This is a recording of my message on Amos & Micah for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group.
Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along.
INTRO:
Has anyone here ever thought about running a marathon? You guys know that Josh Antioho did an Ironman. It was super enlightening for me to watch him train, prepare and complete that ironman. It made me realize how interrelated everything is.
If Josh told his friends he was preparing for an ironman but he was gonna keep eating junk food, donuts, dessert, no salad but do some physical training and mostly focus on strategy of the course and technique for the swim and bike would you guys guess he is going to do very well?
They are inseparable. If you don’t eat well, sleep well, train well, etc you will not compete well. The one is connected to the other.
Amos and Micah are about two things that are inseparable. The people of israel had tried to separate them but God says they are two sides of the same coin. Let’s watch the Bible Project and see what I mean.
SPOKE: (BibleProject)
What are some dominant themes in Amos?
HUB: God & Neighbor
In Amos and Micah we get one of the clearest explanations of the rebellious wrongs of Israel. In Jonah and Hosea we focused on the idea that people run from good things to bad things and that God lovingly pursues them.
In Joel and Zephaniah last week, we saw that the result of this running is the Day of the Lord. There have been days since Genesis and there will be days and one final day when God intervenes and sets things right again.
Tonight we are going to look at what the nature of this rebellion was. What were the people doing that was so wrong? There are a lot of things. What Amos and Micah focus on is how they were separating how they treat people from how they treat God. How we treat the one is connected to how we treat the other.
People in America and in our lifetime like to separate social life from spiritual life as if we have two different lives. The interesting thing is that in Hebrew, the language the bible was written in, there is no word for spiritual life because it’s all connected. You can’t have a good spiritual life without a good social, personal, work/school life.
SPOKE: Right Social Life (Relationship with People)
Explanation/Exhortation/Exaltation:
First we’ll look at the accusations for their unjust relationships.
Amos 5:7-17 Injustice in Relationship
They are perverting justice. So they are not taking care of the poor and vulnerable but they are taking advantage of them instead. They hate truth. Trample on the poor. Take bribes. Stop calling evil things good. Stop calling good things evil.
They look at lying, stealing, bribery, and exploitation and say “gooodddd”
And they look at honesty, generosity, integrity, and humanitarian aid and say “baddddd”. How messed up!
Micah 6:9-15 Judgment on the Wicked
So here is what God says to that, because you have had false weights which they used to make poor people pay more for a decent meal or to live in a decent place. And because you are violent and lying. God says I am going to judge you and bring upon you the things that you did to them. The ways that you didn’t give the homeless a home, you’ll be homeless. The way you didn’t give food to the hungry, you will be hungry.
John Sailhamer: God’s people mistakenly presumed that as long as they kept up their external forms of worship, the Lord would not let them perish.
How we treat people really matters. Judaism then and Christianity now, have never been private faiths. We cannot just pray and worship God and neglect our neighbor. The two go hand in hand. How we treat our neighbor shows how we really see God.
If you guys had a friend. You were close. They came over to your house and kicked your dog, broke things in your room, disrespected your parents, made a messs all over the bathroom etc. would you say they really love and care for you?
VIDEO
NO because how they treat your things and the people you love shows if they really love you right? That is what is happening in these books. How God’s followers treat people that God made and loves shows if they really love God.
For us: the way we treat people matters. People in this youthgroup. If you guys are gossiping, name calling, talking over the people in your small group or anyone else in the youth group. That shows that you don’t love them and it shows a disconnect in your love for God who loves them and wants you treat them the way you want to be treated. And how we treat people outside of the church, person at school who is different or ignored, your old lady neighbor, kid on your team who isn’t any good and gets made fun of. Do they matter to you like they matter to God?
If they do it will affect our spiritual life.
SPOKE: Right Spiritual Life (Relationship with God)
Explanation/Exhortation/Exaltation:
Amos 5:18-27 Hypocrisy in Worship.
Day of the Lord. Despises their feasts (religious feasts like passover or purim) HOLIDAYS. He does not delight in their worship services YOUTHGROUP SUNDAY. Their sacrifices mean nothing to him TITHE & WORSHIP SONGS. Why? because they don’t practice justice or righteousness. So what does true worship look like??
Micah 6:6-8 True Worship.
What does God want. What is true worship to God? Justice! Kindness! Humility!
That’s not your regular goat sacrifice. It’s actually a lot harder.
John Sailhamer: Such statements should not be understood as a mere indictment (accusation) of Israel’s worship. They are rather a call for justice along with worship and true morality.
God is calling us to show or love for him in loving our neighbors (our neighbor as Jesus defined it as anyone even our enemy.
How do you guys show your parents love? Chores, cards, hugs, etc. it’s as if God says that his version of those things is loving people. That’s how we show we love him. That’s how we train for the ironman. We can’t separate the one from the other.
QUESTIONS?
Conclusion: Gospel & Jesus
Gospel of Grace
What is the good news except that God loved us so much that he treated us better than we deserve. That Jesus as God and man, perfectly loved his neighbor and God, giving his life for us. He saw people as being infinitely worth of dignity and God being worthy of ultimate allegiance
Micah ends with a reference to the Abramaic covenant. The basis of hope is not in what undeserving Israel can do but in the gracious promises of God. The same God that picked an old pagan to be the means of his blessing. Is the same God that will be faithful to his people even when they abandon him.
This should give us hope that God’s mercy in Jesus is not based on who we are or what we do but in his gracious and merciful promises. Even if we sin and rebel he will not abandon us. How has he done this? In Jesus.
Our Savior
Amos 9:11-15 The Davidic Messiah
Talks about the descendant of David - who we know is Jesus - who would restore the nation of Israel and bring the nations in. we see that began with the apostles and pentecost and continues to us.
Micah 5:2 Bethlehem & From of Old (eternal and born)
Jesus birth place. Both eternal God and human born
Micah 5:4-5 Glorious Ministry & Peace
Jesus as the good shepherd will shepherd his people and bring peace. What was he called in the new testament? The prince of peace.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
Combining social life and spiritual life was not unique to Amos and Micah. Can you think of something Jesus said that was similar?
Someone asked Jesus what the greatest commandment? And he said
Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Torah and the Prophets.
The torah was the first five books we studied! And the prophets is everything we have studied since then! Jesus just summarized the last 5 months of our series. God and neighbor.
QUESTIONS?
Let’s pray!
Small group Questions:
High and Low of the Week?
What stuck out from the message & video? (Respond to, Affirm, and Develop Observations)
Have you experienced God’s love in such a way that makes you love him?
How do you think the people who know you well would rate your love for neighbor (scale of 1-10)? How would they rate your love for God (1-10)?
Allowing space for reflection: what is one way this week/month you could love God and neighbor more?
What shows the gospel of grace in Amos/Micah?
What points to Jesus in Amos/Micah?
Prayer Requests?
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