass over you! Don't go out unprotected! Don't go to the golden corral for a buffet! But stay inside and you're going to make it through! But if you disobey, take it light, or dismiss what I am saying, you take your life in your own hands!
Stay in the house! Stay inside?!
Stay inside of the will of God!
Stay in, and walk, in the Spirit!
Stay in the Word!
Stay in prayer!
Stay in the right attitude and frame of mind!
Stay in Jesus!
Jesus, the Son of God, entered this world almost 2000 years ago through the womb of a young girl named Mary to become human in order to redeem humanity. His love is far reaching and does not discriminate. Jesus was beaten, humiliated, then executed like a common criminal so that the sins and infirmities of all humanity might be cleansed by his broken body and shed blood.
Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
It was the blood that Jesus shed on the cross and the beating that he took in his body that gives us repentance to life and communion with God! Jesus gave his very best and committed his all when he went to Calvary!
What is taking you so long to commit your all to the Lord!