# How would you preach the book of Amos?



## Soonerborn (Nov 9, 2010)

I assume that this book can be treated differently by different pastors in the reformed world. Out of curiosity, how would you handle the overall theme of God's judgment toward national Israel and how that relates to the church today, and how you would apply the text to your congregation? 

Is the judgment of God toward national Israel an example of the judgment that we all have under the Covenant of Works? (I am not saying that the salvation of Israel was under the COW, but that the Mosaic Covenant had an element of the COW to serve as an example of man's inabilty to keep the law). Thus, as Amos is condemning national Israel, we realize that we too are condemned under the law and it takes the true Israel, Christ, to fulfill the law for us. 

Also, many of the passages speak of the social injustice which is committed by national Israel. Should this be applied to the church as in "as the church, we should not be doing these specific things, and here is what we should be doing (as in social justice)", etc... or is the overall thrust of the book - we cannot do these things, but Christ has? My point is I would think that if one is not careful, the sermon could take a moralistic bent. 

I am by no means seminary trained and I am interested in hearing how different pastors would preach prophetical books such as Amos, and what pastoral applications we can draw from them to the church today. 

thanks!


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## Jack K (Nov 9, 2010)

I'll give it a start:

The church must not think that it can behave like the "surrounding nations" (that is, the world) and that'll be okay with God. The nations are judged for their idolatry and injustice, and the church must be careful to avoid the same. Israel ought to be different from the nations. They are God's dearly loved covenant people, saved by his mighty hand, as the start of chapter 3 points out: 



> Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:
> 
> “You only have I known
> of all the families of the earth;
> ...



The church today has even more reason to be different, having experienced God's love in the gospel. This gospel ought to compel us to forsake those things the world worships (idolatry) and put aside the me-first greed the world lives by (injustice).

That's how I might start to tackle the first six chapters anyway. The book _is_ a challenge to be moral. But its set-up, with the enemy nations judged first, also challenges the smugness of a people who think that because they're part of God's in-group they can live as they want. So it makes us consider carefully what it means to be God's people and to live in a way that reflects the blessings he has given us. Because its moral message flows from this (for us, from the gospel), one can preach morality from it without being moralistic.


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## Iconoclast (Nov 9, 2010)

SermonAudio.com - Inhumane Britain

This was the first message of a series on Amos that is really good


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## Soonerborn (Nov 18, 2010)

Bump..I thought I would see if any other pastors had any insight on this question. 

Thanks, 

Mike


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## SolaScriptura (Nov 18, 2010)

I think Jack is right on.

Amos is a great book for the modern Evangelical church to hear. The context into which Amos spoke - and wrote - is one in which Israel was apparently prosperous and content, though beneath the surface they were a cest pool... this is precisely where the Evangelical church in our nation finds itself.


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## Soonerborn (Nov 18, 2010)

SolaScriptura said:


> I think Jack is right on.
> 
> Amos is a great book for the modern Evangelical church to hear. The context into which Amos spoke - and wrote - is one in which Israel was apparently prosperous and content, though beneath the surface they were a cest pool... this is precisely where the Evangelical church in our nation finds itself.



Thanks for your reply. One comment I have about your post is: You say, "Amos is a great book for the modern Evangelical church to hear". Isn't Amos a great book for the Reformed church, and hence all Christians to hear? I guess the point of my original post was to contrast how one would preach the book of Amos. Do we preach Amos simply as a cautionary tale to the current church on how "fat and happy" we are; which is how I have heard the book preached. Or is the overall point of the book that we are all guilty of breaking the law, and hence all liable to the judgment of God, but Christ, the true Israel, has perfectly fulfilled the law which national Israel, and us, couldn't, and thus we should trust in His work and not in our own. I am wresting with how this book is often preached as moralism and "be a better Christian", rather than pointing us to, and proclaiming the work of Christ.


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## SolaScriptura (Nov 18, 2010)

Soonerborn said:


> SolaScriptura said:
> 
> 
> > I think Jack is right on.
> ...


 
It IS about how we are all guilty of breaking the Law... but so is every other book. Amos' unique contribution to Scripture is their badness_ in spite of _their apparent prosperity.


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