When I was younger, my brothers and I spent the summers exploring Horse Creek.Horse Creek ran alongside our neighborhood, but twisted far into the countryside. We would get up early in the morning and spend all day wading through the creek, climbing its banks, throwing rocks, fishing, building fires, or playing hide and seek. There was a dirt trail alongside Horse Creek with tall grass on either side. I would ride that bike trail all hours of the day. I knew it like the back of my hand.
Even familiar trails can contain scary things.
But every so often I’d encounter something along the trail that would grip me with fear. For example, there were these large banana spiders, or so we called them, about the size of a half-dollar coin. They were black and yellow and they would build enormous webs across the trail. The thought of riding my bike through one of those webs and getting bit by a spider would stop me dead in my tracks every single time.
The trail also provided an excellent place for bull snakes to lay out in the sun. Sometimes they would be small, and you’d run right past them without much thought. But sometimes those snakes would be several feet long and they would be coiled up as if ready to strike the first kid stupid enough to peddle past them. I had a friend who would walk up to a bull snake, the bigger the better, snag it by its tail and snap it like a whip, instantly killing the snake! When Abe was with me, snakes were no big deal, but I’m not that dumb usually!
The most terrifying experience I had on the trail involved older boys from the neighborhood.One time I found them shooting up a tree house with twelve gauge shotguns. I knew the people who had built the tree house had put a lot of time into it, and I was mad. When the kids saw me, they aimed their shotguns at me and demanded that I take a few shots at the tree house.They wanted to say I was involved in shooting at it!That was the last time me or my friends found ourselves looking down the barrel of a gun. I started backing up and eventually ran all the way home.
Has fear of God caused you to reconsider a path you have chosen?
In many ways, life is a trip or journey. Life is like walking a familiar trail or path. Most of the time we just fly down the trails of life as if we are riding a bike. We're full of life and free from concern. But then there are moments when we get stopped dead in our tracks. Recently, I was out fishing and came across some geese with their young. The mother goose and baby geese decided to stop in the middle of the trail. And the gander was standing there guarding the path. And he didn’t look too friendly! What causes you to lock up your brakes and reconsider a path you’ve chosen?Can you think of anything that might cause you to completely turn around and head in the opposite direction from where you are heading right now? For instance, has your fear of God ever caused you to reconsider a path youhave chosen?
I have an friend who late last year began walking a path no man should ever walk. This friend was like a rock to me. He would encourage me when I was down. He would challenge me to keep serving God whenever I felt like giving up. But just last year he contacted an old girlfriend from high school. Evidently, he’s been infatuated with her for decades. And now he believes that it is God’s will that he leave his wife and marry this other woman. It’s more than bizarre.
He uses the scriptures to justify his behavior. He has hardened his heart against the godly counsel of his closest friends. These peoplelove him far more than this woman ever will. He’s indifferent to the pain he is causing his wife, children, grandchildren, church family, and friends. He no longer attends church. He’s throwing away everything he’s ever known. He’s chosen a path and nothing is going to deter him. He’s not going to be reconsidering his path anytime soon.
Do you fear God?
We are at a real point of crisis these days. We are more afraid of snakes and spiders and man than we are of the almighty, living God. We don’t fear God.Listen to music at the Christian bookstore. Read the best-selling Christian books. We sing of a God who is soft, effeminate, nurturing, forgiving, and continually loving. We rarely, if ever, sing of a God who is mighty and powerful to save, who is jealous for our affection, offended by our sins, and angered by our stubborn hearts. We don't sing of a God who is justified to condemn us, and justified to inflict upon us the kind of death our sins deserve. We prefer a God who coddles us in our sins. We prefer a God who is weak and pliable.
Yet the prophets paint a different picture of God. In the books by the minor prophets, God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love. He relents from sending calamity. But this same God stands in our path, flashes his teeth, confronts us in our sins, demands repentance, and even roars like a wild lion. Take, for instance, the words of Amos the prophet. He compares God to a lion.
The prophet Amos compares God to a lion.
In Amos 1:2 (NIV) he says, "The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers." By trade, Amos was a sheep breeder. As a shepherd, Amos would have been terrified by the presence of a lion standing in his path, flaring its teeth. How would you feel if a lion stood in your path and roared, or if it attacked your flock?
Amos chooses the image of a lion to express God’s holy and just nature. Perhaps a lion would get Israel’s attention and cause them to reconsider their ways. In Amos1 and Amos 2Amos gives full vent to Lord’s roar. In your Bible, you’ll notice a pattern. Amos 1:3 (NIV) says, "This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath." Amos 1:6 (NIV) says, "This is what the Lord says: 'For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath.'" Amos 1:9 (NIV) tells us, "For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath." Amos 1:11 (NIV) reinforces, "For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath." Amos 1:13 (NIV), "For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath." Amos 2:1 (NIV) says, "For three sins of Moab, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath." And finally, in Amos 2:6 (NIV) it says, "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath."
What makes the lion roar? Sin.
In these chapters of Amos, we discover that God stands in our path and roars like a lion. And just as importantly, we begin to discover what the lion roars about. Amos starts with the sins of the nations surrounding Israel including Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. But Amos spends the most time detailing Israel’s sins. They would sell their own brothers into slavery for silver. They oppressed the poor. They denied people justice. Father and son would share the same girl. They would profane God’s holy name. They would violate their pledges and oaths. They even commanded God’s prophets not to prophesy.
And now the lion was confronting Israel in her sin. In Amos 3:1-4 (NIV) Amos says, "Hear this word the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins. Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Does a lion roar in the thicket when he has no prey? Does he growl in his den when he has caught nothing?"
God was not pleased with Israel. So let me just ask a simple and rather important question. Does your God roar? Does your God make you tremble and shake in your boots? Does your God pursue you like a lion pursues its prey? Does your God capture you and confront you in your sins? Does your God cause you to choose a different path? I suppose that if a roaring lion cannot get your attention, nothing will. Nowadays the roar of the lion is strangely absent from our pulpits, our music, and our books. Even as we celebrate the death of Christ and the forgiveness it brings to all who believe, we must not forget the severity of our sins. The penalty for our sins is so severe that it necessitated the death of God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Why does the lion roar? To save us from our sin.
In Amos 3 and Amos4 we begin to discover why the lion roars. Amos 3:7-8 (NIV) says, "Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken—who can but prophesy?" Through the prophets, the sovereign Lord had revealed his plan to Israel. The Israelites had no excuses. They knew God’s holy nature. They had seen his wrath against sin. They knew his loving justice. For the Israelites, there wasn’t any mystery about who God was, what he required, or what he had planned for his people.
The problem was that the Israelites were stubborn. They had chosen a path that seemed right, and in their sin, they no longer feared God or listened to his prophets. God wanted to save them, but they were already being swallowed up by their sins. In Amos 3:12 (NIV) God paints a rather gruesome picture of how they will be saved. "This is what the Lord says: As a shepherd saves from the lion’s mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites be saved." What makes the lion roar? Our countless sins make the lion roar.
Sticking to the itinerary.
Why does the lion roar? To save us from our sins. To quicken our conscience. To snap us out of our complacency. To melt our hardened hearts. The lion roars in order to cause us to reconsider our ways and change our steps; to move us toward repentance. The whole idea of repentance is sticking to the Lord's itinerary. Returning to the path he has chosen for us. Life consists of turning around and embracing the plan God has revealed through his prophets and in his word. By seeking God’s plan and by following the path he’s mapped out for us, we can find life.
In Amos 5:4-5 (NIV) the Lord says to the house of Israel, "Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing." The paths they had chosen for themselves led nowhere! They could only find life in God.
In Amos 5:6 (NIV) Amos says, "Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire; it will devour, and Bethel will have no one to quench it." Amos 5:14-15 (NIV) says, "Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph."
When the lion roars, we must be open to changing our direction.
When we began this series of messages, I shared a couple of verses with you. In Psalm 16:11 (NIV) the psalmist praises God. "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Yet Proverbs 14:12 (NIV) warns us, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
We must remember that the lion roars from the vantage point of eternity, from heaven. God’s roar isn’t a call to death and destruction; it’s a call to eternal life. God roars to save us, to redirect our steps, to reshape our hearts and minds, and to redeem us. God roars to keep us from being devoured by sin and death. No matter howright the path we’ve chosen may seem, whenever the lion roars we must be open to changing our path in an instant.
The opportunity for repentance is now.
In Amos7 we're reminded that the opportunity for repentance is now. In Amos 7:7-8 (NIV) God shows Amos a wall. He writes, "This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord asked me, 'What do you see, Amos?' "A plumb line,' I replied. Then the Lord said, 'Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.' "
Plumb lines serve one primary purpose. They are used to check vertical alignment. This past week Jay built this wall for use in our worship services. (Note to reader, there was a six foot by four foot wall with a plumb line attached to its side, at the front of the sanctuary.) This wall represents our individual lives. On this wall can be written all the choices we make in life. All the paths we’ve pursued, whether good or bad.The Israelites were complacent about sin. They were full of pride. Full of greed. They were sexually immoral. They didn’t trust God. They ignored his word.
We could easily fill up this wall by listing Israel’s sins. Earlier, you were given a card in your bulletin. On that card, I want you to write down some words and phrases that may apply to your life. In a few moments, you will have the opportunity to tape your cards to the back of this wall. What are some wrong paths you’ve chosen for yourself? What are some areas in your life that the lion is roaring about this morning?
We all fall short of the glory of God.
This plumb line represents God’s righteous requirements. The Bible tells us that every single one of us has sinned and continually falls short of the glory of God. When God’s plumb line is held next to our lives, none of us measure up. Not a single one of us is perfectly, vertically aligned to God. We continually choose paths that take us away from God. We sin. We do evil. We offend God. We stir his wrath.
It’s important that we take a few moments and internalize the lion’s roar against sin. The book of Amos begins with God saying, "For just three sins, even four, I will not turn back my wrath." No sin is insignificant in God’s eyes. Any one of us could post dozens of cards, maybe hundreds of cards on this wall. Yet it takes just three sins to stir God’s wrath. It took just one sin for Adam and Eve to be banished from the garden. You’ll never appreciate the magnitude of what God has done for you in Christ until you first hear God’s roar.
Christ paid the penalty for our sins.
Stationed throughout the front of the sanctuary are a number of communion stations. The bread symbolizes Christ’s broken body. The juice symbolizes Christ’s shed blood. The bread and juice remind us that Christ paid the penalty for our sins. In his death, Jesus forever satisfied God’s wrath. Galatians 3:10-13 (NIV) says, "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.' Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, 'The righteous will live by faith.' Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.' " 2 Corinthians 5:19 (NIV) tells us that in Christ, God was reconciling the whole world to himself, "not counting men’s sins against them."
Just now, I want you to take your card and write out a few reasons the lion roars in your life. Take a few moments and hear the lion roar. Pray for God to change your heart and to redirect your steps. Then fix your card to the wall, take communion, and be reminded of God’s forgiveness in Christ. Christ died for your sins so that you may seek God and live.