2019-11-19 The Roar of the Lion Amos 8:1-3 God’s Passion for Justice • A vision Amos sees of God’s judgement upon Israel A Famine • The 4 th of 4 visions starting in For Hearing Amos 7 God’s Word • A play on words ending with Israel’s ‘end has come’ Amos 8:1-12 and ‘summer fruit’ Hear this, you that trample on the We will make the ephah small and needy, and bring to ruin the poor the shekel great, and practise of the land, saying, ‘When will the deceit with false balances, buying new moon be over so that we may the poor for silver and the needy sell grain; and the sabbath, so that for a pair of sandals, and selling the we may offer wheat for sale? sweepings of the wheat.’ Lacking Justice & Care • Booming times/business leaders anxious to do business Why • Trample the poor Judgement? • Ignore the Sabbath Amos 8:4-8 • Actions of exploitation
2019-11-19 Insatiable Greed Cheating Customers • Waiting for the new moon & • Use of false weights & shekels Sabbath to end • Not honouring the spirit of the • Rigged scales Sabbath Extreme Exploitation God’s Concern • Not just concern for worship • Poor Sold as Slaves • Concern also for ethics through • Dishonest measurements on the week – social justice scales – see Leviticus 19:35-37; Micah 6:9-11 • Sanctuary & shop Result Going • God’s judgement upon Israel Forward • The sound of an earthquake
2019-11-19 1. God’s Concern 2. Religion & The Everyday • God cares for the poor and • Faith & ‘business’ are linked oppressed • There is to be no convenient • The prophet brings attention to dichotomy between the two the poor and powerless spheres 3. The Dangers of The Love of Money This prophetic word rejects that dichotomy between faith and life. Religion, it says, has to do with the whole of life, holy day and • See Rich Young Ruler story holy place, but also every day and as a parable for our day every place. (Matthew 19:16-22) 4. Greed For the love of money is a root • One of the Seven Deadly sins of all kinds of evil, and in their • Speaks to our attitudes towards eagerness to be rich some have possessions & wealth – a desire wandered away from the faith for avarice or profit overrides a and pierced themselves with concern for the powerless many pains. • Stealing (Exodus 20:15)
2019-11-19 5. ‘Famine for God’s Word’ He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were • Part of the nation’s judgment acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live • They will seek to hear the word by bread alone, but by every word but they will not find it that comes from the mouth of the L ORD . Not By Bread Alone So I say to you, seek God and discover Him and make Him a power in your life. Without Him all of our efforts turn to ashes and • It reminds us of what is really our sunrises into darkest nights. important and what is simply Without Him, life is a meaningless passing drama with the decisive scenes missing. But with Him we are able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. With Him we are able to rise from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy. St. Augustine was right – we were made for God and we will be restless until we find rest in Him.
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