Introduction: Sometimes my dreams go bad. I’ll be dreaming of being
in some pleasant place when all of a sudden things turn dark and
someone starts chasing me – or something like that. Has that happened
to you? Things in your dreams or in your life do not turn out as you
had originally expected? Amos’ vision that we are studying today
sounds like that on the surface. What seems good turns out bad. Let’s
jump in and see what we can learn.
- Fruit Basket Upset
- Read Amos 8:1-3. First, I want you to fix in your mind the
candy that you like the best. Now, imagine that someone
gave you a basket of it. What would be your reaction?
(Those of you who understand proper nutrition can stick to
imagining what Amos got – a bowl of ripe fruit!
Obviously, we would like a basket of candy or fruit.) - Why would God use ripe fruit (something good) as an
illustration of the bad things He was going to do to
His people? Why not say “Here, Amos, is a basket of
snakes?” - Have you ever bitten into a fruit that looked good,
but was too ripe to the point of being rotten? (I
think that is part of God’s point. God says these
people “look good” but they are really rotten.) - Do you notice the way the word “ripe” is used to
describe the fruit and to describe the time of
judgment? Is this a coincidence? Or, is there some
meaning in this? (Motyer’s book on Amos reveals that
there is a play on words in the Hebrew that is
reflected in the NIV translation. The “ripe” fruit
is “ripe” for judgment!) - Let’s list the contrasts we find in Amos 8:3,8-10. (Songs
turn to wailing, solid ground begins to tremble, the land
acts like water, the sun sets at noon and the day becomes
like night, religious feasts become like funerals, singing
turns to crying.) - Why is God listing all of these opposites? These
contrasts? (God is saying that He is going to turn
things upside down. The people claim they are
religious, they claim to be ripe fruit, but what they
really are is ripe for judgment. Thus, God is going
to change the existing order of things. This will be
like the children’s game “fruit basket upset.”) - The Sabbath
- Read Amos 8:4-6. Do you think these people kept the
Sabbath? Or, did they just ignore it?(They must have been
keeping it is some fashion because they wanted to know
when it ended.) - What do you think about the way they kept the
Sabbath? (They had the wrong attitude. First, they
wanted the Sabbath to be over. Why? Because they were
anxious to get back to cheating people in their
business dealings! They were making a mockery of the
Sabbath by scheming to do evil on the very day they
should have been scheming to do God’s will.) - Do we have the right attitude about Sabbath-keeping
today? - Are you personally anxious for Sabbath to end?
- Do you have trouble not thinking about your work
on Sabbath? - Of all the sins that God might have mentioned, why do you
think He brought up the Sabbath? (This is another “ripe
fruit” example. The people had an appearance of being
righteous because they observed the Sabbath. But inside
(that is their minds) they were rotten because they were
plotting and scheming how they would cheat others just as
soon as Sabbath ended.) - What do these verses suggest to those who believe keeping
the Sabbath holy is more important than other obligations
to God? (This shows that “Sabbath-keeping” is not just a
matter of keeping a set period of time holy. It shows that
honoring the God of the Sabbath includes a life reflecting
His holiness. Keeping Sabbath was no advantage to people
who were lying, cheating and stealing the rest of the
week!) - Not Forget
- Read Amos 8:7. Does this sound right to you? How can God
say He will not forget your sins? - Let’s read some texts that seem to say just the opposite.
Read Psalms 103:10-12; Hebrews 10:16-17; Isaiah 43:25. - How do you reconcile these texts? How can God say on
one hand He forgets our sins and on the other hand
say He will not forget? - What is our obligation to others? Can we, too,
properly say “I will not forget?” - Read Matthew 18:21. What does Peter want to know? (The
answer to the question I just asked!) - Read Jesus’ answer: Matthew 18:22. What do you think
this means? Can you say “I will not forget?” Would
you need an adding machine before you could properly
say “I will not forget?” - Let’s read on because Jesus explains His point with a
story. Read Matthew 18:23-27. What is Jesus really talking
about in this story? (Salvation. Verse 23 starts out “the
kingdom of heaven.” This is an illustration of the path to
salvation.) - Read Matthew 18:28-35. Let me ask you again: Can you
properly say to those around you “I will not forget your
sin?” - Now can you now explain how God can say “I won’t
remember” at one point and at another “I won’t
forget?” (God forgives and forgets for all of those
who repent and treat others as God has treated them.
However, if we do not forgive others “from the heart”
then God re-institutes our debt. That is apparently
what was happening in Amos 8. Like the debtor in
Matthew 18, we have no choice but to forgive others
who “owe” us much less than we owe our God.) - The Famine
- Read Amos 8:11-12. If I said that a day is coming when
you won’t be able to buy soap, what would you do (assuming
you believed me)? (The natural reaction is to start
hoarding soap.) - Do these people care for the Word of God now? (No.
Remember last week the High Priest told Amos (Amos
7:12)to go away and quit bothering them with God’s
words.) - Will the people care about finding the Word of God in
the future? (Yes. Amos 8:12 says they will “stagger”
looking for it.) - Why? If the people do not care about hearing the
Word of God now, but will be desperately looking
for it later, what will make the difference?
Hearing that there will be a shortage? (We would
hoard soap because we know we need it. These
people did not know they needed the Word of God
so they were not going to hoard it. What changes
is that tragedy strikes, the people realize that
they ignored God’s Word, and now they
desperately want to turn to Him to get them out
of their trouble.) - Is this also true for us? Should we be drinking in
the Word of God now to prepare us for troubling times
in the future? - Why would we need God’s Word for the future?
( Amos 3:7 tells us that God will not do anything
without first revealing His plans to His
servants the prophets. This means that God gives
us advance warning of what will take place. In
the middle of trouble we want to know how things
will turn out. That is why the people here were
so desperate to find the Word of the Lord they
had previously scorned.) - Friend, the dream has not yet turned bad. We still have
the opportunity now to soak in God’s Word. By studying
Amos with me we are taking in God’s Word. Will you commit
to continuing to drink in God’s Word to prepare for
difficult times ahead? Will you study God’s will so that
you will not be fruit that looks ripe, but is only ripe
for judgment? - Next Week: Vision Five – No Escape for the Lost.
