“Greater Responsibility” – FBC Morning Light (12/7/2023)

Well a good Thursday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading we're in Amos chapters 3 and 4 and Revelation chapter 6, and I want to focus on the opening verses of Amos chapter 3. And first I want to kind of deal with a misinterpretation of verse 3 in Amos 3, where the prophet asked the question, Can two walk together unless they are agreed?

Another way of translating that is, Can two walk together unless they have agreed to meet? And I think that's a better translation. It communicates what the prophet is saying there. But the reason I want to point that out is some have taken that verse, lifted it out of its context, and they have applied it in such a way that says, you know, people can't work together unless they agree in every little detail.

For example, several years ago there was a situation, an organization, where churches were working together for a common good. And they were all, you know, Bible-believing churches, theologically conservative churches, and so forth.

But this one church, it was kind of like in charge of it all, had the opinion that no English-speaking ministry should use anything other than the King James Version. And therefore, the pastor of that church said, if you, speaking to the others who were representing other churches, if you don't believe that, then you can't work with us.

And I was a little taken aback by that, and I said, well, why in the world would that be? Well, you know, Amos 3 .3, Can two walk together except they be agreed? And I responded, well, it depends on what you're agreeing to do, but yes, you can.

And I went on to explain how, you know, some churches practice a closed communion, some close communion, some open communion, but they can still work together for this particular cause, you know, and so on and so forth.

So I just wanted to clear that. This is not saying that, this isn't a verse to use to say that we have to agree on every little detail of every little thing in order to be able to get along. That question that's being asked here is a rhetorical question that is just one of a series of questions.

Rhetorical Questions in Amos 3 and Their Expected Answers

So Amos, and its expected answer is no. Can two walk together unless they've agreed to meet? No. Will a lion roar in a forest when he has no prey? No. Will a young lion cry out of his den if he has caught nothing?

No. Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth where there is no trap for it? No. Will a snare spring up from the earth if it has caught nothing at all? No. Then he asks a couple rhetorical questions that demand the answer, yes.

If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? Yes, they will. If there is calamity in the city, will not the Lord have done it? And the answer to that is yes, he will. But why is he asking that series of rhetorical questions?

Because, he goes on in verses 7 and 8 to say, surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets. A lion has roared, the prophet says, who will not fear? The Lord has spoken, who can but prophesy?

So what the prophet is doing is he's saying this, I am prophesying because the Lord has spoken to me and told me to proclaim a message to his people. I wouldn't be walking in this direction if the Lord hadn't given me this, if the Lord and I hadn't agreed to meet, if you will.

I wouldn't be roaring if I hadn't taken a prey, if you will. I wouldn't be blowing a trumpet if there wasn't a cause to blow the trumpet, and so on and so forth. So what he's basically doing is he's saying, look, I am proclaiming the message I'm proclaiming because the Lord has given it to me to proclaim.

I can't do anything else. All right, so here's the question. What's the message? What was the message that Amos was to preach? Well, there's a lot more we could say about it, but it's summarized in verse 2.

And verse 2 says, the Lord came to the prophet Amos and said, say this, you only, say this to my people, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.

That's a summary of the message that the Lord has given the prophet Amos to proclaim. You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. Now, what does that communicate?

What does that say? In the first place, it tells us that God, in his grace, calls a people to himself. He's known this people for himself. Of all the families in the earth, he has chosen Israel. That's part one.

Part two of this message is that those whom God has so graciously chosen bear a greater responsibility of living as he calls them to live, and that's brought out in the last part of the verse. You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Because you have had such privileges, I have given you, the Lord is saying to his people, I've given you my law, I have told you how to live, I have told you how to worship, I've given you the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, you have no other gods before me, and yet what are you doing?

You're worshiping all kinds of other gods, and so on and so forth. So the fact that God has graciously chosen them for himself, revealed his will and his ways to them, and they have ignored it, they bear a greater responsibility.

That's a summary of Amos's message, that he can't help but preach because the Lord has spoken. Well, I just want to encourage us today, if you know Christ as your Savior, you're one of God's people, you're a child of God by the grace of God.

Let's realize that we have greater responsibility, because God has called us unto himself, and he's given us his word to live by. Let's walk with him today. Our Father and our God, I pray that we shall heed this message and encouragement to truly appreciate what you have done for us, calling us to be your people, and then also to appreciate your grace in giving us a way to live.

May we do so, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a great Thursday. May the Lord bless you richly in it. Good day.