‘I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.’
Those were the words of the ship’s captain in the film Titanic. But then they hit an iceberg and …
But even after the accident there was still an air of complacency, especially among the first-class passengers. The alarm was raised and a maid asked if they should be taking action. Her employer replied: ‘Go back to bed. This ship is unsinkable’. He was wrong.
Complacency in the face of impending disaster is not just a problem for wealthy cruise liner passengers. It can be a major problem for the people of God. In the Book of Amos, the LORD through his prophet raises the alarm in Israel. God’s people are colliding with the iceberg of his judgment because of their mistreatment of the poor (cf. 5.10-13). Yet, despite the LORD’s roar of a warning, in chapter 6 we find a complacent people, full of self-reliance and living for self-centred pleasure. The LORD’s message to the rich and powerful comes loud and clear through the tannoy of his prophet: ‘This nation will sink!’ Do we not find here a timely challenge for the church in our country?
According to verses 1-7 there were two signs of spiritual complacency in Israel.
Sign1: self-reliance and pride (vv.1-3)
1 Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come!
For a brief period under the reign of Jeroboam II, Israel was prosperous and powerful (cf. 2 Kings 14.23-25). For once they were the big fish. But, according to Amos, the nation’s sense of security came from a misguided trust in their own strength, their own military conquests.
There is irony in verse 13: ‘… you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar and say, “Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?”’ The name of the city they had conquered, Lo Debar, actually means ‘no-thing’. Karnaim speaks of might. So here is Israel rejoicing in their conquest of no-thing and saying, ‘Did we not take might by our own strength!’ How misguided. Israel’s military victories really amounted to nothing. They felt invincible but the nation was not unsinkable. As far as God was concerned, Israel’s sense of self-reliance and pride was only hastening the coming disaster (v.3).
Now the church is clearly not a nation with battles to fight (not militarily anyway), but are there ways in which we are in danger of displaying the same attitude?
* A lack of prayer? When you see your church with a busy programme, full of good things, but very little commitment to prayer, what does that say about you?
* Self reliance? When your church grows and finds itself with wonderful resources, it should really lead to a greater sense of responsibility not complacency and self-reliance. Why does God’s provision of money and manpower often lead us away from dependence upon our Provider?
* A sense of superiority. Larger churches can sometimes foster an unspoken attitude of superiority over their smaller neighbours.
All this is ridiculous when you think about it. Who gave Israel the peace and security they were enjoying? Who’s the one who builds his church? This shouldn’t make us smug; it should make us humble and prayerful.
Sign 2: prioritising pleasure (vv.4-7)
The second sign of spiritual complacency was Israel’s desire to live for pleasure. Speaking particularly to the rich in Israel’s society, Amos puts his finger on a selfish lifestyle that’s flowed out from the peace and prosperity in the land.
4 You lie on beds inlaid with ivory
and lounge on your couches.
You dine on choice lambs
and fattened calves.
5 You strum away on your harps like David
and improvise on musical instruments.
6 You drink wine by the bowlful
and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
God is not against us enjoying the fruits of his creation (1 Timothy 4.4-5). It is good and right to enjoy food without greed, drink without drunkenness, to strum on your guitar and look after your body. But what is not right is to make pleasure your life!
However, Israel wanted beds inlaid with ivory. It wasn’t just a good lamb stew or beef casserole they wanted, it had to be choice lambs and fattened calves; not just good singing but top performers like David; not just to enjoy a glass of wine, they wanted a bowlful! They didn’t just want to take care of their bodies, they lived to pamper them! In other words, they were obsessed with living for excessive pleasure; luxurious, entertaining, overindulging, self-centred gratification.
It is a great thing to thankfully enjoy God’s creation and we have been privileged to live in a time and a place where we can do that. But to take creation’s fruits and to make them our obsession is a sign of spiritual complacency.
Just see the LORD’s rebuke to Israel.
6 You drink wine by the bowlful
and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
In other words, they were concerned about their luxuries, their fine dining, their entertainments, but they were not concerned over the state of the church, or the state of the nation.
Think back to the film Titanic. Do you remember the actions of the first class passengers? They’ve hit the iceberg, the shipbuilder has explained that the ship will sink, but what are the upper classes doing? They’re eating and drinking without a care in the world, just caught up in their own little world of pleasure. Because we live in a pleasure-driven society, this is a very real danger for us.
God’s response (vv.8-11)
8 The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself — the LORD God Almighty declares:
‘I abhor the pride of Jacob
and detest his fortresses;
I will deliver up the city and everything in it.’
That’s strong language! The LORD hated this complacency in his people. Just see how the powerful LORD will respond.
Verses 9-11 tell us that he will silence their selfish pleasure and smash their self-reliance.
9 If ten men are left in one house, they too will die. 10 And if a relative who is to burn the bodies comes to carry them out of the house and asks anyone still hiding there, “Is anyone with you?” and he says, “No”, then he will say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD.”
11 For the LORD has given the command, and he will smash the great house into pieces and the small house into bits.
The feasting will all be gone; what will be left in the house will be a deathly silence.
Stupidity (vv.11-14)
In the last few verses Amos exposes the downright stupidity of Israel’s complacency.
12 Do horses run on the rocky crags?
Does one plough there with oxen?
‘Of course not, that’s stupid!’ you can hear Israel reply. ‘Well you’ve done just that’, says the LORD, ‘by prioritising power and pleasure over the needs of the poor. You’ve made the lives of the poor a misery so you can live in luxury.’
But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness —
Your power is really nothing (v.13), but soon you will see real power at work.
14 For the LORD God Almighty declares, ‘I will stir up a nation against you, O house of Israel, that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah.’
When the people of God trust in their own strength rather than in God and live for self rather than for God’s people in need, they show their idiocy. Is such spiritual complacency making idiots of us and our churches?
The only solution
For this we need to turn back to chapter 5 and look forward to Christ. Israel, on the brink of sinking, was still offered a lifeline.
6 Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire; it will devour, and Bethel will have no one to quench it … 14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. 15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
In other words their lifeline was a return to humble faith (seeking the LORD) and repentance (turning from the idol of pleasure and seeking the good of the poor and needy). Israel, of course, failed to listen and within a few generations the nation sank as the Assyrians swept through and the LORD crushed their self-reliance and silenced their pleasure.
The problem of spiritual complacency still exists among us (Revelation 3.13-20). In an age of excessive pleasure and slick professionalism in the churches we need to heed this warning given to Israel and take the lifeline. Seek the LORD and live; seek good, not evil.
Don’t we need to repent, looking to our Saviour, the Lord Jesus? There’s a lost world out there. Surely living this side of the cross should make us more, not less, concerned about spiritual complacency in our lives and churches?
David Skull is assistant pastor at Chertsey Street Baptist Church, Guildford, Surrey.
