Sunday School Lessons about Sin

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Sunday School Lessons about Sin

Introduction

A. The Price of Telling the Truth

Have you ever had to tell someone an unpleas-ant truth? Have you ever paid a price for tellingthe truth? Amos, the prophet who delivered themessage of today's lesson text, was a truth-teller.He paid the price of ridicule, even direct repudi-ation (Amos 7:12, 13).

Telling the truth was dangerous in Amos'sworld. Even today, a person with a message likeAmos's might be dismissed or killed. Yet whatthe world needs today are more people likeAmos, willing to stand up for the truth when it isinconvenient or even dangerous.

Amos is often ignored in the contemporarychurch. This might be understandable if we hadsolved all the problems Amos talked about, butwe haven't. Maybe we ignore Amos today for thesame reason people ignored him in his owntime—he hit too close to home.

B. Lesson Background

Amos is one of what are often called the MinorProphets. These prophets are not called minorbecause their books are insignificant. They arecalled minor because the books are relativelyshort. The Minor Prophets are collected in agroup of 12 books that could be contained on anormal-sized scroll. Amos is third on the list.Amos prophesied around 760 BC. He prophe-sied to the northern kingdom of Israel, about 38years before it fell to Assyrian invaders. Duringthe time of Amos's preaching, Jeroboam II wasking in that northern kingdom while Uzziah wasking in the southern kingdom of Judah (Amos1:1). It appears that Amos prophesied around thesame time as Hosea and Zechariah. perhaps a lit-tle before Isaiah and Micah. Those desiring toknow more about those times should study2 Kings 14:23-15:7 and 2 Chronicles 26.

Amos is, in certain respects, a rather unusualchoice to deliver prophecy. First, Amos himselfconfessed that he was not a trained prophet, norwas he related to any prophet (Amos 7:14). Insome places in the ancient world, there wereschools for prophets, where groups of men stud-ied under a prophet. Other places had a notion ofsuccession—that children of those who prophe-sied might well be prophets themselves. Amoshad neither of these credentials. He was a simplefarmer and shepherd. Yet God had written onAmos's heart a message he could not suppress(Amos 7:15).

Second, Amos was from Tekoa, a small townabout 20 miles south of Jerusalem (Amos 1:1;compare 2 Chronicles 11:6). That makes him aJudean, yet he was called to go northward fromJudah to Israel. There was friction between thetwo nations, and the northern kingdom was quiteresistant to a prophet from the south calling themto account (Amos 7:10-13). Yet God gave Amos aburden. Thus Amos had to speak up.

To the casual observer, it seemed that thingsin Israel were going quite well at the time. It wasa time of general prosperity, and many had be-come quite wealthy. But Amos looked beneaththe veneer and saw great social and religious cor-ruption. The real picture was one of decadence(Amos 2:8; 4:1; 6:1-6), immorality (2:7), and—worst of all—idolatry (8:14).

In chapters 1 and 2, Amos indicts eight re-gions for their sins. These areas are Damascus,Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab. Judah, and Is-rael. At the end of the book, chapters 7-9 relatecertain visions that Amos received. They containimages of grasshoppers, fire, a plumb line, fruit,and God and the altar. All of these visions relateto Israel's judgment.

In the middle of the book, chapters 3-6 appearto contain three sermons. Scholars have differentmethods by which to distinguish the three. Onecommon method separates the sermons by thephrases "hear this word" and "hear ye this word"in Amos 3:1; 4:1; and 5:1. So the first sermon ischapter 3; it deals with the sinful affairs in Israel.The second sermon is chapter 4; it speaks of Is-rael's past, sinful conduct. The third sermon ischapter 5; it warns of Israel's punishment if theydo not change.

Today's lesson comes from this third sermon.This entire section of Amos 5:1-17 is also calleda lament (see v. 1). The tone of the sermon inchapter 5 is set in verse 5. There Amos warnedthe people not to go to Bethel. Bethel was his-toric; it was the place where Jacob saw the visionof angels (Genesis 28:10-22). Nevertheless, Amosdid not want the Israelites to go there because ofcorrupted worship in that place. People hadturned Bethel into a substitute for Jerusalem. Theworship in Bethel was blatantly idolatrous.This fact leads Amos to condemn Bethel, Gil-gal, and Beersheba as a group. Amos looks for ev-idence of genuine worship in these places andfinds none (compare Hosea 4:15; Amos 8:14).This condemnation continues through Amos 5:6.In verse 7 the concern switches from one of falsereligion to one of false justice. With the tone ofthe sermon now set, we break in at Amos 5:10.

I. Beware of Social Sins(Amos 5:10-15)

A. Indictment (vv. 10, 11)

10.They hate him that rebuketh in the gate,and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.We catch Amos in the middle of a strong in-dictment against the behavior of God's people.This verse deals with a court situation becauselegal proceedings are held at the city gate. That iswhere many business and legal transactions takeplace. It is where the city elders meet (examples:Deuteronomy 21:18-21; Ruth 4:1-11).

Him that rebuketh is someone in authority whorenders verdicts. Amos thus charges his listenerswith being completely uninterested in justice andtruth. In modern terminology we could say thatpeople don't want honest judges or witnesses(compare Proverbs 24:23-25; Isaiah 29:21).

11.Forasmuch therefore as your treading isupon the poor, and ye take from him burdens ofwheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, butye shall not dwell in them; ye have plantedpleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wineof them.

The rich have robbed tire poor of their liveli-hood. Tying in with verse 10, the picture is of therich abusing the court system to steal grain fromthe poor. There will be punishment! Though therich may build fine houses, one day they willstand empty. Though the rich may plant vine-yards, one day they will stand unpicked. The an-cient curse of Deuteronomy 28:30 is about to befulfilled! I See question #1 page 350.1

B. Warning (vv. 12, 13)

12. For I know your manifold transgressionsand your mighty sins: they afflict the just, theytake a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in thegate from their right.

God's anger is justified because the peoplehave committed such injustice. One of the mightysins is the rich giving bribes to those who passjudgment. Thus the rich use the court system todeprive the poor of their livelihood. If the legalsystem is corrupted so that those who can afforda bribe can get the outcome they want, then thereis no hope for the poor. Denial of justice is specif-ically forbidden in the covenant (Exodus 23:1-8;Deuteronomy 16:18-20). The penalty for such de-nial is severe (see Isaiah 10:1-4; 29:20, 21).

TAKING A BRIBE

In the 1980s a major American city was hit byOperation Greylord, an effort to expose corrup-tion among public officials. The facts disclosed were awesome and frightening. Corrupt lawyersconspired to request bribe money from theirclients to pay off cooperative judges. In the corri-dors of the court building, courtroom personneloften bickered over the split of the bribes thatwere flowing into the judge's chambers.

A young state's attorney took $50 from misde-meanor defendants on the "understanding" thatthey would not be prosecuted vigorously. A se-cret FBI recording caught one judge requestinghelp from city politicians to get a different assign-ment, promising to help support the proposed po-litical slate of new judges. One judge accepted$10,000 to acquit a man accused of assassinatinga labor union official. Another judge was accusedof "fixing" at least three murder trials. His payoffswere $4,000, $10,000, and $100,000.

By the time the investigation ended, 92 indi-viduals were indicted. They consisted of 17judges, 48 lawyers, 8 policemen, 10 deputy sher-iffs, 8 court officials, and 1 member of the statelegislature.

Amos would not have been surprised by suchrevelations. Even in his time, officials afflictedthe just, accepted bribes, and denied the poortheir rights. Amos calls these "manifold trans-gressions" and "mighty sins." What do we callthem?

13.Therefore the prudent shall keep silencein that time; for it is an evil time.

This seems to be a strange verse at first glance.Aren't we supposed to speak up when we see in-justice and not keep silence?

Amos is merely describing the situation as itexists at the time as he observes it. He is not rec-ommending that people stay quiet—he himselfcertainly hasn't! He is illustrating that thingshave become so corrupt that even sensible peo-ple are afraid to speak the truth. Things have be-come so bad that prudent people just keep quiet.They don't want to make trouble for themselves.They live in a society that does not reward tellersof truth—it punishes them.

C. Plea (vv. 14, 15)

14.Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live:and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be withyou, as ye have spoken.

The people think that God is with them. ButAmos points out that God is with them only ifthey decide to pursue good.

Often in the Old Testament we see variationsof the expression the Lord, the God of hosts, butwe forget the impact. This host is an army—aheavenly army. God is its commander (1 Samuel

1:3, 11; Isaiah 37:16). Those who pervert justicehave a powerful enemy!

15.Hate the evil, and love the good, andestablish judgment in the gate: it may be thatthe Loin, God of hosts will be gracious unto theremnant of Joseph.

Not only are the people to pursue the good,they also are to hate the evil (compare Romans12:9). This suggests that the commitment torighteousness, while involving the behavior ofthe people, finds its source ultimately in theheart. [Sue question #2. !mgt.: 3501

The phrase remnant of Joseph hearkens backto Amos 5:6, which has "house of Joseph."Joseph was father to Ephraim and Manasseh,after whom 2 of the 12 tribes are named (Joshua14:4). The dire predictions against the house ofJoseph in verse 6 are balanced against a promiseof hope. It's not too late to repent!

II. Beware the Day of the Lord(Amos 5:16-20)

A. There Will Be Weeping (vv. 16, 17)

16.Therefore the Loan, the God of hosts, theLord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets;and they shall say in all the highways, Alas!alas! and they shall call the husbandman tomourning, and such as are skilful of lamenta-tion to wailing.

Amos paints a word picture of a nation thatwill be in total despair. There will be wailing inthe city streets as well as on the country roads.Everyone will cry out, from the city dweller tothe simple farmer to the professional mourner(one who is skilful of fomentation to wailing).17. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: forI will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

What makes the judgment all the morepoignant is that the wailing will take place asGod walks through their midst. [See question#3. page 350.1Levitictis 26:6 speaks of what hap-pens when people obey the Lord—it is a timewhen "neither shall the sword go through yourland." The case before as is just the opposite.

10:33; Hosea 2:11). God now hates what the peo-ple have done to those days. God hates the verythings the people think are pleasing to God. Thepeople have made a mockery of God's holy days.

22. Though ye offer me burnt offerings andyour meat offerings, I will not accept them; nei-ther will I regard the peace offerings of your fatbeasts.

The opening chapters of Leviticus establishedvarious kinds of offerings. God himself is the au-thor of what those offerings are to be and whatthey are to represent.

Yet Amos says that these offerings have be-come completely unacceptable to God. God hasnot "canceled" the offerings in and of themselvesin Amos's day. Rather, it is improper motivesand unholy lives of the people who offer falseacts of worship that disgust God.

B. Insincere Songs (v. 23)

23. Take thou away from me the noise of thysongs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.Music is a vital part of Old Testament worship(Ezra 2:65; Psalm 150; etc.). Usually God delightsin our music of praise but not if offered insin-cerely. Songs of praise that don't match holinessin one's life are so displeasing to the Lord that Hedemands they be removed from His presence.Massy churches are struggling these days overstyles of worship and music. While that concernis understandable, a greater concern should bethe kind of person the music comes from ratherthan the kind of music that comes from the person.

C. Blessed Behavior (v. 24)

24. But let judgment run down as waters, andrighteousness as a mighty stream.

This may well be the most familiar verse inthe book of Amos. The great civil rights leaderMartin Luther King, Jr. quoted it. The verse de-scribes what God wants: justice and righteous-ness to permeate the land like a mighty streambringing life-giving water to the people. Justice(judgment) most flow continually—day andnight. Justice cannot be an intermittent, threetimes out of four, proposition.

Conclusion

A. Speak Up or Stay Silent?Amos was not a professional prophet. He wasnot even a citizen of the northern kingdom of Is-rael. He might well have contented himself withpruning the fruit trees and watching sheep. But

he could not keep silent. He chose to tell the peo-ple the truth, an unpopular truth at that.

The people's complacency was exactly whythey needed a prophet like Amos. Gary Smithsays that Amos's challenge was much like a doc-tor telling a patient he has a terminal disease.Sometimes people get angry with the messenger.Instead of being angry with the messenger, theyneed to take the cure. Amos did not just diag-nose, he also prescribed. The problem is that thepeople did not want the prescription.

Amos drew a lot of attention when he camenorth. His activities were reported to the kinghimself (Amos 7:10-12). By coming north andcondemning the worship in Bethel, he was com-ing to the center of idolatrous religion in thenorthern kingdom. Amos caught the ire of thelead priest at Bethel. That man told Amos to gohome and prophecy to his own people if he wasdetermined to preach (Amos 7:12, 13).

We know that Amos's prophecy was true, forhistory reveals Amos was right. We don't know ifAmos remained a prophet for the rest of his lifeor if he went back to farming. One thing is sure:his message has not been forgotten. Or has it?

B. Prayer

Dear Father, help me to be concerned aboutthe things that concern You. Help me to live in away that reflects my commitment to You. In myworship let not my rituals be isolated from mybehavior and my devotion of the heart. In thename of Jesus, amen.

C. Thought to Remember

Repentance, not ritual.Commitment, not complacency.

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