Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

Lesson Helps for the Week of May 2!Sabbath SchoolLessonFor May 2,1971GOD'S CALL TO ETHICAL LIVINGAmos 5:4,6,7,10-15,21-24; 9:7,8,14,15Comments by lohn K. GaultThe word ethical means "conformingto God's standard of morals." Fashions,measurements, values may change fromone country to another, butit is not thatway with Christian ethics. They are thesame the world over because they arebased upon the moral law of God. Somewould have us think that ethics are relativeand are determined by the prevailingopinions of people. As they would say, "Ifmost of the people favor abortions then itmust be right to have abortions." Nothingcould be more fallacious than such anargument.1: God's Call Is Both Positive andNegative.Amos presented the good whichwould come to the nation if the peoplewould return to the Lord, and the awfulsuffering which would come if they did notreturn to the Lord. He spoke for God as hesaid, "For thus saith the Lord unto thehouse of Israel, seek ye me and ye shall drew this wonderful picture before thelive. . . .Seek the Lord and ye shall live." minds of the people of Israel. Seek GodAmos meant that as a nation they wouldcontinue to live in the world. They wouldhave a government which would not passaway or fall before the attacks of cruelinvaders. They got their land in the firstplace, not through their own strength butthrough the strength of God. Heit was whosubdued the nations before them and madethe walls of Jericho fall down. God isthe source of all forms of life. People diephysically because of sin in the race butthey need not remain dead spiritually. Godhas been saying to the people of the worldever since the Fall, "Seek ye me, and yeshall live." Christ has come and offered upHimself in order that people, dead in sins,might seek Him and be saved.But Amos also made a negative callby presenting the very dark side of thepicture, as he said, "But seek not Bethel,nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba:for Gilgal shall surely go intocaptivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest Hebreak out like fire in the house of Joseph,and devour it, and there be none to quenchit in Bethel." These cities had been seats ofthe true worship in former times, butidolatry had long supplanted the trueworship of God. So, in the day of nationalcrisisit would be useless to flee to one ofthese cities which had been marked fordestruction. God has been repeating thesepositive and negative calls down throughhistory: "Seek ye me and live"; and "If youdo not seek me you shall die."2: God Calls on People to LiveEthically by Revealing His Control overthe Planets and Over People.Amos submitted this argument to thepeople of Israel, "Seek Him that makeththe seven stars and Orion, and turneth theshadow of death unto the morning, andmaketh the day dark with night: thatcalleth for the waters of the sea, andpoureth them out upon the face of theearth: the Lord is His name: thatstrengtheneth the spoiled against thestrong, so that the spoiled shall comeagainst the fortress." God is so great thatHe controls the movements of Orion andall of the other heavenly bodies. Theoperations of nature on the earth are allcontrolled by God; consequently, there isday and night, sunshine and rain. Amoswho does these wonderful things in theuniverse and not the idols which can donothing.Amos next presented the call of Godfrom the standpoint of the inclinations ofsinful people. He said, "That strengtheneththe spoiled against the strong." The richlandowners of Israel had sought to spoilthe rights of the poor. So, Amos remindedthe oppressors of the land that God haditin His power to make a complete reversalof the existing conditions, "the spoiledshall come against the fortress."3: Because of Their UnethicalPractices the Rich People Would ReceiveNo Benefit from their Labors.Amos said in 5:11,12, "Forasmuchtherefore as your treading is upon thepoor, and ye take from him burdens ofwheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone,but ye shall not dwell in them; ye haveplanted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall notdrink wine of them. For I know yourmanifold transgressions and your mightysins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe,and they turn aside the poor in the gatefrom their right." "Houses of hewn stone"were considered to be the most permanentstructures and the owners built them withthe intention of living in them for manyyears. But, Amos told them, they wouldhave no opportunity to live in them beforethey would be destroyed. And, a goodvineyard was expected to last for severalgenerations. Amos said, "Ye shall notdrink wine of them." Before the vines weregrown large enough to bear grapes the landwould be overrun by invaders who woulddestroy their "hewn stone" houses andtheir "pleasant vineyards." In their effortsto escape from one disaster they wouldbecome victims of another, as Amos said in5:18,19, "Woe unto you that desire the dayof the Lord! to what end isit for you? theday of the Lord is darkness, and not light.Asif a man did flee from a lion and a bearmet him; or went into the house and leanedhis hand on the wall, and a serpent bithim." As long as they resorted to unethicalpractices there was no way in which theycould escape destruction.4: Religious Forms Are Offensiveto God if They Are Not Accompanied byEthical Living.The people of Israel continued topractice their religious forms. In 5:21-23Amos said for God, "I hate, I despise yourfeast days, and I will not smell in yoursolemn assemblies. Though ye offer meburnt offerings and your meat offerings, Iwill not accept them: neither will I regardthe peace offerings of your fat beasts. Takethou away from Me the noise of thy songs;for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.But let judgment run down as waters, andrighteousness as a mighty stream." Theapostle James says in 1:27, "Pure religionand undefiled before God and the Father isthis, to visit the fatherless and widows intheir affliction, and to keep himself unspottedfrom the world."5: Israel Had Become No Betterthan Other Nations which They Consideredto Be Inferior.Amos told about this in 9:7,8 as hesaid, "Are ye not as children of theEthiopians unto me. O children of Israel?saith the Lord. Have not I brought upIsrael out of the land of Egypt? and theAPRIL 7, 1971 11