There’s so much going on in our world. There’s so much going on in our country. In reality, there’s so much going on in our hearts. I have a hunch that most of us will jump to the conclusion right away that it’s not us but them.
“You’re right Patrick, there is definitely something going on in the hearts! THEY are filled with anger and evil. It’s no wonder they’re acting that way! They should respond to this/that situation with frustration but restraint, like a mature adult.”
What if by jumping to this conclusion, we’re missing the point? What if, there’s something we’ve been missing, something of which we’re meant to see, hear, and respond? As I read the Old Testament, I can’t help but think of how many times something happened, God’s people responded in some kind of ‘denial’, and their land was subsequently terrorized, ransacked, and destroyed as a result. What if something similar is happening today?
In my studies, I’ve often run across the reality that human history is cyclical, and that God will sometimes do things within a cyclical framework. (If you’d like an example, just read Judges from the Old Testament. It’s a great example of this from a small cross-section of history.) It is also true, that in my studies over the years, the Old Testament prophets have become my favorite part of Scripture to study, the minor prophets in particular. A couple of years ago, as I was studying through this section, God laid on my heart the obscure idea of teaching through a series on the book of Amos, calling it “The Gospel According to Amos.” Many people stared at me with a confused look when we started the series:
“Doesn’t this ‘teacher’ know that the ‘gospels’ are in the New Testament, not the Old?”
Yes. He does. At the same time, limiting ‘gospel’ to the first four (4) books of the New Testament is a grave mistake. ‘Gospel’ is so much more than just four (4) books. ‘Gospel’ itself, simply means good news. Within the context of how the early Christians understood it, the good news was that the long awaited Jewish Messiah, through whom the promise God made to Abraham of the entire world being blessed, had arrived in the person of Jesus. Anyway, back to Amos. I believe that this little book has much application and helpful words for us today, if we just allow it to speak. It’s from this book, that I’ve realized that, as a whole, what if by jumping to our ‘rationalized’ conclusions, we’ve missed the whole lesson? If you’d indulge me for a moment (OK… 10 min… max!), let me take you on a tour through this timely, important book.
Amos 1-2, a ‘bullseye’ is drawn around God’s people as YHWH hands out judgment upon the neighboring nations. While sitting in a seat of ‘perceived’ security, I can imagine the shock and surprise that they must of felt when we arrive at the second half of chapter 2. The lengthiest of judgments have been saved for YHWH’s people. Enter Amos 3. Why is YHWH so angry, so upset?
8 The lion has roared—so who isn’t frightened? The Sovereign Lord has spoken— so who can refuse to proclaim his message? 9 Announce this to the leaders of Philistia and to the great ones of Egypt: “Take your seats now on the hills around Samaria, and witness the chaos and oppression in Israel.”10 “My people have forgotten how to do right,” says the Lord. “Their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence.”
Amos 3.8-10
YHWH isn’t finished.
Listen to me, you fat cows living in Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who are always calling to your husbands, “Bring us another drink!”
Amos 4.1
YHWH used so many things to try to shake His people from their complacency.
6 “I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. 7 “I kept the rain from falling when your crops needed it the most. I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another. Rain fell on one field, while another field withered away. 8 People staggered from town to town looking for water, but there was never enough. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. 9 “I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. 10 “I sent plagues on you like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago. I killed your young men in war and led all your horses away. The stench of death filled the air! But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. 11 “I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. 12 “Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!” 13 For the Lord is the one who shaped the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind. He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is his name!”
Amos 4.6-13
God providentially acted to bring Israel to repentance, yet they chose not to repent. It’s now when we get to Amos 5 that we need to especially take notice and heed.
7 You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt. 10 How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth! 11 You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them. 12 For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. 14 Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. 15 Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people. 18 What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the Lord were here!” You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light. 19 In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion— only to meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house— and he’s bitten by a snake. 20 Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope. 21 “I hate all your show and pretense— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. 22 I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. 23 Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.
Amos 5.7,10-12, 14-15, 19-24
God’s heart is for His people to WAKE UP and be about the one whom they’re supposed to represent. They were redeemed and then chosen to enter in a covenant with the living God, YHWH Himself. One of the biggest results of this is the mantle of bearing YHWH’s name as a people. They were failing.
3 You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer.
Amos 6.3
“Surely we’re not in the wrong. We’re people of YHWH!” One of the biggest phrases of ‘false-security one can utter.
I could continue with many more passages from this potent book, but I’ll end my trek through Amos with this last passage:
7 “Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians?” asks the Lord. “I brought Israel out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and led the Arameans out of Kir.”
Amos 9.7
Wow. In my opinion, this may be one of the most neglected/underrated verses I’ve EVER read from the Old Testament. For ANYONE to view YHWH as a God who doesn’t care about all people, and ONLY a specific group, I strongly encourage you to look again. And if your framework doesn’t allow for this verse to “make sense”, then maybe it’s your ‘framework’ that needs revisiting/redeveloping.
Reading this from this side of history, of course we can agree with the description of accusations against the people of Judah and Israel! I can’t help but wonder, though, if the people of Amos’ day wouldn’t have seen this as quite so obvious?
Perhaps the same can be said of today. Up until this year, the overwhelming attitude of many white Christians in America, communicated by our actions, has been that we’re doing everything we need to do to be faithful to God. Yet In even 100 years, people reading history about what’s happening today will wonder, “Why couldn’t the Christians in 2020 see what had been happening for so long? Why??? It took HOW long, and HOW much for them to see?!” A big reason for this is honestly probably that we’ve on some level given up on God’s plan/mission/dream for this world, for our ‘escape to paradise’ plan of just hanging on until we can get to heaven.
I truly believe that it’s only when we’ll start to when we accept the fact that the message of Jesus and what He came to do IS NOT ONLY centered on what happens after you die, that we’ll see a change in all of this. We’ve allowed platonic thought to hijack and control all of our theology to the extent that we’ve completely neglected the original vocation and definition of what it means to be a human being. We were created to be image bearers (‘icons’ from the Greek LXX word itself) of YHWH Himself. We were created to care for and rule over the earth [Gen. 1.26-31]. (Even the idea of ‘ruling over’ has been twisted. Rather than the loving care/provision as you’d find with a parent/caregiver and a child, we’ve instead turned it into an early American plantation owner/slave relationship.) When Jesus came, more happened than just Him offering a better place to go after you die. The very prayer He gave us shows this. He prayed that God’s Kingdom would come HERE, on earth, JUST AS it is in heaven. If we truly believed this, we would be working toward the improvement of lives here and now, JUST AS much as we claim to be working for the eternal welfare of others. After all, Jesus’ words in John 10.10 apply just as much to right now (if not more?) as they do to life after death (I’m not going to indulge the itch to go deeper into this… for now).
Let me move to a supporting thought for a moment. I love Paul’s usage of specific wording in his letter to the Ephesians when talking about spiritual warfare. He writes:
13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.
Ephesians 6.13-14
Watchman Nee, writing a short masterpiece on the letter of Ephesians (Sit, Walk, Stand), wrote:
“In Christ we are conquerors - nay, ‘more than conquerors’ (Rom. 8:37). In him, therefore, we stand. Thus today we do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. We do not fight in order to win but because in Christ we have already won. Overcomers are those who rest in the victory already given to them by their God.”
And again,
“Nearly all the weapons of our warfare described in Ephesians are purely defensive. Even the sword can be used as well for defense as for offense. The difference between defensive and offensive warfare is this, that in the former I have got the ground and only seek to keep it, whereas in the latter I have not got the ground and am fighting in order to get it.”
Let me repeat one section from this, if that’s OK. “Ephesians is purely defensive… I have got the ground and only seek to keep it.” This has haunted me for nearly a year. Much of the way I have lived for a chunk of my life (and to be honest how I see/hear most of American Christianity living/speaking today), is the complete opposite of Watchman Nee’s perspective. We’ve tended to live in a way where we feel like all’s been lost here and now, so we’re just biding our time until we reach the ‘after death’ part of life. Most of the “encouragement” I hear given to people is to simply ignore what’s happening, Jesus will come and set everything right by taking us to heaven and sending all the bad away. My problem with this, is that it’s not-Christian and not-Biblical. Don’t get me wrong, there ARE these kinds of promises in Scripture, BUT each/all of them flow out of a new life/a life of shalom that begins here… now. Time and time again in the Old Testament God’s people lament and await for things to be restored. Their prayers are not for one day in ‘heaven’, but for now, here. Often times, YHWH’s answer for them is to BE A PART of the solution by living as they should in response to knowing Him. This is the same vein through which Jesus’ ministry operated. The ‘good news’ is that this long awaited in-breaking of YHWH doing something to establish shalom for all people, is here, in Jesus. As Christians, the reality that Jesus has already won what needed to be won, did what needed to be done, and has given what needed to be given produces a reality that should be flowing through us.
Speaking as a Christian who’s white and living in the United States to brothers and sisters (both as Christians themselves AND as human beings), on behalf of our side of the family, I’m sorry. I've loved you guys deeply, but not done enough. For that, I repent. I repent for inactivity. I repent for love NOT expressed in ways that are consistent with how you might receive it best. I humbly ask for your forgiveness. I want to be even more for you than I have been. I will be. I love you.
Speaking as a white Christian living in the United States to other Christians who are white who live in the United States, shame on us for not listening, loving, REALLY praying for, and promoting the cause of the neglected, mistreated, and left out. We should ask for forgiveness. We should seek the improvement of the lives of our neighbors, friends, family, and (dare I echo Jesus) enemies. Jesus’ love has the power to change even the most bitter of enemies into family. There is NO excuse and NO place for the lack of love/support/care for people of color.
What if we stopped giving up on the now? What if we realized that God’s GIVEN us ground, on which we STAND by the power of His Spirit, and proclaim? What if we started living like ALL PEOPLE matter to God? What if we STOP thinking that we’re right ALL the time and don’t need to repent of SOMETHING? What if… _______________ (you fill in the blank)… ?
We are ALL ‘eikons’ of YHWH (image bearers of God). May THIS be our calling, along with EVERYTHING that this demands. May this be our mission, however far it takes us.
Father, may Your Kingdom come and Your will be done here on earth (and in our lives) just as it is in heaven.
