Motivation Matters

Amos 7:10-15

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos is hatching a plot against you right here on your very doorstep! What he is saying is intolerable.  He is saying, ‘Jeroboam will soon be killed, and the people of Israel will be sent away into exile.’”

Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos: “Get out of here, you prophet! Go on back to the land of Judah, and earn your living by prophesying there!  Don’t bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel. This is the king’s sanctuary and the national place of worship!”

But Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one.  I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees.  But the Lord called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.’

At this point in our survey of the prophets, I should point out that many of the “prophets” in the history of Israel and Judah could be called “professionals.”  They were sons and grandsons of prophets and were many times aligned with the kings and other high officials.  Although these particular prophets would deny this, their effective purpose was to legitimize and prop up the regimes they operated in.  They often ended up defending leaders guilty of despicable behavior and even proclaiming God’s anointing or blessing of them. I know it hard to imagine such a thing in our present day 😊.  Amaziah above would have qualified for this description.

So when Amos is sent away, he is responding to who he believes to be a corrupt priest/prophet in this tradition.  He essentially says, “I’m not like you.  I was neither groomed for this work, nor do I benefit from doing it.  I was doing just fine as a shepherd and Sycamore farmer.  But the Lord told me to leave my homeland of Judah and speak to God’s people in Israel, so here I am.”

Motivation matters.  Doing the right thing for the wrong reason can spoil the righteousness of the action.  Likewise, doing the “wrong” thing with a righteous heart can actually achieve righteous results.  These are not blanket statements.  People have been inadvertently helped by people with dark motives and people have been hurt by people with pure motives, but motivation matters.  More importantly, it matters to God.  The sharpening of this point is that there is no purer motive than simple obedience to God. 

Amos is a shining example of simple obedience.  He was told to speak God’s judgement of Israel in a time of prosperity.  He most likely got kicked out of Israel for doing just that.  So, he used the media of his day to continue his obedience;  he began writing down his prophecies.  We think he was the first prophet to do so.  Because he did, this eloquent shepherd not only took Israel to account.  His words have continued to be a thorn in the side of corruption and injustice for thousands of years now.  More on this tomorrow.

Prayer:  Lord, help us be perpetrators of simple obedience to what you have called us to do.  Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who are working to expose corruption all over the world.

Song:  My Eyes are Dry – Keith Green