When Comfort Becomes Our Curse

The Context of Amos 6

Amos delivers this prophetic thunderclap to Israel during a season of unprecedented prosperity under Jeroboam II (793-753 BC). The nation enjoyed military success, economic expansion, and territorial gain. Trade flourished. The wealthy elite indulged in luxury imports—ivory beds, premium wine, and expensive oils.

They created sophisticated entertainment, comparing themselves to David's musical genius.
But beneath the veneer of success, the nation rotted from within.

The leaders felt secure. They believed their position as God's chosen people granted them immunity from judgment. They pushed away thoughts of coming disaster while their policies created systems of injustice. The wealthy exploited the poor.

Religious observance replaced genuine worship. Form superseded substance.
God's verdict?

Exile.

Not because they lacked activity, but because their activity served themselves instead of God's purposes.

The North American Church: A Mirror Image
Walk into many churches across North America and you'll find striking similarities:

We've confused buildings with movements. Multi-million dollar facilities with declining attendance. State-of-the-art sound systems broadcasting messages to empty seats. We sprawl on our ecclesiastical couches, admiring our craftsmanship while the mission field outside our doors remains untouched.

We've mistaken programs for transformation. We improvise tunes on our ministry lyres—endless events, conferences, and initiatives—but produce little lasting change. We consume content, collect sermon notes, and curate Instagram-worthy moments of inspiration. Meanwhile, divorce rates inside the church mirror those outside. Generosity stagnates. Mission atrophies.

We've traded prophetic voice for cultural comfort. Like Israel's elite, we anoint ourselves with expensive oils—designer theology that soothes rather than challenges, entertainment that tickles rather than transforms. We fear offense more than we fear irrelevance.

We've prioritized self-preservation over sacrifice. Our budgets reveal our hearts: 80-90% directed inward, 10-20% toward mission. We hoard resources, protect turf, and defend our slice of a shrinking pie. We don't grieve over the ruin of our communities—we retreat to our Christian bubbles.

The judgment? We're experiencing it now. Not through dramatic exile, but through slow erosion—declining attendance, cultural irrelevance, and a generation that sees the church as optional at best, hypocritical at worst.

Getting Back to Pleasing Jesus

Here's the gut-check question: What brings Jesus joy?
Not what impresses our peers. Not what builds our platforms. Not what maintains our comfort.

1. Repentance That Produces Change

Jesus doesn't want our excuses or explanations. He wants leaders who own their complacency, confess their self-focus, and choose different paths forward.

This means:

1. Acknowledging where we've built kingdoms for ourselves instead of advancing His kingdom.

2. Identifying systems that serve our comfort instead of the mission.

3. Committing to measurable changes in the allocation of time, talent, and treasure.

2. Multiplication Over Maintenance

Jesus celebrated the widow's two coins and the boy's five loaves because they represented everything—complete surrender to God's purposes. He modeled multiplication, not accumulation.

Churches that please Jesus:

1. Raise up leaders instead of building dependency on celebrity pastors

2. Plant churches instead of protecting territory

3. Invest in people instead of perfecting productions.

4. Mobilize members for a  mission instead of entertaining consumers

3. Justice Paired With Worship

Amos 5:21-24 cuts through religious activity: "I hate, I despise your festivals... But let justice roll down like waters." Jesus echoed this when He confronted the Pharisees: "You have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith" (Matthew 23:23).

Pleasing Jesus means:

1. Our worship connects to how we treat the vulnerable

2. Our preaching produces compassion, not just doctrinal precision

3. Our budgets reflect kingdom priorities, not institutional preservation

4. Urgency Without Anxiety

Israel tried to "put off the evil day." They ignored warnings, dismissed prophets, and maintained their liturgical routines.

Jesus-pleasing churches embrace holy urgency:

1. We recognize the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few

2. We steward our season with intentionality, knowing none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.

3. We make bold decisions based on mission clarity, not institutional safety

5. Grief That Moves Us

"They do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph." This phrase captures the heart of the indictment. Israel's leaders felt no burden for their nation's spiritual condition.

What breaks Jesus' heart must break ours:

1. Lost people far from God, convinced the church has nothing to offer

2. Declining churches limping toward closure, more committed to tradition than transformation.

3. Burned-out pastors trapped in systems that measure the wrong metrics

Communities in crisis—addiction, poverty, isolation—while churches debate carpet colors

The Path Forward

Getting back to pleasing Jesus doesn't require massive budgets or celebrity preachers.

It requires:

1. Honest assessment. Where have we become Samaria—secure in our status, comfortable in our routines, deaf to the prophetic call?

2. Courageous leadership. Who will stand in the gap and say, "We've built this for ourselves, not for His glory"?

3. Radical reallocation. What needs to die so something vital can live? What resources need to shift from internal comfort to external mission?

4. Sustained obedience. Transformation doesn't happen through weekend conferences or inspiring sermons. It happens through leaders who wake up every day, choosing sacrifice over security.

The North American church stands at a crossroads.

We can continue sprawling on our couches, congratulating ourselves on our theological precision and our production value.

Or we can rise.

We can grieve. We can repent. We can reallocate. We can multiply.

We can pursue the joy of Jesus over the approval of people.

The question isn't whether judgment comes. The question is whether we'll respond before the exile becomes irreversible.

What will we choose?