10/9/11 “God’s Alarm” Amos 3:2-11When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble?

    This week my family has been listening- no longing-  for a baby’s cry.  I have heard other grandparents speak of how special the cry is of that first grandbaby- the first noise this new life makes- the first scratch upon the world, if you will.  A baby’s cry is like an alarm clock- saying “things have changed in your life.”   Amos was saying God is trying to wake us up to what’s going on- to the reality of life.   Amos was trying to say things have changed-  the people had moved far away from God in the name of trying to fit in and be like everyone else.  They had lost a sense of holiness-otherness- differentiation if you will,  because they wanted to be like all the other nations. 
    Amos points out when you hear an alarm- it means something has happened.   Amos speaks as someone who lived outdoors- a shepherd, a forester.  He says when a  lion roars you know that he’s caught his prey;  When you see a bird fall into a trap, you know a trap was set;  When you hear the trumpet- an enemy is near.   The prophets have served as an alarm- a trumpet if you will.  When something is caught or trapped there is a signal- it could  be a lion’s roar or a bird in a snare, or the people trapped inside a city with a besieging enemy.   The prophets were alarms to them and they are also applicable to us.   We can learn from their rebukes.  We can learn from their warnings and encouragements. 
     C.S. Lewis used to say that pain and suffering were like alarm clocks to wake us up to the reality of God.  Paul Brand was a missionary doctor that worked in India with leprosy.  Perhaps you remember that Jesus dealt a lot with leprosy- which is also called “Hansen’s Disease.”   Contrary to myths- leprosy does not cause body parts to fall off of your body.  But it numbs your nerves- so you do not feel your hands, feet, ears.   A leper could place their hand on a hot stove for minutes without knowing it was burning.  A leper could cut their ear without knowing it was hurt- and therefore leave it untreated.  That is how lepers lose body parts.  So Dr. Brand says we do not recognize that pain is a gift from God to remind us that something needs attention and fixing. 
    When bad things happen to us- we often ask, “Why is God doing this?”  That, in itself is a good question.  Sometimes- it could be argued that everytime something good or bad happens in life-  God is sending us a wake up call.  We might should ask, “Do I need to wake up?”
       It is painful to be told that we need to behave in a certain way.  It is painful to be told that we cannot have anything we want.  But boundaries are a healthy part of life.  It is painful for a two year old to be told they cannot have the extra-gooey cartoon candy on the grocery shelf.  You have seen the mother say no- and you have seen the two year old throw the tantrum.  It is painful for some to be told they have to get up and go to school or go to church.  They may call you all kinds of names- and you may wonder if it is worth it.   It is painful to be told that you cannot go to the underage drinking party with the rest of your friends- when you want to fit in.  Perhaps it is painful to be told that we are to worship the Lord alone.  It seems a bit narrow.  Perhaps it is narrow too to say that sexual intimacy should be restricted to marriage.  My point is God wants us to be holy- to practice self-control.  He wants us to love Him in the proper way and also to love one another with holiness and grace.  Amos was trying to wake people up to the need to be holy- to care more about what God wants than what our neighbor wants us to do – or even what we desire to do.   God desires that we live as we were created to live- not as animals- but as those who have the ability to say no to unrighteousness and yes to God.

     The question is asked by Amos- “When a trumpet sounds in a city- do not the people tremble?” 
A trumpet sounded in a city as a call to arms.  It blew when an enemy was approaching with an army.  It was an alarm clock- if you will to wake up.  Like revelie on the old cowboy movies. Like Paul Revere;s ride through Boston.   Jesus also spoke of the trumpet of the Lord sounding to wake us up to the coming of God in the last days. 
    Today is choir appreciation day- and I have to say this- music often wakes us up- enlivens us just like the trumpet call- or the trumpet on the organ. 
     It is a real warning to not be complacent or apathetic.  It is a real warning to not let your faith be asleep.  Jesus told his disciples to watch and pray.   That means don’t put God on your back burner.  It means to not yawn your way through your spiritual life.  Paul said “Wake up you sleepers.”  Maybe you are just trying to coast in your spiritual life.  In times of secularization, when there are many temptations facing you and your children, it is not time to let your faith be secondary.  Rather, it is time to hear the alarm and wake up.  Someone asked what is our greatest sin.  It is the sin of apathy toward God and neighbor.  God desires that we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
     Who really likes alarm clocks?  Many of us would like to shoot them or throw them out the window.  Yet, alarm clocks are something we know we need.  The prophets’ message was not a likeable one, but it was an important one.  We need to wake up and live life in an abundant way. 
      The prophets had been blowing the trumpet for years.  Moses said it in Exodus and Deuteronomy- that if the people strayed away from God they would be taken into exile.  Isaiah and Amos (prophesying in the mid 700s BC) were the early prophets speaking about the need to repent or turn.
     Amos spoke basically in the mid 700s (760-750 were the dates of his key prophesies).  He spoke two years before the great earthquake that the Lord was about to shake the people of Israel (9:9).  When the earthquake came, the people remembered his words.  He spoke before the famine and drought that it was coming.  He spoke before the eclipse that the sun would be darkened (5:18,20).   These smaller prophecies gave credence to his larger prophecy that if the people did not wake up to the Lord, they would be punished and taken into exile.   In about 30 years this is what happened.  It would be like someone predicting in 1971 that the twin towers would be hit by planes in 2001. 
     His words were especially relevant to his time.  But they are still relevant today.   God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He calls us to believe in Him.  He calls us to walk not in our own ways, but in His ways.   He cares about our beliefs and behavior.  His heart breaks over our going astray.  When I read some of the blasphemous things written in blogs or see the constant attacks on faith in the media, I am sure it breaks the heart of God.  The church has tried to be kind and nice and ignore such things.   We should turn the other cheek.  Certainly, none of the prophets were calling for political and certainly not military action.  But the church is a prophet- God has placed us here to be salt and light.  Light hurts when our eyes are only used to darkness.  Salt hurts when we are wounded.   We are witnesses- prophets, if you will, to the truth and holiness of God.  Each Christian is a missionary/prophet to those around them.   We are to spread the good news that God cares and offers hope.  But if God cares for us, He also cares when we stray away. 
  Several years ago the Associated Press released a story about a 20-year-old man named Gene Tipps of Seymour, Texas. On May 21, 1967, Mr. Tipps was involved in a very serious automobile accident in which he suffered severe head injuries. He was in a coma for three weeks, after which he remained in a state of unconsciousness for eight solid years.  One day he just decided to wake up.  Someone asked him what it was like to sleep.  He said you think I’m 28, but it seems to me I’m still 20.  When I went to sleep the War in Vietnam was going on and LBJ was president.  When I woke up Jimmy Carter was in the whitehouse, and the war was over. 
    Christians are not called to just coast or sleepwalk through life.  We are called to glorify God, to come back to Him and love Him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.