Micah 6
Nov 13, 2022 2022-11-13 Ben Hoyer Micah 6:6-8A study of Micah 6:6-8, set in the prophet's courtroom-style indictment of Judah, recalling God's faithfulness in delivering Israel and leading toward the famous call to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
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But for us this morning I want to look at the Old Testament reading that they give us. Like winding down church here by the way. Next Sunday is the last Sunday of the church here. The last Sunday in November this year is the first Sunday of Advent which starts on New Church here. We're almost done. So the time to figure out what we'll do for next church here. We've been following this lecture here all
your long maybe we'll just keep going with it. But this Old Testament reading that they give us for this morning is pretty cool and often quoted. So we're gonna look at it to get some context on it. It's kind of tricky to find if you have a paper copy of the tradition might be. So like if you go to the Psalm and to Isaiah and Jeremiah keep going to the right. If he gets to the New Testament go back to the left. We won't make that chapter six. And Micah is one of these
smaller minor prophets. He is pretty quotable. He gets called a lot. He talks about the Messiah coming from Bethlehem. So he gets quoted in Christmas time in the law. And the quote here that we have this morning gets quoted a lot. Micah was a prophet. Remember that before the ascension of Jesus and the Pentecost for the Holy Spirit is distributed across everyone young and old and
permanently. In order to communicate to his people God comes to specific individuals with a measure of the spirit and a word to announce the people. And these are the prophets right. Micah is one of the prophets. He's at the same time as Isaiah. He's in the southern kingdom. If you remember Israel is set apart as God's people with Abram and then through slavery and out to Sinai. They get a new commissioning at Sinai. They're going to take the land of Canaan and after one
generation dies off in the center they go into Canaan and they expand and take over the land. They go through a period of dudges and then into a period of kings. They have maybe one, maybe two generations of kings where they hang together and then the sons of the king. You know they just can't they both want to be king and so they ended providing the kingdom with the northern and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom ten tribes of Israel of the 12th southern kingdom to the northern kingdom of ten tribes. They never have a good
king again and a good king in the scriptures is marked by someone who obeys God. Let's see the God and let's God be God. They have kings of prosperity God themselves. They get conquered first and then distributed among all the nations before we get the praise of ten lost tribes of Israel. After that fact might have been the southern kingdom and it's prophesying to Judah the two tribes Judah and Benjamin and saying the same thing. These periods they think maybe seven hundred and seven fifty three kings.
A has a really terrible king right and before that Joseph which is not great and then Hezekiah which has had this had it turned out to be a good king. He has a really cool moment of God and so Michael's prophesying to Judah during its time of wealth. There's a lot of prosperity in Judah during this time and then also some legends. They ask like this periodic going back and forth between warning them against the judgment of God and letting them know that the judgment God doesn't last forever and the little ones are coming. And if you read
the whole book of Micah and the time of holsters going back and forth and in the second year in chapter six it's a section of small judgment where God through the prophet Micah is announcing to Israel his perspective on their kind of behavior and faithfulness. Micah chapter six. Text that they give us is verses six to eight. I'm going to read verses one to five four. Here with the Lord that's a ride and a ride.
Leave your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice. Here you mountains the indictment of the Lord and you enduring foundation of the earth for the Lord has an indictment against its people. He will contend with Israel. This is important because when God the God of Abraham, Isaac, he has a God of creation and life makes a covenant with the people of Israel. You can't call witnesses because he has no fear. So when you would make a covenant
with people you would have witnesses to the covenant. Who then when the covenant was broken they would come back and say yeah you said you would do that you didn't do that. So God when you make the covenant with the people of Israel he has to call creation as his witnesses. It's a creation will testify. This is why Jesus says this moment is ordained to be recommended to receive praise that they are quiet the rocks will grow out because earth testified. This is why Paul says that you have no direct knowledge of the divine then the earth cried out and
sing for the knowledge of the Creator. And so earth is called as witnesses because God is coming through my debt to tell Israel they fall them down on that covenant. They drop the ball. Here you mountains okay. Verse three oh my people what have I done to you? How have I heard you? Answer me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery. I sent before you
Moses Aaron and Miriam. Oh my people remember what they left the king of Moab to God and what they longed as they are interested in. I looked these up because I recognized the name but wasn't a hundred percent on the story. We know how to bottom up out of the Egypt of course that's the 10th leg of the prophet in the Red Sea and Mount Sinai. But then when they lost the king of Moab devised when they were coming towards the promised land there was a king Moab
who saw them coming and said this is a lot of people. I would rather not have to go to war against all these people coming out of the desert. And so he called this like the diviner the person who speaks curses and said hey come and curse these people for me and God intervened and this pagan diviner prophet God tells him don't do it. And on three occasions God stopped this guy from cursing Israel
and so God when he called the earth his witnesses is saying Israel hey Israel remind me again how have I reread you and let you down. I brought you up out of Egypt on angles, eagles wings. When they let tired, they let him to prophesy and I moved him out of the way as well. And then this one what happened out to them to give Gilgal that you may notice saving after the Lord. This is where they camped
outside of Jericho and God gave them Jericho remember they celebrated victory before the victory had come and after the celebration the wall come come run down and he gives them Jericho. It's reminding me how I let you down and weary you. Was it when I took care of you when I protected you when I went in front of you when I gave you victory when did I tire you or wear you out. Of course Israel could point to other problems. It wasn't as though they didn't have any
problems. God is presenting his side. It wasn't as though family didn't have brokenness. It wasn't as though kings weren't able to them. But God is saying hey take a long view. Take a bigger picture. Step out of your kind of myopic self-absorption and look at what's going on. Good spot.
Take it take a step back. Look at the long view. And sometimes as we're wrapping up a year and getting towards a new one it might be helpful for us to do that a little bit. Look at the larger moments of your life. Think about turning points or movement in your life. Might even wonder where were there times when I was
who ever God was after. Might I remember those. You know I put an email to speak I was thinking about walking a storm come through I was remembering the time when Jesus was in the boat and told the wind and the waves to calm down and how it kind of is a disciple. And you know they've seen and do a lot of things but you can understand how if it's warming like a storm and Jesus stands up and
tells it to cut out and it don't would be pretty alarming right and I was thinking it's the reason of course that Jesus could do that is because Jesus of Nazareth is the God of creation and life got it Abraham Isaac and Jacob and he speaks reality into existence he said last week and so it would be jarring in the moment to see God do something like put the Red Sea or calm the storm but
and I was thinking if I was standing there on the boat watching him do that surely I would never forget that he had done that that he could do that surely if I was in it with my own eyes I would believe it forever and then I thought you know that probably that true we're very good at we're getting moving on I think they saw the Red Sea and then they thought
there's no way we can take Canaan and then the walls of Jericho fall down and they when Egypt threatened or Babylon or Syria threatens they think truly there's no way our God can protect us or defend us we need to carry it and each it we are very very easy to forget and so God calls them back to remember and I'm
saying we're we're running the corner on a year might be interesting for you to take some time to remember so then those texts they give us with what shall I come before the Lord having remembered that how do we respond what do we come to God if we take up his concern or his word you know look back after it
takes the body step out of your moment and look at what is I called you forth out of the nothing and brought you into the world I sustain your life moment by moment I fill you with purpose and significant I propel you with love and creativity I provide in large ways and small you could take a step back and look
at what's going on and when you do then the response is with what shall I come before the Lord and call myself before God on home so I come before him with burnt offerings because a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rans with ten thousands of rivers of oil shall I give my firstborn for my transgressing at the fruit of my body for the sin of my
soul first a he said he has told you how many one is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice love most of you and won't come believe you oh there's that quote of course the first ones are sacrifices in the sacrificial system operating at the time of my death calf in your old now a thousand
rams that would be significant offering that would be really impressive ten thousands of rivers of oil now we're getting a little hyperbolic I don't know what a river of oil looks like but a lot and then of course the cell I gave my firstborn is what's happening in pagan places at the Talmud mica they're doing that right and then he says oh he has told you what this simple right like
it's bigger and bigger tell I did it and I did it I already told you I already told you do justice love kindness and walk humbly I was noticing in the past as I've thought about that before I really liked the like the the but now it's the justice the mercy and the kindness
and now in that they're used like this but today what I was thinking about is those are frozen do love walk I look at several translations to make sure it wasn't that's mine that use those almost all of them do love walk
do just love so much of faith in our culture feels like a compartment of like intellectual or doctrinal ascent and agreement and and if more than that like a personal emotional flash spiritual
experience so you have a doctrinal ascent and an emotional experience is the bucket of spirituality and faith but when my job the great prophet of God speaks of the gospel God all the critical moments of the people of God he says who love walk the command of creation the intensive humanity is
leading to bear with God operating in the world extending the rent so so when he creates out of an east he could go for populate and rule still and subdue this place be my image bears in the world when he sets up Israel gives them the commitment he says be a kingdom of grief and the holy nation mediating the holiness of God out into the world the church the people of God are intended to do love walk go out into the world with this agency
I wrote down some verbs that were not in there well before we get to hold on do love walk few justice love mercy walk humbly he has told you what is good and what does the Lord require of you it's interesting and compelling to me that what the Lord requires of us is so simply stated this is a true thing about
a biblical reality very rarely is it complex the highest truths are simple right it's not complex but it is deep it's not hard to understand do justice love mercy walk humbly but y'all we could spend our life home life time mind how
to live that out and my job the great prophet of God speaking on behalf of God to the people of God says this is what God requires of you simple list you can get started as a going or the things you're working on to justice love mercy walk home
a couple people have mentioned it to me sent over the course of the week I just suck at us a little bit but last of you were talking about the people people who their tagline is living as if he's a tremendous thing that it's a they were they're one of them one of the leaders was driving around the country in a boss he learned how to be a black man so that he could pound guns into garden tears so I'm living as if he just meant to things that he said taking the words
of God what would it look like if he understood and believed that this is what God requires that you justice love mercy walk humbly I think I think we probably are and when I ask myself this question honestly our places where I am taking it seriously but if I'm trying they feel very small like the truest
versions of me doing justice feel like not worth almost that title it's harder for me to find places where I love mercy I don't know if that means I'm not a merciful person but I've had if I put mercy with acts of generosity and love I'm motivated by justice there are some things I do that are
motivated by loving mercy but they feel even small walking humbly it's mixed with self-doubt but I think the beauty of such a simple breakdown of what God requires of us is that it's not hard to ask ourselves that question okay in what ways am I doing
justice loving mercy and walking humbly the trouble will be when we find how small they are but then okay this is where I compare them to some verbs that didn't get mentioned a key earn escape experience a qual I don't know full this I mean there's a lot of verbs he didn't use but these change of mind a key earn
escape experience acquire when I put my mind on how much energy I'm putting into those verbs and I'm moving mountains man interesting what is the direction of our life what what is our energy and planning and gaming and collaboration going anything if we don't take hold and look
at the long view and then apply it to the story you don't take the long view and look at what God has done to us and then apply it in response to what God has done to its in response that apply it to the story what am I doing now if we don't do that those verb achieve earn experience acquire those are like what burn that like our little economy of experience will sell a phone like we are gonna maximize
our experience we are gonna achieve something we are proud of before we can't achieve we are gonna acquire a bunch of stuff before we can't acquire things I like playing for the future and and Megan and I plan for the future and I think there's a measure of that that's good stewardship I was meeting with a guy that
runs a church foundation you want to talk to it's just not how to roll over the network of people you know and I found out the reason he did it because he wanted to talk about planned giving where people leave states to church you know this is great but it occurred to me how much stuff we pile up and can't use before we got that we've got to find some way to give up I say that's bad it's just interesting do justice love mercy walk on the these
visiting and it's true my attempts at that are small and evil so this is my prayer word I don't think I can actually do much justice the world is a mess Lord mercy is hard for me I'm fearful and a little bit indulgent
honestly Lord I don't know what walk humbly means I can't find a line between self-effasion and humility so my output here is going to be small right and I thought of this story when I was in seminary we the church they would sign up to these churches we knew had to do certain things in volunteer as part of
their service planning you know so these churches have you seven areas and one of the things they had to let the seminarians print something like maybe once maybe twice a year the Sunday you always got was the Sunday after Christmas because no pastor wants to preach quit the seminary not the slowest attendance next to the Sunday after Easter and retired and the text they always have are in the left area on the Sunday after Christmas is the story of Stinyan and
Anna do you remember those stories so I preached those several times and had fallen in love this week and then you don't remember is this old dude who was hanging around Jerusalem past the time and he was close to bed and he was hanging here waiting the day because God had told him in prayer he would see the consolation Israel before he got it and so when they bring Jesus in for
circumcision God's moves singing in God the creator of the universe the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God now Christ the God of the church is caught up in the greatest act of human history the folk among which men legal turns he's got the incarnated gods coming to go through the right of circumcision and in the midst of the most important moment of all history he takes the time to clue in one little thing yes but for that moment no one else would know who
he was and one other one Anna who had been widowed young and left alone and uncared for so she moved into the church and spent all her time training in one little corner in the church and God keeps her in as well to see seeds the consolation of Israel and I felt like when I said Lord my my work will be small I can't accomplish much justice I'm indulgent my mercy will be faulting and
fleeting I'm I'll try for humility but I can't even figure out confidence let alone shoot melody and so Lord my work will be small here the next thought is singing and singing and I'm married did not his advisors did not right the church leaders did not pilot did not but God couldn't send me in and no one else
God says this is what he requires of you and he knows and understands and awards and rewards and gives credit God sees your acts of justice that no one else actions God recognizes your love of mercy that everyone else got appreciate your humility though no one else takes it for granted in fact
these things these small are subjective and mercy and humility down up to more than you can ever experience or acquire or accumulate justice mercy humility he gets to it out listen I think that I do just love mostly walk hungry is simple but if you and I
have the courage to take it seriously we'll go and play to the small and we'll stay often we'll be reminded of how we spend more time backing up experiences and escape we'll be reminded of the way that we trust our money more than our generosity we'll be reminded of the ways that we we attach our significance to our accomplishments rather than to the favor of God we both ourselves up with
confidence rather than you know the crown it will be hard look at what Mike has said at the very end of his book in chapter seven verse eight who is a god like you pardoning iniquity and passing over expression for the remnant of his identity he does not retain his anger forever because he's a licensed at that love remember that Micah gave the response
because he was angry at the ignorant influence forgiveness apathy myopia of Israel they were focused on themselves and Stuart got ahead of them they had forgotten mercy and justice and humility they were absorbed with their own problems what they could acquire and accomplish and control on their own and he was meant and the judgment comes for you that they are at the time they were taken to Babylon right and Micah did some accrue says when you
catch on to this what does that require of you simple he says but he do just love mercy walk on me and then at the end he says he does not retain his anger forever because he's a life who will again have compassion on us he will tread our inequities under foot you will pass us into the death of the free you will be so faced with the take up and steadfast love to you as you have sworn
through our fathers from days of old god will get angry because you like me all next you forget what God requires and pursue what you would like but God the light is dead found to all or you end toward me you will get angry but his anger will be a moment of wealth for a lifetime you will again have compassion
on us you will tread on the free under foot you will pass us into death to the free and so faced with and said that he has sworn through our fathers and I pray to be people who no matter how many times we forget and fall short we come back to death and mercy and humility and receive again the favor of God hey Lord make it to those people today like you do bring us back out of Babylon establish us again remind us that you have passed us into the depths
that you don't like instead of God for that and you see acknowledged and reward our faithfulness that's what it looks like to you quietly hope for justice rest in Jesus and we pray