The Target of God’s Justice
I. God has set His SIGHTS on ISRAEL (Amos 1-2)
A. A List of the USUAL SUSPECTS (Amos 1:3-2:3)
B. Chosenness doesn’t mean EXEMPTION, but EXPECTATION (Amos 2:6-16, Amos 3:2, Luke 12:48)
C. A Lion ROARS (Amos 1:2. 3:8, 3:12)
II. Justice as a FOUNDATIONAL SOCIETAL Issue (Amos 6:12)
A. The TANGLED Web of INJUSTICES
1. INDIVIDUAL Morality (2:7, 4:1, 6:4, 8:5)
2. SOCIETAL Inequity (2:6-8, 6:3-6, 8:4-6)
3. RELIGIOUS Hypocrisy (2:7-8, 4:4-5, 8:4-6)
4. POLITICAL Corruption (5:10-12)
B. MAKING the World We LIVE in (Amos 5:14-15)
III. The JUDGEMENT of INJUSTICE
A. CROOKED Walls, RIPE Fruit, and SIFTED Grain (Amos 7:7-9, 8:1-2, 9:9-10)
B. The DAY of the LORD (Amos 5:18-24, 8:9-10)
IV. UNJUST People in the HANDS of a JUST God
A. When God SPEAKS, LISTEN! (Amos 7:12-13, 4:6-11)
B. Seek GOD and LIVE (Amos 5:4-6, Jer. 29:12-14)
C. FIND Him on the CROSS (Amos 8:9-10)
Questions for Further Reflection
1. Kid’s Question: What does Justice mean? Have there been times when you have not been just to your friends? What does it mean to You that God is just?
2. Israel expected to see God’s judgment on the heathen nations surrounding them. Who arethe people you expect God to judge?
3. What does it mean to you that God has demands more of those He has given much to(Luke 12:40-48 or Amos 3:2)?
4. Social Justice has become a divisive word in the church. What do you make of theconnections Amos draws between our individual sins and our societal ones?
5. Which sin is easier for you to see- the sin in your own personal life or the sin we participatein on a societal level?
6. What types of things do you do that “make the world we live in” the kind of place we wantto live? What do you do that “makes the world we live in” a place you wouldn’t want to live?
7. The section of the sermon titled Unjust People in the Hands of a Just God was a play on Jonathan Edwards’ sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. As you read Scripture, how would you fill in the blanks- __________ in the Hands of a(n) _________ God? How do you think that view of yourself and God informs the way you view Your relationship to Him and others?
8. In what ways have you experienced God speaking into Your life? Has it always been easy to listen?
9. How does the cross inform Your understanding of God’s justice?