Amos 7:7-17

I like to cook. I like to cook because I like to eat. My mother taught me to cook. She pulled out her cookbooks and scribbled recipes and showed be how to measure and mix the ingredients. My mother in law makes the most delicious homemade biscuits. I tried to get her to teach me how to make them. She said take some flour and some shortening and some butter milk. How much? What measurements? She didn't know. "Just enough."

Having standards like a cup or a teaspoon makes cooking much easier, and having measurements like feet and inches makes carpentry easier. The problem was that the people of Amos' day did not have any standards. God had told them through Amos that He does not want piles of sacrifices and praises. God wanted justice and righteousness and obedience. They were perverting justice and letting the rich and powerful get away with murder while mistreating the poor. They were thinking of their own economic gain and not the needs of people or as Amos said, "You have sold the poor for a pair of sandals." (8:6) Sounds a lot like our day doesn't it? The rich and powerful that can pay high powered attorneys get off with light sentences while the book is thrown at the poor who can't afford a lawyer. People think more about the look and cost of their fashionable clothing than of the treatment of the workers who made those clothes.

By chapter 7 of Amos God has already said twice "I will destroy Israel. But Amos pleaded with God not to. So God didn't But then God says "Look, Amos, what do you see?" And Amos sees a plumb line. Plumb lines are used to make sure that walls are truly vertical because if they are not they will fall easier. God says I am setting a plumb line in the midst of the people to see if they are upright or not and then I will judge them accordingly.

God demands justice and righteousness. But how much righteousness and justice is enough. Some religious expressions would go as far as not killing an insect because it would be doing harm to one of God's creatures. What are our standards? Is a teaspoon of righteousness enough or do we need a metric ton of justice? What are the standards for the Christian?

What are our standards? Well one standard is the Bible! God has told us though his prophets what is required. One of Amos' fellow prophets put it this way, "He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8) Through this record of God's revelation to humankind through the ages we have a standard.

The problem is that many of us have no idea what is in there. You know ignorance of the law is no excuse. That is why reading the Bible and studying it is so important. And there you have no excuse at Grace. At any one time we have from 3 to 6 Bible Studies for adults going on and Sunday School classes for every age.

Get to know your Bible. Read and ponder what it says. Then use it to measure your uprightness.

The Bible is a standard for the Christian Life. But so are the lives of righteous people. One interpretation of our passage from Amos is that Amos is the plumb line. He is standing tall for God and proclaiming God's word. He is even threatened and persecuted and accused of profiteering. But he refuses to stop seeking justice and righteousness.

Lives like that of Billy Graham who boycotted South Africa when it was not a popular thing for evangelicals to do. Gandhi who sought justice for all people but who refused to use violence to achieve it. Mother Teresa who gave her life to the poorest of the poor in India and the world out of love. Martin Luther King, Jr. who risked and eventually gave his live for a dream of freedom and racial equality.

The list would go on and each of us knows much less famous people who are examples of the faith. People who have applied the word of God to their lives and are standing upright. They are plumb lines showing us what it means to stand tall for God.

The Bible is a standard and the lives of faithful people are a standard. But as Christians we ultimately have to look at the life of Jesus as our standard. He after all is the Word of God made flesh. He is the love and the law and the righteousness and justice of God lived out in human form. He is the ultimate plumb line for the entire human race.

Jesus lived a perfect example of righteousness and mercy and love. Then he gave his life. He is the fulfillment of all that God has ever tried to communicate to us. He said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Then he died for the sin of people who had betrayed and abandoned him and even prayed for the Father to forgive those who crucified and ridiculed him.

It is not as simple as asking "What Would Jesus Do?" It is then about doing what Jesus would. To stand straight for God we need to take up a cross and follow him!

So how do we measure up? Not well I am afraid. Even the best Bible scholars among us does not know the whole Bible. And when we compare our lives to giants of the faith like Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King, Jr. we are all leaning dangerously and in danger of falling. But then when we measure ourselves against the standard of Jesus no human being could possibly measure up.

God told Amos "I will not pass by Israel again." God was going to judge Israel for its failure to measure up. And eventually they were conquered and carried off in top captivity.

Will God pass us by? If we don't measure up, will God judge us? Yes! We will all meet out maker some day and God will judge each of us according to our actions.

So what are we to do? There is no way that any of us can possibly live up to the standards of Jesus. So are we all doomed? Will we all topple over like a leaning wall?

I remember when my children were small sometimes we would be in a crowd. And because they were small all they could see was the people towering around them. They were not tall enough to see the parade or spectacle. I would put them on my shoulders so that they measure up and were able to see.

Jesus measures up. We are too small in our righteousness. But Jesus will put us on his shoulders so that we can measure up. He will cover our leanings to unrighteousness and injustice with his uprightness. And he will enable us to meet the standards.

So seek justice and righteousness. But know that all our efforts will fall short of God' infinitely high standards. So sit on Jesus' shoulders and he will forgive your shortcomings and enable you to meet God's standards.

Colossians 1:1-14

It's hard to be a Christian today. I am not just talking about the materialism and self centeredness of our society. Those things do make it hard to devote ourselves entirely to loving God and our neighbor. They call us to place other things before God. But also the basic building blocks of our beliefs are at odds with society. In a society that values self sufficiency and strength we proclaim that we are entirely inadequate. The idea that Jesus is the only way of salvation is also at odds with a society that cannot understand how we can disagree with other religions and still respect them at the same time.

The Christian is Colossea faced a similar situation. Their faith in Jesus Christ was at odds with the societies in which they lived. On one side people thought that the mostly Gentile Christians in Colossea should follow more of the rules in the Old Testament. On the other side some of the Greeks thought that the Christian faith needed to be supplemented with Greek Philosophy. Somehow both sides through that just believing in Jesus was not enough to save a person.

So Paul wrote the letter of Colossians to help these Christians stand firm. Paul, who was probably in prison when he wrote this, had heard about them. Epaphras, one of his coworkers, had started the church and had reported about their struggle to be faithful. So Paul wrote to them to encourage them. And he says he is praying for them. In his description of his prayer for them are some important clues about how we can stand strong in Jesus Christ.

The first thing that Paul says he is praying for is "that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding," (1:9) What is God's will? It's a very important question! When we are faced with conflicts in our lives, how does God want us to respond? God is the one who made us and knows us. What does God want? And how can we know what God wants? How can we seek to be filled with the knowledge of his will in "all spiritual wisdom?"

One way is to look at Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. He is God in human form. When we ask "What does God want me to do?" then we can look at Jesus to see what God did. This has been popularized by the question "What Would Jesus do?" or "WWJD."

But to know what Jesus would do you have to know what he did and what God did in history. Our source of that information is the Bible. That is why reading the Bible and studying it is so important. That is also why Bible Studies and Sunday School are important. Yes, you can read the Bible by yourself but studying it with others helps us all gain from the varying perspectives of other Christians.

The second thing that Paul says he is praying for is that they "lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."(1:10) It is one thing to know the will of God, but it is another to do it. You can aim to do the right thing all you want but it is no good until you fire. This is where the rubber meets the road. You can ask "What would Jesus do?" but then you have to do it or the asking was pointless.

Paul speaks of the Colossians "bearing fruit in every good work." Elsewhere Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit being "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23) A fruit is something that grows on a tree because of the kind f tree it is. Apple trees produce apples. Peach Trees grow peaches. And we Christians are supposed to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit because we are people of the Holy Spirit of God.

But Paul doesn't stop there. He goes on, "and increasing in the knowledge of God." Doing God's will leads to a deeper knowledge of God. You can't just sit in your ivory tower contemplating God and know God. You have to act on what you have learned to learn more. You have to practice being like Christ to become more like him.

The last thing he says he is praying for is that they may "be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."(1:11-12) We don't make ourselves strong. I know I told you to study the Bible and to practice what you learn. But ultimately it is not our actions that make us stand strong for Jesus. It is power of God that dwells in us. Our actions simply open or close the door to that power.

John wrote, "For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."(1 John 4:4) The Spirit of God lives in us. The power source of the universe is in our hearts and souls. The one who spoke the universe into existence out of nothing speaks to us.

We should give thanks to God for this great gift. He has "qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." We didn't do it for ourselves. He did it for us as a gift of Grace.

Paul said, "He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."(1:13-14) "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." We had all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. But we have been delivered from that. We are brought out of the darkness of sin and brought into the light of God!

So let us stand firm in this belief. Let's seek to know God and his will. And let's endeavor to do that will. And let us remember that any strength we have is not of us but is a gift from God.

Then we can stand strong in the faith that we have heard and believed in!

Luke 10:25-37

One day Jesus was teaching on the front steps of the church as was his habit and a crowd gathered to listen. One of the people in the crowd was a Seminary Professor, a Bible scholar. She wanted to show off, so she said to Jesus, "Doctor, what must a person do to receive salvation?" Jesus said, "What does the Bible say?" The teacher liked this response. It gave her a chance to show off some more. She said, "You must love the God with all you mind, soul and strength. And you must love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus said, "That's right! Now do it." But the professor wasn't finished showing off so she asked, "Who is my neighbor?"

Jesus answered her question by telling a story that might have gone something like this. "One day a man was going down the road from Chapin to Irmo. As he was driving along a gang attacked him. They ran him off the road and stole his wallet. They took his new suit, and beat him up. Then they took his car and left him there to die. It just so happens that a Methodist preacher was headed to Irmo to lead a revival that night. When he saw the man on the side of the road he started to slow down to see who he was. But then he realized that the man was half naked. He thought, "I can't show up at Union with a man who is half naked in my car." So he stepped on the gas and went on past. Then a gospel singer who was headed to the revival came along. Like the preacher he too slowed down to take a good look. Then he thought, 'That man is probably drunk.' So he passed on by also leaving the man to die. Then a black truck driver came along. When he saw the man, he stopped his truck. The man was unconscious and bleeding. He hesitated for a moment and thought, 'If someone sees me with this white man all beat up, they will think I did it.' But he saw how badly the man was bleeding so he put some rags on the wounds to stop the bleeding and loaded him in the truck. Then the truck driver took him to the emergency room. The man was unconscious and no one knew if he has any insurance. So the truck driver signed the papers saying that he would be responsible for the man's bill."

Then Jesus turned to the Professor and said, "Now, if you were the one robbed by the gang which would you think acted like a neighbor." The professor said, "Well...Uh...I guess the one who acted neighborly and helped the man." Jesus said, "Right, now you go and do the same."

Who is my neighbor? It is an important question. The man who asked the question in Jesus' day was a lawyer. The law he practiced was God's law, the Bible. He was an expert on the commandments in the Bible. If someone had a question about how to keep God's law they would come to him to help them understand. So in many ways he was like a modern Bible Scholar who helps people understand God's will as outlined in the Bible.

This lawyer had the basics right: Love God, and love your neighbor. But to carry that out one has to know who one's neighbor is. For instance: the lawyer might have thought, "Do I have to love the Romans?" After all they are from half a world away. And they were so mean to God's people. They even worshiped false gods. "Who is my neighbor?" It's an important question for us. Are we to love those who kill missionaries in India and China and South America? Do we have to love Sadaam Hussain and Ossama Bin Laden. And how do we love them? And what about those liberals in California who hate God's word?

Jesus brought the question closer to home. The Samaritans lived in the lawyers own neighborhood, right next door, and the Jews hated them. They wouldn't even drink out of the same vessels with a Samaritan. So Jesus told a story. The way he told the story the listeners identified with the man who was injured. And they would also see the hypocrisy in some of their religious leaders. Then the punch line. The one who stops and helps is a Samaritan. A despised Samaritan was the last person a Jew wanted help from. The Samaritans didn't even keep God's laws, how can they be good. Many Jews would have rather died then own their lives to a Samaritan.

The question was, "Who is my Neighbor?" Jesus' answer was, "The last person you would want living next door." The one God wants us to love is the one we are not loving. For the Lawyer that meant loving, even putting himself on the line for, someone who disregarded God's law. The Lawyer had dedicated his life to God's law and Jesus forced him to admit that he should love the Samaritans who broke it.

"Who is my Neighbor?" The imaginative retelling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan that I used this morning was inspired by a similar retelling by a man named Clarence Jordan. Clarence Jordan was a Baptist Minister and a Greek Scholar. Clarence was a native of Georgia. He and some other Christians ran a farm in the late 40's to mid 60's. They tried to live by Biblical principles, and they welcomed anyone who wanted to join them. Based on his knowledge of Greek and the Bible Clarence would "translate" the New Testament. Not just from Greek to English, but from first century Palestine to 20th century America. He would tell the stories as if they were happening in Georgia. And the characters were like the people of the cotton patches of Georgia. He called these writings "Cotton Patch" versions of the New Testament.

I said that Clarence Jordan's farm welcomed anyone who wanted to work with them. This included black people. In the 40's, 50's and 60's the local people in Georgia took exception to that. Sometimes they even used Clarence's farm house for target practice.

In Clarence Jordan's retelling of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan is a black man. Clarence understood Jesus' point in telling this story. There are people right next door that you are not loving, love them, they are your neighbors. In Jesus' day the Samaritans were the neighbors they hated. In Clarence's day it was people of another race.

Who is my neighbor? This is a question that we all have to wrestle with. It's God's will that we love our neighbors. The Lawyer had that part right. But we have to know who our neighbors are to love them. The easy answer is to say everyone. Then add even the people on the other side of the world. But Jesus' answer tells us to look right next door.

Who is my neighbor? For some in Israel it is still the people living in the hills of Samaria. For some in America it is still people of a different race. If Jesus were to sit down on the front steps of our church and tell us a story, who would the Good Samaritan be? Who are we overlooking that we should love? Perhaps it is the Haitian Refugees. Maybe it is our neighbors to south in Mexico, Central and South America. Maybe it is the poor in our own neighborhoods. Or the unborn, or the elderly.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan addresses for us an important question. Who is our neighbor? The lawyer was blind to his sin of hating the Samaritans. But then Jesus opened his eyes. And he could see he had been overlooking, and not loving his neighbor. Who are we overlooking? When we drive down the road from Chapin to Irmo who are the people we fail to see. Do they need our help, our witness, our prayers. Let us pray that God will open our eyes to see our neighbors so that we can show them God's love.

Do we measure up? One day Amos was going about his business and he saw something. God showed Amos that he was measuring the people. Amos saw God standing beside a wall measuring it with a plumb line. The wall undoubtedly represented Israel and God was checking to see if they measured up spiritually and morally. This is a common theme among the Prophets. God measures the people of Israel and finds them wanting.

But why a plumb line? A plumb line measures how straight something it. Does it go straight up or does it lean to one side or the other? When building a wall it is necessary to have a standard of straightness to compare the wall to. If you just stand and look at it, it may look straight to you. But what it you are standing on a slope? If you rely on just your judgment the wall will lean. The end result is a wall that will fall because its own weight will pull it over.

So God is measuring Israel to see if they are standing straight. God is checking to see if they are standing by God's standard of straightness. And God says, "I will never again pass them by."(Amos 7:8) God is saying that the people do not measure up. They are leaning and like any leaning wall they will fall.

In a sense Amos could be seen as that plumb line. Actually God's Word through Moses and the Prophets was the real measure, but Amos was the one proclaiming God's Word for that time and place. Amos told the people of Israel and Judah to live righteously and to seek justice. Those of you who have been studying Amos in Sunday School are familiar with this message. He told the people that they were under God's judgment because they mistreated the vulnerable and needy. He told them that their worship was meaningless and even sinful because they were not living for God day to day.

But it wasn't just Amos' words. His actions were an example of standing straight for God. We have an example of that in this passage. Amos tells how he had been a farmer and herdsman, but he left that life to begin proclaiming God's Word. And Amos didn't do it for profit, at least not worldly profit. Amos proclaimed God's Word, even when those in authority told his to stop, simply to be faithful to God.

And how did the people measure up to God's Word as it was proclaimed and lived by Amos. Not very well. They didn't listen to his warnings but continued to mistreat the poor and widows and orphans. They even tried to silence God's prophet because they didn't want to hear Gods Word. They told Amos to go away because they didn't want to learn from his example

Do we measure up? That was the essence of what the lawyer in our Gospel lesson was asking. He said, "Teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life?" In other words what must I do to measure up to God's standards to get in to heaven? The man answered his own question: "love the Lord your God...and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus said, "You are right now do it!"

But because he wanted to justify himself he asked for clarification. "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus' answer was the story of the Good Samaritan. A story that gives and example of love for neighbor that transcends race and religion. A story that says the neighbor is everyone especially the last person in the world that you would help or be helped by.

The example of love that Jesus spoke of in that parable is one that is hard to live up to. To love one's enemy as the Samaritan did is exceptional. Even the priest and the others religious leaders in story failed to stop for the injured Jew. Be the despised Samaritan took a risk to help this Jewish stranger. That is God's plumb line.

Do we measure up? In Amos God says he has placed a plum line in the midst of his people to measure them. In Amos' day that plum line was God's Word. The Word of God revealed by Moses and the Prophets. But also the Word of God lived out by Amos. Amos, a poor farmer, stood up to the king and the religious establishment to say "Thus saith the Lord."

God's plumb line for the lawyer was Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan. A story that called him to love his enemy. As a lawyer he had probably warned people about associating with Samaritans because of their questionable religious practices. But Jesus told him that God wanted him not only to love but also to sacrifice for him. That was God's measure of righteousness.

But ultimately both of these are merely reflections of a fuller revelation of God's word: Jesus Christ himself. He is the plum line God has placed in our midst. His life and death are the living example of everything that Amos and the other prophets told Israel. His sacrificial love for everyone, even those to made themselves enemies to God, is what is behind the Good Samaritan. Jesus Christ, who died for us while we were yet sinners is the measure of righteousness God uses to judge us.

Do we measure up? Look at your life and judge for yourself. Does your devotional life measure up to Jesus'? He prayed all the time and attended his local Synagogue every Sabbath. He was in constant communion with God. Does your obedience to God measure up to Jesus'? Jesus was obedient to God even to the point of death. He knew that death on the cross waited for him and still he prayed "Thy will be done." Does your forgiveness measure up the Jesus'? Jesus was wrongfully accused of blasphemy and treason and was nailed to a cross. Yet he prayer to the Father "forgive them for they know not what they are doing." Does your sacrifice to God measure up to Jesus'? Jesus gave it all up for God. He loved the world so much that he gave up his life in heaven to live in our sinful world. He sacrificed the glories of heaven for a cattle stall and then he sacrificed his life for the sins of the world? Most people wouldn't even die for a righteous man, but Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.

I could go on. But I have my answer. I don't measure up to Jesus. Compared to the plum line of Jesus' life I am a leaning wall on the verge of collapse. God might as well knock me over now.

If we are honest with ourselves none of us measure up. I don't care who you are. No human could ever measure up to Jesus. You might say, "Well, I am better than most folks." That may be true, but God does not compare you to most folks. God compares you to Jesus. And compared to Jesus even Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II and Billy Graham all rolled into one could not measure up.

Amos tells us that God has placed a plum line in the midst of his people. That plum line is Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. And we don't measure up. God destroyed Israel for not measuring up. Israel fell not too long after Amos' prophesy.

What will happen to us? Will we fall like a leaning wall? Will God leave us to wallow in the spiritual toxic waste of our society? Will God squash us like insolent little insects? Will God crucify us for our sins?

No, God will not crucify us for our sins because he has already allowed us to crucify His Son for our sins. We couldn't possibly live up to God standards, but Jesus did. So his sacrifice was also enough to pay for our shortcomings. It's just up to us to accept the pardon he has bought for us through Jesus blood. Then we can stand tall for Jesus. Not because we have made ourselves straight by our own judgments. We can stand tall because Jesus has straightened us out by his standards.

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