Micah 2 - When Justice is not "WOKE"

Depending upon the voices to which you listen, being “woke” is either a noble or wasteful goal. If you’ve been a Christian since the 60’s you may have heard sermons decrying “social gospel” or “social justice.” I’m going to ask a favor of you. For the next 35-40 minutes I would like you to set aside “woke” or “social” ideologies, then at the end of our time together, after we have wrestled with Biblical Justice and the Biblical Gospel, you can then re-filter your concepts of wokeness, justice, and gospel and evaluate if your perspective includes the Biblical instruction.

TRANSITION: What has God said, what did He require of Micah’s audience, and what does He require of us?

Those Who Devise Wickedness (Micah 2:1-2)

The Power of their hands

Because they can, they do.

It is a tragedy when people believe that “might makes right.” Just because one has the most strength or power, does NOT mean that his actions are just, holy, noble or true. God does have the final word.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

Unchecked power is reined in by the prophet’s woe.

“woe, a term used by several prophets to announce guilt and coming judgment on the sinful people”[i]

The Plunder of their deeds

1. Because they want, they take

“God made me this way” does NOT make a convincing argument! Whether you are straight or SSA, rich or poor, heavy or skinny, part of being human is learning self-control. The ability to deny yourself is even greater for a Christian since self-control is a fruit of God’s Spirit being in control (Gal 6:23) and a command from our Savior (Mt 16:24).

2. God had distributed the land to those coming out of Egypt. It was recorded as personal property, not Marxism or Communism (see Ex 20:17). When we see in Acts 2:44 that the believers had all things in common, it is a statement of sharing, not co-ownership.

3. The woe of v.1 is still in effect! Taking what is not yours carries guilt and judgment because it is sinful.

TRANSITION: The situation with bullies is that they only control until someone with more power comes along to put them in their place. By repeating the word devise, God is saying that the bullies will be bullied.

The Devised Disaster of the Wicked (Micah 2:3-11)

The problem of property (vv.3-4)

Changes the portion – God does to them what they had done to others.

This is like an old children’s game of King of the Mountain, but when God claims the top of the “mountain” nobody can dethrone Him.

The problem of bad preaching (vv.5-8)

What makes preaching bad is not length or lack of stories or passion, what makes preaching bad is if it does not come from God.

In v. 6 the preachers substituted their feel-good message for the will of God.

In v.7 the false prophets make the same mistake as Job’s friends. They equate religious behavior with immediate abundance or blessing (from the human perspective).

In v.8 the people oppose God by not recognizing His long game. In a time of abundance people trade with each other without a thought of coming judgment.

Bad preaching only focuses upon the current without remembering the ultimate.

The problem of disregarded families (v.9)

To understand the displacement of women and young children, we can take a hint from the mention of Hezekiah back in Micah 1:1

Hezekiah’s story is given more details in 2 Kings 18-20. It is an amazing story of self-importance. King Hezekiah starts well and cleans the land of idols. Years pass and he gets slack, God brings a sickness upon him to get his attention. Hezekiah repents and is promised 10 more years. Rather than despair that Babylon is coming, Hezekiah celebrates that the invasion won’t come until after he dies at a ripe old age, then his descendants will be taken captive.

Dynasties come and go. Remember the days when Cornhusker football was dominant? Does anyone fear the “big red N” anymore? Yes, I’ve been a fan of KC sports teams since the late 70’s so I appreciate when the Royals had success 10 years ago, because I realize in sports that dominance comes and goes.

3. Micah is saying that power comes and goes as well and those who had the power in vv.1-2 were about to lose it, and it would be their families who paid the price.

The problem of Disguise & Drink (vv.10-11)

v. 10 tells us that “something stinks in Denmark”.

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" is a quotation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The expression is used to mean that something is seriously amiss or there is a smell of corruption

2. v.11 offers lies and libations, deceit and the drink. The image that something is more than it really is.

3. The preacher that these people want tells them that they are in control of their own lives. That they can maximize their power and oppress others without the fear of justice. He says, “eat, drink, be merry” but like the farmer who built larger barns to contain his accumulation in Luke 12:19-20.

Luke 12:19–20 ESV:2016

19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

TRANSITION: The warning is that If you are one oppressing others, get ready for God to reverse the script. If you are the one being oppressed, God is preparing to reverse the script.

Justice for the Oppressed (Micah 2:12-13)

Two truths are stated in verses 12–13 which are expanded greatly in chapters 4–5. The first is that the Lord will regather and renew His people as their Shepherd (2:12–13a), and the second is that the Lord will lead His people as their King (v. 13b).[ii]

Assembled & Gathered (v.12a)

Here in cattle country a herd can generally be left to graze in large pastures. We tend to only pen them for doctoring and shipping. But in Micah’s day the primary herd was not cattle or horses, but sheep and goats. Sheep, like us, tend to be rather ignorant of their surroundings.

A sheep’s very survival depends upon community. A single sheep in open country is a dead sheep.

God starts in the very first chapters of the Bible by stating that Man was not made for isolation. God himself was Adam’s companion until He made a helper who was suitable for him.

As early as Genesis 9 God entrusts accountability and justice to the community.

Someone has pointed out that the Bible begins in a garden with one man, and ends in a city of multitudes.

I like times of solitude, but I need times of community and that is what God promises in v.12.

Protected (v.12b)

God doesn’t only gather us because there is defense in quantity, but Micah goes on to mention the flock in the fold.

Any rancher today knows that a fence is only as strong as its weakest point. In ancient times the weakest point was the “door”. I say it with air quotes because the door was not a door, it was not even a gate. The space where lifestock or predators found it easiest to pass was an open gap. The shepherd would take his position in the gap to keep the flock in and the predators out.

In our Messiah we have One, the Great Shepherd, who keeps in all who are His and repels all who threaten His own.

New Access (v.13)

The first noun in this chapter is a bully who mistreats the vulnerable. The last description is a King, the Lord, who leads us where we couldn’t enter on our own.

The Thief in John 10:10 is like the bully in vv.1-2. The enemy of our souls threatens and intimidates to keep us from the Life that God intends. John 10:9 & 11 tell us that Jesus is the door, the Good Shepherd The one who saves us and leads us to good pasture.

TRANSITION: So Micah has addressed the oppressor and the oppressed. But what about the innocent party who witnesses oppression?

Conclusion:

Micah makes it clear that there have been, there are and there will be times when wicked men act unjustly. He has also said that God can (and will) handle them. So how does one live the justice God intends without slipping into the modern categories of being “woke” to systemic privilege?

I have 3 suggestions that make room for justice, while resisting the modern categories:

1. Before charging after a broken system, we need to realize the sin of individual hearts. It is easier to protest a system than to confront an individual. But the only way for systems to experience lasting change is if hearts are made right.

2. More than virtue-signaling, social justice warriors demonstrating against a system, we need the love and grace of Christ to redeem broken men and women one at a time.

It hasn’t been that long since Roe v. Wade was overturned and states were permitted to decide under what conditions they would permit preborn children to be killed. The SCOTUS decision did not end the problem, it simply changed the gameplan so that it is even more important for loving people to come alongside abortion-minded women. Changing the law reduced access, it didn’t eliminate the problem. The same is true of any addiction or perversion. Real change happens on an individual level before any “systems” are ever changed.

3. Finally, this is not a call to address their wickedness, it is a call to check my own heart. Where have I chosen to do simply because I can? When have I taken simply because I wanted something?

One of the reasons I appreciate the Lord’s Supper, is that while it is communal (something that happens when we are gathered because our Lord has made access possible), it is also very personal.

Yes, others may not eat and drink with the same mindset that you partake. But it is not on any of us as individuals to judge the partaking or passing of another person. This is a time when I must admit the brokenness of my own heart, I must personally allow Jesus to change my life, and I must ensure that my life is aligned with His plan for me.

[i] Martin, John A. 1985. “Micah.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, 1:1479. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. [ii] Ibid., 1:1481.