Don’t Be a Spiritual Fool!

19th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/25/16
Amos 6:1-7


Don’t Be a Spiritual Fool!
I. Outward prosperity doesn’t necessarily mean God is pleased.
II. The good times won’t last forever.


Foolishness is the stuff that makes headline news. The driver of the big rig didn’t slow down when rounding the curve and his rig overturned and closed the highway for hours. The young man was foolish enough to operate his vehicle while intoxicated and slammed his car into the front of a house. Another man was foolish enough to attempt to rob a bank while a uniformed police officer was present. The young mother was foolish enough to place her cigarette lighter within reach of her toddler. More than 100 elderly people were foolish enough to send $5,000 in order to claim a prize from a con artist. Upon hearing about any of those situations, we shake our heads and say, “How could they have been so foolish?”

But foolishness is not unique. It’s like the common cold; we’ve all had at least one case of it in our lives. Probably more of them than we can count. So we try to be careful about telling other people how foolish they are. And it’s difficult to state that one person is a bigger fool than another or even ourselves because we’ve all been there, done that.

And yet there is a type of foolishness that is greater than all the rest. Foolishness with our earthly possessions or with our physical lives is bad enough. But foolishness with our spiritual lives has eternal consequences. Our reading from this morning’s gospel revealed the foolishness of the rich man. Our text this morning from the prophet Amos reveals the foolishness of God’s Old Testament people, the Jews.

Even though these words were spoken by God nearly 3,000 years ago, their timeliness is uncanny. We live in a world much like Amos did, where the world offers all sorts of alternatives to devotion to the only true God. Don’t be a spiritual fool! May we apply our hearts to our God’s saving wisdom this morning.

Part I.

As I mentioned, the situation among the Jews when Amos wrote these words closely parallels our own. Many Jews lived in prosperity. The year is about 750 BC. 150 years earlier, King Solomon ended his reign and with it came the gradual decline of the Jewish nation. In fact, the nation entered a civil war and split in two—the nations of Judah and Israel. Amos addresses both nations when he states, “Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria.” Zion is another name for Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. Samaria was the capital of Israel. These two countries at this point were enjoying a resurgence of military power. Under both of their kings they had reclaimed much the territory they had lost over the last 150 years. Gone were the enemy soldiers from their streets. No longer did foreign kings tell them what to do.

And along with this political boom came an economic boom. No longer were the two nations sending huge sums of tribute money to enemy kings. Taxes were down. Exports were up. Inflation was low. Production was high. Their economy was no longer disrupted by war. They were free to do one of the things they do the best—make money.

But outward prosperity does not necessarily mean that God is pleased. In fact, this recent economic boom was a breeding ground for sin. The first sin Amos mentions is boasting. Most commentators are of the opinion that the leaders of the people were making boastful statements such as, “Go to Calneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours?” Those three cities had recently been destroyed or taken into possession by the Jews. In effect, they were saying, “Aren’t we great?”

And their greatness extended into the way that they indulged themselves. God leveled this charge against them, “You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions.” Each one of these items were blessings from God that he meant for them to enjoy. The problem with these Jews is that they were enjoying them to excess. It was hedonism—the belief that our highest goal in life is to enjoy every pleasure of life.

If you read the entire Book of Amos, you’ll quickly see that the Jews were guilty of oppression. They oppressed the poor, the widows, and the fatherless. Life was to be enjoyed, and, if that meant squeezing a fellow Jew out of his last shekel, so be it.

What it all boiled down to was this: the Jews were guilty of idolatry and the god they were bowing to was pleasure. Everyone was doing it. If it felt good, they did it. And what they did in their personal lives was their own business. If it made them some money, it was OK. And the fact that things seemed to get better and better all the time for the Jews was their proof that all was well. But they were spiritual fools! Outward prosperity does not necessarily mean that God is pleased.

It’s true. Every blessing that we have is a gift from God meant for us to enjoy. But we dare never replace our worship of our Creator with worship of the created. In other words, we have no business making things our god. We’re never right in bowing down to earthly pleasure or earthly treasure. To do so would be spiritually foolish. So don’t be a spiritual fool! God isn’t going to shout, “No! No!” from heaven every time you’re tempted to replace him with something else as first in your heart. We’re not outfitted with sin shock collars that keep us in line. So we let our sinful natures get the best of us and we choose earthly pleasure over heavenly treasure. And it happens again and again and again. And when nothing bad happens—when we appear to prosper just like these Jews in Amos’ day—we think all is well. We’re spiritual fools! But that’s where the wisdom of God is displayed most gloriously. His wisdom is embodied in our Savior, Jesus. Jesus always made the wise choice. He always placed his heavenly Father first because he knew that we don’t and we can’t. Our Father’s wisdom is the foolishness of the cross where Jesus paid the price for all our sinful foolishness and shed his blood to make us his own forever. If that is the Savior you trust in, then you’re no fool! You’re a spiritual genius by God’s grace!

Part II.

Hindsight is 20-20. Our text contains a good bit of Bible history. From history we know that these boom times in Israel and Judah weren’t going to last forever. Only a fool would believe anything else.

Don’t be a spiritual fool! The good times won’t last forever. The Jews should have seen the end coming. For the past 150 years they had forsaken the Lord. In 900 BC they began worshipping two gold idols which they called “the Lord.” That idolatry led them into grosser forms of the same. They worshipped the false gods of the nations around them. They bowed to the sun, moon and stars. They sacrificed their children and engaged in temple prostitution. God had promised 500 years earlier that, if they ever did such things, he would unleash his holy anger and wipe them from the face of the earth.

In speaking through Amos, God had already decided what he was going to do. He told the leaders of the Jews, “You do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph (meaning Israel). Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end.” In fewer than 30 years the good times would be over. It all happened in 722 BC when the Assyrians tore down the walls of Samaria, their capital city. After three years of siege, there wasn’t much left. The emaciated Jews hardly put up a fight. The Assyrians demolished what was left.

And then they took the leading Jewish people and forced them into exile. They sent more than 20,000 people into exile never to be heard from again. These were the lost ten tribes of Israel. God had plainly told them what would happen if they turned their backs on him. Amos wasn’t the only prophet God had sent to warn them that he would not be mocked. But the times were good. The Jews were too busy enjoying themselves to concern themselves with spiritual matters.

They should have been using their time wisely. After Amos spoke these words they still had 30 years to repent. You and I have a hard time understanding how anyone who heard these words could fail to fall on their knees and beg for God’s mercy. But they didn’t use their remaining time wisely. Instead, they continued to enjoy every earthly pleasure while their spiritual lives were crashing down around them. They were spiritual fools!

Don’t repeat their folly! Think about it! The Jews had 30 years to repent. Like fools, they refused. How long do you have to repent? How long do you have to confess your sinfulness and receive God’s assurance of forgiveness? How long do you have to grow in your faith? How many more opportunities will you have to hear God’s word, to receive his Holy Supper? Today may be your last opportunity. Don’t be a spiritual fool! Make the most of it! Since you’ve already confessed your sins this morning, then know and believe that God has fully and completely and freely forgiven you through Jesus Christ. He took your sins of spiritual foolishness and, in his wisdom, he demanded that his Son suffer the punishment for them. Then he took the holiness of Jesus and gave it to you by faith. You belong to Christ. That’s wisdom, my friends. Spiritual wisdom. May you continue to grow in the joy and peace of that wisdom as you devote yourself to your God and his saving word. Amen.