Sept. 28, 2025 - Proper 21 - Amos 6:1-7

The prophet Amos is sent to the people of Israel to proclaim a harsh word of judgment against the Israelites. We often think of prophets as going to the who lived in the southern kingdom of Judah, but those in the northern kingdom were still God’s people too. The split occurred many generations ago because of Solomon’s failure to uphold the worship of God alone. But, God’s covenant wasn’t with the king. His covenant was with all of the people. Even those who separated from Judah were still his as long as they kept their end of the contract.

Though neither kingdom fares all that well after the split, the northern kingdom declines quite a bit faster. As soon as the kingdoms split, the new northern king is already setting up new places for worship and new idols. It doesn’t take long before the train of righteousness has completely derailed here and little effort is made to get it back on track.

But they are still God’s people. They made a promise to him, which they have broken. But he also made a promise to them and he intends to keep it. He will call them back. He will discipline them in accordance with the covenant that they agreed to. Hopefully they will listen before it is too late. He will keep trying, but at some point it will be quite evident that they have no intention of ever returning.

So what does life look like in Israel in these days? Well, that depends on your perspective. The people seem to be having a grand time. They’re relaxing and enjoying life. They’re living a life of luxury. It certainly doesn’t sound like they have any real worries or concerns. They’re doing pretty well for themselves. From an earthly standpoint, leaving the worship of God hasn’t affected them a whole lot. It looks like the message is more for the upper class here, those who can afford to lounge around on couches, drink wine, and idly play music all day, but the problem probably extends beyond just those folks.

As Lutherans we have an understanding of grace that many churches, many Christians refuse. Grace as a free gift of God doesn’t allow for anyone to earn it, to pay for it, to take it in any way. To do so would be to denigrate the freely offered sacrifice that Christ gave on our behalf. Receiving that grace and sharing it with the world is one of the main missions of the church.

Others would disagree. Many today say that social justice is what the church is all about. We are here to care for our neighbor, to lift him up out of the dirt, to give him the same privileges and opportunities we have, to fix all of the problems going on in our society today that cause people grief in just about any sense of the word.

Thankfully we know that isn’t the case. I don’t say “thankfully” because we should neglect our neighbor or ignore the problems of the world, but because we understand how the world works. You can dump all of the time, money, and resources you want into ending world hunger, poverty, disease, crime, or any of the other ills that plague us and you will never, ever solve them. You can’t solve them because they aren’t actually the problem. They’re just symptoms of the deeper corruption that is sin. Without the savior, without the gospel, you will never escape from any of this yourself, much less help others to do the same.

It’s good we don’t need to stress about those things in the same way that others do. If you thought solving the world’s problems was the only way you were ever going to gain eternal life, you’d be in for a pretty rough time. It would be easy to despair in a situation like that, because you’d eventually see how anything you did would be little more than a drop in the bucket. You would never achieve your goal and you’d be left wondering if you had ever done enough to merit salvation.

Looking at them, you might be tempted to write them off as different people, with different issues. You might be tempted to see it as a pagan problem, or a rich people problem. Amos is sent out to call people to account for their sin. It isn’t really a rich people problem. They’re just the ones who are the most obvious about it at the moment. It isn’t a pagan problem either, or at least it shouldn’t be. These people might be classified as pagans, as unbelievers, but they are still the people God has claimed and he is trying to bring them back to who they were meant to be.

This is a problem God’s people have. Whether you think your comfort and security come from your wealth, from your church attendance, or from just about anything else you might think of. Comfort and security are not the goal of Christian life. Assurance in Christ and the resurrection are good, necessary in fact, but it is that assurance that then needs to be put into action. We don’t work to earn God’s favor, but lounging around, as the Israelites of old were doing, is a statement that we as individuals, or perhaps, we as this congregation, are all that really matters. “As long as I have what I need, I don’t need to worry about anything or anyone else.”

You seal yourself up in this uncaring bubble and don’t pay any attention to what happens to those around you. Comfort and security become more important than anything else. It plagues our country. It plagues our churches, and it plagues us. Luther described sin as being “curved in on yourself.” Anything outside of you is only valuable insomuch as it can help you or make you happy.

Whatever makes you feel secure, whatever makes you comfortable, whatever you feel brings you happiness, if this is what you give all of your attention to, then this is what has become your god. You can hold on to any or all of them as long as you want, right up until the day when they fail you completely. It will all be swept right out from under you, leaving you with nothing. That may be in an earthly sense. It will definitely be in an eternal sense, and it could very well end up being both.

When Jesus is going about in his earthly ministry and engaging people in conversation, there are a couple of times the discussion turns toward what God commands. A summary of all of God’s commands leaves you with: 1. Love the Lord your God, and 2. Love your neighbor. In both instances, the command is to turn your attention outward, at something, or rather someone, outside yourself and love that instead.

When Jesus dies, he doesn’t do so in isolation. His sacrifice is on display for the whole world to see. This is what love looks like. This is what God’s love looks like. Jesus doesn’t seek comfort or security. He seeks you. He bled and died for you, so that you would live.

The message God gives through Amos isn’t there to chastise them for not doing what they need to do to be saved. He is reminding them of what he has already done for them. He is directing them to share what they have received, the peace and assurance that come, not from their work, but from God’s. Everyone is enslaved. Everyone is trapped. Whether it is by earthly overlords who crush others down or whether it is by sin. You can’t save yourself from any of it, and neither can anyone else.

As God brings you to the baptismal font, you see for yourself that salvation. You are drawn out of darkness and find your home in his glorious light. The grasping hands of sin and death cannot reach you here. They cannot pull you back down. God calls your attention to the sin that drives your desire for comfort, for a life of ease, for a life that is only interested in itself. He calls your attention to what will come of that life. The very thing it wants most is what it will lose in the end.

God shows you his love instead. His love is driven, not by his own needs, but yours. A selfish person would never think of forgiveness, but God shows you the lengths he will go to to forgive you and bring you back to him.

Luther describes God’s law as a mirror. The mirror doesn’t lie to you. It shows you all of the warts, all of the filth, all of the things you’d rather hide. Amos gives the people a mirror, not to belittle them, but to show them how much they need God. Comfort and security are not found here, in this world of broken, selfish, sinful people, this world where death claims us. It is found in the God who has power over death. It is found in the God who doesn’t just tell you to go out and do what he says, he demonstrates it himself first. It is found in the God who thinks your life is worth more than his own. He calls you to look outside of yourself, to repent of your desire to only look at your own comfort, and look to him, and look to others. It is found in the God who has given you abundant love, abundant mercy, abundant grace, all that you need and more, so that you will have something to give to others. You alone can tell people where true assurance and security are found, because only God’s people know where to find it.