When Silence Isn’t Golden
Bible Reading:
Amos 2: 4-5
PREPARED BY
KEN GEHRELS
PASTOR
CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
NEPEAN, ONTARIO
When Silenc e Isn’t Go lden p.1
Do you ever get impatient with a speaker - with me, for instance? Knowing why you came, suspecting
the gist of what is going to be said, and wanting to get to the heart of it. Meanwhile the speaker just waltzes
around the perimeter a bit here an d there. You s tart to wiggle in your seat, fingers druming on the hymnal --
"Come on, Gehrels. Get to the point. You’re talking about everything BUT...."
Right? Listening to that is like listening to a politician do a jig around the issue. Frustrating. "Drop the
fluff and cut to the chase."
Ever get that sort of sense with Amos? This Sheep Rancher and Fruit Farmer out of Tekoa has been
calle d by G od to pro phecy a m ess age of dire wa rning to th e pe ople of Is rael; callin g them to examin e their
lives, to repent, to turn back to the Lord, and to do that before it is too late and God’s judgement rains down
upon them. And yet, here we are well into chapter 2, and we have yet to hear a single word spoken against
the peo ple o f Isr ael!
In fact, Judah is the 7th nation at the receiving end of a prophecy by Amos. So what gives? Is he
waltzing around the issue? Does h e just enjoy hearing himself speak? Or what?
To understand it, we need to remember most of all that the words A mos speaks ,
and the order in which he speaks them
all come from God.
God is the author.
Amos is merely the mouthpiece.
It’s d ivinely re asoned that the p roph ecy a gains t Isra el is pre face d by
seven
other prophecies.
Seven -
the number of holy fullness.
full, complete holy warning has been given.
Think of it rather as the gathering of dark clouds before the storm.
When we see them billowing up over the Kanata sky line, we know it’s time to take the laundry in, cover the
BBQ and close the car windows.
Storm’s coming!
Take action.
God’s word is speaking judgement against those other nations who have flaunted disobedience, who
have thumbed their collective noses against heaven.
The storm of judgement’s coming!
Take ac tion , Isr ael!
With the seventh warning -
Here’s you final warning from the Lord -
one last chance.
With this one God’s patience and waiting is completed.
Get the point, Israel - God means b usiness.
There is no time to fool around.
Batten down the hatches of your life.
Clean up what needs cleaning up.
Repent!
The prophecy against Judah is the seventh warning.
So it is that as you and I listen to this prophecy some 2750 years after it first was issued we can see
one of the timeless characteristics of our Unchangeable God, namely this:
When Silenc e Isn’t Go lden p.2
The Lord is not one who rains down punishment in a sadistic or vindictive manner. Warning after
warning is given.
He extends the times to c omplete fullness - seven - that all may repent.
He wants to see all people come to salvation.
Which is someth ing th at is shown not only he re in Amos, but in prophecy afte r prop hecy:
Think of Jon ah -- angry that the w icked people of N inevah are no t destroyed, bu t rather spared after a
last-minute repentance.
Remember God’s rebuke to the sulking prophet, suffering from heat exhaustion under the withered
remains of a dead bush?
Jon 4:11 "But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty
thousa nd people w ho cannot te ll the ir righ t hand from their
left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned
about that great city?"
Or the word of the Lord through Ezekiel, chapter 18:
v.23 "Do I take any pleasure in the death of the
wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not
pleased when they turn from their ways and live?"
Or the apos tle Peter:
2Pe 3:9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as
some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not
wanting anyon e to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance."
Let’s recognize that, brothers and sisters.
Let’s recognize the pain,
the tremendous he artache,
which God experiences when his people go astray.
Recognize the longing which he experience s,
desiring them to turn back to him.
And perh aps as w e lea ve h ere t his e ven ing, the Holy S pirit w ill work with in us to br ing th at same pain
and hea rtac he a nd lo ngin g to the fore grou nd in our liv es as we watch o ur frie nds and relat ives wan der in
unbelief.
May the Spirit work in us all to seize the moment when we are able to present the love and salvation
available to them through Jesus C hrist -- and to do that careful, gently, but earnestly.
May we tonight hear the word of the Lord through Amos.
May it grow in us a deepening passion to live out the Mission Statement of this congregation:
As members of a community that wants to glorify God, we are called to bring the life changing
message of Christ to our neighbou rs as we ll as to each o ther.
Glory comes to God when our neighbours are won to Jesus.
When they turn from death to life.
This is the Word of the Lord – through Amos.
When Silenc e Isn’t Go lden p.3
Hear another element of the prophetic Word -
something else we need to recognize about our holy God.
That "something else" we also see in this passage,
not now in the fact that he spoke to Juda h,
but in what he said to them.
What is imm edia tely s triking ab out this part icula r prophecy is t hat no p artic ular o ffen se is liste d, as in
the case of the other neighbors of Israel. They had not committed any of the gruesome offenses of the
surrounding nations. There were no mutilated bodies, destroyed communities, desecrated graves, thefts or
the like.
In fa ct, a s be st as we can asc erta in fro m his toric al rec ords of th e tim e, th ings in Judah were , by a ll
standards, really quite respectable and civilized. They were decent people raising their families quietly in the
suburbs and rurals of so uthern Pa lestine -
we’d see it as white picket fence, dog, bun galow, trips to the beach and grandm a’s house.
Businesses were prospering, bank accounts full, pensions secure.
Yes sir, things were going along really quite nicely.
It was a fine time to be alive in Judah.....
....... And yet they receive a harsh condemnation by God.
Why?
There’s an old phrase -- silence is golden.
Parents of young children can tell you that...... or grandparents who’ve just had a visit from their young
grandchildren.
When they finally are asleep in bed,
Or in the car rolling back home.....
peace and quiet --
aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.
Sometimes silence is golden in inter-person al situat ions. T hings are be tter left u nsaid . Or ma ybe it’s
just p lain ol’ good to be toge ther, quiet ly.
But sometimes,
sometimes, silence is NOT so golden.
Sometimes by the silence you know there is trouble.
When your young children are playing in another room, and suddenly it gets quiet, don’t you begin to
get suspicious. It’s too quiet.
Or there are time when children are wandering down the wrong path of life. You CAN’T remain silent
about it.
Or when family members are silent to each other, not on s peaking terms.
That’s bad silence.
Then silence is NOT golden.
The Judean population, comfortable, content, well-off,
quietly living their respectable lives.
Silence.... but not a golden silence.
Rather, it was a wrongful silence, an aweful silence.
It was the silence of a child who has left home and never bothers to call back to mom & dad,
ignoring them,
for all intents and purposes behaving as though they were dead.
When Silenc e Isn’t Go lden p.4
It wa s Ju dah, the cov enant people of G od, raise d in th e his tory a nd tradit ion o f His Divin e Fa the rly
protection over them, watched by God in heaven with the tender care of a mother watching the child at her
breast;
It was Judah, leaving home, and quietly rejecting their upbringing, rejecting God. Silence. No
communion between heaven and Judah.
And it is that horribly un-golden silence, a silence of distance that is condemned by the Lord:
I will send fire upon Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem!
All that has been kee ping you so safe and cozy,
all that which has taken up your time and attention
and kept y ou from c alling home,
everything th at has pulled you so far a way from me --
all that is going to be ripped away from you and destroyed. And you, Judah, will be
left in another form of silence,
the silence of desolation.
Those are harsh words, terribly harsh words, words that if spoken to you or I would have to come as a
rude, most unwelcom e shock.
And probably there were some within Judah that were genuinely upset by such a co ndemnation.
"Say wh at? I haven’t rejected God.
Haven’t really become a full fanatic for him, but - hey - I haven’t pushed him out of the picture either. I
mean - give me a break."
If there weren’t such people in Judah, there s ure are today. I can’t tell you how many people I talk with
who give this kind of a response. "I haven ’t accep ted a faith in J esus... yet. B ut unde rstand , I’m not re ally
against it either."
Then off they go.
Now, plea se understa nd me. I d on’t mean to spe ak in any w ay ag ains t tho se w ho a re ho nes tly
struggling, who are wrestling with real spiritual issues in their lives, who are truly seeking and are not ready to
commit yet.
God has all kinds of time and room for such people.
The prob lem is whe n you or I o r peo ple w e know figure that we can get by in life with less than a fu ll,
whole-hearted acceptan ce of Christ’s Lordship over our lives;
with less than a complete submission
to the rule of God in our hearts.
For in the eyes of God
having a lack of active assent
is the same as dissent.
Silence, as far as obedience goe s,
is the same as rejection.
With such silence God is not pleased.
How can I say this so unequivocally? Because of God’s words to Judah!
Look at v.4 -- notice how he parallels the two phrases
i. rejected the law of the LORD
ii. not kept his decrees
When Silenc e Isn’t Go lden p.5
We cannot say, "No I have not really rejected the LORD, but I am not ready to live by his commandments at
this time."
Impossible.
When you refuse to live God’s way, by his decrees & commandments, you are de facto, in
reality, rejecting Him.
Lack of active obedience equals disobedience.
Get the message, Judah. Get the message, Ottawa.
With God - "Silence is NOT golden!"
Loud, active, visible obedience IS golden!
A seco nd objection is - "Well, sure I believe in God. And yes, I buy that stuff about the Golden Rule.
I’m a Christian. God’s law is OK by me."
Do you see this one - now we a re dealing with one who says, "I do practice active obedience. I have
not rejected God’s law."
Many in Jud ah were d efinite ly in this camp. Def initely!
To them com es the second part of the parallel statements
rejecting the law = not keeping God’s decrees.
We’ve talked about the first part where passivity, not keeping God’s decrees is the same as active,
deliberate rejection of God. But now the seco nd part.
Which is this:
It’s one thing to look at the call to commitment and see God’s law as some vague, general
commandment to love in life. It is one thing to view it is as a whole. It is quite a different thing to go into that
Law of God and begin to apply its standards one by one to our lives.
Think of it this way. When we pray in church, "Lord forgive us for the many times we have
transgressed against you, the many times we have broken your law", then how often don’t we silently think,
"Well, for me it hasn’t been too bad. It’s actually been a pretty good week. I’ve been pretty clean."
But wha t if we were to s tart digg ing a little deeper, lo okin g at spe cific commandment, s pec ific
decrees. W hat if we were to start praying, "Lord, you call us to not covet. And yet, I see that home which my
co-worker has, or their sterio. I see the good job they have... and Lord, there are times when I get so jealous
of that....
Lord , yo u ca ll us not to m urde r. Bu t the re ha ve been time s when I co uld h ave just killed my kid s th is
week. An d some of the w ords I used tow ards them, w ords intended to maim their spirits, cruel words...."
Ouch, right?
When we get beyond the generalities of Law to the specifics of Decree, suddenly we cut through a
whole lot of pretense and expose the heart of our devotion to the Lord for what it really is. Which is what
Amos does with Judah.
1. You reject God when you don’t keep his decrees.
2. Get beyond small talk in vague generalities about Law, people, and start dealing in specifics about
decrees.
And I wou ld sug gest ton ight, b rothe rs an d sis ters , that God ’s W ord o f war ning then is just as a pplica ble to day.
It is a storm cloud that perhaps we can use personally to evaluate our own lives, our own personal obedience
to the Lord.
Are we fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ?
Or do we, to one degree or another, reject him by not keeping his commands? Do we get complacent
with vague, general talk about "God’s Law" without moving to the more rigorous scrutiny of examining our
lives by his specific decrees, and subjecting ourselves to live by them?
When Silenc e Isn’t Go lden p.6
As Israel needed to heed the gathering storm clouds, so do we who live in the closing decade of the
twen tieth c entu ry.
You know, the bottom line problem for Judah, and I would submit, the bottom line problem for a lot of
people today is this:
a failure to take God seriously.
To honour God as God.
supreme, most powerful being in the Universe.
"They have been led astray by false gods."
In other words - they have let other things squeeze God out of the picture.
They have treated him as an optional extra,
as some nice quiet elderly gentleman whom the y would acknow ledge and visit on occasion --
if they have time,
if they have the money to go,
if it is convenient.
If it fits in, fine . If no t, oh well, w e ca n still ge t by qu ite nic ely.
And Am os says - "No! Stop kidding yourselves! Stop playing foolish games with dynamite! Take God seriously!
Honour him thoroughly, deliberately, as the Supreme Judge and King of Creation that He is."
So le t tha t be the mes sag e to you a nd I tonight , as well.
And let us leave here determined to live in full subjection to the Lord, full devotion, full dedication,
And to call others to follow this same road with us.
