Excerpt from the “Chapel Hour”: True to What Is Entrusted
Dr. Clement Shum
(Visiting Assistant Professor of New Testament)
Scripture: Amos 7:10-17
You must be surprised why one who studies the New Testament and the apostle Paul would choose an Old Testament text to preach. At first, I really wanted to talk about Paul, but I had been preoccupied with this scripture text of Amos 7:10-17 for several months.
This scripture records an important event in which two Israel’s religious traditions — the prophetic tradition and the priestly tradition — were in conflict. Why are these two traditions in conflict? There was a man, Amos, who traveled a long way to Israel and even called up the king at his palace to utter something unpleasant. What was his message that was so unpleasant to the ears? According to the scriptures, Amos told the Israelite king Jeroboam that he would die by the sword and the northern kingdom would be destroyed with his people becoming captured and taken into exile. The northern kingdom is Israel. Simply because of this man who spoke in front of the king, his bold message then triggered a series of dialogues and gave rise to a conflict — a conflict between the prophetic tradition and the priestly tradition.
Why did Amos go to the northern kingdom to utter such a message? When we read the book of Amos once again, we will discover that the northern kingdom was in good shape, the national strength and people’s livelihood were pretty good. But this is only a superficial observation. In this book, Amos, on behalf of God, made a speech, though only a few sentences, that drew a true picture of the northern kingdom. This explains why he dared to voice out such an unpleasant message before the king. Amos 2:6-8 reveals the real situation of Israel when Jeroboam was on the throne: Despite its national strength being strong, its people betrayed the innocent and distorted the standard of truth and justice. The text also mentions that “father and son use the same girl” revealing how degraded their morality was. This simple description tells us why Amos stood before Jeroboam to declare his days were numbered and that Israel was doomed to be destroyed.
What Amos said about Israel at his time was quite like what is now the case in Hong Kong. Not to mention what happened here in the last month, you can see that the social and political situations in Hong Kong are not much different from that in Israel in the past. It is true that we have economic prosperity and enjoy law and order, but there is also great disparity in the distribution of wealth, a lack of justice with the rich often oppressing the poor. There is indeed a need for someone to stand up and speak out on behalf of God.
Chapter 7 describes Amos met with obstruction when he declared his shocking message. This obstruction came from Amaziah who served God in the northern kingdom. Having heard what Amos had to say, Amaziah sent a message to Jeroboam and then said to Amos: “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah.” Note the verb Amaziah uses “flee” which implies to “escape” or “run for one’s life,” hinting that if Amos does not run, he may not have a chance of surviving. Amaziah said this because there were the king’s sanctuary and the kingdom’s temple at Bethel.
Amos delivers God’s message but it was met with opposition and threat from a priest, even risking his life. Those who serve God will meet with similar kinds of problems and not enjoy plain sailing. The road of ministry is rugged and not the easy journey we may have imagined.
Do we have such a situation in Hong Kong? Yes, we do. When we serve God, we will meet with such problems which usually come not from non-believers but from the community to which we minister. I know a minister who has served in a church for several years and finally left in dismay. What this minister has done from beginning to end is one thing: to keep preaching the word of God to the congregation. The deacons of the church are not pleased, saying that the minister should teach the Bible less but rather organize more activities like picnics and barbecues to attract more people to increase the size of the congregation. That would have been a convenient thing to do if the minister had no convictions. As time went by, conflicts increased. Not only the minister’s spiritual life but also her physical health was adversely affected. At last she only chose to resign and sadly left the church.
The text tells us that there is one reason why Amos dared to go up to Jeroboam: God told him to. He answered the challenged Amaziah confronted him that he had had no sound background or good training. God simply told him to tell the northern kingdom was doomed and so he came. What made Amos so daringly courageous was God’s calling. God’s calling is not to be disobeyed. What God has commanded, man is to obey. He cannot say no. The minister mentioned above was also called by God to preach the word of God and therefore she had to do it no matter what.
What God has commanded is indeed very important. Let us look at Amaziah. He is the priest or the high priest of Bethel, the high priest of the northern kingdom. Maybe you feel surprised and ask, “Wasn’t the high priest be found in Jerusalem in the south? Why was he found in the northern kingdom, in Bethel?” According to 1 Kings 9:1-3, the temple in Jerusalem is the place for worshipping God and therefore the high priest should serve God there. Why was he in Bethel? This has to do with Jeroboam I. After coming to power in the northern kingdom, Jeroboam I was worried that people in the northern kingdom would go to Jerusalem at least three times a year to observe religious festivals. Then he made two calves of gold and placed them at Dan and Bethel respectively and told his people to worship God there instead. For what Jeroboam had done, the Lord at once sent an anonymous person to declare his doom. This incident is recorded in 1 King 13.
In other words, the tradition of sacrifice in these places has never been approved and blessed by God. Why then did the northern kingdom have a high priest? Hasn’t Amaziah heard about such a history? Why would he still be a priest in the northern kingdom? To whom did he actually minister? What was his purpose in ministry? The text tells us that the reason for his ministry is that “this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” Clear, isn’t it? This man was ministering to the king Jeroboam. This man does not have God’s calling. He is doing his job for money, benefits, status and power. Brothers and sisters, we should be careful about our motives in serving God! If the motive is wrong, there will not be blessings from God. Let us be clear about that. Do we really have God’s calling? Does God really call us to take this road to serve God full time? This is of grave importance. Isn’t it wrong to serve God? To serve God is correct but what is more important is whether God calls us to do. If we are not too sure about God’s calling us to take this road, in the end we are bound to meet with difficulties. We may say that both Amos and the minister have met with difficulties. You bet, but God has mercy on them and holds them in His hand because they are faithful to what they are entrusted. But if your motive in ministry is wrong, God will leave you alone for it is you who unilaterally do what you do and not God’s will.
In recent years there is a book that is popular among local Chinese churches and it is about how a middle-aged man should consider serving God in his remaining years after laboring half his life in the world. To do something correct and meaningful for God is right; to serve God is right; to lead a good life in the remaining years of one’s life is also right; but is it because of these reasons then one steps onto the road of ministry? The most important consideration should be whether God calls us to do. We should ask ourselves before God: “Dear Lord, what do you want me to do? How would you want me to lead a meaningful life the rest of my life?” Do we really have God’s calling? What do we come here to do? For those of us who have been serving God for many years, we still need to ask: “Are the things that I am doing today in keeping with what I was entrusted yesterday? Are the things that I am doing today the best ways to respond to the calling I received from God in these questions the past?” If we do not reflect on this question, then when the workload keeps increasing or there are setbacks along the road, we will go sideway from God’s original calling. On the contrary, we may become more and more happy, experience more smooth sailing and be more successful. Unfortunately that may also drive us to go sideways too. It is better for us to ask God clearly, “O Lord, what actually do you want me to do?” If we are certain that it is God’s will for us to step onto the road of ministry, please give a correct response: be true to God. Other matters such as personal capability or economic pressure should not be our worries; leave them to God. Please respond with faith to this divine calling from above, and be truth to what God has entrusted to us: Be true to what is entrusted!