AMOS

"God is not impressed with your Christianity" is how one of my pastors, Jon Anderson, sums up the book of Amos. I listened to an old sermon he preached on the book and providentially, that's where I ended up in my recent endeavor to read through the Old Testament in a more historically chronological fashion (thanks to the help of a Bible reading plan I came across). So, this will be a mixture of thoughts, most of which I got from Jon.

Amos begins the book pronouncing judgment on 7 of Israel and Judah's neighboring enemies. You can just hear the claps of applause coming from the Jewish listeners as they anticipate this destruction of their hated enemies. And then...Amos' approval rating takes a big dip. Amos, speaking for the Lord, did not stop with prophecies of destruction on their enemies. He continued on to condemn Judah and Israel themselves - and Israel at great length.

Why would God bring destruction on Israel, his chosen people? Was it because they weren't sacrificing and tithing like good Jews should do? No. "'Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifice every morning, your tithes every three days; offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!' declares the Lord God" (4:4-5). No, the external actions were not the problem, per se. The problem was that although they did all these religious things - in our day and age, things like going to church, praying, giving, helping at VBS, faithfully reading your Bible every day - their hearts were far from God. How do we know that? They "oppress the poor" and "crush the needy" (4:1). They "trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted" (2:7). "'They do not know how to do right,' declares the LORD" (3:10). It's like Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." And they weren't keeping them. They were willing to do some external deeds of righteousness in order to salve their guilty conscience, but when it came to actually changing their lifestyle for the sake of obedience to the Lord? Forget about it. Their religion was just a venire to cover their wicked hearts.

It's not that God didn't try to warn them before this. In 4:6-11, the Lord tells all the things he did in order to get their attention and draw them back to himself; things like withholding rain, sending famine, striking them with blight and mildew, sending locusts to devour their produce. Yet, "'you did not return to me,' declares the LORD". He warned and they ignored, "'Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!'" How do we interpret our hardships? Do we turn to God in them? God designs them to warn and woo us to himself (Luke 13:1-5; II Corinthians 1:9).

Chapter 5 ends with sobering words. Words that we should take to heart: "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (5:21-24).

God is not impressed with our Christianity. He knows if our religious actions are just meant to gain the approval of man, or to salve our consciences, or to earn favor with him - or are an overflow of love to him. He is only impressed with Christ and we must be found in him. Our actions will prove over time whether our obedience is prompted by love for the Savior and a desire to please the one who died for us, or if they are prompted by self-seeking interests. It's not that our actions could ever merit salvation. They are just evidence of whether we are truly saved or not.