Micah

Have you ever heard the idiom “When God closes a door, he opens a window?” I know some people love it, but I think that’s a ridiculous saying. I get the sentiment behind it: that when one opportunity is closed to you, God provides a different opportunity. It’s a statement about God’s will. But the actual idiom makes no sense to me.

If someone wants to come into my house, and I say no, close the door, but then I open a window for some fresh air, that is not an invitation for that person to climb in the window! You know who does that? Burglars. Thieves. Scoundrels. No. A closed door means that you’re not supposed to go there - it’s not a challenge to find a creative way to get what you want. The idiom should say, “When God closes a door, he’ll direct you to another door that he’ll open for you.” It’s not as good as a saying, but it’s better than us going through windows to get places.In my years of pastoring, I find that young adults in particular are deeply concerned with discovering God’s will for their lives. Some of them are afraid that if they choose the wrong path - if they go through the wrong door - then they will be outside God’s will for their lives, opening themselves up for calamity. So they are praying for God to open and close doors in their lives. Others are very determined on their path and want God to validate it. They aren’t seeking God’s direction as much as his approval and so even when the doors seem to close, they jump on that idiom and try to break in so they can do what they want.

I don’t know if you relate to that struggle, but I think it’s important for every person to prayerfully discern what God is calling them to and to do it with an openness that gives room for God to change our lives.

10,000 years ago, when I was a young adult, my dream was to own and operate a Taekwondo studio. I was competing at the time, was on track towards my black belt, and was proficient both at Taekwondo and at teaching. I was training 5-6 days a week and teaching kids 2-3 times per week.

But while I was doing this, God was getting a hold of my heart and soon I started volunteering at youth group. I loved doing that, but then the schedule shifted a bit and my taekwondo classes started happening during youth bible study. I was torn, but I knew God was calling me to serve Him more so I ended up quitting taekwondo so I could spend more time doing youth ministry. And that decision changed everything for me. It led me on a path towards ministry, which in turn led me to Bible College, where I met Abby and eventually led me here. For me, discerning and obeying the will of God was about listening for his call to ministry. But not all of us are called that specifically.

What if, for all of us, the will of God is actually more general than we think it is? We often phrase God’s will in terms of a choice between careers, or whether we should go on that missions trip or where we should live. And there is a place for discerning that.

But I’m convinced that God cares more about how we live than he does about where and what job we have. Whether we are students, pastors, parents, teachers, software engineers or welders - whatever our roles are- God’s will is more about our character than our career.

And if our teaching series has taught us anything, it’s that how we live - our character - is of utmost importance to God. We have been in a series called Messengers and we have been going through the writings of the minor prophets of the OT - one a week. This week, we are in the book of Micah and my hope is that everyone here and all those who watch this online will understand and embrace God’s will for you that is revealed in this book.

How many would rather get good news first, then bad? How many would rather get bad news first, then good? If you are part of the second group, you share a trait with Micah who oscillates between giving them bad new first, then follows it up with good news. He does this three times in the six short chapters that make up his book.

Micah writes near the end of the Israelite kingdom, around the same time as Isaiah. He speaks to both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah and he warns them that because of their sins, God’s punishment for them will be war and exile, first by the Assyrians, which happened in 722BC and then by the Babylonians, which began with a siege of Jerusalem in 702BC and culminated in the exile in 586BC

And at the centre of God’s vacillation between bad news and good news stands a verse that serves both as a guide to the book of Malachi and as a standard for how we are to live in Christ today.

Micah 6:8 NIV

8 He 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.

What is God’s will for you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Simple. Simple, but not easy. Because of the sin nature within humanity, we fall short of this command. We allow injustice, sometimes even participating in it ourselves. We forsake mercy for judgment and sometimes we prefer to walk alone than with God, giving pride a foothold in our hearts.

But praise be to our God and Saviour Jesus Christ who forgives us every time we fail him and who empowers us to fulfill the will of God by giving us the Holy Spirit. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives in every follower of Jesus Christ, we can live out this verse in a way that brings glory to God and will benefit your life.

So what does it look like to live a Micah 6:8 life? It starts by…

Acting Justly

How the Israelites didn’t act justly in Micah

In Micah’s day, there was no justice. The rich oppressed the poor and the powerful trod on the weak. The priests and the prophets were corrupt and they arrogantly thought that because they were “God’s chosen people” they would not be held accountable for their actions.

Micah 3:9–11 NLT

9 Listen to me, you leaders of Israel! You hate justice and twist all that is right. 10 You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption. 11 You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord. “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the Lord is here among us.”

Somehow, the Israelites must have forgotten

Deuteronomy 16:19 NLT

19 You must never twist justice or show partiality. Never accept a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and corrupt the decisions of the godly.

or

2 Chronicles 19:7 NLT

7 Fear the Lord and judge with integrity, for the Lord our God does not tolerate perverted justice, partiality, or the taking of bribes.”

or

Psalm 9:8, 9:16, 10:18, 11:7, 35:28, 36:6, 36:10, 37:28, 45:4, 45:6, 45:7, 48:11, 50:6, 67:4, 75:2, 89:14, 94:1, 94:10, 96:13, 97:2, 97:8, 98:9, 99:4, 101:1, 103:6, 105:7, 119:142, 135:14, 140:12, and 146:7 among others!

Justice is more than just something God is passionate about. It’s a part of who He is. He is the embodiment of justice. That’s why God couldn’t just ignore our sins and let them go. His justice demands there to be an atonement for those sins and because we couldn’t satisfy the requirements for atonement, Jesus did it on our behalf - sacrificing himself on the cross because only the death of Jesus, who was both fully God and fully man, could satisfy the requirements to deal with all sin for all time for all believers.

Our God is just and we are to embody that justice as his followers.

Acting justly, as Micah calls God’s people to, first means that we walk with integrity and honesty.

Micah 6:11 NLT

11 How can I tolerate your merchants who use dishonest scales and weights?

The people were so corrupt, they were tricking people into paying more for their goods. There was no integrity in the land.

I read a story this week how many years ago, in Long Beach, California, a man went into a fried chicken place and bought a couple of chicken dinners for himself and his date late one afternoon, near closing time. The young woman at the counter, flustered trying to get the man his dinner, ring him up and cash out the till, handed him the brown bag of food and, and locked up after they left.

After driving to their picnic site, the man and his date sat down, admired the beautiful view and then opened the bag with their dinner in it. Shocked, they discovered that the bag was full of money. The cashier had put the nightly deposit in the same kind of brown bag that they used for take out orders and had given him the wrong bag.

The man quickly put the money back in the bag, got back into the car and drove all the way back to the fried chicken joint. He got out, walked in with the money and gave back, becoming an instant hero. The frantic manager was thrilled to death. He said, "This is amazing! Who would do something like this? Let me call the newspaper. I'm gonna have your picture put in the local newspaper. You're the most honest man I've ever me." The man quickly responded, "Oh no, no, please don't do that!" The manager just thought he was being humble so he insisted. Then the man leaned closer and whispered, "You see, the woman I'm with is not my wife...she's uh, somebody else's wife."

Integrity means to be whole. It’s to have the same consistent ethic in every area of your life.

Proverbs 20:7 NLT

7 The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.

Church, do you live with integrity? Do you apply the same ethics you have at church to your life at home, to your job, to your friends? If hard work is one of your ethics, do you equally work hard on your relationships with your partner or kids as you do in your job? If not using swear words is part of your ethic, are you consistent with that everywhere?

Now, I’m not telling you what your ethics should be. You need to search the scriptures to develop them yourselves. But to act justly means to live those ethics out consistently in every area of your life.

It also means to work for justice in the world. To demand our leaders work in a just way towards all people, to alleviate poverty, and to take a stand when you see something that isn’t right.

A person I know recently saw a co-worker getting berated by a supervisor to a degree the abused was in tears at work. So this person got up and went to the supervisors supervisor and reported the actions. Management was so grateful that someone stood up for a co-worker and began to look into the situation. That person was acting justly.

But, as my wife reminded me, we can’t have only justice, we need mercy as well. So to live the Micah 6:8 life - to follow God’s will - also means that we…

Love Mercy

Micah 2:8–9 NLT

8 Yet to this very hour my people rise against me like an enemy! You steal the shirts right off the backs of those who trusted you, making them as ragged as men returning from battle. 9 You have evicted women from their pleasant homes and forever stripped their children of all that God would give them.

The Israelites were unmerciful to each other. There was no compassion, no empathy for each other. It was a ruthless time where everyone was out for themselves.

But God’s people were supposed to be merciful to each other because God is merciful to us. The Psalmist declares

Psalm 86:15 NLT

15 But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

Ultimately, God showed us his mercy through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Apostle Paul says,

Ephesians 2:4–5 NLT

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

We deserved the just punishment for our sins but Jesus took that punishment on himself on our behalf so that we could have eternal life with God. We should have experienced God’s wrath, but instead we got God’s mercy.

So, because God has been merciful to you, you now get to show God’s mercy to others.

That mercy takes two primary forms. First, mercy is about forgiving people.

You are never more like God than when you forgive someone.

Forgiveness is not an occasional art, it is a permanent attitude.

Martin Luther

Second, mercy is about looking upon others with compassion and seeking to help them.

It says in the gospel of Matthew, that when Jesus traveled to the towns to preach, he saw the crowds and he had compassion on them for they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

While accountability and responsibility are important, never let go of mercy for others. Be compassionate towards all people and forgive others, as the Lord forgave you. After all - every time you show mercy, you reveal the very nature of God.

Micah 7:18–20 NLT

18 Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love. 19 Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! 20 You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago.

To live the Micah 6:8 life - a life that honours God - we are called to act justly and to love mercy. We are also called to…

Walk Humbly with your God

Not only is there corruption in every level of leadership in Micah’s time, there is also two-fold corruption in the religious system as well. First, the priests and prophets who proclaimed God’s ways were corrupt.

Micah 3:5 NLT

5 This is what the Lord says: “You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you.

Micah 3:11 NLT

11 You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord. “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the Lord is here among us.”

The prophets and priests were false teachers, preaching only what people wanted to hear and catering to the rich who paid them while condemning the poor.

Second, there was widespread idolatry in the nation. People who were supposed to be walking with God abandoned him to other Gods. When talking about the day when a Messianic leader would emerge to rule them, God says,

Micah 5:12–14 NLT

12 I will put an end to all witchcraft, and there will be no more fortune-tellers. 13 I will destroy all your idols and sacred pillars, so you will never again worship the work of your own hands. 14 I will abolish your idol shrines with their Asherah poles and destroy your pagan cities.

We’ve seen throughout the minor prophets how much God detests idol worship and the worship of false gods. As he is the only real God who exists, it’s offensive to him that his people, whom he loves, would choose what is fake and made up over a relationship with him. His desire for us is that we would walk humbly with him.

So what does it mean to walk humbly with God? It means to allow God to lead you in every area of your life and to recognize that he is with you.

I have a German Shepherd dog whose name is Max [PLAY VIDEO], who is underweight at 95 lbs. Across the street from us is the Green Timbers forest that has a bunch of walking trails in it. Often we take Max out there for walks. Or he takes us, I’m not sure. He so strong, that if he sees another dog on the trail, I have to stand over him, with my hand on the harness to make sure he doesn’t go over to say hi. If I hold the leash and my balance is a bit off, he’ll take me for a ride!

I think walking Max is a great example of our walking with Jesus. Often on our walks, Max is doing great and he’s walking with me and not pulling hard against his leash. He’s a little ADHD, but it’s fine. Other times, he picks up a scent or he sees another dog and he stubbornly has to go smell it, no matter what my wishes are.

Often we too are walking along, doing life with God, allowing him to lead us well, but then we get distracted by something and we stubbornly want to do our own thing too.

To humbly walk with our God is to allow him to lead us and guide us. It’s to recognize that He is always with us and wants what’s best for us, even if we want something different.

This is something the Israelites of Micah’s day failed to do. But, praise be to God, because Jesus did humbly walk with our God, his father.

He spent a night in prayer, discerning where God was leading him and then began his teaching ministry.

He didn’t have to put others down in order to make himself look better. He just acted justly and showed mercy to people.

And even though he prayed that he might not have to die on the cross when he was in the garden of gethsemane, he chose his father’s will and sacrificed himself for us, choosing to save us over saving himself.

Jesus walked humbly with God. And we are called to do the same.

Conclusion

Once, while Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden, he was asked, "What would you do if you suddenly learned that you were to die at sunset today?" He replied, "I would finish hoeing my garden."

Francis had that assurance because he knew that he was doing God’s will. It’s not always flashy and dramatic. Sometimes, God’s will is just to hoe your garden.

What is God’s will for you?

Micah 6:8 NIV

8 He 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.

Pray.