Is the relationship with God conditional on good deeds?
Amos 5:1-17
Protestant Christians like to emphasise that we are only saved by God’s grace as we trust Him to do it (Eph 2:8). However, in many churches the emphasis on grace has become so dominant that obedience to God is rarely mentioned for fear that it will lead to ‘works righteousness’, to attempts to earn God’s favour. Other churches react to what they see as complacency and cheap grace and stress obedience and discipleship for the Christian. Sadly, this may create the impression that we are saved by grace, but our ongoing relationship depends on our good behaviour. Both approaches can become caricatures of the truth though our Western context is more in danger of the former (cheap grace). Israel likewise took God’s love and presence for granted irrespective of their actions and could not imagine disaster touching them.
‘Seek the Lord’
God, however, confronts Israel. They need to be shaken out of their complacency and since they silence the prophets (Amos 1:12) and have not come to their senses through God’s signals of misfortunes (Amos 4:6-11), something more dramatic must happen. The coming disaster evokes a funeral dirge (Amos 5:1) and later a call to wailing (Amos 5:16-17). Although the catastrophe is in the future, it is a fait accompli, hence the Hebrew perfect verb indicating completed action (‘has fallen’, Amos 5:2). Yet, even now, God’s desire is to save. First, Israel is to seek God Himself, not go through the motions of worship in Bethel or Gilgal (both had shrines) or set out on pilgrimage to Beersheba in the far south of Judah (Amos 5:4-5).[1] Seeking Him is about the relationship and involves asking what He desires.
‘Seek good’
This leads to a second element of personal integrity, expressed for Israel as justice and righteousness. However, this cannot be separated from the relationship with God. Rather, the twofold command to ‘seek Me/the LORD’ (Amos 5:4, 6) and ‘seek good’ (Amos 5:14) are two sides of the same coin. Seeking God will lead to seeking good. This is not to earn the right to be God’s people but because Israel is already His.[2] Neither is their ongoing relationship conditional on good works. Rather, the implicit link has to do with the Lord’s compassion that saved them when they were oppressed as slaves by Egypt. They know what it was like to be weak, so it should come naturally to show compassion to others (e.g. Exod 22:21-22; Deut 24:16-17). Israelites, however, have turned justice into bitter poison (wormwood, Amos 5:7) when they took advantage of the needy. They actively oppose those who stand up for justice in the ‘gate’ (where the court met) and who refuse to compromise their integrity (Amos 5:10). The rich use their power to place a heavy burden on the deprived (high rent, tax) and judges accept bribes for turning a blind eye to the injustices against the poor (Amos 5:11-12). Unless they change, God will judge them, and He is the Lord who acts with immense power in the natural world and in history (Amos 5:8-9).
The connection between the relationship with God and good deeds
The point is then that faithful action and obedience grow out of a genuine and loving relationship with God. When we demonstrate God’s character in response to His love, we are like loving couples who begin to look like each other after many years of living together.[3] Thus, the lack of good deeds is an issue not because God’s ongoing love is conditional on our good deeds but because it shows up a deficiency in our relationship with Him. A marriage where one spouse takes the other’s love for granted and arranges their life without reference to the other is a marriage in trouble. To put it differently, the quality of the relationship a Christian claims with God is doubtful if there is no sign of personal integrity and no change in their character overtime towards the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-26). Jesus expresses this connection between relationship and personal transformation in the image of the vine and branches and the fruit that comes when the branches (Christians) are attached to the vine who is Christ (John 15:5). May we be people who seek Him because His love has taken hold of and transformed our heart and attitudes.
[1] Beersheba was the place where the patriarch Abraham spent most of his time and it also had a shrine. Perhaps some thought that there was special virtue in worshipping God here because of the association with Abraham.
[2] The principle of grace is present in the Old Testament as much as it is in the New. Israel was redeemed out of Egypt (Exod 14:21-22) before the Law was given at Sinai (Exodus 20 onwards). God did not save them because of their righteousness, He couldn’t have because they were rebellious from the start (Deut 9:4, 6). Neither did they have some special quality as the reason why God chose them and loved them, but He did so just because and to honour His promise to their forefathers (Deut 7:7-8)!
[3] We might think that this adjustment goes only one way in a relationship with God. However, the Lord Jesus Christ has already become like us, human, so we can become more like Him.
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