Amos part 1 – “UNPLEASANT TRUTHS”

Posted by David Ward on 06/02/2021
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Amos – justice and mercy for the poor

We don’t like hearing unpleasant truths about ourselves, especially if, in our view, the messenger is not qualified to deliver it.

Read: Amos 1: 1-2 and 7: 12-15

Imagine that a British prophet is sent to the United States to call the rich and powerful to account for their attitudes and actions. How well would that go, especially as in many ways the rich and powerful in Britain are just as bad?

That is exactly the situation that Amos found himself in, back in around 765 BC, when he was sent from his native Judah to the breakaway northern kingdom of Israel, to deliver a message from God.

If you read the first two chapters of the book of Amos, you’ll quickly realise that Amos was a very skilful and subversive prophet, despite, as he says, not being a professional prophet with training and prior experience.

He starts by delivering prophecies against some of the surrounding Kingdoms – the Arameans, with their capital at Damascus, the Philistines, the Kingdom of Tyre, the Ammonites, the Moabites and the Edomites…all nations that have been Israel’s enemies. His listeners are all ears…these are just the kind of prophecies they want to hear.

Then it get’s even better, as Amos delivers God’s message of disappointment and impending judgement to his own people in Judah. The people of Israel love to hear this and are well and truly drawn into the prophecies of Amos.

It’s at this point he demonstrates how subversive he has been…he has left the longest and most damning prophecies until last and they’re all about Israel. Gotcha!

The religious elite, like the priest of the temple at Bethel, Amaziah, don’t like it. They try to belittle Amos for his lowly occupation and his lack of prophetic kudos. They suggest that this foreigner would be better served if he prophesied to his own people.

It makes little impression, because Amos is certain that it is Yahweh, the LORD, who has both called him and given him this message for Israel. In crossing the border and delivering the message he has done his part.

Now it’s Israel’s turn. They must choose to listen and act or ignore the warnings he brings.

If you were the Israelites, what might Amos say to you? How might you respond?

Joel part 4 – “DECISION DAY”

Posted by David Ward on 05/02/2021
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Joel – announcing the Day of the Lord

One of the constant themes in the Old and New Testaments is the invitation from God to make a simple choice.

Read: Joel 3: 14-16

In his book about the Minor Prophets, Phil Moore writes that the key to understanding their message is going back to the Covenant God made with the Hebrew people in Deuteronomy 28, which he summarises as, “Blessing or curse…you decide”.

From the very beginning, from the creation story of Adam and Eve and right through the Old Testament God makes it clear that we all have a choice…to live his way in relationship with him, the way we are designed to live or to choose to live ignoring or disbelieving him, making our own decisions and facing the consequences of trying to live a life designed to be lived in friendship with God.

When we come to the New Testament, Jesus, who is God in human form, comes to show us what God is like and to bring a once-and-for-all solution to the problem of how sinful human beings can have a close relationship with a living God. His life also gives us an insight into what our life could look like if lived in perfect relationship with God.

In Joel 2 we see that choice at work again; Jesus lived, died and rose again for all of humanity, but each of us is responsible for choosing whether to accept and benefit from what Jesus did. As Peter the friend of Jesus says in his Pentecost sermon…it’s “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord” who will be saved.

All of humanity in the valley of decision. The ultimate question is, will you choose to follow Jesus or choose not to? It’s not, as some would have you think, just a decision that affects your destination at the end of life here. It affects the quality of life lived everyday in the here and now, as you live the way you were designed to live, in the company and with the help of the one who designed you in the first place.

When Aidan, one of the early missionaries to the Kingdom of Northumbria, left Holy Island and visited people in the hill country of Northumberland, the historian Bede tells us that he asked a simple question of everyone he met. These extracts from a modern poem by Andy Raine and Neil Arnold captures the spirit of that question, and Aidan’s response.

“Do you know Christ, King Jesus, is he yours?”

If they answered, “Yes!”, then Aidan replied,

“Then love God more,
And burn with love:
Hold fast the light he gives.
Live thou for Him.
Believer, hold Him high,
That all may see the light of Jesus
In a son of man.”

If they said, “No!”, then Aidan had a different reply:

“God knows the emptiness:
Deep cries to deep.
Receive the life he gives:
Live now for him.
Believe and be baptised,
Then all will see
 the life of Jesus in a son of man.”

Celtic Daily Prayer, book 1, page 411-412

How would you answer the question, and how would you act on Aidan’s reply?

Joel part 3 – “A NEW HEART”

Posted by David Ward on 04/02/2021
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Joel – announcing the Day of the Lord

Joel writes about a future day of the Lord that is not local and limited but universal and complete!

Read: Joel 2: 25-32

It is the Day of the Lord…Judgement Day.

A man hangs on a cross as the sky goes dark. The sin of the whole world, not just of the Jewish people, is being judged and dealt with, the price paid once and for all. The promise given many years before to Abraham, that his people would be a source of blessing for the whole world, is being fulfilled through the death of that one man…Jesus.

Three days later and his tomb is empty. His followers tell stories of seeing him alive and well, rising from the dead to prove that he was who he said he was.

Forty days later and his timid disciples are transformed. They burst out from hiding onto the streets, declaring God’s praises in languages they have not learned so that the crowds in Jerusalem hear in their own language and ask what’s going on.

And the answer they are given comes straight from Joel chapter 2.

The Temple and its sacrifices are not needed anymore. One perfect sacrifice has been made for the sin of the world.

From now on, everyone and anyone who calls on the name of the Lord can be saved, their sin forgiven.

But they are not just forgiven; their old life is counted as dead, having died with Jesus on the cross, and the Spirit comes, filling them up with the life of Jesus and giving them the new heart promised by the prophets.

This is the Day of the Lord to end all such days. Not local and limited, but universal and complete. One final sacrifice for all, ending the fear of a future judgement for sin for “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord”.

Joel promises that in the last days God will pour out his Spirit on all people. This is radical stuff! No one will be excluded from being filled and fruitful based on age, gender, or nationality. All who call on the name of the Lord will be filled with the Spirit…young and old, male and female, Jew and non-Jew”… and equipped for fruitful lives and ministry. Have you ever been put down in church because of your age or gender? Do you feel less adequate to do what God asks of you for a fruitful life because of your age or gender?

Joel and the early church would have none of it. Become who you are in Christ.