Through the Bible in 2021
Bible Readings: Amos 1-2, 1 John 1, Psalm 137, Proverbs 30:1-2
Daily Devotional: Other People's Sins
I consider Amos 1 and 2 one of the most brilliant sermons ever. Some day I want to work up the courage to preach one like that! It illustrates how sermons can appeal to the flesh as opposed to speaking to the spirit.
Amos begins the sermon by pointing the finger at Israel's pagan neighbors, their enemies. I can only imagine the joy his hearers as he pronounced God's wrath against Damascus, Gaza, and Tyre. Then he looked across the Jordan River and the Dead Sea to the Edomites and Ammonites and Moabites, confronting their wickedness in the eyes of God. Prophets were often unpopular, but this time and at this moment Amos was everyone's favorite. there was a crescendo of applause.
You can always be popular preaching against OPS - Other People's Sins. People love to hear about how awful "they" are - those liberals, those homosexuals, those druggies and drunkards, those Hollywood lowlifes. It gives people a sense of moral superiority to hear how awful other people are - it feeds the flesh, our innate self-righteousness fed by pride.
The high point of Amos' sermon came in Amos 2:4 when he confronted the sins of Judah, Israel's rival to the south. Israel was comprised of the 10 northern tribes which had split from the tribe of Judah (Jerusalem). At best there was jealousy and rivalry, and often there was a war. When Amos confronted the sins of Judah, the chorus of amens must have rung out like a tent revival.
That is when things changed. It was great when he pointed the finger outward, at "them." But in Amos 2:6 he stopped preaching and started meddling. He turned his attention from OPS to TPS - this people's sins. And his popularity diminished rapidly.
Amos begins the sermon by pointing the finger at Israel's pagan neighbors, their enemies. I can only imagine the joy his hearers as he pronounced God's wrath against Damascus, Gaza, and Tyre. Then he looked across the Jordan River and the Dead Sea to the Edomites and Ammonites and Moabites, confronting their wickedness in the eyes of God. Prophets were often unpopular, but this time and at this moment Amos was everyone's favorite. there was a crescendo of applause.
You can always be popular preaching against OPS - Other People's Sins. People love to hear about how awful "they" are - those liberals, those homosexuals, those druggies and drunkards, those Hollywood lowlifes. It gives people a sense of moral superiority to hear how awful other people are - it feeds the flesh, our innate self-righteousness fed by pride.
The high point of Amos' sermon came in Amos 2:4 when he confronted the sins of Judah, Israel's rival to the south. Israel was comprised of the 10 northern tribes which had split from the tribe of Judah (Jerusalem). At best there was jealousy and rivalry, and often there was a war. When Amos confronted the sins of Judah, the chorus of amens must have rung out like a tent revival.
That is when things changed. It was great when he pointed the finger outward, at "them." But in Amos 2:6 he stopped preaching and started meddling. He turned his attention from OPS to TPS - this people's sins. And his popularity diminished rapidly.
I will not relent from punishing Israel
for three crimes, even four...
The amens turned to blank stares and scowls of anger. People love to hear about the sins of others but are decidedly less interested in hearing about what might be wrong in their own hearts. Amos' brilliant message set up the hearers by pointing the finger to the north and to the east and to the south and drawing them in, but when he pointed the finger at them, everything changed.
Self-righteousness causes us to look at the faults and sins of others and to ignore the failings of our own hearts. We look at the speck in our brother's eye while ignoring the log in our own. One sign of the inner work of God's Spirit is that a person begins to look more carefully at his own sins and less judgmentally at those of others. We do not ignore sin or excuse it, but judgment begins in the house of God. I worry about ME first and then begin to help others with gentle, caring guidance and the message of Christ's love, mercy, and grace.
Our flesh loves the outward focus on other's failings, on the blame game, on passing the buck, on OPS; but there is no spiritual victory, no growth, no healing or renewal in that. Those only come as we allow the Spirit of God to confront us, as the prophet Amos did Israel, with our sins and bring us to repentance.
Father, may your Spirit show me my heart. Expose every dark place in which the flesh reigns in rebellion to the Lordship of your Son. May he rule me body, soul and spirit.
Consider God's Word:
Which of the readings spoke most powerfully to you today?
Is the Spirit of God moving you to repent of something you are doing, to begin something new, or to change something about your life as a result of your readings? What?
Is the Spirit of God moving you to repent of something you are doing, to begin something new, or to change something about your life as a result of your readings? What?
Do you have the outward look or the inward look?
We ought never to excuse sin, but we ought to start by allowing the power of God's Spirit to work within us!
We ought never to excuse sin, but we ought to start by allowing the power of God's Spirit to work within us!
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