Micah 6:8 - Part 3 - What the Lord Requires

Go back in time with me, if you will, for a couple thousand years to a land that was oppressed and to a people that had been beaten down and abused. They were tired, dirt poor, and had no one to help them. Yes, their situation was due to poor choices they and their forefathers had made and they reaped what they sowed but it was oppressive. Lives were being lost. Confusion and chaos controlled them. Injustice and poverty were inhaled with every breath.

 

But in the back of their minds there was something else. When they allowed themselves to dream; when they got together as a family, maybe at the supper table, they would talk about it. They would talk about the hope they had. And it wasn’t a false hope or a hope without promise. Their hope came from the Lord. It came from passages like Isaiah 9:6-7 that says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”

 

Oh, that had to bring great peace and joy. A father would come in from a back-breaking day at work or a mother would come from the market without everything she needed and somebody would encourage them with these words. A friend would see another down and out and would say, “Ah, remember the words of the prophet! It’s not always going to be this way.”

 

And generation after generation would encourage each other with the living hope they had that someday soon there would be One who would save them and deliver them from this nasty old world in which they lived. And then just imagine the excitement; imagine the buzz that started in the neighborhood when they heard about Jesus. Could it be? Could He really be the One? Yes, yes, He is and He is coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover with us! And if that’s true, you know what that means. He’s coming to declare his intention of establishing His Kingdom.

 

Let’s go see Him! Let’s put palm branches down and lay our coats out for Him to ride over so He will know we are supporting Him. Where is He? There is so many people here I can’t see Him. Everybody is cheering and crying out “Hosanna” so I know He is close. And there He is.

 

And how does Jesus enter? As He comes into that holy city, the city He had just wept over, he comes declaring He is King. He comes making the bold statement that He is God and He is the Messiah and He is the One for whom they have been waiting and hoping. And how does Jesus enter? Does He come with bodyguards surrounding a golden chariot? Does He come riding a prancing white stallion with trumpets heralding His arrival? This is His big day, this is His party. It is all about Him and how does come?

 

He comes riding the colt of a donkey. He comes lowly and meek. Fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that says, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” He comes to them poor, with only the clothes on His back and no place to call home. He comes afflicted, knowing the cross is just before Him. And He came to show us today a model of what God requires of us, His followers.

 

We conclude our series on what the Lord requires of us by looking at Micah 6:8. We have seen that God requires us to act justly to Him, to others and ourselves. We have seen that we are to love mercy and to show it with strength, steadfastness and love. Today we will see that the other requirement is to walk humbly with our God and this may be the most difficult one yet.

 

Let’s read that verse one more time in Micah 6:8. Micah is between Jonah and Nahum if that helps, in the Old Testament toward the end. “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

 

I have said before that it is my opinion that if God could teach us only would thing about Himself that it would be that He is a God of grace. And if He could only teach us one thing about ourselves it is that we are a prideful people. And the first 2 requirements are primarily focused horizontally towards other people. But this requirement is primarily focused vertically towards God. Psalm 10:4 says, “In his pride the wicked does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”

 

But the word “humble” as Micah uses it here means to be poor, weak, lowly and afflicted. And I want us to see why, how and where we are to be humble because God knows and we should learn that pride keeps us from relationship with Him. But humility enhances our relationship with Him. And that is a big part of why we are to be humble; just because it enhances our relationship with God.

 

If the chief rule of real estate is location, location, location, the chief rule of relationship with God is humility, humility, humility. The problem is humility is like a slippery watermelon seed. Once you get it under your fingers and you think you have it, it slips away from you. Dr. Harry Ironside was once convicted about his lack of humility. A friend recommended as a remedy, that he march through the streets of Chicago wearing a sandwich board, shouting the scripture verses on the board for all to hear. Dr. Ironside agreed to this venture and when he returned to his study and removed the board, he said "I'll bet there's not another man in town who would do that." (sermonillustrations.com)

 

I said that this one may be the most difficult requirement that God expects of us because first, nobody wants to do it or is naturally wired this way. And secondly, once you have it and realize it, then you’ve lost it. But if you are not humble then there is no way you can truly act justly or love mercy. We should be humble because ultimately we see ourselves for who and what we are and we see God for Who and What He is.

 

For some people humility is harder than it is for others. For some people, they feel pretty confident about who they are. They have worked hard and paid the price to get where they are in life and now they are doing pretty well. They like to call themselves self-made men. I understand that a man in the British parliament once said that to Winston Churchill. Churchill replied, “Son, you have given God a great relief.”

 

Acts 17:28 says, “‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.” When we realize that God has given us every single thing including our very breath, the talents we have, our dreams, our passions and even our desire for Him, it is hard to be anything but humble. Paul understood this better than most. In Philippians chapter 3 we find the famous list of all that Paul was. He says, “though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. ⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.”

 

See, Paul figured out that God had given him everything and made him into who he was and so Paul had no right to be proud especially since all of that was worthless when it got in the way of having a relationship with God through His Son Jesus. And so when he lost all of that or at least put it all away, his religion became a relationship and changed Paul’s life forever. For Paul, it took being blinded on the road. For me, it took being humiliated at church.

 

Some years ago at another church, I first started teaching Sunday School. I had never done it before but I had some help getting started and I had been doing it for a few months when I started to think I was doing this pretty well. I never actually thought it in those words and certainly never said it but somewhere in the back of my mind was the thought, “I’m doing pretty well at this whole SS thing. They’re lucky to have me.” Haha! I’ll give you one guess what happened.

We were studying the passage where Paul was shipwrecked and I had studied it and had made notes and I was prepared. Or so I thought. I got up to speak and I might as well have been reading Greek. It didn’t make sense and it was not in order and I found myself stuttering and stammering and totally lost and starting to panic. Then someone over here stood up and said what the passage meant to them. And then another stood up and said what they got out of it. And then another and another and pretty soon I just sat down behind the podium where they couldn’t even see me and I just listened to them.

 

And there behind that podium it was as if God lovingly whispered to me, “I don’t need you. I love you so much I gave my only Son for you but I do not need you. I can make the rocks cry out, for Pete’s sake. I can certainly handle a SS class without your help.” And every day after that and even today I pray, “Lord, I pray that what you want said gets said by somebody. If it’s me then you say it through me. If it’s somebody else, then it’s to your glory.”

 

Why should we be humble? Because if you don’t humble yourself God will humble you! Luke 14:11 says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” God knows pride hinders our relationship with Him and He will not tolerate it from His children. I always need motivation for doing something. I always factor in what it is going to mean for me. And that should be our motivation; enhancing our relationship with Him. After being motivated (why), I want to know how to do something so let’s talk about how to be humble.

 

Those of you with glasses, have you ever realized that you were having a hard time seeing?  It wasn’t because your eyes were getting any worse but you found yourself squinting and trying to see something that wasn’t clear.  And then you took your glasses off and realized they were filthy.  Smudges, dirt and all kinds of junk were on there and had built up so bad that you were having a hard time seeing things correctly.

 

Well, the same thing can happen to us spiritually.  We start seeing things incorrectly but it’s not dirt and grime that cloud our vision.  It is ourselves.  We start to see everything as it pertains to us.  That blessing I got was because I was faithful.  That trial I am going through is unfair because I don’t deserve that.  What can you do for me?  What can God do for me?  What can I get out of this worship service?  It’s hard to be humble when our glasses are so filthy they start to reflect back.

 

But when you clean off all that ugly self and start to see clearly, you start to focus, not on yourself, but on the Savior.  You start to see that blessing as not something just for you to enjoy but something that you can use to bless others.  You start to see that trial not as punishment but as a way you can help somebody else when they go through something similar.  You start to think about what you can do for somebody else and you most certainly see worship as your gift to God, not His gift to you.

 

And when you start to see things clearly, you know what happens?  You won’t even notice it but you will be humble.  You will see everything, from the smallest flower to the greatest sunset, as being God’s handiwork.  You will see that person in line in front of you, not as a hindrance to getting out of Walmart but as a soul who needs to know Jesus.  You will stop thinking you don’t have enough money for that new TV and start to realize how much stuff you can buy to put in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox. 

 

In other words you will quit thinking about yourself so much and will start thinking of others more.  You may have heard the saying that humility is not thinking less of yourself.  It is just thinking of yourself less.  You are still that wonderfully talented person Jesus died for.  You are just humble enough to realize that you are nothing without Him.  That is seeing life correctly and that is how you are to be humble.

 

Lastly, I want to see when we are to be humble.  We have seen why and how.  But there is a time and place for humility and that is, as it says at the end of the verse, when you walk with your God.  When you walk with your God you are to be humble.  But what does that mean?  Well, the phrase “walk with God” simply means to have a relationship with Him.  When you live your life conscious of God, communicating with God and listening to God, you are walking with Him.

Can you think of anybody in the Bible who was said to have walked with God?   3 men are spoken of as having walked with God.  They were Enoch, Abraham and Moses.  That’s it.  There may have been others but only those three are spoken of having walked with God.  But that is what God requires.  He requires us to walk humbly with Him.  That’s pretty small company.  But notice that God does not say walk humbly with this world.  He doesn’t say walk humbly compared to this world.  He expects you to live according to His standards, not the world’s.

 

Some of us are guilty of comparing ourselves to the world and we start to look pretty good, right?  I don’t drink near as much as some people.  I don’t cuss near as bad as that guy over there.  I go to church a lot more than the average person.  I’m considerably more humble than the lady at the end of the aisle.  Did you hear what she said the other day?

 

Do you know what Satan does when he sees and hears that?  He puts another mark in the win column, baby.  God expects you to live according to what He says not what the world thinks is moral.  He expects you to act justly.  He expects you to love mercy.  And He expects you to walk humbly with Him.

 

Walk humbly with Him and you will see God as He truly is and you will see yourself as you truly are.  Walk humbly with Him and you will see less of you.  Walk humbly with Him and you will not walk with the world.

 

Psalm 25:9 says, “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.”  Aren’t you glad we have His Word to know what is required of us?  Thank you, Lord!

 

“What the Lord Requires” – Love Mercy – Micah 6:8

A woman's husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day.  One day, when he came to, he motioned for her to come nearer.  As she sat by him, he whispered, eyes full of tears, "You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times.  When I got fired, you were there to support me. When my business failed, you were there.  When I got shot, you were by my side.  When we lost the house, you stayed right here.  When my health started failing, you were still by my side... You know what?"  "What dear?" she gently asked, smiling as her heart began to fill with warmth.

"I think you're bad luck...”

The jokes about marriage are endless.  I heard a guy the other day say that the first 10 years of marriage are the hardest.  I asked him how long he had been married and he said 10 years.  I’ve heard it said that marriage requires a man to get 3 types of "rings":  * The Engagement Ring  * The Wedding Ring  * The Suffe-Ring.

Jill tells her husband, "Jack, that young couple that just moved in next door seem such a loving twosome. Every morning, when he leaves the house, he kisses her goodbye, and every evening when he comes home, he brings her a dozen roses.
Now, why can't you do that?"

"Good grief," Jack says, "why I hardly know the girl."

Why is it that nearly all marriage jokes are derogatory?  You rarely ever hear a joke about marriage that is not making fun of it somehow.  And that’s a shame because a sound marriage is one of the best things that can happen to a person.  We all know that a sound marriage is a lot of work but anything worth having is going to be and just like anything else, you get out of marriage what you put in.  But, because you do have to put out some effort, it also makes a perfect illustration for our subject today.

Some of you may have seen that we are going to be talking about mercy today and you are wondering about the connection between marriage and mercy.  And I’m sure there are some jokes to be made right there but aren’t you glad I’m going to skip ‘em?  Yes, today we are going to continue our look at what the Lord expects of us from the popular verse Micah 6:8.  We saw last week how important it is to know what God expects of us.

There is an innate need given to us by God…to know God; to see Him or understand Him or be able to describe Him and, ultimately, to worship Him.  And we can’t truly worship God without knowing what He expects of us and what pleases Him.  So, this passage, broken down and stated as simply as it is, is vital to our Christian walk. We saw last week in looking at the first part about how to act justly that God doesn’t want our sacrifice.  He doesn’t want what belongs to us.  He wants us.

So, let’s read the passage and then we will see how mercy and marriage go together and how that ties in to giving God all of ourselves.  Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

A pastor was giving a lesson to a group of children on the 23rd Psalm.  It says that “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of my days” but a little boy said he didn’t like that.  The pastor asked why that could possibly be a problem and the boy said he didn’t mind mercy following him around but he didn’t know who Shirley Goodness was and he didn’t want her following him.  I don’t know about you but I need mercy following me around and following closely.

And we all know what mercy is, right?  But, as I often do, I wanted to know exactly what Micah was talking about here and so I looked up the original word he used and its definition.  Most of us would define the word something along the lines of “not getting what we deserve” and that is true for mercy but the original word has a little richer meaning.  The original Hebrew word is “Checed” (Ke-sed). 

And in general there are 3 meanings of checed that always interact.  It means “strength”, “steadfastness” and “love”.  And any understanding of the word that fails to suggest all 3 inevitably loses some of its richness.  “Love” by itself can easily be sentimentalized and “strength” and “steadfastness” suggest only the fulfillment of a legal obligation.  (Strong’s Concordance)

But when you put them all together you get a great picture of what God requires of us but is also perfectly illustrated by a sound marriage.  Let’s think about those ideas of strength, steadfastness and love in context with mercy for a few minutes.  Let’s start with strength.  And I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking that it’s obvious that I have been going to the gym and working out and getting all buffed up and so why don’t I just illustrate strength by doing something like that guy did in Runaway Bay a few weeks ago during that strongman show.

I don’t have any bats to break or steel rods to bend but I found this telephone book and I’ll just tear this in two like he did.  Or maybe not.  I can’t do it.  Do you know why?  Well, obviously, I’m not strong enough.  In fact, I’ll go on to say that not only am I not strong enough but I don’t have the steadfastness or the love to get it done.  I can’t tear this phone book without help just like none of us have the strength, steadfastness or love to remain married without help.  But this is exactly where Philippians 4:13 comes in.  As you know, it says, "I Can Do All Things through Christ Who Strengthens Me" and one of those “all things” is marriage.

Sure, some people can make it through marriage without Christ.  It certainly happens.  But since God is the Author of marriage and it was His idea, it is only through Him that we can have a sound and fulfilling marriage.  And it takes both spouses, even then.  But when both spouses understand that and embrace Christ first and their spouse second, it becomes a marriage that honors God and when you honor God He will honor you.  In John 12:26 Jesus says, “My Father will honor the one who serves me.”  God says the same thing in 1 Samuel 2:30.  “Those who honor me I will honor.”

And when God honors a marriage, He gives you the ability to have the strength, steadfastness and love that you need when your spouse needs mercy.  Marriage is such a good illustration of what mercy really means because there is a legal aspect to marriage.  We looked at what the Bible says about marriage last Wednesday night.  We have looked at it before but it keeps being requested and every time we learn something new.  And this was a big part of what we talked about.  Part of what makes marriage holy before God is that there are laws pertaining to it and it requires a commitment.  It requires a commitment.

Couples who live together without being married have no real commitment to each other. They might say they are committed but legally, if they don’t want to be together all they have to do is divide up the cd’s and figure out who gets the cat and walk off.  And without getting into another big issue, that is why God expects a commitment from His bride, the church.  And how many times does the bride of Christ, the church, need mercy?  All the time.  Thank you Lord for being merciful to us, your bride!

But whether it is God being merciful to us, or Christ to His bride or you to your spouse, it takes strength to be merciful.  The definition of mercy includes not getting what we deserve.  When somebody does something wrong toward you, something really bad, something they know will bother you and they make the choice to do it anyway, what is your natural response?  Revenge?  The silent treatment?  Even divorce?  It’s hard to show mercy at a time like that.  But that is exactly what God requires of us.  That’s why mercy requires strength, because it is hard to do.

 

Now, I have seen the way some of you drive.  And if you can’t show mercy to somebody who cuts you off or forgets a blinker, I feel sorry for your spouse.  If you can’t show mercy in the little, easy things, what is going to happen when somebody really needs mercy or the relationship falls apart?  What is going to happen when you have to make the decision to be like Christ and just show somebody mercy?  Will you be able to do it?  Maybe you ought to start with the little things and build up your mercy strength.  Because when you can’t show mercy to somebody who needs it, and that is going to be all of us sooner or later, that shows your lack of spiritual strength, your mercy strength.  And that is not Christ-like and it’s a sin.

Luke 6:36 says, “Be merciful even as your Father is merciful.”  God the Father was strong in his mercy towards us as Romans 5:8 says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Did we deserve that mercy?  Of course not.  Again, if it was deserved, it wouldn’t be mercy.  That took strength for Him to be able to show us that mercy and when it comes to God and us it also takes steadfastness.  Steadfastness means unchanging or constant and in relation to mercy it is shown when mercy is needed over and over.

Does that sound like your relationship with the Lord?  It does mine.  How about your relationship to your spouse?  Psalm 40:11 says, “As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!”(ESV)  David knew God’s mercies to be constant and unchanging.  Could that be said of you?  I’m not saying you should allow someone to take advantage of your good nature.  I’m just saying how many times do you show mercy before you say that’s enough?  How many times has God showed you mercy?  That’s the answer to that.

In Matthew 18, Jesus taught Peter to forgive, “Not 7 times but 70 times 7!”  Mercy and forgiveness go hand in hand and not to forgive and not to show mercy is sin.  You know what?  Let ‘em take advantage of your good nature.  You do what you are supposed to do and let them deal with God about what they are doing.  Your good nature is the nature you receive from the Lord anyhow so that is between them and God.  Mercy towards them is between you and God even if it happens over and over again because that is the very essence of mercy in that it involves steadfastness.  Your mercy, like God’s, should be unchanging and constant.

In 2 Samuel 9, we see that Mephibosheth is lame in both feet.  In those days there was no Medicare or Social Security and to be lame and unable to work meant you were fully dependent on somebody else and if nobody helped you it could easily mean death.  But Mephibosheth got a call one day to go before King David.  He had never met the king.  He had never done anything for the king and so I can imagine his shock to know the king wanted to see him.  And when he gets there David said, “Don’t be afraid for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul and you will always eat at my table.”

Mercy would have been to give the guy a few bucks and wish him well.  Some say mercy would have been to just put him out of his misery since he would never be able to repay the mercy or give back in any way.  But steadfast mercy from David meant that lame man who didn’t deserve it and couldn’t repay it would always, for the rest of his life literally eat like a king.  For years and years Mephibosheth enjoyed David’s mercy.  Nobody would have blamed David if he had not done anything.  Even Mephibosheth would not have complained.  But I wonder how many people saw that and thought there is something different about that king.

How many people are looking at you and are wondering about what kind of person you are?  When they see that you have road rage and you try to catch up to somebody on the highway so you can tell them or show them how you feel, they see somebody that acts just like everybody else.  When they see you forgive your spouse and show mercy one time but not the next, even that is done by pretty much everybody.  But when they see you show mercy, and you show it over and over again even to those who don’t deserve it and can’t repay it, they see Jesus in you.

 

 

We have made a concerted effort to learn how to make disciples around here.  We have learned how to give our testimony and how to lead someone to have a life-changing relationship with the Lord and how to encourage them in their walk.  That’s what it means to make disciples.  But let me ask something of you.  Please don’t try any of that if you can’t show mercy.  If you can’t show strong and steadfast mercy then don’t say anything.  If you talk about Jesus with one side of your mouth and refuse mercy to those that need it, you are a banging gong just getting on people’s nerves as you act like everybody else in this world.

Because the difference in a relationship with Jesus and every religion in this world is that people should be able to see our love.  And without mercy, you don’t show love.  And Jesus says in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  But don’t say you have love if your life doesn’t reflect it.  You see, love is the last requirement for mercy.  True mercy involves strength, steadfastness and love.

I said before that part of what makes marriage holy before God is that there are laws pertaining to it and it requires a commitment.  So, is that why you stay married?  Is that what has kept you together for 20, 30, 50 years; the law?  I’m quite sure that if it had not been for the law that some of you might not be together today but what keeps you together and what allows you to show strong and steadfast mercy is love. 

With strength and steadfastness you can keep a law.  But with love, you don’t need a law.  With love, showing mercy is not something that is dragged out of you that you give because you have to or you will look bad.  When your mercy is infused with love for that person and a love for Jesus, anything else is out of the question!  Who wants revenge on someone you love?  Who wants to give the silent treatment to a loved one?  And you don’t divorce someone you love because you know that love has come from Christ in Whom we can do all things, including making the choice to love and show mercy to a spouse or anyone else that may have done us wrong.

Years after the death of President Calvin Coolidge, this story came to light. In the early days of his presidency, Coolidge awoke one morning in his hotel room to find a burglar going through his pockets. Coolidge spoke up, asking the burglar not to take his watch chain because it contained an engraved charm he wanted to keep. Coolidge then engaged the thief in quiet conversation and discovered he was a college student who had no money to pay his hotel bill or buy a ticket back to campus. Coolidge counted $32 out of his wallet -- which he had also persuaded the dazed young man to give back! -- declared it to be a loan, and advised the young man to leave the way he had come so as to avoid the Secret Service! (Yes, the loan was paid back.) (sermonillustrations.com)

That is mercy shown by someone who loved to show mercy!  And that is what we are called to do.  Don’t begrudge someone some mercy.  Micah doesn’t say that we should act justly, walk humbly and…cut some people some slack every now and then.  He says to love mercy!  Love it.  Do it strongly and continue to do it and do it in love.  That’s what the Lord requires.  And when he says that the Lord requires it, it means that anything less is disobedience, and disobedience is sin.

After invitation:  I haven’t mentioned BOOCOD here in a while but most of you know that is the benefits of obedience and the consequences of disobedience.  And that is perfectly illustrated right here.  For those who don’t show mercy, none will be shown but Jesus said blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.  I don’t know about you but I need, I have to have, strong, steadfast and loving mercy all the time.  Lord please help us to be obedient and to reflect you as we show mercy to somebody this week.

“What the Lord Requires” – Part 1 – Micah 6:8

"The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways--I to die, and you to live. Which to the better fate is known only to God." Those are the last recorded words of Socrates after his famous trial in Athens in the year 399 B.C. He was accused of impiety which is a lack of respect for religious institutions or customs. And he was found guilty and sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock. His jury was 500 men of Athens. His judge was ultimately the city of Athens itself.

Contrast that with the media circus that surrounded the OJ Simpson trial in 1995 where the ex-football player was charged with murdering 2 people in Los Angeles. Twelve jurors took 100 days to bring a not-guilty verdict back to Judge Ito and the world in a trial that brought us the famous quote, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

Now, compare that to the great trial that God has brought to the people of Israel in Micah chapter 6. The Israelites are being charged. The mountains and the hills are the jury (as only God can arrange) and God Himself is the great Judge. They are accused of ignoring, neglecting and rebelling against God and when God brings all the evidence forward the Israelites are found guilty as charged. But the great Judge is also merciful and full of grace and His great quote is, “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly before your God.”

He could have sentenced them to death. He could have given them what they deserved. His wrath could have thundered over the witnessing mountains and come crashing down like a hurricane over the deserving Hebrews and not one person could have blamed Him. In fact, God would still have been seen as good and just had He done that but that was not His plan or His will. His will was for them to have a relationship with Him. His will was for them to obey Him as a good Father would expect His children to obey Him because it was for their benefit as well.

God has instilled all of us with the desire to know Him. Everyone who has ever lived has at some time in some way felt that there must be more to this life than just living. Since we can see things that are created, there has to be a Creator. Romans 1: 20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” How can you see a tree or a flower, not to mention a sunset, and not believe that there has to be a Creator and a Higher Power of some sort?

The problem is that desire that has been instilled in us by God to know God has manifested itself in religion. Religionists see God as a Higher-Power that will revolve around them and solve their problems if they do and say enough of the right things. Christians believe that our lives should revolve around God and that it is by His grace and mercy that we live and breathe and that it is to our benefit that we do that but ultimately our lives are lived for His benefit and the benefit of His Kingdom.

And this problem that religion has is not just realized lately. It was a problem for Socrates; a problem for OJ; a problem for us all the way back to Adam and Eve, including the Old Testament Israelites in Micah’s day. The Book of Micah is considered a Minor Prophet, not because of its quality but for its quantity. We can all appreciate the power of brevity (amen?) and the Minor Prophets were all short and to the point and all managed to congregate at the back of the Old Testament.

Micah is found between Jonah and Nahum, if that helps and so while you are trying to find it without actually looking in the table of contents because you are too proud to have someone see you do that, I will tell you real quick that Micah lived in a time and place when justice could be bought for the right price and government was corrupt and it seemed that only the rich people had any real rights. Money and power trumped everything including justice, mercy and humility. And, no, he is not living in the 21^st century United States. He lived in Judah 800 years before Jesus was born.

I wouldn’t envy any of the Old Testament prophets. Not only were they assigned to be God’s mouthpiece, but rarely did God ever give them anything positive to say. They often spoke out against the leaders of the country and often had to tell the people that how they were living was making God angry. I doubt if they got very many Valentine’s Day cards, if you know what I mean.

In our text this morning, Micah starts off speaking as God, then his speech is that of the Israelites and then he speaks as Micah. We are going to focus on verse 8 but I want you to see the courtroom drama unfold as we read Micah 6:1-8. Listen to what the Lord says: “Stand up, plead my case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. ² “Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel. ³ “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. ⁴ I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. ⁵ My people,remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” ⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? ⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Again, verse 8 says, “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Now, let me just tell you that if I were God, this is not what I would say. If I were the Lord I would require instant obedience or I will punt you off this planet and if you talk that way to me one more time I will make up new diseases to strike you with you little flea! So, I guess that’s just one more reason it is a good thing I’m not God, huh?

But that illustrates the common problem man has; we always want to assume we know what God would want. And here it is in black and white. Do you understand how important this is? Can you imagine the magnitude of this discovery? Billions of lives have been lived without this knowledge. Wars have been fought over this. Kings have been crowned or assassinated over this very thing and yet Micah lays it out for us like a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner. What is it that God wants? It is the question of the ages.

Everything is summed up in those 3 phrases. The Mosaic Law is all in here. The 10 Commandments are here. Even the laws we have today are summed up here. Do you realize that if we all did what God says to do in this little verse that we would no longer need policemen? We wouldn’t need lawyers, governors or even locks on our doors if we all just knew and obeyed what God wanted for us in this great question: what does the Lord require of you?

And since it is such a big question, I thought I could at least take 3 weeks on the answer God gives since the answer is in 3 parts. He tells us to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly. So, this week we will look closer at what it means to act justly. The word justly means simply to do the right thing and that’s easy to say but I want us to see how we are to do the right thing in relation to God; we are to do the right thing in relation to others. And we are to do the right thing in relation to ourselves.

If we are going to act justly and do the right thing in relation to God then we obviously have to know what that means and most people want to start by asking themselves what they think God thinks is right. But we have already discovered that is not the right way. In the first five verses of Micah chapter 6, Micah speaks for God, accusing them and reminding them of His protection and His provision. But in verses 6 and 7, Micah speaks for the Israelites.

He says that to their minds maybe God wants them to bring sacrifices. Maybe if they brought God some calves or rams. And then the bargaining goes even higher. Maybe God would be pleased if we brought Him thousands of rams or rivers of oil. And then the ultimate bargaining chip: maybe God would be pleased if they sacrificed their own children. He says, “Shall I offer the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

That is the thinking of natural man. That is the thinking of someone who has a religion but not a relationship. And we think how crazy it is to think that way but just this week in India there have been at least two fathers who have sacrificed their children to some god in the hopes of appeasing that god and assuaging their own guilt for the sins they have committed. They hacked up their babies and offered them to some man-made totem pole of an idol because they thought that god would accept the sacrifice.

And while we all know that to be a horrible, horrible thing, I want to say something to this group, not just to people who sacrifice babies. I want to say something that may, at first, startle you and it is something not said from pulpits very often. And that is that not only does God does not want your sacrifice but that sacrifice may include your money. If you are going to act justly in relation to God then your money is not the way to do it. Just putting in your tithe and even an offering doesn’t make you justified before God.

I met a man in Runaway Bay a few years ago who evidently thought that. I knocked on his door to invite him to church and introduced myself. He told me not to expect to ever see him but he handed me a $100 bill and told me to put it in our benevolence fund. One hundred dollars is what he wanted to give to make himself right with God. One hundred dollars to assuage his guilt is what it really was. I hope it worked for him for a little while because I assure you it did not work for God.

How do I know? I know because King David told me as much in his powerful psalm of shame and guilt after his affair with Bathsheba. Psalm 51 says, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. ¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” He knew that God doesn’t want what you own. God wants you. He wants all of you. And, yes, that includes your money but that comes when you have a clean heart before God in your relationship.

That is what David wanted because he knew that is what God wanted. David prayed in that same Psalm that God would create in him a pure heart. God doesn’t want you to send your sacrifice to church while you stay home. He doesn’t want you to donate millions to charity if that is how you think you are going to “get on God’s good side”. And just like you can’t act justly and not love mercy and how you can’t love mercy without walking humbly, you also can’t act justly before God and not act justly before others. You just can’t.

To truly act justly and do the right thing in relation to God, you have to act justly and do the right thing in relation to others as well. Wendy Davis wants to be our new governor next year. If you watch the news you probably remember that she is the one who stood for 11 hours to filibuster a bill in the Texas State Senate that would place new restrictions on abortion clinics and ban the practice after 20 weeks of pregnancy. I’m not making a political statement here; I am making a spiritual statement that to act justly means to act justly toward those who cannot repay you and that includes the unborn.

How is it that sacrificing a newborn is a horrible, horrible crime and yet in our country, according to the Centers for Disease Control, there is yearly over 750,000 unborn babies aborted legally? It may be considerably more. Acting justly means believing the Bible that abortion is murder and that doing the right thing to those who cannot repay you means standing against those who are for it. Doing the right thing in relation to others means doing it when nobody else is looking. Do the right thing when it is unpopular. Do the right thing by telling others the Good News about Jesus.

Jesus said in Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” The Golden Rule is considered a nursery rhyme any more. It’s what we teach kids but we don’t really expect them to grow up to do it, you know, all the time. A fascinating study on the principle of the Golden Rule was conducted by Bernard Rimland, director of the Institute for Child Behavior Research. Rimland found that “The happiest people are those who help others.” Each person involved in the study was asked to list ten people he knew best and to label them as happy or not happy. Then they were to go through the list again and label each one as selfish or unselfish. In categorizing the results, Rimland found that all of the people labeled happy were also labeled unselfish. He wrote that those “whose activities are devoted to bringing themselves happiness...are far less likely to be happy than those whose efforts are devoted to making others happy”Rimland concluded: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Bible.org)

See what I mean that you can’t act justly without walking justly in relation to God and others? And this study shows that it also applies to you. How do you act justly to yourself? Well, that Golden Rule thing is part of it. Micah says in verse 8 that “He has shown you, O man, what is good.” When he says “O man” he is still talking to the nation of Israel but he is making it personal to each one of them. He might as well say, “you, o man” or “you, o woman”. What does the Lord require of you personally to act justly to yourself?

It sounds like a strange question but we all know of people who are not acting justly to themselves and are paying the price for it every day. Do you know what it is called when we don’t act justly to ourselves? It is called sin. When we sin we are acting unjustly towards ourselves. Anytime we displease God, we act unjustly toward ourselves. Now, some of you are thinking that is how we act justly toward God, right? Yes. We act justly toward Him by not sinning but it is also the main way we act justly in relation to ourselves.

What better way to do the right thing towards ourselves than to have that clear, pure heart David asked for? My neighbors have a gorgeous black lab named Bo. It’s the same name as my big beautiful dog and that causes some confusion sometimes but not bad. It’s not usually a problem because their Bo is usually sitting in the front yard while my dogs are in the back or in the house. The neighbors don’t have a fence in the front yard but Bo never goes anywhere. He is free to go in the back or in the front but he never wanders off from their yard. Do you know what I call that? I call that freedom through obedience.

It drives my dogs crazy when they see Bo out in the front. I can’t let them out because they are not as obedient as that dog and so they have to stay in. Bo has freedom. For a dog, he has a pure heart. He has freedom because he is obedient and we can have that same thing. Some people see Christianity as just a bunch of rules. That’s not Christianity. That’s religion. A relationship with God through His Son Jesus means that there are rules but they are for our good and when we are obedient, it brings freedom.

What better way to do the right thing towards ourselves than to have freedom that comes from obedience? In doing so, we are acting justly in relation to ourselves, others and God. And that is what the Lord requires.