God Has A Controversy

Preliminary:

Invite to Micah 6

Micah the 6th of the 12 minor prophets was a contemporary with Isaiah, Hosea, and Amos.

The book was probably written or composed between 750 -687 BC

The meaning of the prophets name Micah means - “Who is like Yahweh”

His prophetic ministry was most active under the reigns of kings Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah

Not much is known about Micah except that he is from Moresheth-Gath which is in Judah about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem.

Now Micah might be identified as a minor prophet - but that doesn’t mean his words are less meaningful or important. It simply means his book is smaller than others.

But in fact - Micah is quoted by Jeremiah (Jer 26:18 from Micah 3:12)

And he is quoted in the New Testament by Jesus, Himself who quotes

Micah 7:6 “6 For the son dishonoureth the father, The daughter riseth up against her mother, The daughter in law against her mother in law; A man’s enemies are the men of his own house.”

Matthew 10:35–36 “35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”

Micah address in his prophecy - Samaria and Jerusalem, capital cities of the Northern and Southern Kingdom

Micah’s theme is Judgment upon Samaria and Jerusalem & the Coming of the Messiah.

Micah 6.

Micah 6 reads...

It is fascinating to watch a legal team at work. You may think you know all of the facts and already know who the guilty party is - but a good defense attorney can spin everything and argue a good case as to why their defendant is not guilty.

We sometimes think political scandal and impeachment proceedings are a new thing and in fact they are becoming more and more frequent. But even as a brand new nation conceived in liberty, the land of the free and home of the brave still in its infancy in the early 1800’s the third vice president of the United States of America, Aaron Burr was charged with treason.

That is a serious charge - that is quite a lawsuit. The penalty for being convicted of treason isn’t just loss of political power and pension - it can include loss of life

George Hay, the prosecuting U.S. Attorney, compiled a list of over 140 witnesses, one of whom was Andrew Jackson. To encourage these witnesses to cooperate with the prosecution, Thomas Jefferson gave Hay blank pardons containing Jefferson's signature and the discretion to issue them to all but "the grossest offenders"; Jefferson later amended these instructions to include even those the prosecution believed to be most culpable, if that meant the difference in convicting Burr.

Burr was eventually acquitted as it was decided there was not sufficient evidence to conclude that Burr had actually committed a treasonous act.

Technicalities of the law are fascinating and can turn an entire case on its head.

Whether Burr really was plotting something treacherous or not we don’t know - he vehemently denied any wrong doing- but the charges were made a case was made against him, witnesses were produces, papers subpoenaed from the president (which was its own drama and interesting reading - it is actually why now we say the president is not above the law )

But in our reading we find a case is presented against Israel

This is a legal proceeding - a lawsuit

Micah 6:2 “2 Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, And ye strong foundations of the earth: For the Lord hath a controversy with his people, And he will plead with Israel.”

That phrase “he will plead with Israel” has to do with contending legally - to argue to defend a side in a legal proceeding.

The word “controversy” means a lawsuit

God is presenting his case against Israel - He’s getting ready to lay out the facts and evidence to them.

The Minor Prophets ISRAEL’S INGRATITUDE

Micah pleads with the people of God regarding their moral condition; he appeals both to their heart and their conscience as to why they are against the Lord.

Notice the call to hear - this is repeated frequently in Micah 1:2, 3:1, 6:1.

He calls for the mountains and hills to hear his voice and his controversy -

He needs somebody to listen - and not many are

Here is how God pleads his case -

What have I done? (Mic 6:3)

Notice God also gives them a chance to accuse Him if they have any complaint

Notice the tender and yearning tone. God - the creator of heaven and earth for a moment assumes the position of defendant. - This is an awe inspiring moment.

What I have done (Mic 6:4)

Then In one verse and one mighty magnificent verbal swoop God shows that He hasn’t wearied them - but the opposite - He has repeatedly wrought wonderful acts of deliverance and victories. He brought them out of Egypt with many signs and wonders - a strong hand an an outstretched arm - He manifested his power in powerful ways

But even after all of that - his mercies were not exhausted - he brought in Moses, and Miriam, and Aaron the three great leaders

Moses - the great lawgiver

Aaron - the high priest

Miriam the prophetess and singer

These are all reminders of God’s gracious and merciful dealings with Israel.

What more I have done - Shown you my righteousness (Mic 6:5)

But even that wasn’t the end of God's gracious acts of kindness and love

Balak, king of Moab wanted to end the threat of Israel so he devised a wicked plot to hire Balaam, to come and curse them.

Numbers 22-24 show us that those curses were turned into blessings - rich blessings.

Shittim to Gilgal - from your first camping place after you met Balaam to your first stop in Canaan - favor upon favor was bestowed by God’s own hand upon the children of Israel.

What is required -

It’s almost as if God’s hearing is being heard and there is a silent question in Mic 6:6-7 of “what do we do now?”

Micah 6:6 “6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the high God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, With calves of a year old?”

Or maybe it’s going to take more than that - maybe its’ going to take something we have never heard of before

Micah 6:7 “7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, Or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?”

Or perhaps its the ultimate- - “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Obadiah, Jonah and Micah: An Introduction and Commentary a. How to Stay Alive (6:1–8)

Micah’s generation transformed the covenant into a contract. In a series of parallel lines, each beginning with a question, a representative ‘worshipper’ seeks to establish the price that will win God’s favour by raising the bid ever higher. Holocausts? One-year-old calves (already more costly)? Thousands of rams? Myriads of torrents of oil? Or, the highest price of all, the cruel sacrifice of a child? He can bid no higher. Outwardly he appears spiritual as he bows before the Most High with gift in hand. But his insulting questions betray a desperately wicked heart. Blinded to God’s goodness and character, he reasons within his own depraved frame of reference. He need not change; God must change. He compounds his sin of refusing to repent by suggesting that God, like man, can be bought. His willingness to raise the price does not reflect his generosity but veils a complaint that God demands too much; the reverse side of his bargaining is that he hopes to buy God off as cheaply as possible. What effrontery to such a mighty and gracious God!

God’s reply is NO! “its not that complicated - in fact you already know what to do.”

Micah 6:8 “8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; And what doth the Lord require of thee, But to do justly, and to love mercy, And to walk humbly with thy God?”

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) A Divine Covenant Lawsuit (6:1–8)

“This verse stands as the motto of the alcove of religion in the reading room of the Congressional Library in Washington.”16 Politicians have quoted it often in their election campaigns (if only more would practice it!). Numerous accolades have been showered on it. For example, von Rad says, “This is the quintessence of the commandments as the prophets understood them.”17 J. M. P. Smith calls it “the finest summary of the content of practical religion to be found in the OT.”18 And Boadt observes, “The rabbis who commented on this verse in the early centuries of the Christian era called it a one-line summary of the whole Law.”19

In this verse the Prophet Micah condenses the requirements of God down to three

A third century Jewish Rabbi noted that Moses gave us 365 prohibitions and 248 positive commands

David in Psalm 15 reduced them to eleven

Isaiah 33:14-15 made them six

Micah 6:8 binds them into three

This is the epitome of the whole Law

These three features embrace both tables of the Law of which Jesus will summarize the entire law into two - Love God and Love Others

I want to look at these three briefly tonight

Liberals who love to make a religion out of this verse fail to realize that these requirements of the Law are impossible of fulfillment by the unregenerate man. Only the Spirit of God can enable any man to fulfill the righteous ordinance set forth in the Law (Romans 8:3–4 “3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

; Philippians 2:13 “13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

Do justly - Act rightly - or as one has said - “when in a socially superior position, step in and deliver the weaker and wronged party by punishing the oppressor.” (You can find where Micah accuses Israel of doing just the opposite in chapter 2 & 3)

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) A Divine Covenant Lawsuit (6:1–8)

Boice points out, “To act justly is most important, for it does not mean merely to talk about justice or to get other people to act justly. It means to do the just thing yourself.”

Love Mercy - the Hebrew word fo “mercy” is hesed’ undefinable but can be essentially translated as “faithful covenant love”

Walk humbly with your God - humble yourself to walk with God or “walk carefully” with your God.

Wang Ming-Dao was an amazing man one of China's most famous church pastors of the last century. back in the later 50’s was arrested for his faith in Christ.

He served some time but then caved to the interrogators in an attempt to save he and his wife from long torturous imprisonment or even execution.

But while he failed in standing for Christ like Peter he was restored and later rearrested and served over 20 years in a Chinese prison for the cause of Christ.

In his book, Faith That Endures, Ronald Boyd-MacMillan tells the story of a number of conversations he has had with Wang Mingdao. The first time he met this famous—and persecuted—Chinese pastor, they had the following interchange:

"Young man, how do you walk with God?” I listed off a set of disciplines such as Bible study and prayer, to which he mischievously retorted, “Wrong answer. To walk with God, you must go at walking pace."

The words of Wang Mingdao touched me to the core. How can I talk about the Christian life as walking with God when I so often live it at a sprint? Of course, we "run with perseverance the race marked out for us," but we may fail to run with "our eyes [fixed] on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith" (Heb 12:1-2). Jesus is inviting me to walk with him. Too often, I find myself running for him. There's a difference!

On another visit, Boyd-MacMillan asked Wang Mingdao about his twenty-year imprisonment for proclaiming Jesus in China. That cell became a place of unchosen unhurried time for Mingdao. There was nothing to do but to be in God's presence, which he discovered was actually everything. Boyd-MacMillan summarizes what he learned from Wang Mingdao:

One of the keys to the faith of the suffering church: God does things slowly. He works with the heart. We are too quick. We have so much to do—so much in fact we never really commune with God as he intended when he created Eden, the perfect fellowship garden. For Wang Mingdao, persecution, or the cell in which he found himself, was the place where he returned to "walking pace," slowing down, stilling himself enough to commune properly with God.

Source:

Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, Faith That Endures (Revell, 2006), p. 307; Allan Fadling, An Unhurried Life (IVP, 2013), pp. 13-14

We are told in the New Testament to WALK IN THE LIGHT

taking time - letting God’s process however quick or slow have its perfect work.

Sometimes those times are on a mountain top other times - the most fruitful of those times are in the valleys and low dark places

But we don’t have to walk those places alone

God tells Israel one of the things I require is that you walk humbly with your God - that oyu walk with me

God is inviting them in for a relationship - a communion - a time together

and God is calling us into that as well