July 20, 2025
Amos 8:1-12
The Prophecy of the Summer Fruit
Year C
Prelude
Greetings
Call to Worship
God calls us here to worship. We carry many worries and are distracted
by many things, but here, in this time and place, we are invited to set
them aside, to be fully present. Let’s pause and take a deep breath.
We remember who we are:
We are the body of Christ.
We remember whose we are:
We are God’s beloved children.
We remember our chief purpose:
To glorify and enjoy God forever.
Let us worship God! (Presbyterian Outlook, Stephanie Sorge)
Invocation
Abiding God, we invite you to inhabit our space. We long to renew our minds, restore our souls, and rest our presence before you. Still, we bring the burdens we carry into this gathering. We hold our responsibilities, cares, and concerns. Let us bind ourselves in your love and strength and the community of faithful and curious. We affirm that this time with you and one another equips and fortifies us for the journey and helps us discern the better way. Be glorified in our worship. Be honored by our praise. Be known by your people, O Creator, Teacher, and Friend. In your many names, we pray. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Cheryl Lindsay)
Song
A Sermon for All Ages
Responsive Reading Psalm 52 (Common English Bible)
Hey, powerful person!
Why do you brag about evil?
God’s faithful love lasts all day long.
2 Your tongue devises destruction:
it’s like a sharpened razor, causing deception.
3 You love evil more than good;
you love lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
4 You love all destructive words;
you love the deceiving tongue.
5 But God will take you down permanently;
he will snatch you up,
tear you out of your tent,
and uproot you from the land of the living! Selah
6 The righteous will see and be in awe;
they will laugh at those people:
7 “Look at them! They didn’t make God their refuge.
Instead, they trusted in their own great wealth.
They sought refuge in it—to their own destruction!”
8 But I am like a green olive tree in God’s house;
I trust in God’s faithful love forever and always.
9 I will give thanks to you, God, forever,
because you have acted..
In the presence of your faithful people,
I will hope in your name because it’s so good.
Scripture Amos 8:1-12
Sermon the Prophecy of the Summer Fruit
I am so excited! It is summer time and things are starting to grow. And I get to enjoy all of the wonderful fruits and vegetables that are available fresh this time of year. Corn, zucchini, blueberries, cantelope. I picked my first tomatoe of the year, and more are starting to grow.
When you think about it, a bowl of summer fruit tells us everything that we need to know about God. The bible is full of life lessons about fruit.
Strawberries are my favorite fruit. I even love strawberry plants, for once they preached a powerful sermon to me which I've never forgotten. I was on my hands and knees in my garden pulling weeds, when suddenly I noticed something I had seen hundreds of times before but never caught the lesson. It was the "runners" on the berry plants. From the main vine a number of slender shoots extend like arms in all directions. They are thin, green stems creeping along the ground, being pushed out by that mysterious power in the mother plant. After reaching out about 6 inches, the end penetrates the ground and developes roots. Then the leaves of the new baby plant shoot upward. All the while, before the infant plant is able to sustain itself, it receives nourishment from the parent through the "runner." When the new growth is fixed in the ground, the "runner" resumes its journey and reaches out another 6 inches, still nourished by the original clump of berries. Then the process is repeated. And while one plant is multiplying, there are several others doing the same thing in different directions. I forgot all about the weeds and saw only that mother plant sending out its runners. This caused me to cry out, "O God, make me like those strawberries, reaching out in a effort to multiply and bring forth fruit."
Source: Unknown
Fruit represents our faith, we are called to be faithful by being fruitful.
For instance, summer is the perfect time to talk about stewardship. We are called to take care of the things that God cares about. Also the assurance that God will provides for us. We can plant the seeds, we can care for the plants, but only God provides the fruit. This summer we are having a mini stewardship session to encourage us to think about the needs of the ministry. During the days of the Bible, people were encouraged to bring their first fruits of harvest to the temple. Today our first fruits can be our money, our time, our talents and skills. It can be other things like paper products, cleaning supplies, office supplies or helping with a ministry of the church. First fruits are proof of God’s love for us, it is also an obvious sign of our faith and what is inside of our hearts.
Two Fruit Trees - Different Fruit
A farmer one planted two fruit trees on opposite sides of his property. The one he planted to provide a hedge hide the unsightly view of an old landfill; the other to provide shade to rest under near a cool mountain stream which ran down beside his fields. As the two trees grew, both produced began to flower and bear fruit. One day the farmer decided to gather the fruit from the tree nearest his house " the one used to provide a hedge from the landfill. As he brought the fruit inside the house, he noticed that it was a little deformed " the symmetry of the fruit was not very good, but still the fruit looked edible. Later that evening, while sitting on his porch the farmer took one of the pieces of fruit for a snack. Biting into the fruit, he found it to be extremely bitter, and completely inedible. Casting the fruit aside he looked across the field to the other tree over by the mountain stream. After walking across the field, the farmer took a piece of the fruit from the other tree and bit into it. Find the fruit to be sweet and delicious he gathered several more pieces of fruit and took them to the house.
The fruit was greatly affected by the nutrition of the root. Just as the tree grew by the landfill to be bitter, and the tree by the stream produced sweet fruit, so the Christian has a choice. He can either put down his roots into the soil of the landfill of fleshly pursuits, or into the cool refreshing stream of the person of Jesus Christ. We must understand that the root bears the fruit. The fruit of the Christian is the outward evidence of the inward motivation.
Psa 1:1-6, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
A fellow I was reading enjoys telling something that he and his brothers did as children (my notes did not record his name; sorry).
When they misbehaved and were sent to their room, they were secretly pleased. Just outside their window stood an old fruit tree. The boys would softly raise the window, climb down the tree, and play in the field behind the house. After a bit, they would climb the tree, slip inside and close the window. Then, they’d call downstairs to mom and dad, asking if they hadn’t suffered enough.
One day they heard Dad tell Mom he planned to cut the tree down. “It hasn’t borne any fruit in years.” The boys panicked and went into action.
Pooling their money, they ran to the village market and bought a sack of apples and a spool of black thread. That evening, they slipped out the window and tied the apples onto the tree.
Next morning, they waited eagerly for Dad’s reaction.
Soon they were pleased to hear him call out, “Mary! Come see! It’s a miracle! That tree is covered with apples.”
The boys were congratulating themselves. Then they heard Dad say, “It really is a miracle…because that’s a pear tree!”
(The parents had the wisdom and good humor to allow the tree to survive.)
Just as a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and vice versa, pear trees do not bear apples. We reap what we sow.
It is Jesus who says that we are known by the fruit that we produce. Another fruit lessons in the bible is in the book of Galatians. Paul says that the fruits of the spirit are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”
When those things are present in our lives and our actions then God is near. The new testament just builds upon the aspects of God listed in the Hebrew bible. The main aspect of God are love, mercy, holiness and justice. When we talk about giving first fruits, we are talking about love and mercy. When we talk about the fruits of the spirit we are talking about holiness.
Our scripture in Amos teaches us about the important aspect of justice. God has a soft spot for the poor, the vulnerable, those who are suffering because of unjust systems. In Amos 8 – Amos sees a vision of summer fruit. There are a lot of positive lessons to learn from a bowl of fruit – it is nutritious, good to eat, and a sign of summer growth and abundance. But fruit does not last very long. If one fruit goes bad, it affects all of the other fruit around it. Once it goes bad, it smells and is inedible.
If fruit represents faith – Amos’ message to us is that good faith can turn to bad faith pretty easily. Amos is concerned that people have stopped caring for others, people have gotten greedy, they chose to take care of themselves at the expense of others. People even come to church to look good on Sunday and are very cruel people during the week.
God is not pleased. Fruit can look good on the outside and be rotten on the inside. Amos warning is that when summer is over, and fruit goes bad it is thrown out and destroyed. Amose gives us another warning – our stomaches may be full, our bank accounts may be full, our calendars may be full, but in reality our life will be empty – unless we put God first.
In the scripture, God speaks to Amos and asks him what does he see. God says Hear this, you who trample on the needy and destroy
the poor of the land, Surely I will never forget what they have done.
Back in 2002, Rick Gillespie-Mobley gave a sermon on stewardship that I thought was pretty good.1 It was more of a devotional. But he gave an illustration that I thought was outstanding. At the beginning of that sermon he shared a story that I think beautifully illustrates a major problem in Evangelical Christianity.
He told about a father who wanted to do something special for his five year old son, Jimmy. He asked his son to get ready, and said that they were going to go out for treat. The son was very happy, but when his dad said that this time he could pick anything he wanted, Jimmy was very, very excited. Jumping up and down he said he wanted McDonald's French Fries. Now, keep in mind that he's a five year old, so those of you who are jaded by McDonalds can hold your horses and not spoil the story.
Anyway, they went to the local McDonalds. And Jimmy was expecting a small sized French Fries, but his eyes lit up as his dad told the cashier that he was ordering a super-sized French Fries and a coke. After dad had paid for the snack, Jimmy was almost dancing with anticipation. Even during prayer he could hardly wait to start digging into those fries. As soon as prayer was done, Jimmy started eating the French Fries with obvious delight. And of course, it delighted the father that his son was enjoying such a simple treat. How easy was that be? It didn't cost much to bring delight to his son's heart. And enjoying the moment, dad reached over the take a couple of fries. And to his surprise, the son pulled the fries close to his body, quickly put his arms around the fries, building a kind of fort, and sad, "No, these are mine."
And dad was a bit shocked. But he pulled back his hand and kind of stared at his son for a bit. And during those moments he had an epiphany of how God must feel when God asks for a couple fries from the container of our life. He was thinking to himself, what is this little rascal thinking? I just wanted a couple of the fries. And after all, I am the source of these fries. I was the one who offered to take him out, I super-sized the order so that I could share it with him, I paid for it, and gave it to him. And he doesn't want to share anything. And apparently my little pip-squeak of a son has forgotten that I am stronger than him, so building a fort with his arms seems rather silly. I'm not going to force him, but it seems kind of silly.
And then he thought, “Why did I even want a couple of fries? It's not like I was hungry. And if I was, I could have bought my own. For that matter, I could buy ten containers of fries. It's not that I need the fries. I just wanted to share in his moment of joy and I wanted him to include me in his moment of joy.” One or two fries would not have made much difference to him as an adult. He just wanted Jimmy to invite him into this wonderful little world that he had made possible for his son, rather than excluding him.
And I think that is such a wonderful metaphor of what often goes wrong with our stewardship. God has given all of us a metaphorical bag of French Fries. Some of us have small bags, and others have big bags, and some even have super-sized bags. Some of your bags might have curly fries, and others might have jalapeño flavored fries. But God has given every one of you some things.
And like that dad, God desires to sit down at the table with us for some fellowship and connection time. When He reaches over to use some of the blessings he has freely given to us, far too often we say, "No God, these are mine. Go get your own fries." And it hurts God's feelings (speaking anthropomorphically, of course). It's not as if God needs our French Fries. He doesn't need anything. He has made all things. He made us, and gives us strength, and enables us to find employment, and prospers us in so many different ways. And God doesn't ask us to give because He is hurting. He could just utter the word and there would be billions of French Fries. So why does He ask us for any? He asks us to give because he wants us to find the delight of what it means to become more like Him.
David and the men in this chapter had it right. God had prospered them with super-sized French Fries, and it was their absolute joy to share those French Fries with God and to offer God more. And rather than looking at every word of this chapter, I thought I would give a rapid overview of 20 verses that show 15 right ways of engaging in stewardship that are better than Jimmy's hoarding.
What gifts has God given to us, What did God ask for us in return? When were we not willing to share with God? How can we share our fries with God? What greed is rampant in the world today? What does God want us to do about it in faith?
A bowl of fruit teaches us all that we need to know about our faith. Let’s enjoy our fruit while it is summer! Let’s Pray!
Song
Prayer of Intercession
O Christ, your cross speaks both to us and to our world.
In your dying for us,
You accepted the pain and hurt of the whole of creation.
The arms of your cross stretch out
Across the broken world in reconciliation.
You have made peace with us.
Helps us to make peace with you
By sharing in your reconciling work.
May we recognize your spirit
Disturbing and challenging us to care for creation
And for the poor who most feel the effects of its abuse.
O Christ, the whole of creation groans.
Set us free and make us whole. Amen.
From the Iona Community’s Iona Abbey Worship Book (Wild Goose Publications, Iona Community, 2001). Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/10/prayer-of-intercession-colossians-1-15.html.
Lord’s Prayer
Stewardship Moment
Life is all about choices and how we allow God to be present in our choices. Banana here – represents something that you received recently – present, money earned, something weren’t expecting. Lesson for today, is first fruits and putting God first in everything that we do.
Peel banana – peel off a tenth and put it aside.
Most of the banana left. Life starts to happen. Friend stops by and invites your out for ice cream – spend a dollar. Still have 8 dollars left.
Next day, your family goes to Catfish days – want to eat out – spend 3 dollars. How much left?
Go to the store and you want a candy bar – 1.50. how much left
End of the week spent it all – but we set aside a tenth – still have money to put in church
Many people do it the opposite – so excited to get their gift – that that can’t wait to dive in – and in the next week. Nothing is left for God. That stewardship calls us to put god first in everything that we do – not just money – but time talents, gifts. Give our first fruits to God – have left to be blessed. Everything else falls into place.
Have that opportunity to give first fruits to God.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Loving God, you have given us life and called us to new life as disciples of Jesus Christ. In gratitude and thanksgiving, we offer back to you our lives, symbolized in these gifts of coin and check. Help us continue to offer “the better part” not only today but each day of our lives. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving)
Announcements
Closing Prayer for Facebook
Many tasks await us and distractions abound. Having been fed by the
Word of God and refreshed and inspired by the Holy Spirit, we go from
this place, renewed by our call to witness to and share God’s love in a
world that so desperately needs it.
As we do so, may the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you, now and always.
Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Stephanie Sorge)
Community Time Joys and Concerns
Benediction
As you go,
Boast in the goodness of God
Live in the abundance of God’s love.
Remember that you are more than enough.
Find rest and joy in the day.
Know hope and safety in the night.
Go, in peace to love and to serve. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Cheryl Lindsay)
Additional Illustrations
Many Christians spend six days a week sowing wild oats and then come to church and pray for crop failure.
Source: Unknown
False Advertising
“Recently I saw a bag of potato chips with a bold declaration splashed across the front: ‘Zero grams of trans fat.’ I was glad to know that I wouldn’t be consuming any trans fat, which research has shown is detrimental to my health. But then I flipped the bag over and read the ingredients list, which included things like ‘yellow #6’ and other artificial colors, and partially hydrogenated oil (which is trans fat, just a small enough amount that they can legally call it ‘0 grams’). I thought it was incredibly ironic that these chips were being advertised in a way that makes me think they are not harmful, yet were really full of empty calories, weird chemicals, and, ironically, trans fat. It struck me that many Christians flash around their ‘no trans fat’ label, trying to convince everyone they are healthy and good. Yet they have no substantive or healthful elements to their faith” (Francis Chan, Crazy Love [Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2008], excerpted in Charisma Leader, November 4, 2008, https://ministrytodaymag.com/index.php/features/17801-serving-leftovers-to-a-holy-god).
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