A RED LETTER DAY FOR YOU
AMOS 5:18 - 27
Scripture Reading: Amos 5:18-27
Responsive Reading: Joshus 7:1-26
Introduction:
One of the things that we all have in common are special days.
People of alll ages, all cultures, and nationalities have them.
Special days are as individual as those who celebrate them.
We all in here have birthdays.
We celebrate: a) graduations
b) weddings
c) new jobs and promotions
d) holidays
Special days are like two-edged swords.
Special days can be exciting and happy.
They can also be sad and solemn.
Special days can also be a) accidents
b) criminal acts
c) natural disasters
Lets for a moment consider the special days we could have in our lives.
We all celebrate birthdays Here:
Don’t we Les and Stella.
Guys celebrate birthdays each year of our lives.
Women celebrate certain years more than otheres.
Some like thirty-nine for example that they stay there for ten years or more.
One thing is clear about birthdays though in all seriousness.
When we are young, the time from one birthday to another seems forever.
As we get older though, the distance steadily shortens and is sometimes scary.
As we get older, the same special day we call our birthday is no longer something that we look forward to, but something that we see as a scary reminder that we step closer to our death.
Another special day we celebrate is our first day of school.
This is another two-edged sword.
For some children it is exciting and happy.
They go out and buy new clothes
new supplies 1. lunch box
2. book bag
It could be a time to make new friends.
But the first day of school can also be a day of great fear.
For the shy child or the child who is nervous about changes this can be scary.
This could be the first time away from parents.
Riding a bus for the first time.
A whole new schedule of things that they may not know how to do.
A lack of all that is familiar is as scary as it is exciting.
As we advanced in school first days were special for different things.
On one hand there is: a) renewing friends
b) new supplies and clothes
c) new opportunities 1. activities and sports available only to later grades
2. going to senior grades 3. a teacher you like
d) a change in schools elementary middle high
On the other hand.
a) you could get a teacher you don’t want.
b) initiation rites at schools (illustrate birthdays)
c) Going from senior status in one to the bottom in another.
These special days are two-edged arn’t they.
Love relationships have special days as well.
But these as well can be two-edged.
You cna all remember your first love.
How sweet it was.
We were on cloud nine.
But you can also remember the first time you were dumped.
jilted
finito
It felt like you would never recover.
You were finished with love forever.
Special days could be: a) weddings
b) promotions
c) new acquisitions
d) graduations
Special days can also be: a) deaths 1 by accident
2 by criminal action
b) so-called natural disasters
c) losing a job.
We could go on and on with special days in your life.
Each one will have two edges.
We mark our special days on the calendar in red ink.
Many of these days are seen by the world as two-edged.
a) Christmas and Easter
b) Thanksgiving reminds us of starvation
Even Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are at opposites when it comes to comparison of gifts.
Usually for a wife they get: a) flowers
b) breakfast or supper out
c) a special visit
d) a gift like 1. a breadmaker
2. new dishes
3. new appliances
You know, real personal stuff.
What do husbands get: a meal for sure and possible a visit
new tools
golf clubs
fishing rods
Everything they wanted but alas it is only for them.
We see special days in red:
1. Lincoln’s birthday
2. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
3. Victoria Day
4. July 1st or 4th
All kinds of special days are markded in red.
In fact the only special day I can think of that is not marked on our calendar is the one we are going to speak on today.
That day is "The day of the Lord".
We can’t put it in red because we don’t know when it will be.
But this we do know about it.
Just as the other examples of special days are as two-edged swords.
So too will be the Day of the Lord.
We can face it one of two ways:
a) fearlessly, with Jesus as our defender
b) fearfully in judgement alone.
Thats what we are going to talk about.
You see God has a calendar as well.
And on His calendar is a red letter day we don’t have.
That red-letter day is the "Day of the Lord".
Introduction To The Passage:
This passage follows the same chiastic structure that we were introduced to two weeks ago.
Briefly, the chiastic structure is a form of Hebrew writitng where the author emphasizes the key thoughts of the passage by introducing the key thoughts in the early paragraphs, and then repeats them in reverse order.
The style would be: A,B,C,B,A
In this passage we are going to concentrate on the following key points:
a) Discription of Certain Judgement vv.18-20, 27
b) Accusation of religious hypocrisy vv. 21-22; 25-26
c) Call for individual repentance vv. 23,24
A. Discription of Certain Judgement: vv.18-20, 27
The Israelites had a general misunderstanding when it came to the judgement of God.
The Israelites were God’s chosen people.
Didn’t God set up His covenant with Abraham and the patriarchs.
Didn’t God deliver this people from slavery in Egypt.
Didn’t God protect them as they were in the wilderness for forty years: a) He clothed them
b) He fed them
c) He protected them
Didn’t God deliver them to the promised land.
All throughout their history they could recount countless times where God acted in a positive way, on their behalf.
But in this, they also missed a crucial lesson.
A lesson that is easy to overlook.
It’s a lesson that we tend to overlook today as well.
The lesson is this.
When God acted in a positive manner for the Israelites, he was also acting in judgement in a negative way against Isreal’s enemies.
Think about it:
a) When God protected Abraham in battle, did he not destroy those who tried to destroy his chosen.
b) When God delivered the Isrealites from Egypt were the plagues not a form of negative judgement against Egypt.
c) When Isreal went into the promised land, did not God act in judgement against those who would oppose his chosen people.
Israel saw themselves as being invincible because they were God’s chosen people.
Whenever God acted in judgement He acted on their behalf.
Their God was strong and powerful.
Noone could stand against them.
This gave them a false sense of security.
They felt that if they could go through the motions of worship, that they could do anything they wanted.
They could follow the forms of sacrifice and feast days according to the rule of the law.
Then they could practice idolatry and social injustice, in the confidence that God would not judge them.
They overlooked the crucial relational element.
Just as God chose Israel to be his people, God expected and in fact demanded, Israel to be His people.
What they overlooked was that they were in a good relationship with God when he acted negatively in judgement on others.
They ignored the times God acted in judgement against them:
Consider the following examples: a) Lots wife
b) Achan
c) David, lost his son, temple
Certainly God would not act against them as a nation though.
When it came to their judgement:
1. They did not understand it, as I have shown.
2. They did not believe it.
3. They did not fear it: a) They had little consideration
b) No apprehension of the peril
c) No conscience to dread it
d) They had curiosity to desire it
The church today is just as Israel was then.
It too has a false sense of security.
In some ways it is a church in name only.
Why do I say this?
It is because the infection that was present in the camp of Israel then, is present in the church today.
That infection is sin.
There is a presence of sin in the church today.
It effects all denominations, noone is exempt.
We have the same sin of ritualization of worship today.
Think about it.
Our services follow a set routine.
Sermons are three points and a poem.
Communion is always the first sunday of the month.
To deviate from the bulletin is unthinkable.
We have idols today as well within the church.
We know that money can be a universal idol.
But there are other idols in the church that we don’t even know we have.
We deal with them in the same way Israel did with its judgement.
1. We don’t understand the idols.
2. We don’t believe that they are there
3. we don’t fear them
don’t recognize them
but with our curiosity we desire them
What are the idols in the church today?
There are many, but we will look at two.
One is our church building.
Now, this is a sensitive subject.
There is a healthy way and an unhealthy way to look at our buildings.
As God’s house they need to be kept in good repair.
They need to be attractive, but not lavish.
They need to be functional.
An unhealthy church is a church where it is the focus and not ministry.
When we ignore missions for stained-glass windows.
Ignore sunday school funding for plush carpeting.
When the function of ministry is interfered with by the rules for keeping the church in good shape.
The youth can’t play games for fear of marking floors.
No drama, where would we store the stuff.
Can’t move the rail in front for any reason.
Dress codes are in force: 1. no blue jeans
2. men must wear shirt and tie
The unhealthy church corrupted by this idol is like the story of the life-guard stations.
Tell the illustration of the life-guard station.
2. Our closeness can be an idol.
There are two types of closeness in the church.
One is healthy and the other not.
Healthy closeness comes from a people focused on a common relationship.
A healthy church relationship comes from a congregation focused on God.
They go through the battles of the relationship together.
The battles and the triumphs draw us closer together.
The healthy part is this.
Those in a healthy relationship can share even if they are not in the same church.
There is an automatic relationship based on the fact that we face the same trials and triumphs.
We can say "I know where you are, even if we have never met.
There is a common spirit.
The best thing of a healthy relationship is that we want to share it with others.
We want to bring others into the fold.
An unhealthy relationship is so subtle that it is often unrecognized.
In some ways we don’t want to recognize it.
Unhealthy closeness is a closed closeness.
The church congregation are really members in a special club.
They screen carefully those who wish to become members.
Many are rejected because: a) They are not liked
b) They don’t have money
c) They are not the right color
d) They may be handicapped
Others are rejected because of: a) marital status
b) sexual orientation
c) being a single parent
Members accepted go through iniation rites:
a) walking an aisle
b) baptism
c) reception as members.
Visitors from other churches are welcomed only on the surface.
The unhealthy church has only their closeness that they worry about.
They don’t share the common spirit that other churches has whose eyes are on God.
It’s close, but to the outsider, it’s as cold as ice.
Verses 18,19 are voices of condemnation not only to Israel then, but to the church now.
To begin with "woe" was a prediction of death to the living.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary states:
Woe was ordinarily the wail of grief over the dead. Pronounced over the living, "woe" was a prediction of death of distress in the face of present or coming calamity.
The attitude of the Israelites and the church today are the same.
Calvin states:
When therefore the Prophet saw; that the Israelites so waywardly flattered themselves, and so foolishly and wickedly laid claim to the name of God, he says "Woe to them who desire the Day of Jehovah! What will this be, he says, to you? The day of Jehovah will be darkness and not light.... for He will come armed, ready to destroy you.
A day of dark judgement would come.
It would be unavoidable.
Avoid the lion and deal with the bear.
Avoid the bear and get safely home.
Avoid the lion, and bear, get home safely and I’ll get you in your safe home with a snake.
Verse 27 tells us the extent of the punishment.
They were to be exiled beyond Damascus.
Why Damascus?
Calvin suggests a good reason.
But why did the prophet mention Damascus? This reason ought to be observed. It is because the Israelites thought that all the attacks of enemies would have been prevented by having the city of Damascus as their defense, which they supposed was impregnable. "That fortress" the Lord says "will not prevent me from taking you away, and removing you as far as the Assyrians.
They were to go into exile as punishment by the Lord, whose name is God almighty.
The best defense they had at their disposal was at it’s best man-made, when apart from God.
They were no match for the Almighty God.
Verse 20 describes the "Day of the Lord" as a day of darkness and not light.
He describes it as "pitch darkness".
It is the blackest "darkness" of all.
Not a ray of light could get through.
It is the time we should be most scared.
Accusation of Religious Hypocrisy: Amos 5:21-22; 25-26
Amos speaks directly to the worship of the Israelites at this point.
He forces us to look not at the form or content of worship, but the intent and heart of worship.
Going through the legal motions of worship was not worship by itself.
We need to learn the same lesson today.
The best choir
preaching
church programs
prayer
will be of no value if the intent of the heart is not pure.
In fact vv.21-22 tells us that God dispises their: religious feasts
assemblies
that God will not accept their offerings
Why?
Because it is a slap in the face of God.
Calvin states:
Though the Jews, as to the external form, had not departed form the rule of the law, yet their sacrifices were vicious and repudiated by God. "I cannot bear them- they are a weariness to me- I repudiate them - I loathe them."- - these are expressions we meet with everywhere in Isaiah. And yet hypocrites regarded their worship as conformable to the law, but impurity of heart vitiated all their works, and this was the reason that God rejected every thing the Jews thought available for holiness.
They were saying on one hand with their worship that they seeked relationship with God.
On the other hand they practiced idolatry, breaking the law that they tried to follow.
Let me make it crystal clear.
You can’t live in both worlds.
If what you do throughout the other six days of the week does not reflect your committment to Christ, then what you do on Sunday will have no value.
The only exception to this is if you make a step of repentance and renew your relationship to God.
They also corrupted their worship of God in its outward form as well.
Sacrifices at this time were only to be made on Mount Zion.
They were offering sacrifices in various locations.
They were places of idolatry.
At times they offered sacrifices to God, and then worshiped the calves.
It would be like praying to God, and then worshiping Satan.
The outward image of our worship is important.
It is true that we didn’t have to be at church to worship God.
There are times you should not be there:
a) If you are sick
b) If there is a storm
But there is an external testimony offered as you enter these doors.
People know that you have entered the house of God.
They will know that worship is offered there to God Almighty.
When the Isrealites offered sacrifices on Mount Zion, people knew who they were sacrificing to, and worshiping.
At these other places they could have been and indeed were worshiping idols.
Think of it this way.
The time is Sunday at 7:00 P.M.
Two people stand in front of two buildings, one is a church, the other an arena where there is professional wrestling, or hockey, or perhaps it is a football or baseball stadium.
Depending on which door they enter, people outside will know what they desire relationship with.
Verse 25-26 offer the important thought that this is not a new infection on the people of Israel.
By refering to the forty years in the wilderness Amos is saying that the infection of sin, particularly idolatry and unbelief, started with their deliverance from Egypt not just at this time. Calvin states:
The prophet includes the whole body of the people from their first beginning, as though he said, "It is right to enclose you in the same bundle with your fathers, for you are the same with your fathers in your ways and dispositions." We hense see that Israelites were regarded guilty, not only because they vitiated God’s worship in one age by their superstitions, but also from the beginning.
In verse 26 Amos is saying that they are lifting up their own king.
A king that exercises dominion over them.
But they were not giving God dominion over them.
They sought as their king an idol.
The Jews at this time also saw the stars and planets as gods.
The particular star of verse 26 is the planet Saturn.
At that time Saturn was the furthest or "Highest" discovered planet in the galaxy.
One thing is clear and that is that the idols power is ficticious compared to God’s.
Calvin states:
"Ye carried" he says "both Sicuth and Kium" your images. I am now deprived of honor, for ye could not bear me to govern you. Ye now enjoy your King Sicuth, but, in the meantime, let us see what is the power of Sicuth and Kium, they are nothing more than images. Seeing then there is neither strength nor life in them, what madness is it to worship such ficticious things.
These, he says, are your gods, even stars and images, and there is here a sarcasm (sarkasmos) used, for the prophet derides the folly of the people of Israel, who, being not content with the maker of Heaven and earth, sought for themselves dead gods, or rather vain devices. "Your gods then" he says "are images and stars".
We must be careful that our worship is more than form, but that it also has intent of heart.
We must also beware of worshiping the images within the church.
a) the stained glass windows
b) items dedicated in memory of others
c) our closeness in unhealthy ways
d) our church itself
When these things direct our worship to God they are being used properly.
When they direct us to them and them only, then we have created our own "Sicuth" and "Kium"
Call for Individual Repentance: verse 24
Where does that leave the Israelites?
It leaves them in the same position that we are in today.
Standing guilty, without excuse, and in certainty of judgment.
But there is a silver lining in this dark cloud.
Judgement hasn’t happened yet.
While the nation then, and the world now, stands in judgement, there is still time for the individual.
There is still time for you.
The cry of the prophet is uttered in verse 24.
He says:
1. Let there be a general reformation of manners among you, let religion (God’s judgement) and righteousness have their due influence upon you, let your land be watered with it, and let it bear down on all apposition of vice and profaneness, let it run wide as overflowing waters, and yet run strong as might stream.
2. In particular, let justice be duly administered by magistrates and rulers, let not the current of it be stopped by partiality or bribery, but let it come freely as waters do, in the natural course, let it be pure as running waters, not muddied with corruption of whatever may pervert justice; let it run like a might stream, and not suffer itself to be obstructed, or its course retarded, by the fear of man, let it have free access to it as a common stream, and have benefit by it as trees planted by the rivers of waters.
Amos is speaking of two things here: 1. judgement
2. revival
Judgement as the waters of justice roll it will wipe out the impurity present in the world.
It will be just like the flood of Genesis.
Nothing impure will remain.
God’s judgement will come as a flood and nothing will stop it.
Calvin states:
Seeing then that they thus trifle with God sometimes interpretors think that God here sharply reproves them and says, that they are greatly deceived, for he would himself at length, make known what was true righteousnessw. Righteousness then shall run down or be rolled, and by this verb he expresses impetuiosity, but he sets it forth more clearly afterwards by "eitan". Judgement shall be a violent stream.
But he also speaks here of revival.
When we turn back to god and let the church be God’s church, we will see justice and righteousness roll.
We will be caught up in the current.
We will lose the controlling influence and depend of God.
It will be as a new start or a new beginning.
Conclusion:
The Day of the Lord will indeed be a red letter day on the calendar of eternity.
It could be a day of darkness and judgement.
Or it could be a day of new beginnings for you
How will you celebrate this red-letter day.
