Have you ever been accused of doing
something you didn’t do? That’s a
horrible feeling, isn’t it? If you have
ever been in that situation, you know what passionate feelings it brings up and
how strongly you feel about receiving justice.
You will stop at nothing to clear your name even if it is a small
matter. We have all been there. We demand justice!
Have you ever sat down in a chair and
the chair made a funny little noise?
What’s the first thing you do?
You squirm around and try to make the chair make that sound again, right? You don’t want to be accused of something you
didn’t do. “It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!” It’s a bad feeling to be accused of something
when really you are innocent.
But as bad as that feeling is, do you
know what is worse? What is worse is
being found guilty of a really serious crime…that you did commit. Maybe some of you have had to stand before a
judge as he read off the crime you are accused of and then heard the jury
pronounce the verdict – the correct verdict – that you are GUILTY.
Then maybe you have to wait to hear
your sentencing. You have done the
crime. Now you have to pay your debt to
society, as they say. Maybe it’s an
especially heinous crime and your mind wanders about just how bad this is going
to be. You know your life will never be
the same and you know you can never really make it right and you wish you
hadn’t done it but just how bad – how high is the price going to be? You’re not crying out for justice now, are
you? No.
Now you want mercy.
Now…what if…that judge was none other
than God Himself? Yea, you thought Judge
Judy was tough! Imagine standing before
the Almighty, All-knowing, All-seeing, All-holy Judge of all judges knowing
that you are guilty as sin for sin. You
are waiting for the sentence to come down and you know that there is no appeal. There is no Perry Mason that is going to
stand up and yell, “Your Honor, I
object!” It’s just you and God the
Judge. What are you going to say? What are you going to do?
In the little book of Micah, the nations of Israel and Judah
were in that spot. In the first five
verses of chapter 6, God has called
the court to order and then He announced the charge and the proof was
obvious. There was no denying it; no
need for a video to be shown or witnesses to be called. All parties involved knew the law had been
broken, not just once but over and over again.
At one point, God even gives them an
opportunity to explain themselves. He
asks, “My people, what have I done to
you? Answer me.” It is a question asked, not by a righteous
judge but more like a friend who has been hurt.
Put yourself in their place for a minute. What would you say? What could you say? What can you possibly do to make it up to God
and be able to be friends with Him again?
That is what Micah answers in Micah 6:6-8. Micah is in between the books of Jonah and
Nahum in the Old Testament. It is not a
big book; part of what we call the Minor Prophets because of its size. The passage we are going to read answers the
question asked by people since the dawn of time in every society and every
place on earth. What does God expect of
us?
Let’s read Micah 6:6-8. 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? 7Will 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? 8He has shown you, O mortal, 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.
How many of you men know that giving your wife a birthday or Christmas gift
can be pretty tricky? You don’t want to
spend too much but you sure don’t want to spend too little either. If you buy clothes, buying them a size too
little is better than too big but if it’s too small, she’ll think you want her
to lose weight. And don’t even think
about buying anything weight-loss related or self-improvement related. You’ll never live that down.
Also, avoid all things useful. She
might tell you she wants a new vacuum cleaner but she doesn’t want it for her
birthday. Don't buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you
can't afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn't want. All this might make you think you are smart
by going to get her a gift card but she will just think you didn’t put any
thought into it. Honestly, I don’t know
what to tell you. But it better be good!
Micah had an
even worse dilemma. Can you imagine
standing before the Creator of the universe, the One who spoke everything into
existence, the Lord, the exalted God, knowing you are guilty of crimes and
wanting to be in His good graces once again?
What do you bring Him? What gifts
should you bring to the One who literally has everything?
In the Old
Testament, a sacrifice was required to pay for (atone for) sins that were
committed. If you sinned big – murder, theft – then a big sacrifice was
required. You might have to sacrifice a
bull or even a couple of oxen. If you just
sinned a little bit, like getting your wife a gift card, then a much smaller
sacrifice was required.
There were
also four other types of offerings that could or should be made. Besides the sin offering there was the burnt
offering, the grain offering, the peace offering and the trespass offering. All had different meanings and rules and were
used for different things and in the Old Testament, before Jesus, this was how
sins were paid for, if you will.
It wasn’t a perfect system, though,
because the people got used to giving these sacrifices when what God really
wanted was for the people to get used to not sinning. Do you see the problem there? The people thought they could just sin and
make sacrifices, sin and make sacrifices, over and over and still be right with
God. Because isn’t that what God told
them to do?
Yes, that’s what God told them to do
but they missed the point. The point was
– DON’T SIN. If you do sin, your repentance will be evidenced through
your sacrifice. But the people missed that
whole repentance thing. They skipped
that part and thought if they just gave God some stuff then everything would be
cool. But what in the world does God
need with stuff?
I’ll let God Himself answer that from Psalm 50: 9I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from
your pens, 10for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle
on a thousand hills. 11I know every bird in the mountains, and the
insects in the fields are mine. 12If I were hungry I would not tell
you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. 13Do I eat the
flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
Walk into any old, European Catholic church and look around at the stained-glass windows and the murals on the walls and the ceilings. In an age where everyone can read, it’s too easy to look at this and wonder why they’d bothered.
But the churches, the art and the ceremonies were created well before everyone could read and write. They were a way of teaching an illiterate people about God in a way they could understand.
The sacrifice and offering system served much the same function: it was a daily reminder of the power and holiness of God and of humanity’s sinfulness. (https://thatbibleblog.com/2015/02/17/does-god-need-animal-sacrifices/)
Leviticus 1:4 says, “4You are to lay your hand on the
head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make
atonement for you.” When a man took an animal in, placed his hand
on its head, then slaughtered it, he would have known that the animal was
taking his place. Sin has always
required a sacrifice. The problem that
mankind has always had is in having too little concern for sin. Oh, we’re real concerned about it when it is
somebody else’s sin but ours isn’t that big of a deal. Sin is ALWAYS that big of a deal with
God. That’s why blood had to be shed for
it.
Now, some commentaries
may differ but I believe Micah is being a little facetious here. I think he is exaggerating the possibilities
for gifts to God because in verse 8,
he tells us the right answer. Does God
want all these sacrifices? If I could
give ten thousand rivers of oil, would that please God? Of course not.
We know that God made
everything out of nothing, right? At the
creation of the world, God spoke and there was dry land and He said, “That’s good.” He divided the day into evening and morning
and said, “That’s good.” He spoke everything into existence, the sun,
moon, stars and animals and said, yep, “That’s
good.” But when He created mankind,
He looked down and said, “That’s very
good.”
When we ask the question,
“What does God want from us?” why
would we think God wants something good when we know He really wants what is
very good? He wants us! He wants all of us. He can speak stuff into existence. He says in several places He doesn’t want our
sacrifices if He doesn’t have us.
In verse 8, Micah lays it
out. He starts by saying, “He has showed you, O man, what is
good.” “He has showed you…”? Where had God showed them? Well, Micah’s not saying anything Moses
hadn’t told them in the Law but Micah just boils it down to three things. Let’s look at that again at the end of verse 8. What does God want from us? To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
To act justly simply means to do the right thing. Make right
judgments. Do things correctly. Say things in the right way. The question is, who is the authority on what
is right and what is wrong? Well, here’s
a hint from Proverbs 14:12. “There is a way that
appears to right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”
Ok, so we know mankind is not the authority. Government is not the authority. Baptists are not the authority. Christ Fellowship? Nope.
Micah is talking to us today. He is
saying that God has shown us already what He expects and has shown us what is right
and it is found only in the Bible. I
think Micah and Nike should join forces.
Micah says, “You know what to do.”
And Nike says, “Now, just do it!”
The problem is that is so hard to do, isn’t it? In fact, it’s a lot easier just to give some
of our time, talent or treasure to the church or to the poor or to charity and
then think all is cool with us and God.
That’s way easier to do than to do the right thing...even when nobody is
looking. I don’t know why it’s so hard
to do the right thing; to do what God says to do in the Bible.
Maybe it is the feeling of power you get from making your own decision even
if it’s wrong. Maybe it’s the rush of
rebellion or maybe you just don’t feel like you can trust God in this. You feel like your case is different. I know the Bible says not to (fill in the
blank) but if I don’t I won’t be able to do this or that. You know what I’m talking about and basically
you are saying that this situation is too big for God and you need to take
control of it.
How’s that working out for you? God
says not to worry but you do. Have you
ever worried about something and were later glad that you did? Have you ever stolen something and were later
glad that you did? Have you ever, even
one time, lusted and later thought, “Man,
I’m glad I did that”?
If you are a true believer; a follower and disciple of Jesus, I guarantee
you that has never happened to you because as believers we have the Holy Spirit
living inside of us and when we sin, it grieves the Holy Spirit and that grieves
us. If sin doesn’t grieve you and hurt
you then something is very wrong with your relationship with God. Just do the right thing. Act justly.
Micah says we are to act justly and also to love mercy. My concordance says that the original word for
mercy is “checed” (ke’-sed) and it says that the word cannot be understood
completely without knowing that it is the interaction of the words “strength”,
“steadfastness” and “love”. Mercy is the
combination of “strength”, “steadfastness” and “love”.
When one gets married, that marriage is legally binding but is that the
only thing holding a happy marriage together?
Of course not. In today’s society
you can get divorced for pretty much anything and call it irreconcilable
differences. But you remain married by
showing lots and lots of mercy, don’t you?
Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to
her mother, 'Why is the bride dressed in white?' 'Because white is the color of
happiness,' her mother explained. 'And today is the happiest day in her life.' The child thought
about this for a moment. 'Oh, so that’s
why the groom is wearing black.’-www.ajokeaday.com
We all need mercy. We all
want mercy and we all want to give mercy, at least hypothetically. James
1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure
and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and
to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” That sounds like
loving mercy and acting justly, doesn’t it?
Let’s go back to the
married couple. A man and woman that are
truly in love will love mercy, not just love receiving it but will love giving
it as well. You love mercy because you
love the other person. 1 Corinthians 13 says that true love
keeps no record of wrongs. That should
be the way it is in a marriage but that should be the way that it is in every
aspect of our lives. We should show
mercy with strength – do it with
passion and energy. We should show mercy
with steadfastness. Keep on showing mercy. They didn’t deserve it the 20th
time any more than they did the first time so just keep showing it. Also show mercy with love. Without love,
you’re just going through the motions or doing for the glory of it so your
motives have to be pure.
Act justly. Love
mercy and walk humbly with your God.
What does it mean to walk humbly
with God? It was John Riskin
who said, "I believe the first test
of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his
own power, or hesitation in speaking his opinion. But really great men have a
... feeling that the greatness is not in them but through them; that they could
not do or be anything else than God made them."
John Flavel has said, "They
that know God will be humble and they that know themselves cannot be
proud." Walking humbly with God comes from having a right view of
God and a right view of yourself. If you
compare yourself to other people, you might, at some point, feel pride. But compare yourself to Holy God and watch
that pride dissolve into the pit of humility.
Walking humbly with God comes from understanding what the Old Testament
teaches about the sacrifice required for sin.
When you brought an animal into the temple to be sacrificed, that
animal was supposed to be as physically perfect as possible; no cuts or
bruises, spots or blemishes. The person
bringing the sacrifice would identify with that animal in a way that the person
knew that animal was taking their place.
Some people wonder why God would want an innocent animal to be
killed. What did they do wrong? That is
the point—since the animals did no wrong, they died in place of the one
performing the sacrifice and their death was a way of covering over those sins.
So, what does that have to do with walking humbly with God? Well, it’s hard to be proud when you think
that God sent His own Son, Jesus, to be the sacrifice for our sins. Imagine being John the Baptist and seeing
Jesus walking towards him. “Look, the lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus Christ also did no wrong but willingly
gave Himself to die for the sins of mankind (1 Timothy 2:6).
Jesus Christ took our sin upon Himself and died in our place. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be
sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Through faith in what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, we can receive
forgiveness.
(www.gotquestions.org/animal-sacrifices.)
That was God’s plan all along. We don’t deserve it but do you know
what? God loves mercy! In fact, when you realize that what God wants
from us – to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly – all of that is
His gift back to us – when you realize that and understand Who God is and who
you are, you will walk humbly. He wants
the best for you and the best for you will happen when we do these three
things. Imagine that. What God wants from you is what God
wants for you and that is the best gift ever.
Ask Him to be Lord of your life today
and receive that free gift.
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