The Funeral

Introduction

A. Most of us have a favorite movie. It is a movie that often encourages and elevates our emotions or it makes a point which is worthy of consideration. One of my favorites is the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” While the movie did not do well at the time of its release in 1946, it has become a regular part of the Christmas season. The story basically is about George Bailey learning what life would be like should he have never been born. Its storyline demonstrates that each of us make an impact in this world. But it further gives us an opportunity to see that life cannot be taken for granted. At the end of the movie, George learns that his life as dull and routine as it may be is still a “wonderful life.”

B. Each of us need time for reevaluation. Oftentimes it is under times of great stress that we reevaluate our lives and attempt again to prioritize our lives. Funerals do this for us. Funerals are reminders of how short life is and how important it is to celebrate living within the will of God. Most of us have been touched by the death of someone that we love. And with that event, we have to rethink possibilities and direction. Surprised to see an empty seat at the All Star Baseball game, a diehard fan remarked about it to a man sitting nearby. “It was my wife’s,” the man explained, “But she died.” “I’m very sorry,” said the man. “Yet I’m really surprised that another relative, or friend, didn’t jump at the chance to take the seat reserved for her.” “Beats me,” he said. “They all insisted on going to the funeral.”

C. But there are times when we are encouraged to rethink direction but we turn away from such thoughts. Something has to happen to us. Something must capture our attention in order for us to rethink. In our text, Amos tries again to recapture the attention of Israel as the kingdom continues to move away from God and his will for their lives. What would it take to get your attention to make changes? Would you make changes before a tragedy or crisis? Do you inspect your heart and motives and actions on a regular basis? As we continue to study Amos, let’s remember that while we are able to look back and cluck our tongues about the hardness of heart of these hearers, that we must not cluck our tongues without examining our own lives.

The Funeral Song

A. There is something about funerals that capture us even for just a moment. Such an event makes us realize what we have lost and even in our sadness there is a willingness to celebrate the fact that we are still living. It would be odd and disconcerting if at some point began to speak about us as if we were dead. If someone were to speak about me in the past tense and not notice that I was present, I would think that something was wrong with one of us.

B. Amos does this with Israel. Notice in verse 1, that Amos calls on the people to hear this “lament.” A lament is a funeral song. This could have captured the attention of his hearers. But Amos has a difficult task. It isn’t just enough to speak the truth about what is happening. He must speak this truth at a time of great prosperity and success.

i. It is hard to talk to someone about death when they cannot imagining dying.

ii. It is difficult to persuade a person to think about retirement at age 21.

iii. It is difficult to persuade a couple about the seriousness of the vow "in sickness and in health" when youth provides strong bodies.

iv. It is difficult to convince the wealthy that money isn't always going to be available.

v. It is difficult to convince someone that their sin will lead to eternal separation from God when the sin is fun.

C. Amos must convince Israel that their prosperity and success must not be used to cover over their sin. Or even more blatantly to view their prosperity and success as proof of God’s blessing and favor. Notice verse 4 “Seek me and live.” Israel was in their collected mind “seeking God.” They went to worship regularly and brought their sacrifices. As the text reveals, they lived their lives in basic luxury and did not recognize the oppression and injustice that they brought to the lives of others.

D. Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba were worship centers. But none of these was Jerusalem. It was in Jerusalem that the temple existed and this was the place where God wanted his people to come and worship him. They go to worship but to the wrong place; they offer sacrifice but their sacrifice offends God. They are making matters worse not better.

E. And then we find verse 14. “Seek good, not evil that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with, just as you say he is.” Israel believed God was with them. They believed God was behind all the success. But he wasn’t. Why not? Because they were not seeking him. Because they were not living for him. Because they were not as passionate about doing good as they were about seeking their own comfort.

Application

A. Here is the difficult part. Seek God. Seek good. How do we seek God? Turn to Genesis 5. Let’s begin reading select texts. (Verses 3-11, 18-27.) Do you notice a pattern? A person lived, had children, lived some more, had more children and died. That’s it. That is the way a person’s life is remembered. Except Enoch. He lived, had children, lived some more and had more children. But the exception is found in the phrase “walked with God.” Something was different about Enoch. The same phrase is used about Noah in 6:9. This is how we seek God. We walk with him. He becomes our constant companion. He is in the car with us when we go to work. He walks with us into the hallways of our school. He is with us when we are choosing our entertainment. We walk with him. We were made to walk with God. But then we get distracted. Our sin separates us. Only through Jesus can we come back into that walk.

i. Like Israel, we may have quit seeking God. We substitute our walk with God with something else — worship, comfort, ease of life.

ii. To seek God means that we think about what he wants before we think about what we want. It means being tied to him; being in relationship with him; and not allowing things or events to substitute for him.

iii. To seek God means that our eyes are locked on him. And when that happens we seek his will — the good.

B. How do we seek good? Verse 15 reminds us that we must hate evil and love good. That is how we seek good. We want good to win more than we want evil to win. Someone says, but that is true for me. I don’t want evil to win. Then learn God’s will and do it. What is it that God wants you to do?

i. Put away sexual immorality. You cannot seek good while looking at pornography or having sex with a person who isn't your spouse or dressing to entice. Get rid of the computer. Get rid of the illicit affair. Get rid of the immodest clothes.

ii. Have courage to stand for the oppressed. This is what we are about as a congregation. We want to seek out and find those who have little voice in this world and we want to courageously speak for them. We want to seek justice for those who have been treated unjustly.

iii. But seeking justice for others isn't something that is only done on a grand scale. It is done on a daily encounter. It is having the courage to stand for another who is being made fun of at school. It is having the courage to befriend a co-worker when others have turned away. It is having the courage to seek the good of another when your own comfort and ease would be far easier to seek.

iv. This is what God wants for us and we want to seek God's will. We want to give voice to those who have no voice. And we will do this in our jobs, our schools, and our neighborhoods. God help us, we will be his voice of justice when no voice is heard. Prayer for courage.

v. Invitation. Are you seeking God?

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