10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of
Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel.
The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying:
”‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away
from their native land.’” 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you
seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do
your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this
is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” 14 Amos answered
Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd,
and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the LORD took me from
tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
- Amos 7:10-15, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
This morning lets begin with an exercise called "Opposites." It is associated with some forms of psychological testing, but it is probably more commonly used as a simple word game. Here is how it works. One person says a word. Then the other person responds as quickly as possible with a word that has the opposite meaning.
For example, if I said "fast," most likely the first word that comes to mind is "slow." If I said "open," most people would quickly respond with "closed." White and black. Good and bad. Short and tall. You get the idea. And if I were to say Amos, without hesitation you would come back with…Amaziah.
The text for this morning presents us with two very different people in Amos and Amaziah. I will admit that this pair of opposites is not as obvious as the other examples I just gave. Most people do not know a whole lot about the prophet Amos, and they probably know even less about Amaziah. On the surface, these men might even appear to be similar. Both men are Jews. Both claim to be men of God. Amaziah was the priest at Bethel, and Amos was a prophet of the Lord. Their names even sound alike.
But a closer look reveals that Amos and Amaziah are not so similar. They are from different countries. They have different agendas. They serve different masters. It is not a stretch to say that they are opposites.
It should also be noted that the adage, "Opposites attract," does not apply in this case. These opposites do not attract. These opposites do not get along. These opposites are enemies. The text before us today is a conversation between these two men, a war of words between Amos and Amaziah. These six verses are the battleground, and the truth of God is at stake. The inspired words of Amos bring this battle to life…
The Battle for the Truth of God at the House of God
I. The accusations of Amaziah
II. The authority of Amos
I said in the introduction that Amaziah was a priest at Bethel. Maybe that statement confused some of you. From our study of Bible history, we know that God established his temple in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place where Solomon built God’s temple. The temple was the place where the priests offered sacrifices on the altar. So, why did Amaziah serve as a priest at Bethel, some ten miles to the north?
This requires some historical background. After King Solomon died, Israel was divided in two. The northern ten tribes rebelled against the house of David and formed their own government. The problem was that Jerusalem and the temple were in the southern territory. The rebel king in the north, a man by the name of Jereboam, didn’t want his people going to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, so he set up an alternative worship site for them at Bethel.
The Hebrew word, "Bethel," means "house of God," but what went on at Bethel was anything but God-pleasing. Jereboam set up a golden calf at Bethel to blend the worship of the true God with the idolatry of Israel’s neighbors.
When Amos came on the scene, some two hundred fifty years later, things had not changed. If anything, they had gotten worse. Listen to God’s assessment of the situation in Amos 2: "They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name" (6,7).
The Israel that Amos saw was enjoying an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity, but beneath the surface the nation was in spiritual and moral decay. God’s patience with Israel was wearing thin, and he sent Amos to Bethel to warn the people of the Lord’s impending wrath.
Because life was good for the people of Israel, life was also good for Amaziah, the priest at Bethel. The one thing Amaziah did not need was Amos making trouble in his own backyard, so he went on the attack. He sent word to the king, saying: "Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words" (10).
Amaziah claimed that Amos was inciting a rebellion against Jereboam II ( the king who shared his name with the first king of Israel, the one who set up the golden calf at Bethel). Amaziah’s charge was a half-truth. Amos did predict that Israel would be destroyed, but he was not a part of any conspiracy against the king himself.
Amaziah, however, was not interested in the truth. He wasn’t afraid to twist the facts to get rid of Amos, and his next attack shows that he was willing to get personal. He told Amos: "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there" (12).
Amaziah assumed that Amos was a prophet for hire, not a prophet from God. He assumed that Amos prophesied to feed his own belly, not to feed other people’s souls. Amaziah probably made those assumptions because that is the kind of spiritual leader he was. Amaziah reasoned that if Amos wanted to preach about the destruction of Israel, he would probably receive a much warmer reception (and a better a pay-day) in Judah, Israel’s rival to the south.
Amaziah’s third and final accusation allows us to look inside his heart. He told Amos: "Do not prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom" (13). "Amos, Bethel is Israel’s most sacred place. Bethel is the seat of the kingdom. Don’t preach here anymore…or else." Amaziah did not serve God. He served the king, and anyone who opposed the king or the kingdom had to be destroyed.
Sometimes it is difficult to make applications from Old Testament texts to people’s lives today. This is not one of those times. God’s Word and God’s people are attacked just as viciously today as Amaziah attacked Amos. The world dismisses God’s Word as irrelevant. The world puts negative labels on God’s people: simplistic and naive on one end and intolerant and unloving on the other. God tells us expect this kind of treatment from the world because sinful people are by nature hostile to God and his Word.
An even greater concern for Christians is that the battle for the truth of God is also being fought within the house of God. Within the so-called house of God, within the visible church on earth, there are preachers who boldly claim that the Bible is filled with errors. There are churches that are bending to the pressure to conform instead of proclaiming the truth. There are people who believe that the primary mission of the church is to feed the body, not the soul.
When God’s people are on the receiving end of these attacks, when God’s Word is attacked from within and without, how should we feel? Discouraged, distressed, depressed? How about encouraged? How about excited? How about blessed? That might sound strange, but Jesus says that very thing in Matthew 5: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me" (11).
Christians don’t rejoice because they have to suffer. Christians don’t get excited when their convictions put them in an unpopular minority. But when we are persecuted, when the truth of God’s Word comes under attack, these attacks are evidence that God’s Word is at work. And that does give us a reason to rejoice. The same assurance of God’s presence gave Amos the strength to stand up to Amaziah, to stand up for the truth of God, and to speak with authority.
A quick analysis of his ministry might lead a person to conclude that Amos was not the wisest prophet who ever lived. Amos was from Tekoa, a small village in Judah, but he prophesied at Bethel in the north. Judah and Israel were not the best of friends, but that was not the greatest challenge Amos had to face. The message Amos preached in Israel was pure, unadulterated law. He condemned Israel’s leaders for their wickedness. He predicted that Israel’s cities would be destroyed. He prophesied that Israel’s people would be carried into captivity.
It would be like if a Confederate sympathizer went on a preaching tour in the North during the Civil War. Picture him proclaiming this message with an unmistakable southern drawl: "New York & Boston will be burned. Washington D.C. will fall. Your sons will die in battle. And the Union will be destroyed." If a Southerner ever tried to talk like that in the North during the Civil War, how popular would he have been? How long do you think he would have survived?
That might sound unrealistic. That might sound unbelievable. But that is exactly what Amos did. Amos was able to stand up to Amaziah, Amos was able to preach an unpopular message in a hostile environment because he had a greater authority standing behind him.
Amos said to Amaziah: "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees" (14). Amos was the first to admit he wasn’t anything special. He was a shepherd/farmer. Amos wasn’t much different than Jesus’ disciples. They were simple men. By worldly standards they were not great men, but God called them to do great things.
Amos went on: "But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel’" (15). Amos was able to speak with authority because of his calling. He wasn’t a prophet by trade. He wasn’t a prophet for hire. He was a prophet of God because he had been called by God.
The same God who called Amos also commissioned him. The Lord said to Amos: "Go, prophesy to my people Israel." Amos didn’t work close to home where his life would be most comfortable. Amos did not go where his ministry would be the easiest. He went where God led him. Wherever God led Amos, he could speak with authority because he knew he was where God wanted him to be.
God called Amos. He told him what to do. God commissioned Amos. He told him where to go. Finally, God guided the content of his message. He told him what to say. When Amos prophesied, he did not say to Israel: "You wicked people! Listen to what I have to say."
Because God was speaking through him, Amos could look Amaziah right in the eye and say: "This is what the Lord says."
God gives the same authority to you and me. In one sense, God has called all Christians. We have been called to declare the praises of the God who called us out of the darkness of sin into the wonderful light of his gospel (I Pe 2:9). We have been called to share the good news that Jesus is our Savior from sin. We have been called to stand up for the truth.
The authority that God gives his church to preach and teach his saving Word is an honor and a privilege. But just having the truth is not enough. The truth won’t do any good if there is no one to preach and teach it. This congregation knows what it feels like to be without called workers. We are now blessed with a full staff at church and school, but not all congregations can say the same. As of June 1st, after the Call Day assignments at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and Martin Luther College, there were still 60 pastoral vacancies and close to 80 teacher vacancies in our synod.
Who will stand up for the truth in the future? Where will the next generation of workers come from? Who will fill our pulpits and classrooms? If Pastor Leyrer were to retire at age 65, it would take a child entering 1st grade this year to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary twenty years from now to take his place. If Mrs. Kremer were to retire in ten years, it would take a girl entering 7th grade this fall to graduate from Martin Luther College and fill her shoes.
The children of today are the pastors and teachers and missionaries and staff ministers of tomorrow. Do you know that 1st grader who has the gifts to serve his Lord? What can you do to encourage that seventh grader to use her talents to serve in the public ministry? How can you act on Jesus’ command to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field 9:38)?
In this, the 150th anniversary year of the Wisconsin Synod, we have many reasons to be thankful. In our prayers, we thank and praise God for preserving the truth of the gospel among us. We give thanks for faithful pastors and teachers who have passed this treasure on to us.
But we also know that we are in a battle, a battle for the truth of God, a battle that will not end on this side of heaven. As we fight the good fight of faith, let these words of Amos give you encouragement. When you are attacked, when your faith is put to the test, consider it a blessing. Consider all kinds of attacks and accusations blessings because they are proof that the Word of God is living and active in our lives.
Then use that knowledge to speak with the same authority as Amos. We can speak with confidence because that is what God has called us to do. We can speak with boldness because God has placed us where he wants us to be. We can speak with authority because God’s Word reveals what we are to say. And when we do that, we can stand up next to Amos and say: "This is what the Lord says." Amen.