To God Alone Be The Glory
Words can change in meaning. Let’s say you’re
walking along the sidewalk and you see a man coming
your direction. He appears to be talking to himself
with angry gestures. There’s no cell phone in his
hands, no blue tooth receiver on his ear. So those are
most likely angry words coming from his mouth. As
he gets closer, your burning ears confirm your
suspicions. Ooh, the salty language! You might even
say he’s cursing and swearing. ‘Cursing’ and
‘swearing.’ Those words have changed in meaning.
Today they can mean that someone is using bad
language, “he is cursing and swearing” like our friend
on the sidewalk. But in the Bible ‘cursing’ and
‘swearing’ mean something different.
In the Bible “to swear” means to take an oath, to make a
strong promise, like when Herod swore to give his step
daughter anything she asked for, up to half his kingdom.
In the Bible “to curse” means to wish evil on someone.
God doesn’t want us to use his name to curse, to wish
evil on someone, because he gave us his name to bless
us and to save us (see Exodus 20:24 and Romans
10:13). So it’s wrong to say: “God damn you,”
because those words mean, “I want God to put you in
hell,” whereas God wants everyone to be saved (1
Timothy 2:4). Only God has a right to bring evil
consequences on people, or to command that this be
done by his representatives (Deuteronomy 32:39,
Romans 13:4). So when God decides to bring evil
consequences on someone who deserves it, that too is a
curse (see Genesis 3:14 and 4:11). But the Lord is
supremely fair. If he can find a way to act in mercy, he
does (see Exodus 32). His least favorite way of
dealing with people is by anger and vengeance (see
Isaiah 28:21). But when people spurn him and refuse
to change their ways after repeated warnings, what does
God have left but to curse them (see all of Jeremiah).
And with God, he doesn’t just wish a disadvantageous
circumstance on them—he can make it happen.
Sounds like that’s where the Lord is in the sermon text
for today. Did you hear him in the last verse? 7“I will
never forget anything they have done.” Sounds like
God is dealing with some real scoundrels. Clearly he
is cursing them.
Well here’s today’s question: Is there ever a time when
a curse isn’t really a curse? As a matter of fact, there
is. A CURSE IS NOT A CURSE WHEN God doesn’t
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mean it. But that never happens, as much as people
wish it would. God never says, “Oh, I was only joking
when I promised to punish evil.”
So we’ll have to try again. A CURSE IS NOT A
CURSE WHEN It Doesn’t Apply to You. Lots of
people like to say, when they are reading the Old
Testament, “God spoke these things to the people back
then. They needed to hear these words. But we live
in the New Testament times. So this curse doesn’t
apply to us.” Well, why don’t we look back into
Amos’ time and see if these words don’t apply to us.
By the time Amos lived in Israel, the united kingdom of
David and Solomon had long since split into two
kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south.
Amos came from Judah where he herded sheep and
tended sycamore fig trees. He was poor.
One day God sent him to up north to Israel: “Tell them
what I’ll do if they don’t conform their lives to my
commandments.” Talk about a stress-related task!
Even though Israel and Judah were cut from the same
cloth, there was great animosity between these two
nations. “Amos, you southerner, why should we listen
to you? You represent just the Lord. But we have our
own religion now. We worship the Lord and the calf
idols.” Calf idols? Didn’t they remember the Golden
Calf incident at the foot of Mt. Sinai? Had the northern
kingdom learned nothing of the lesson from the desert?
Apparently not. Idolatry had been thoroughly
ingrained in the northern kingdom (Israel) since the
time of their first king. Then things got worse. The
Israelites mingled their calf idols with the worship of
the false god Baal and the whole fertility religion thing.
(Adherents thought that if the gods saw them having
intercourse, it would get the gods interested in each
other, and when the gods had intercourse, crops
supposedly grew and herds became fertile). The
Israelites liked this kind of religion, but they also
wanted the Lord to bless them. So, as I said, they
mixed the two religions.
Now Amos comes along 150 years later—long after
these false religious practices had been much
ingrained—and the Lord wants him to preach
repentance. Repentance is rarely a popular sermon
theme, especially when religion is flourishing, as it was
in Amos’ day. The people convinced themselves that
they were good because they were so spiritual. But the
Lord is never pleased when people mix error with the
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truth. In fact, at one point in the book, God says
through Amos: “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I
cannot stand your assemblies... Away with the noise of
your songs! I will not listen to the music of your
harps” (Amos 5:21,23).
To make things even more difficult, Israel was
prosperous at that time. Assyria (the super-power of
the day) was going through a period of weakness. So
Jeroboam II, the King of Israel, took advantage of that
weakness and expanded the borders. International
commerce was going up, and Israel enjoyed a favorable
trade balance. Archaeology tells us that in the northern
town where Amos preached there were two districts
with a wall separating the two. On the one side were
beautiful stone mansions. On the other side, filthy
hovels. But prosperity wasn’t the root problem. The
rich were living well at the expense of the poor.
During legal disputes between the rich and the poor, the
courts favored the rich. And the rich merchants, who
lied and cheated, gave the poor a lot of reasons to take
them to court.
Onto this stage God shoves Amos with his unpopular
message. Most of the people thought Amos was just
making up his message. But 40 years later, Amos’
prophesies came true. At this point in Amos’ ministry,
he is preaching against the rich merchant class. But
who wants to hear about doom and gloom, especially
when things are going so well?
Aren’t you glad you didn’t live in Amos’ time? This
curse was clearly spoken to those rich, mean people.
And a curse is not a curse when it doesn’t apply to you.
A CURSE IS also NOT A CURSE WHEN You’re not
Doing What God Disapproves of. Let’s look more
closely at what God says to those scoundrels, shall we?
Remember we’re dealing with the greedy merchant
class. Again, their offense was not their wealth, but
how they were going about gaining it—at the expense
of their fellow countrymen. So the Lord says through
Amos, 4Hear this, you who trample on the needy and do
away with the poor of the land. But then greed wasn’t
their only fault. Their evil heart showed itself in their
attitude about worship. They asked, 5“When will the
New Moon be over so we may sell grain, and the
Sabbath [be ended], so we may market wheat?” See
how “religious” they were? At the beginning of every
month, on the New Moon, they dutifully held a religious
assembly, just like the Lord required in the law of
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Moses. At the end of every week, they observed the
Sabbath. They took Saturday off to rest a bit and to
worship, as the Lord required. But what were they
thinking about during worship? Not worship. They
couldn’t wait till worship was over so they could get
back to what was really important—making money!
Listen to how greedy they were. 5b“We can reduce the
measure while increasing the price and cheat with
dishonest scales.”
It was supposed to work this way in the market. The
people would buy a standard measure of grain called an
ephah. Each merchant had a balance scale. On the
one side of the scale he would put a standard weight, the
going rate for an ephah of grain. The people then paid
by putting their bits of silver on the other side of the
scale until their silver made the scale balance. But in
reality the merchants were cheating the people three
ways. First they used a smaller measure (a small
ephah). Then they made a weight that looked standard
but was heavier, which took more silver to balance the
scale. Third, they bent the scale so it favored the
merchant.
What are the poor to do? They needed grain to feed
their families. Some of the poor Israelites had to sell a
member of their family into slavery in order to get the
silver needed to buy the grain at inflated prices.
Sometimes the merchants would allow the people to
borrow money to pay for the grain. A poor man might
have only his sandals as collateral. When the poor man
had borrowed enough and didn’t have the money to pay
off the debt, the merchant would keep the shoes and sell
the poor man into slavery to get his money back.
But let’s say a poor family managed to make it home
from the market without selling anyone into slavery.
When they dug into their grain sack, they found that the
merchants had cheated them a fourth way. Mixed into
their grain was some of the chaff swept up from the
floor.
No wonder the Lord says: 7I will never forget anything
they have done. Wow! Now that’s the Lord version
swearing and cursing. He solemnly promised to
punish these wicked men.
But as far as we are concerned, it’s still not a curse on
us, because it’s a curse on God’s enemies, right?
Can we be so sure these words do not apply to us? Is
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there nothing we can learn from Amos this morning?
Do you see none of the parallels between Amos’ time
and our own?
Are we ever dishonest in our buying
or selling or in our working (an honest hour of work for
each hour’s pay)? Do we ever neglect worship or
devotions in order to make extra income or overtime
pay so we can buy nice things, which we think of as
necessities? Do we occupy our minds during worship
with thoughts of profit and loss, or how to pay this bill,
or what to purchase on the way home from church, even
while our mouths pray and sing hymns? Do we come
to church reluctantly or participate in worship
half-heartedly because time is short and we would
rather do something else than spend time feeding our
souls on God’s Word? Do we ever lack concern for the
needy? If so, then these words apply to us.
Listen again to the Lord’s terrifying curse.
never forget anything they have done.”
7
“I will
But a curse is still NOT a curse when it Leads Us to
Repent. If you are ever terrified by God’s just wrath
on your sins, then honestly and genuinely confess those
sins and turn away from them. Repudiate each sin.
God will know when you are telling the truth. Then
boldly ask God for his mercy.
day to remind the Lord continually that he has chosen to
forget our sins. The Lord’s curse does not apply to us
who are in Christ Jesus.
Perhaps you noticed the three little words in our text
which comprise the Good News portion: the “Pride of
Jacob.” Jacob was Israel’s other name. So the “Pride
of Jacob” is a phrase that describes well how the people
of God rightly feel about this magnificently merciful
Savior of ours. We are proud to bear his name because
he was not ashamed to bear our sins.
So when is a curse not a curse? When it doesn’t apply
to us anymore because God has led us to repent and has
forgotten our sins for Jesus’ sake. And since that’s
true, let’s demonstrate how much we appreciate our
Savior’s sacrifice, how proud we are to bear his name,
by the way we deal with people. Let’s be honest in all
financial matters and compassionate toward those in
need. Let’s bring our whole hearts to worship and
organize each day around some quiet time with Jesus.
Then we will be acting like people who are not under
God’s curse but under his grace.
You see, the same God who swore a terrible curse
against those who disobey him, also promised the
wonderful blessing of a Savior for those who disobey
him. His Son, whom we know as Jesus Christ, took the
terrible curse on himself. The Lord indeed did not
forget any of what the people did in Amos’ day. He
didn’t forget what we would do or will still do in the
time before Jesus returns. God didn’t forget his wrath.
Jesus suffered God’s wrath over sin while he was on the
cross. That’s why he asked, “My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?” At that moment the Lord was
remembering all sins and giving the Savior bearing
those sins exactly what those sins deserved—God’s full
fury.
Sounds like bad news. But it’s really good news.
Think of it. Our Lord has provided a way for us who
have cheated, lied, been lazy or done other wrong, to be
with him forever. Because of the Messiah Jesus, the
Lord could say through Isaiah, “I, even I, am he who
blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and
remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25). Think
of it. Right now the risen and ascended Jesus sits at the
right hand of the Father in heaven every minute of every
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