Raise the Standard
The Prophet Amos was a cattle farmer who received a call to go to the nations with a word of the Lord. He had no formal training, neither was he considered to be a voice of influence. God inducted him into the realm of the prophetic with a roar. Amos 1:2 And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. This must have been a terrifying experience for a shepherd because he knows that the sheep are in danger when the lion roars. God doesn’t stop with the sound of a roar but gives him a visual of the reason for it. Amos 7:7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.8 And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
A plumbline is a tool with a string and a pointed weight on the end, used by builders to make sure they lay a brick wall straight and true. God built Israel into a nation according to his standards. They were expected to be true to those standards. They didn’t measure up to the word of God because they were completely out of plumb when they were tested. God called them to be a light to the gentile nations. He called them to be Holy and set apart for his purpose and use. He called them to be accountable only to himself. They were out of plumb.
The church today faces the decision to either maintain the standards of God or lose the purpose for which it exists on this earth. When Peter received the revelation that the Christ, The Messiah, The anointed one, The head of the church was in their midst, Jesus responded in Matthew 16: 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Nothing is supposed to surpass the church in strength. We only lose our strength if we are out of plumb. A leaning wall has to be corrected or it will eventually fall. So it is with the body of Christ that has gotten far from the cornerstone, far from the foundation and is leaning in every direction. We are accountable to build our lives according to the standard of the word. 1 Corinthians 3:11 for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. We would do well to pattern ourselves after the man in Luke 6:48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
