Why Amos?
Next Sunday, February 13 we’re going to starting a brand-new sermon series. We’ll be walking into the book of Amos. We’re calling it “Let Justice Roll” (from Amos 5:24). But why Amos? Why now? I want to share a number of reasons that it’s high time we spend some time in Amos and get to know and understand why this is an important word for God to hear.
But, first, let me ask you (You can text, email or call in your answer if you want. I’d love to know.): How much do you know about Amos? I mean, I know that it is the name for Pastor Krueger’s first-born son. He was born back in November. But I’m not asking about him. I’m talking about Amos, the book in the Bible. What do you know about him? What can you tell me about it? What is the message? Perhaps, your answer to this question leads us to our first reason why. Most people don’t know anything much if anything at all about it; some people may not have even known that it was in the Bible. I’ve been serving in pastoral ministry for nearly 18 years, and I’ve never preached on it, not even on a small portion of it. So, maybe it’s about time that we devote some time to knowing Amos simply because we don’t know much about him.
But it’s more than that. The New Testament writers thinks that Amos is worth knowing too. Amos is directly quoted twice in the New Testament. There are, at least, ten allusions to Amos throughout the New Testament. Even the New Testament writers thought that Amos was a big deal to whom they paid attention so that we too might pay attention to them.
But it is even more than that. The Holy Spirit too thought that Amos was a big deal. He bothered to have these sermons of Amos compiled so that what we have in the book of Amos is something akin to the greatest hits of Amos. You might compare this book of the Bible to a volume you may have of Luther’s sermons. It is good for us to give our attention to this little book of prophecy simply because the Spirit bothered to give it to us. These compilations of sermons and the sermons themselves are Spirit-breathed and so, for this reason alone, are worthy our time and attention.
And we’re not the other only ones. Did you know that Amos is well-known in social justice circles? In fact, Amos is sometimes called the prophet of social justice. Martin Luther King Jr. and others preached on and quoted from the book of Amos frequently because Amos does address many of the social ills of his days. Much of Amos’ preaching is aimed at the social elite – among whom he was numbered – because of the way they oppressed those below them and miscarried justice among them. For example, he condemns the people of God because they oppressed the innocent and took bribes so that the courts carried out unjust sentences (cf. Amos 2:7). They went to church on Sunday but didn’t carry out the righteousness of God on Monday (cf. Amos 5:21-24). In the month of February, we are entering into what is called Black History Month. The themes of social injustice are still something we need to consider today. Are things any different than they were when Amos was preaching? I’m not so sure. I see a lot of similarities between America now and Israel then in more ways than one. I know that the answers to that question may differ among us, but maybe it’s time we didn’t ignore the question and carefully gave attention to God’s Word on it.
Amos is called the prophet of social justice both because he preaches against injustice, and because he preaches hope for the oppressed. Yes, on the one hand, the message of Amos is a strong call to repentance. It is 146 verses long with only five verses that point directly to Christ. This is a message that we all need to hear. We must give God our ears and hear him; yes, “the lion roars” (Amos 1:2). That’s why we’ll be taking this series into the season of Lent where we hear God’s call to repent.
But this doesn’t mean there is no gospel. In this word of judgment against the oppressors, there is also a word of hope for the oppressed. Consider the way that Paul speaks to death in 1 Corinthians 15. He says, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your string” (15:55). This is about as strong a proclamation of judgment against death as you can make. “You’re done and powerless, death,” is what Paul is saying. But when you hear Paul condemn death like this, what does your heart do? Your heart does a little dance. Do you see? Judgment for the oppressor means rescue for the oppressed. The downfall of our enemies means deliverance for those under their thumb. Here is hope and justice for the oppressed and the downtrodden.
We need to hear both. We need to hear this word of judgment against us for the way we ourselves have been part of injustice and miscarriages of justice. We too need to hear the judgment of our enemies and the relief that we will enjoy at their downfall.
But above all the other reasons, there is one final reason we need to give our attention to Amos. It is a theophany. A theophany is a God-appearance. God most obviously shows up and appears in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of his Son. God also shows up in the life of Job, Abraham, and in other places throughout the Scriptures. In the book of Amos, God shows up and visits his people. “The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem” (Amos 1:2). God showed up to shake his people, to grab them by the ears and to shake them to repentance. God showed up against to shake the sins right off you and me, his people. And he will show up one more time to gather us in and bring us home.
This book, though largely unknown, is worth our attention over the next weeks. God has something big for us in this little book. Amos, this shepherd breeder from Tekoa, is hardly a minor prophet after all.