Amos’ Previous
Occupation
The job
of Old Testament prophet was not usually the most popular position to
have. For example: the prophet Elijah
was hunted down by the king and queen of Israel for most of his ministry. The prophet Isaiah was supposedly sawed in
half at the end of his. The prophet Daniel
was thrown into a pit of lions. The
prophet Zechariah was stoned in the temple.
The prophet Jeremiah was beaten, he was imprisoned, and he was left for
dead in the bottom of a well. And
countless other prophets - unnamed in the pages of Scripture - were captured,
tortured, and murdered. Throughout the
history of the Israelite people the prophets were severely mistreated. And even if they were not physically abused,
they were often contradicted by false prophets, accused of leading rebellions,
and generally ignored by almost everyone. These faithful men of God who should have been
the most revered people in the land were oftentimes the most despised. But out of all those prophets, the prophet
Amos may have been the most despised of all.
Partly because of where he was from and partly because of the occupation
he used to have.
Amos had
been sent to preach the Word of God to the leaders of the northern kingdom of
Israel. Which isn’t anything out of the
ordinary, other than the fact that he was from the southern kingdom of
Judah. Remember that the nation of
Israel had been split in two after Solomon’s death and the people of the
northern kingdom of Israel didn’t always get along with their fellow countrymen
in the southern kingdom of Judah. And so
when Amos went up and preached to the people there he was told by one of their
leaders, “Get out, you seer! Go back to
the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because
this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” There was no doubt: the rulers of the people
did not want Amos there, not only because he was a prophet and not only because
he was pointing out their sins, but because he hailed from that “arrogant”
nation of Judah down south.
And if
that wasn’t enough to cause the people to hate Amos, there was one more thing that
they could hold against him: he hadn’t always been a prophet. He had been a day-laborer leading up to this
special calling. He had done the work of
tending sheep and taking care of fig trees.
In fact, the word that Amos uses here to describe his previous
occupation apparently refers to making a small cut in the figs before they were
fully ripe so that they would sweeten by the time they were ready to pick. Amos had been nothing more than a
fig-splitter from the land of Judah when he was called to go up and preach to
the leaders of the kingdom of Israel.
But no matter what he used to be, he wasn’t just fig-splitter anymore.
Amos’ New
Calling
“I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s
son,” Amos said, “but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig
trees. But the Lord took me from tending
the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now then, hear the word of the Lord.” Fig-splitter or not, shepherd or not, citizen
of the southern kingdom of Judah or not, Amos had been chosen by the Lord
himself to bring the Word of God to the people of northern Israel. He hadn’t been traditionally trained, he
hadn’t had any other prophets in his family tree, he may not have even wanted
to be God’s spokesman, but God wanted
him to be. And so the Lord took Amos
from a job in which he got his hands dirty on a daily basis and gave him a job
in which he had to deal with the spiritual filth of sin on a daily basis. The Lord changed him from a physical shepherd
into a shepherd of souls. The Lord
raised him up from a position where he was making small cuts in pieces of fruit
and placed him in a position in which he would cut through the hearts of those
who heard the words of the law and gospel he was sent to speak. Amos, by no effort or asking on his own, was
now someone new. He wasn’t just a
fig-splitter anymore.
Our New
Responsibilities
I would
guess that there aren’t many of you who have split figs for a living, but there
are some of us who have worked the ground, some of us who have worked at a desk,
and everything in between. Some of us
who are younger may not yet have experienced a paid position in the work force and
some of us who are a bit older may have left those paid positions behind. And whatever kind of work you did, whatever kind
of work you are doing, and whatever kind of work you will do in the future is a
way in which you can thank your Lord and praise him for what he has done for
you. He is thrilled when you faithfully
and willingly carry out your duties in whatever station in life he has placed
you. But no matter what you do and no
matter how long you have been doing it, please understand that just like Amos
you aren’t just a fig-splitter anymore either.
Along
with the job you have, on top of the different roles you have already been
given, you have another set of Christian responsibilities to carry out as well. “Go,
and make disciples of all nations,” Jesus tells you. “Preach
the Word in season and out of season,” Jesus tells you. “Go
and preach the Good News to all creation,” Jesus tells you. And these words are not just for those who
hold the title of ‘pastor’ or ‘minister,’ ‘missionary’ or ‘evangelist.’ These calls are directed towards all
Christians, those whom Paul describes as a “holy nation, a royal priesthood,”
whom John describes as “a kingdom and priests to serve our God”. You really are priests. You are those whom the Lord has designated to
bring the Word of God to the people, to pray on their behalf, to intercede for
their sake. You may not have been
formally trained for this; you may not have any other full-time workers in the
gospel ministry in your family tree; you may not even want to be God’s
spokesman! But God wants you to be. And so along
with the jobs, the responsibilities, and the roles he has given you in this
life, he has also placed you in a position in which you will cut through the
hearts of those who hear the law and gospel that you have been asked to
share. You aren’t just a fig-splitter
anymore.
A Shirking of
Duties
But
that’s the excuse we like to make, isn’t it?
“I’m just a fig-splitter. I’m just
a regular Christian. I haven’t been
called to preach from the pulpit or teach in a classroom or travel to different
countries with the gospel in hand. I
haven’t gone to the seminary. I don’t
have generations of ministers in my family in whose footsteps I can
follow. I haven’t even had the desire to
do something like that!” And so it’s
easy to shirk your responsibilities when that is what is going through your
mind. It doesn’t weigh too heavy on your
conscience to leave it to someone else when you convince yourself that you are
not qualified for the work anyway.
And I
make those excuses too - probably some of the same excuses that Amos was
tempted to make. “I’m just a
fig-splitter of a pastor. Talking to
people about the gospel whom I haven’t yet met isn’t my strong suit. I don’t even know them well enough to strike
up a normal conversation! My talents
really lie in other areas. Plus, they
aren’t going to want to hear it. I’ll be
intruding in their lives with a Message that will contradict their way of
thinking and so it’d just be a waste of time.”
And with those excuses in mind I shirk my responsibilities too. I put them off; I ignore them; I forget
them. And all the while the Lord continues
to stand there waiting for me and for you to do the work that he has assigned
us to do. Fully aware of all the excuses
we could make and not wanting to hear any of them. He has simply asked us to share the gospel about
Jesus’ death and resurrection that has worked on our hearts. And he is extremely disappointed in us when
we fail to do it.
Our Status
because of Christ
Have you
ever thought how wonderful it is that the Lord doesn’t grade us on our
performance? Have you ever thought how
wonderful it is that the Lord didn’t choose us based on our potential or our
results? I’m sure Amos felt the same
way. Because when Amos went from a
fig-splitter to a soul-getter, was it because he had begged the Lord for so
long to be placed in that position? Was
it because he had proved himself worthy of such important work throughout the
years? Was it because he demonstrated
such outstanding talents and the skills that it was obvious he was the most
qualified person in the entire land of Judah to do that work of evangelism to
the northern kingdom? Of course
not. The Lord picked him - despite his
inadequacies, despite his past, despite his hesitations when he was nothing
more than a fig-splitter! Because that’s
how the Lord operates: he picks us when we are at our lowest - sometimes even
when we’re at our worst - so that we can appreciate all of his best.
Consider
your very status before God because of Christ: you are now his child, a special
chosen member of his heavenly family - picked not because you have proved
yourself worthy of the name but because the Lord simply wanted you to be
his. He decided to add you to the ranks
of his holy people not because you met the qualifications or passed the
entrance exam, but because he longed for your face to always be in front of
his. He completely cleaned you with his
bloody sacrifice from all of your inadequacies and faults and inconsistencies
not because you had pleased him in some way but because you could not no matter
how hard you tried. The Lord has the
habit of making us into something that we once were not.
“You were once darkness,” Paul says, “but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph.
5:8). “You who once were far away have
been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). Peter says, “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once
you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10). The
Lord has the unique habit of making us into something that we once were not. And it’s a good thing he does! Otherwise we would still be lost, we would
still be wandering, we would still be headed to hell instead of heaven. Without the Lord doing what he does for those
who do not deserve it, we would be stuck right where we started. And that’s exactly why we aren’t just
fig-splitters anymore either.
The Lord
understands where you are at right now in your life - he has put you
there! The Lord understands the talents
and the skills that you will be able to employ (or that you will not be able to employ) - he has given
them to you! The Lord understands all of
the other jobs and duties you are responsible for on this earth - he wants you
to carry those out too! But you aren’t just a fig-splitter anymore. You have been hand-picked by your Lord to
share your faith with that neighbor who does not know any better and that
family member who does, with the co-worker who does not have any peace in life
and that friend who doesn’t know what that even means. You have been sent to those whom you already
know with the powerful Word that you read every day. You have been selected as a personal spiritual
advisor, as an evangelist, as an Amos. Someone
who may not have had the training, the experience, or the natural talents to
make you feel completely comfortable in the role, but someone who has been
given exactly what they need to take advantage of the opportunities that the
Lord has crafted just for you.
You
aren’t just a fig-splitter anymore. You
are God’s spokesman. Chosen. Forgiven.
Converted. Assigned. Sent.
Go with God’s grace as your confidence.
Go with God’s power moving you forward.
Go with God’s Word in your hand.
You are qualified to do this work.
Your Lord has seen to it that you are exactly the right person for the
job.
Amen.
“May the favor of
the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us - yes,
establish the work of our hands.” -
Psalm 90:17
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