GIFTS IN THE CHURCH

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible…. 

Amos 1:1 NKJV

The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 

I must tell you I am a true admirer of Amos.  He was a very ordinary man and made no claims of being anything else.  Amos was always first and foremost a herdsman.  That was his training and his vocation, but he was by Divine calling a Prophet. 

As a prophet, Amos was the first of those strictly named “writing prophets”.  This needs to be understood because Old Testament writers were prophets and also some who did not write.  This description of Amos puts him among what we know as the Major and Minor Prophets.  They are put in this category because of their classification in the Hebrew Bible. 

He was before Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, or Micah.  He preached and wrote in times of prosperity in both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.  This was the high point of the Northern Kingdom’s rule and prosperity.  Jereboam II, it appears, was the grandson of Jehu the general who slew the family of Ahab.  Jehu also put to death all the prophets of Baal.  This was a truly pleasant time in Israel.   

Theodore Laetsch, in his excellent commentary on the minor prophets has this to say about Hosea and his contemporaries named above, pg 136, The Minor Prophets.  “Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, four great stars in the galaxy of Old Testament prophets, truly noble men of God, trying-alas, vainly-to stem the flood of iniquity engulfing God’s people, and their inevitable ruin.  Never has the holy law of God been preached with greater earnestness and intensity that it was proclaimed by these men, who spared neither rich nor poor, neither young nor old, neither vociferous rebel nor unctuous hypocrite.  And in no other period of the Old Testament era has the Gospel been heralded in language clearer and sweeter than these men spoke by inspiration of God.  Yet all their faithful efforts, all their fervent appeals to their countrymen, could not hold back the overwhelming floodwaters of God’s judgment sweeping away a people highly favored but unspeakably wicked and ungrateful.  Still they continued in their call to repentance and salvation to a hardened generation, seeing but little success, yet faithful to their high calling.  Their message is as timely today as it was more that 2,500 years ago.  It is God’s Word, enduring forever!” 

In Amos 7:10, Amaziah, a false priest, says to the King of Israel, Jereboam referring to Amos, “The land is not able to bear his words”. And then he says to Amos, “¹² Then Amaziah said to Amos:

“Go, you seer!
Flee to the land of Judah.
There eat bread,
And there prophesy.
¹³ But never again prophesy at Bethel,
For it is the king’s sanctuary,
And it is the royal residence.” 

Amos’ reply is that statement that is dear to the heart of every man with a call to preach God’s word, Amos 7:14-15

 ¹⁴ Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah:

“I was no prophet,
Nor was I a son of a prophet,
But I was a sheepbreeder
And a tender of sycamore fruit.
¹⁵ Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock,
And the Lord said to me,
‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’ 

The Christian is never to be deceived nor is he to accept anything less.  Every true herald of God’s word has been “taken” from what he would otherwise be doing and put into the preaching of the Gospel. 

Amos was told, in VS 16  Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord: You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, And do not spout against the house of Isaac.’  This is always the demand of the unconverted; “Do not proclaim man’s guilt and sinfulness.  Do not demand repentance.  Do not make the claims of Christ absolute.  Forget the offense of the Gospel.  You must not hurt the feelings of the unchurched.  Remember people should be able to leave our services feeling good.” 

In the heart of every Gospel preacher the words of Paul in Galatians 6:14, 17 burn with a fiery heat.  ¹⁴ But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  ¹⁷ From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.  The conclusion of the matter for the gospel preacher was very early on declared by Paul, “ I Cor. 9:16  For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! 

John Calvin on I Corinthians 9:16, Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, pg 192,

“However, this is a remarkable sentence.  We learn from it, in the first place, the nature of the call which ministers receive, and how tightly they are bound to God; and, secondly, what the office of the pastor involves, and embraces within itself.  Once a man has been called, then, let him get it into his head that he is no longer free to draw back, when it suits him, if, for example, frustrations take the heart out of him, or troubles overwhelm him; for he is dedicated to the Lord and to the church, and held fast by a sacred bond, which it would be sinful for him to break. 

As far as the second point is concerned, Paul says that the threat of a curse lies over his head, if he does not preach the Gospel.  Why?  It is because he has been called to do that, and for that very reason he is controlled by a compulsion which drives him on.” 

Amen!