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[Today's Comments]
Passage: Amos 1-5

On Tuesday, October 1, 2019 (Last Updated on 9/17/2022), Yujin wrote,

Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says theLord, whose name is the God of hosts (Amos 5:25-27).

There is some debate as to to the speciic orgin and object of the idolatry mentioned here, but the message is unmistakeable. Israel was worshipping idols alongside their worship of the LORD. Their sin was not so much the replacement of God with other gods but the addition of other gods to their worship of the true God. As acceptable as this was for them, this was totally unacceptable to God and worthy of the strong judgment of exile from the land. 

Even before Israel came into the land of promise, they were clearly warned against worshipping any other gods:

 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— (Exodus 34:14).

They were told to smash, melt and completely destroy every image. They were commanded not to intermarry with the Canaanites but to completely destroy them. They were warned that these would be snares to them, causing them to turn away from their exclusive worship of the true God.

Friends, let us take this warning to heart. Just as the Israelites' great sin was not so much replacing God as it was adding to their worship of God the worship of other gods, don't we face a similar danger today? When we prioritize our comfort, our careers, and our families, aren't we adding idols to the worship of the Lord?

The Lord Jesus commanded us to "seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness" and not to worrry about even the most basic of necessities (Matthew 6:25-33). Yet, for many of us, our anxieties know no such bounds. We even worry about things that lie far on the periphery of our necessities. 

Friends, what things disappoint us? What things lie at the center of our most incessant complaints? What concerns us deeply? What fills our thoughts and rattles our emotions? What occupies the lion's share of our time, energy, and resources? The answer to these questions may reveal the idols that we worship alongside our worship of the Lord. 

When we say things like, "I don't have time to meditate on God's Word and pray; I have to...", are we not revealing our idolatry? Other things have become more important to us than meditating on God's Word and seeking the Lord's providence.

When we say things like, "Don't get theological on me...", does this not simply reveal our ignorance and lack of attenion to the truth about God and His Word? We haven't really studied or deeply considered the major themes in God's Word, so we try to hide behind the false wall of non-academic spirituality.

When we spend most of our waking days at our secular jobs, fulfilling worldly ambitions, whether for ourselves or for our companies, is this not a form of idolatry? We call this a necessity such that obeying God simply becomes optional.

When people say things like, "My kids are my life...", have they not made their kids their idols? Such an endearing devotion to one's kids may simply mask a deep-rooted idolatry. 

Friends, just because we do not carve out some image and bow down to it does not mean that we are not guilty of idolatry. Just because we also perform the rituals of the Christian faith does not mean that we are not idolators. Anything that takes away from our supreme and exclusive worship of God can be an idol. Whatever competes with God in our hearts for our highest affection and obedience is an idol (cf. Ezekiel 14:3).

Let us not simply imagine though that everyone is an idolator and so become complacent. Instead, realizing this, let us be more vigilant and deliberate about our worship of the Lord. Let us hack away, melt away and remove from our hearts anyone and everything that competes with our affection and obedience to God:

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Passage: Amos 1-5

On Wednesday, September 30, 2015, Yujin wrote,

"For three sins of X even for four..." (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6)

This expression is used eight times in Amos. What does it mean? I came across a good explanation for it from a helpful website called GotQuestions.org. In case that site goes offline, I have included the discussion here:

The phrase “for three sins . . . even for four” is a common phrase in Amos (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6). Used a total of eight times in the book, these words play a special role in the way Amos communicates sin and judgment. “Three sins” represents fullness or completeness; “four” represents an overflow or a sin that is the tipping point for God’s judgment. The word sins or transgressions in Hebrew specifically refers to “rebellions.” The first two chapters of Amos contain eight messages against the nations, including Judah and Israel, condemning them for their rebellion against the Lord.

Interestingly, “for three sins . . . even for four” is not followed by four specific sins. In fact, the typical pattern is to list one or two sins and move on. Therefore, the expression is not meant to imply a specific number of sins but to communicate that there is an excess of sins that have led to God’s judgment.

Each of Amos’s eight messages follows a similar pattern. First, there is the phrase “for three sins . . . even for four.” Second, one or two specific sins are mentioned regarding the nation being addressed. Third, a judgment is given. Amos starts with Israel’s enemies and ends with oracles against Judah and Israel.

Judah (Amos 2:4-5) is accused of three specific sins (rejecting the Law, not keeping its statutes, and lying) and is judged with fire on the nation and Jerusalem. Israel (Amos 2:6-16) is condemned with a complete list of seven sins and receives an extended discussion of its coming judgments.

Friends, the use of this expression is in keeping with what we understand about God's character. He is not impetuous or rash. No, He is "compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love" (Psalm 103:8; cf. Psalm 86:15; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Psalm 145:8; Jonah 4:2).

Today, let us praise God for His forebearance, not counting our sins against us, even going so far as to pay the price for them Himself through the sacrifice of His righteous Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. "In Him we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of His grace that He lavished on us" (Ephesians 1:7-8). Praise God!

Passage: Amos 1-5

On Saturday, October 13, 2012, Fernando wrote,
Amos 3
6�Is a trumpet blown in a city,
����and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city,
����unless the Lord has done it?
7��For the Lord God does nothing
����without revealing his secret
����to his servants the prophets.

Here's a handy verse to keep in mind when you hear someone proclaim that a nation, place, or person is facing God's punishment. Or God is acting here. There is a general punishment that we are under. We have our life limited to 120 years, we have toil, and thrones, and disease. There is a quaking of the earth groaning for God's redemption. Bad things will happen. They happen because of sin, but not a direct Old Testament kind of act - a general work.

Other wise God would be speaking through prophets before he acts.
Passage: Amos 1-5

On Monday, October 1, 2012 (Last Updated on 10/1/2021), Yujin wrote,

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
    your assemblies are a stench to me.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:21-24).

Hate is a very strong word. Yet here God says that He hates the the practice of church and worship brought to Him by the Israelites. He despises their gatherings and rejects their offerings, even though they are all done in His Name. Why? 

It was because their gatherings and offerings were not accompanied by acts of justice and righteousness. In other words, their gatherings and rituals were not accompanied by godly behavior. 

Friends, godly behavior is not just something found in the Old Testament. It is a clear New Testament expectation of every born-again believer. In fact, we can even say that we are saved in order that we might do good works:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Jesus makes very clear that it is not the people who simply hear His words that find life but those that actually do what He says:

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beatagainst that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash (Matthew 7:24-27).

James wrote in even stronger terms:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead (James 2:14, 26).

Friends, I was touched this past Saturday by something our House Church Shepherd shared with the group. It was a short video about the need for Christians to rise to the challenge of helping the poor and needy throughout the world. This particular project was being spearheaded by a guy named Richard Stearns, a former CEO of Lennox, who is presently the President of World Vision. I made a cynical remark to the group that I felt that our roundtable discussion of this matter of helping the poor seemed to me like a bunch of alcoholics in a room full of booze discussing how they might quit drinking. 

But I recognized that while cynicism may give an accurate picture of the present reality, it does not necessary inspire change. I also mentioned that someone needs to take a step of faith and perhaps encourage the others to follow. Richard Stearns took that step of faith, and it appears many are following in his footsteps. 

Friends, as I write here about faith that works, about conviction that leads to action, there is nothing so emphasized in the Scriptures as matters of justice and helping the poor and needy. It was emphasized in the Old and New Testaments. Jesus emphasized it. James emphasized. So did Paul. Paul even traveled to all the churches he founded in Asia Minor and Europe collecting money to support the poor in Jerusalem. It seems to me that while we glory in the great work of God, our salvation, we cannot neglect God's great call to minister to the poor and needy in our world.

There is a dual Great Commission of sorts in the Gospel. One is to preach. The other is to love. One is to declare the righteousness that God supplies. The other is to display the righteousness that God commands. As we have been blessed with undeserved love from the Lord, so we ought now to bless others with a similar outpouring of love. 

As an aside, let's not get too bogged down with the "HOW" since we know the "WHY" and the "WHAT." Whether we help one or a thousand, it is most important that we begin and then continue doing. God help us all to obey.