CARDINAL PRINCIPLES OF A COMMITTED PROPHET
#353 CARDINAL PRINCIPLES OF A COMMITTED PROPHET
Scripture Amos 3:2, NIV
Orig. 1/22/1967 (10/1981)
Rewr. 11/7/1986
Passage: “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”
Purpose: Following revival, to give my people opportunity for serious soul-searching to determine the working of grace in their own lives.
Keywords: Forgiveness Responsibility
Grace Revival
Introduction
What is the link between faith and the way we live? Are acquaintances able to read by our actions and our words that being a Christian brings some pronounced changes in our lives?
The story is told of two [men] who were riding a train together. One punched his friend, pointed toward a man sleeping a few seats from them, and said, “Isn’t that the evangelist that preached that arbor revival last summer?” The other looked as carefully as he could and replied, “Well, it does look like him, but I don’t believe it is ‘cause he don’t have on one of those loud coats.”
Well, they got into an argument. One was sure it was. The other was sure it wasn’t. Finally, one who raised the question pushed it further, “I bet you $50 that that is Rev. Ambusher.” After getting his friend’s consent he went up to the sleeping man, awakened him, and asked if he were the reverend. The awakened man lit into the questioner. He was angry because he had been awakened, and told the man in no uncertain terms how he felt. In fact, he called the man by some very unpopular names.
The one who initiated this scene sheepishly returned to his seat. He declared to his friend. “The bet’s off! He wouldn’t tell me his name! I don’t know if he’s Ambusher or not!”
It is a sad day indeed, when one cannot substantiate differences in the lives of so-called believers from those around them.
I. The First Principle is that Grace is Extended. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.”
Grace is extended through election. Deuteronomy 7:7, “The Lord did not set His love upon you and choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest, . . . but because the Lord loved you.”
Do our rich gifts mandate a worthiness? Am I worthy of health when tens of thousands face lingering deaths? Do I deserve the pleasures of family when so many are alone? Were there no others who would have been more receptive of the miracle of forgiveness than I?
By so many important considerations, we are recipients of undeserved grace. Little boy on Today Show, born without arms, stubs for legs, but this glorious attitude about life. Veteran who lost legs to land mine; in Boston marathon, took five days to finish, born-again Christian—“First step is hard, afterward you’re on your way home” (Bob Wieland).
Some home types we have known.
It was a grace that was to be reflected in human righteousness. Psalm 23:3, “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation. Sin is a reproach to any people.” Matthew 5:10, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
It was to be reflected in worship and praise of God. Some think that non-tongues speakers can “praise” God. Isaiah 60:18, “Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.”
It was to be a reflected grace in terms of social justice. Amos 5:15, “Hate the evil and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate.” 5:24, “Let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”
II. The Second Principle is When Grace is Extended, Responsibility is Demanded. “. . . Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
It is the requirement of His sovereignty to punish sins. But understand punishment in God’s use of the concept. We think of punishment for the drugged rapist, or the child abuser. Whatever it takes to protect. (Little interest in reforming.) With God, punishment is redemptive: Meted out to effect human good—ultimately on the back of Jesus, “With His stripes we are healed”; meted out to change society.
Yet, how ready we are to prevent this redemptive punishment. Jesus worked closer and closer with the disciples. They were more and more included in Jesus’ life and works. Yet, when told of His approaching death, the ready response was, “Master, this shall not be.”
Such punishment is the only thing that will bring the human ego to the point of spiritual awareness. Most of us wax soft on capital punishment—biblically sound; rationale the criminal mind understands; to punish by taking human life is inhumane.
But there is no doubt that such pending punishment keeps us spiritually aware. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, “He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.”
III. The Final Principle is that God’s Judgment is Rendered in Mercy.”
Listen to a further word of the prophet.
· 5:1, “Hear ye this word of Lamentation.”
· 5:18, “Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord.”
· 7:8, “Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel.”
· 8:3, “. . . The songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day.”
But listen as the book is concluded. 9:11-15, “11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this. 13 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed. . . . 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them . . . . 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up. . . .”
The highest of principles illustrates
· First, God’s judgment, meted out in the person of His only son Jesus: John 10:11, “The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”; I Peter 3:18, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”
· And second, in the midst of moral perversity, [that] God’s redemptive judgment is at work.
Conclusion
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
. . . It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.
. . . in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV Scene I