St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown
Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz
Pentecost 8 July 30, 2006 Amos 7:10-15

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. 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.’” 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. Don’t prophesy any more at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” 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. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Our family went downtown Chicago—smack down town—to a Theatre right down by Lake Michigan. We saw a group—an 8 person group called Stomp! That’s what they do. They stomp. They are percussionists—who make music using almost anything. They start out with brooms—push brooms. Push, push, bump, bump—with the head of the broom. Push, push, bump, bump—twirl the broom and pound the handle on the floor-bumpity, bump, bump. The next thing you know—there are eight people—and a cloud of dust—pounding, pounding, pounding on the floor—and then they are all gone—except one lonely soul—pushing his broom—push, push, push, push! For two hours straight—these eight people play percussion. They use small boxes of wood matches, they use Zippo lighters—click and a flame—click and it’s out. They pound on 30 gallon plastic garbage cans—they dig through a trash bag—and play rhythm using a cup and a straw—using those plastic bags you get at the grocery store—using pages of a newspaper! They hang from bungee cords—and pound on things and stuff fastened to a chain link fence—some of them sounding like church bells! Two hours of music—percussion—rhythm from their heart. It’s not about the instruments—it’s about what’s in their heart. It’s not about percussion instruments. It’s about the music that so fills them—they stomp—wearing boots fastened to oil drums. They spin around—crashing trash can lids together. The music is deep inside them and it has to come out! So it needs to be with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The precious priceless good news of an inheritance stored up for us in Heaven—so fills our hearts—it just has to overflow into how you live and what you say. Today God’s Word encourages us:

Seek The LORD And Live!

1. To remain in stubborn rebellion leads to eternal tragedy

2. The LORD works repentance and eternal rescue

The People’s Bible Commentary on Hosea, Joel and Amos was written by Prof. Paul Eickmann. For more than 20 years Prof. Eickmann taught Hebrew at Northwestern College. Prof. Eickmann taught about Shalom—about the profound peace that we have because the LORD—the Great I AM—the Holy One of Israel has taken away all our sin and guilt! Amos was a prophet when Uzziah was king. Do you remember Uzziah? Uzziah became King when he was only 16years old. Imagine if our President was only 16 years old! Uzziah was King for 52 years. Again—imagine if we had the same President for 52 years! “As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success!” 2 Chronicles 26:5b Uzziah went to war against the Philistines—and the LORD gave him great success. Uzziah reinforced Jerusalem with towers and fortifications. He built towers in the wilderness—dug many cisterns—to water his flocks and herds. He had people working his fields and vineyards. He had a powerful, well trained and well equipped army—provided with shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the army. In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful!” 2 Chronicles 25:10f When Uzziah became more and more powerful—he started to drift from the LORD. God’s Word says, “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.” This was painfully wrong! Only priests—descended from Aaron were allowed to burn incense on the altar. No less than 80 priests tried to stop the King. The king “became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead… King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house—leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD.” 2 Chronicles 26:19bf How sad is that? We need to learn from Uzziah’s sad example. When the LORD grants us success—to realize God’s blessings are gifts—so we don’t become puffed up!

Amos preached God’s Word in a very difficult time. The LORD sent troubles and problems—painful discipline—to try and bring Israel back to him. People boasted and bragged about their thank offerings. The LORD Sent famine—“empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town” but the people did not return to the LORD. He sent a drought—spotty rain—a little on this field—none on the next—people staggering from town to town—looking for water—but they didn’t turn to the LORD. Pestilence—blight and mildew—bugs in the fig trees and olive trees—but they didn’t seek the LORD. Plagues—epidemics—young men dying from the sword—noses filled with the terrible stench of war. There was destruction like Sodom and Gomorrah—and still the people didn’t look for the LORD. Women sat around—calling to their husbands to bring them more drinks. People grumbled and complained—when will the Sabbath rest—the one day each week set aside to read the Scriptures and ponder sin and grace—be over—so we can make money. So we can sweep up grain and dirt—and sell them together to these poor people who you can buy the price of a pair of sandals! When all the LORD’s discipline failed the worst judgment of all would come. The worst judgment the LORD could ever send was a danger to ancient Israel—and a danger in our nation today! “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.” Amos 8:11,12 There is nothing wrong with staying up late Saturday night—at weddings dancing to YMCA and that nifty drum and cowbell solo part to Just Give Me That Old Fashioned Rock ‘n Roll—if we still set our alarm clock and get up and come to church on Sunday morning! There is nothing wrong with cottages up north—for cook outs and fishing and taking naps in a hammock—weekend after weekend—if we nourish our faith on Thursday night—or if we find the nearest WELS congregation and worship there on Sunday! We need the nourishment of the Bread of Life all the time. Otherwise the temptations and traps and snares of the devil will overcome us.

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. 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.’” This happens in Bethel. Bethel and Dan were places in the north. The Temple—Solomon’s Temple—where the LORD commanded sacrifices to be brought. Where the LORD said he was to be worshiped—was in Jerusalem. So wicked King Jeroboam the 1^st set up altars—places of worship in the north—in Bethel and Dan. In Bethel and Dan wicked King Jeroboam the 1^st set up statues—golden calves—and said—worship here! Bring your sacrifices here! Thus Amaziah—a priest whose name means the LORD is strong—was a false prophet—misleading the people! Amaziah—in his angry frustration slightly misquotes Amos. Amos didn’t say Jeroboam would die by the sword—Jeroboam’s house—his family line and rule as king would end. The people would surely go into exile, away from their native land. Certainly this message would not be popular. So Amaziah tells Amos—“Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy any more at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” Go peddle your papers in the south. Go back where you came from. The creamy rocks, pastures and vineyards of the north can’t bear your unpatriotic message!

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. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” Go and preach God’s Word—preach and teach law and gospel to the people who would be saved from their sins by the Lamb of God—who takes away the sins of the world! God and preach good news to the captives—that through the blood of the ultimate Passover Lamb God’s people would be rescued. Through the ultimate Scapegoat—God’s people would be redeemed from their sins! The whole burnt offerings, the sin offerings and guilt offerings and fellowship offerings—the blood of countless lambs and sheep and goats and bulls and turtle doves—the gallons of wine—the finest olive oil—the mountains of grain and flour and bread—would find complete fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth—the Son of Man and Son of God!

Whatever happened to Amaziah? In the verses right after our text—Amos told Amaziah—because he had opposed preaching God’s Word—God’s truth—Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will certainly go into exile…” What painful personal consequences Amaziah would know—because he had tried to defy the living God! Just like the LORD had promised—Israel will certainly go into exile—the northern Kingdom would go into oblivion—because of her stubborn unbelief!

Go, prophesy to my people Israel. Israel—the children of Abraham—by grace through faith. That would be you and me! We are spiritual Israel. I don’t subscribe to a Milwaukee newspaper—but I was struck the other day—three quarters of the front page you could see—was the face of a young man. You were drawn to his eyes—a tear glistened—overflowing the eve trough at the bottom of his eye. The dark print said—survivor’s guilt—despair! I’ve thought about this often before—survivor’s guilt. It’s hard to imagine. I know a man—in WW II—a man who was a medic—a man who said he couldn’t take a life—but would risk his life—to help the wounded. He worked and worked until he was exhausted. Finally—his commanding officer told him—take your sleeping bag—and go a good distance away—to find some quiet and sleep. When he woke up and came back—all his fellow soldiers were dead. He alone survived. That’s when the guilt comes—when you wonder—why me? Why was I spared? Why didn’t I perish when all my friends did? Why didn’t I perish and someone better—someone more deserving than I am—survive? Why am I still here? There must be a reason! There must be something—that Jesus still wants me to do! Do you have just a little bit of survivor guilt—that out of the whole wide world—literally 6 billion plus people—you know the way to heaven? What are we going to do with this essential soul saving knowledge? If we know and really believe—apart from Jesus—souls will really literally know the unquenchable fires of hell don’t you have to share the Gospel? Don’t you have to do everything possible to share this good news—just like Amos did—even in the face of stubborn opposition? Don’t you? Amen!

To God alone all glory! Rev. Anthony E. Schultz