{"id":259,"date":"2021-01-22T07:20:36","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T14:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themystagogue.org\/?p=259"},"modified":"2021-01-22T07:20:37","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T14:20:37","slug":"is-god-speaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themystagogue.org\/?p=259","title":{"rendered":"Is God speaking?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Text: Amos 7.7-17
(This sermon was given in a Nazarene Church in Frederick, Maryland. References to people and places were to members of the congregation and places familiar to those gathered.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has anyone heard God speaking this morning? Did you really? What is he saying? (You don\u2019t have to answer that out loud.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We walk through these doors week after week. We sit and stand, sing and pray, listen to or sleep through sermons. Once a month we commune at the Lord\u2019s table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But do we ever really hear him speaking to us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know about you, but I hear everything but God all too often. I hear my voice when we sing. I hear my worries when we pray. I hear coughs and kids, rustles and sniffles. I hear questions: \u201cWhat is to come this week?\u201d What is for dinner in an hour?\u201d \u201cWho did not make it in this morning?\u201d \u201cWhy did I wear these shoes today?\u201d \u201cWhat am I doing on this platform?\u201d I hear random thoughts, to do lists, noises, daydreams, sound system hums, and the soft tick of my watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, I do think I hear from God, sometimes\u2014but so little considering the time I say I spend in his presence. I hear God in whispers and snatches\u2014but I wonder too many times whether I am hearing him speak, or just my own thoughts about him. Too often I take action and make decisions, and I wonder if it is something God really wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever wondered, as I have, what it must have been like to hear God like the apostles or the prophets? Don\u2019t you wish you could?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything would be perfectly clear, wouldn\u2019t it, if he would just call us to the mountain like Moses and tell us what he wants us to do. Or what if he met us on the road and spoke to us like Paul. We would change our careers in heartbeat and run off to be a missionary then, wouldn\u2019t we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if, while we were sitting here today like Isaiah in the temple, God met us and told us exactly what to do and say\u2014burning coals and all? We would hit the floor on our faces and change our attitudes about worship, wouldn\u2019t we? How about if, while were just minding our own business and trimming the trees in the back yard, like Amos, God commanded us to run off to Canada to get the Prime Minister\u2019s attention\u2014we would do it, wouldn\u2019t we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord speaks clearly, and loudly, perhaps, and we would all have little problem knowing what to do and taking action (or at least we think so). But what if we don\u2019t hear God\u2019s voice that way? How then do we hear what he has to say to us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have not heard of or experienced too many direct encounters that rank with those of the prophets and apostles. So what if God chose to send us a prophet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be wonderful if God\u2019s prophet walked into our church this morning to tell us exactly what is on God\u2019s mind? Wouldn\u2019t it be grand if he waltzed into the our District Superintendent\u2019s office and told everyone where God was really moving? Or what if he appeared at the doors of Nazarene headquarters in Kansas City and walked into a General Board meeting to deliver God\u2019s word to the church?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would hear God, then, wouldn\u2019t we? We would all take notice, hunger for the Word of God, hang on the prophet\u2019s every phrase\u2026woudn\u2019t we? Surely our DS would recognize God\u2019s messenger and enlighten us as to what God has to say. If not him, of course our General Superintendents would. After all, they are leaders of a holiness denomination\u2014they must already know what God has to say enough to recognize it from his prophet, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would our prophet look like, I wonder. He would be alright, certainly, if he was dressed well. They would listen if he walked in with a nice suit (or at least business casual clothes), his latest book, and a forty day program based on five purposes. Or perhaps he would get a wide hearing if he held a conference on new ways of communicating to a postmodern world. His mixed-media presentation would generate some excitement. We would take notice if he worked in a little \u201cmessage from the Lord\u201d after the praise band and before the small group break-out sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or maybe God would send us a great speaker in blue jeans who really knows how to connect with us. Surely we would know he was authentic if he sat on a stool and gave us a real honest talk. We would know for certain that he was a prophet if he read from The Message and made everything understandable and homey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would happen, I wonder, if God spoke to Mike this week as he\u2019s building out a new Safeway? He\u2019s still in his coveralls, and his hands are coarse and grease stained from working on the sliding doors that morning. The blood dried where he nicked himself when he changed the circular saw blade before finishing the manager\u2019s office, and he still has the pencil behind his ear, but the Lord said to go. So he grabs something from his tool box, jumps into his truck, and calls Kathy on his cell phone as he drives up to York Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene where the pastors and church leaders for that mission area are gathering to meet with DS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gets there a bit late and notices that he hasn\u2019t even taken off his coveralls yet, but it looks like things have started, and he feels the urgency of his message, so he walks into the building and heads off to where he hears the beat of the worship choruses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He hesitates a bit when he gets to the door. Someone standing at the entrance looks at him a bit askew and begins to ask him why he\u2019s here, but with a whispered prayer and a burst of courage, Mike presses on into the sanctuary (or is it a gymnasium?). He glances from side to side as he walks briskly towards the platform, noticing the puzzled looks, and not a few sneers, from those who notice the dirty carpenter in the coveralls rushing down the aisle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several see that he has something in his hand, and that he moves with urgency, so they move out of the rows of chairs to intercept him, concerned about his intentions. By this time, though, he\u2019s reached the platform stairs and has begun to ascend to where the DS, still having a real God moment, has failed to see this new prophet. The pastor notices, though, but before he can move from the glass podium, Mike stops at one of the nearby microphones, nudging aside one of the band members in the process, and holds his right hand high. Dropping from his palm is a small brass weight at the end of a string\u2014a plumb line from Mike\u2019s tool box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is what the Lord said to me,\u201d Mike declares in a somewhat shaky voice. \u201cSee, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of the Church of the Nazarene and its people, as a measure of their faithfulness. I will no longer let them get away with what they\u2019re doing.\u201d The music has stopped and everyone is staring, some bemused, others puzzled, many irritated. \u201cYour largest churches,\u201d Mike continues with a little more confidence, \u201cand your new gymnasiums shall be turned to rubble, and I will rise against your superintendents and your elders. I despise your gatherings, and I take no delight in your worship. Even though you sing and waive your arms, I will not hear you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now the pastor has made it to Mike\u2019s side and tries to gently push him away from the microphone. \u201cLook , sir,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can\u2019t just come barging into a worship service like this. I\u2019m not sure where you came, from, but let\u2019s go to my office and talk.\u201d As he\u2019s led off the platform, Mike can hear the DS take charge of the service asking prayer for this obviously disturbed man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGo on home,\u201d the Pastor says after he\u2019s heard Mike describe his encounter with God. \u201cI know what you feel God has said to you, but perhaps you should talk to your pastor about it. I know him. I\u2019ll give him a call right away.\u201d When Mike begins to protest he adds, \u201cLook, there are many men of God here, ordained elders and district leaders. If God has such a message for us, he\u2019ll tell us. Now why don\u2019t you go on home, get some sleep, and talk to your pastor tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one really expects something like that to happen, nor would any of us wish it on a good pastor. And we would certainly hope that God would speak in some other way to church leaders and members who are listening for his voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But are we really listening? Would we hear?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bethel was the center of worship in Israel, kind of the York Stillmeadow of the northern kingdom. When Israel split with Judah to the south, Jerusalem and the temple was no longer available as a place of worship, and the capital in Samaria had no special religious significance. So worship was conducted and sacrifices made in the high places, such as Shiloh, Gilgal, and Bethel, places associated both with Canaanite worship and with the worship of Yahweh in Israel\u2019s past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was to Bethel that the humble prophet Amos came at a time when Israel was enjoying renewed prosperity. Bethel was the official place of worship of the King, Jereboam II. After years of fighting between the northern and southern kingdoms, between Israel and Judah, and loss of territory from struggles between the superpowers of the time, both Israel and Judah were enjoying peace. Both kingdoms were regaining territory\u2014in fact they had restored between them almost the full reach of Solomon\u2019s kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel was prosperous, and many considered the king and kingdom blessed by God as a result. We even know from a brief entry in Kings that Jereboam had a prophetic supporter by the name of Jonah (2 Kings 14.25). He likely had the support of the prophetic voices of the court prophets, professionals assigned to the royal sanctuary at Bethel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things were going very well indeed, but God calls upon Amos, a shepherd and tree dresser from Judah, to go say otherwise. Let\u2019s read about it in Amos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what the Lord God showed me: he was forming locusts at the time the latter growth began to sprout (it was the latter growth after the king\u2019s mowings). When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

\u201cO Lord God, forgive, I beg you!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!\u201d

The Lord relented concerning this;
\u201cIt shall not be,\u201d said the Lord.

This is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord God was calling for a shower of fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said,

\u201cO Lord God, cease, I beg you!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!\u201d

The Lord relented concerning this; \u201cThis also shall not be,\u201d said the Lord God.

This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, \u201cAmos, what do you see?\u201d And I said, \u201cA plumb line.\u201d Then the Lord said,

\u201cSee, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass them by;
the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.\u201d

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, \u201cAmos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said,

\u2018Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.\u2019 \u201d

And Amaziah said to Amos, \u201cO seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king\u2019s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.\u201d

Then Amos answered Amaziah, \u201cI am no prophet, nor a prophet\u2019s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, \u2018Go, prophesy to my people Israel.\u2019

\u201cNow therefore hear the word of the Lord.
You say, \u2018Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.\u2019

Therefore thus says the Lord:
\u2018Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.\u2019 \u201d (7.1-17)<\/blockquote><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needless to say, Amos was quite unpopular around Bethel, and the word of the Lord, sent through a simple shepherd from the other side of the kingdom border, was not heard. But why so harsh a message when things were going so well? What was so wrong that Amos was sent to contradict the king, his prophets, and his priest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In chapter five we find out why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.

Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins\u2014you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate.

Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. (5.10-13)<\/blockquote><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OW! We hear echoes of Amos in John, don\u2019t we, when he says, \u201cWhoever says, \u2018I have come to know him,\u2019 but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist\u201d (1 John 2.4); Or in Paul, when he says, \u201cThey profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work\u201d (Titus 1.16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amos comes with the word of the Lord that cuts through the false piety and the lie of Israel\u2019s empty ritual. \u201cTherefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts,\u201d we read in verse 16 of chapter 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dIn all the squares there shall be wailing; and in all the streets they shall say, \u2018Alas! Alas!\u2019 They shall call the farmers to mourning, and those skilled in lamentation to wailing; in all the vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through the midst of you,\u201d says the Lord.

\u201cAlas for you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you want the day of the Lord? It is darkness, not light; as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?\u201d (5.16-20)<\/blockquote><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if that\u2019s not enough, the Lord through Amos continues,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hate, I despise your festivals, 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 offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.

Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream. (5.21-24)<\/blockquote><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No wonder Amaziah tried to shoo Amos away!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a time when Israel was quite comfortable, the Lord, through a very simple man named Amos, exposed them for what they were, and made them uncomfortable. Essentially he said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– You\u2019re not living in obedience to me. Your religion hasn\u2019t penetrated your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– You play at worshipping me, and then you betray me through your injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– You talk of truth and righteousness, but you practice all kinds of deceit and trample on the poor and needy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– You pretend to be my people, to love me, and yet you mock me through your arrogance and your sin, and so, \u201cI will command and shake the house of Israel among the nations as one shakes a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, \u2018Evil shall not overtake or meet us\u2019\u201d (9.9-10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re all squirming a bit now. Don\u2019t worry, no need to look nervously at your watches. Let me put your mind at ease. I\u2019m not about to launch into a pointed examination of our spiritual condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to let you do that yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I would like to do is have us think about how we hear God, as we consider for a moment why Israel could not. Why didn\u2019t Israel listen to Amos (or the many other prophets who came after them)? Why did God fulfill his promised punishment by sending Tilgath Pilesar and the Assyrians upon them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– They were comfortable and complacent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Because they were distracted<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026by the demands of their successful lives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026by their work, their commerce, and their profit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Or perhaps because they were deafened by the noise of their own faithfulness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026their happy attendance at worship (even as they looked at the clock and wondered when they could get on with things).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026their singing and feasting, their sacrifices and their offerings (their worship teams and their conferences, their concerts and their programs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026their obedience of the their rules and forms that kept them from seeing how they were failing to live in true obedience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was all of these things and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another time we will consider how God chose to speak his word to Israel. We might at least wonder now if they would have heard if anyone but a peasant from the south had brought the message. And yet, when we look at all the other prophets he sent and all of the times he was not heard, even through nobles and sons of priests, we know the answer: Israel and her king were too wrapped up in themselves to hear and live the word of God, and they paid dearly as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one more question remains before I let you go to get on with whatever may be more important than being here to hear God\u2019s word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about those who do hear? What was to happen to them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amos has only a few words of promise, but they are so precious and so full hope. They didn\u2019t mean much, I am sure, to those who wouldn\u2019t heed the warning, for what are words of promise to those who don\u2019t sense disaster?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Lord said, \u201cOn that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its branches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, says the Lord who does this.

\u201cThe time is surely coming, says the Lord, when the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps, and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.

\u201cI will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.

\u201cI will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God\u201d (9.11-15)<\/blockquote><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So as you leave this morning and reflect on God\u2019s word through Amos the shepherd and tree dresser, I want you to consider these few simple questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– How has God been trying to speak to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– How receptive are you really to what he\u2019s trying to say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– How selective is your hearing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul said to the Corinthians, \u201cExamine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?\u2014unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test\u201d (2 Cor. 13.5)! And so also he said, \u201cSo if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new\u201d (2 Cor. 5.17)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I leave you this morning, as you consider whether or not you can take hold of the promise and not fear the punishment with a very simple plea: Hear the word of the Lord!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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