Sermon for 14th July 2013.
Sermon
for 14th July 2013.
The
Revd. J. Michael Povey at St. David’s, Englewood, FL
Amos 7:7-17; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37
(Note
I read through the entire book of Amos in preparation for this sermon)
What
do we say on our way home from Church? Maybe it's “Church was pretty good this morning”, or “the preacher was a
bit off today”.
We
rarely ask “what did God think about our worship?”.
Scripture
indicates that God is not necessarily pleased with what we and millions of
other Christians do on Sunday mornings.
God sometimes despises our worship.
After
his win at the Wimbledon Men’s Final this year
Andy Murray, Scotland's first Wimbledon singles champion since Harold
Mahony in 1896, thanked his coach Ivan Lendl for believing in him.
Lendl started
coaching the Scot last year. Murray said this of his coach
"He stuck by me through some tough losses and he's
been very patient with me, I'm just happy for him," said the world number
two.........."He's always been very honest with me and told me exactly
what he thought and in tennis that's not easy to do in a player/coach relationship.
“He’s always been very honest with
me, and told me what he thought”, so
said Andy Murray about Ivan Lendl.
Amos
was a bit of a hick or a hayseed. He was
a farmer (most probably a day labourer) and he lived south of Jerusalem about
eight centuries before Jesus. The nation of Israel had split into two kingdoms,
one in the north called Israel with its capital in the city of Samaria, the
other in the south with its capital in Jerusalem.
Amos
travels from the south to deliver words of God’s judgment to the leaders of the
north. He was very honest and he told them what he thought. He dared to
tell them what God thought.
He was
speaking in a time of prosperity when the rich were getting richer and the poor
were getting poorer. This was, and is,
highly offensive to God.
* Wealthy
people would sell a servant into indentured labour so that they afford to buy a
pair of fancy sandals.
*The
law of God told farmers to leave then edges and corners of their fields
un-harvested so that the very poor would have a bit of wheat for a subsistence
living. In Amos’ day the very well to do farmers would scrape up very last bit
of wheat at harvest time, leaving none for the poor.
*Amos
says that the elite “trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth
(in others words, let ‘em starve to death) and push the afflicted out of the
way. (2v7)
*He
assails those who “take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate”.5v12
*He
scorns those who “trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land”
8v4
*He
exposes the sexual shenanigans of the wealthy men saying that “they pervert the way of the
humble, and a man and his father go to the maid, in order to profane My Holy Name” 2v7
*Amos is scathing in his denunciation of the idle rich women
“ Hearken to this word,
O cows of Bashan which are on Mount Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush
the needy, who say to their lords, "Bring that we may drink." 4v1
For
all of this Amos, speaking in the name of the Lord, says that the northern
kingdom of Israel will come under the judgement of God.
Amos
was very honest and he told them what God thought. His message was not well
received:
A
priest named Amaziah, who was in cahoots with the King, said to Amos
"Seer,
go, run away to the land of Judah and eat bread there; and prophesy there.
|
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In
other words, go back to where you belong; we
do not want outside elements upsetting our apple-cart.
Indeed
there was corruption at the heart of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The rich were getting richer at the expense
of the poor. The poor were getting
poorer and being denied even their daily bread.
This was, and is, highly
offensive to the God of Justice.
Believe
it or not, the people of this highly corrupted ruling class, this oppressive
oligarchy were assiduous in their
attention to religious ritual. They
observed all the festivals which the law prescribed. They did not neglect the
worship of God.
And
this devotion to religion did not impress God.
In fact it pissed him off. Hear
what he said to the religious yet corrupt leaders:
“21I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in
your solemn assemblies. 22Even 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. 23Take away from me the (1) noise of your songs; I will not listen
to the melody of your harps. 24But let justice roll down
like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream”. 4 v 21-24
(1)
One translation says “din” not “noise”
Amos’ words speak to us today. God is not necessarily pleased with what we and millions
of other Christians are doing this morning.
God sometimes despises our worship.
God
hates and despises all our religious noises and songs when we are silent or
complicit in a society where the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting
poorer, and justice is denied to the poor.
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