Over the last week, we’ve been considering some challenging verses in Amos, and looked at how they could apply to church groups and denominations, and also to local churches.

Again, it’s important when we apply Scripture that we don’t just apply it to others. Let’s not be guilty at pointing the finger and bishops and pastors, but not considering the truth of God for ourselves. How might these verses in Amos apply to us as individuals? Remember, the overall thrust of the passage is that God is warning His people by giving them difficulties and problems. He wants them to respond to the problems by turning to Him. So perhaps we could apply it like this:

“I gave you heartache and lack of peace in every way,
yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.
Is that what the Lord is saying to you?

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Over the last two days I’ve made some suggestions about how we can apply some challenging verses from Amos to today’s church.

Today I want to explain further why blessings and warnings are often physical in the Old Testament, but spiritual in the New. The answer is very simple. It’s not that God was not concerned with spiritual things in the Old Testament. It’s just that the Old Testament is full of types and shadows of spiritual reality. So we understand, for example, that the cloud and fire that showed God’s presence during the Exodus is a type or shadow that points us to a spiritual reality in the New Testament. That spiritual reality is the presence of God by His Spirit today. What was a physical sign of a spiritual reality has become that spiritual reality.

So we took the physical warnings Amos gave to Israel, and applied them to today’s church. But we did so in such a way that applied mainly to denominations. That’s OK, but I’m not responsible for a denomination, and you’re probably not either. It’s easy to point the finger at others – but perhaps the Lord would like to point it at us. Let’s make sure the application can hit home to our own local church:

“I gave you half-empty evening services
and lack of souls in every prayer meeting,
yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.
Is that what the Lord is saying to your local church?

“I gave you overworked Sunday School teachers
and lack of workers in many ministries,
yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.
Is that what the Lord is saying to your local church?

“I gave you large expenses and lack of income
so your bank balance has sunk,
yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.
Is that what the Lord is saying to your local church?

“I sent disunity among you as I did in the past.
I caused your young men to leave,
along with your recent converts.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your unhappiness,
yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.
Is that what the Lord is saying to your local church?

“Many times I struck your sermons and bible-studies,
I struck them with shallowness and empty platitudes.
Secular culture devoured your understanding and spiritual growth,
yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.
Is that what the Lord is saying to your local church?

Now before I get into trouble, let me be quite clear. I am not saying that I am certain that the Lord is judging your church. I am not saying that if you are experiencing any of these things then that is definitely a sign that you are on the wrong road and are refusing to return to God.

But the Lord’s question is clear. When difficulties come, do we turn to the Lord?

There are too many churches who are struggling, but simply shrug their shoulders and claim that we live in hard times, and the day of small things, but they never turn to the Lord. I fear that the Lord will do even harder things so that the church returns to him. There are too many churches who are bowing to cultural demands, but simply shrug their shoulders and claim that it’s the only way to reach a post-modern generation, but they never turn to the Lord. I fear that the Lord will do even harder things so that the church returns to him.

Is the Lord saying to them and to us: “Therefore this is what I will do to you… and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God (Amos 4:12).

Yesterday I posted some challenging verses from Amos, and asked “How do these verse apply to God’s people today?”

It’s usually not possible – or at least very unwise – to give exactly the same application today as was given in the Old Testament. Too much has changed since then: language and culture for a start – not to mention the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ and the gift of the Spirit!

One simple thing to do is to take what God says to national Israel, and look to apply it to the church. But if that’s all we do, then often that’s not enough. Theologically, too much has changed since then.

A helpful guide is to understand that the blessings and warnings that we receive are more likely to be in the spiritual realm than the physical. I don’t want to make the difference between physical and spiritual too great, it’s not as if there are only physical blessings in the Old Testament, and only spiritual blessings in the New. There is both physical and spiritual in both Testaments. But it is true to say that in the Old Testament, spiritual blessings and warnings tend to be expressed in physical ways.

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I was preaching from Amos chapter four recently, and was particularly struck by these verses (Amos 4:4-11):

“Go to Bethel and sin;
go to Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three years.
Burn leavened bread as a thank offering
and brag about your freewill offerings—
boast about them, you Israelites,
for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign Lord.

“I gave you empty stomachs in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

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It’s been nearly a week since my last Song of Songs post. In the introduction I explained how the Song was not an allegory, but a poem describing six scenes in the lives of two lovers (Solomon and the Shulammite woman). Scene one (the longest scene, 1:1-3:5) was their courtship (part a, part b). We’re now ready to move onto the second scene: Wedding day glory (3:6-11).

Wedding Day Glory

As you go through this section, we read a little bit about Solomons ‘best men’ (vv7-8), a little bit about the wedding car (vv9-10), a little bit about Solomon himself (v11), and that’s it! We’ve had two and a bit chapters on their courtship. We’ve got four chapters ahead of us on their wedded life. And just six verses on their wedding.

There’s a lesson here isn’t there? Important though weddings are, marriage is much more so. If you spend more time planning your wedding that you do preparing for marriage, then you’ve got your priorities wrong.
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