We Can Do THis (PLNU)

We are living in a difficult political moment

An October 2023 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that nearly a quarter of Americans (23%) agree that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”

I have been called upon this evening to come and to exhort you this morning toward civic faithfulness and Christian Respect as we face this election season.

And as feel altogether inadequate for the task, I will call upon the assistance of the Prophet Micah.

Micah 6:6–8 (ESV)

“With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

You may be a little less than surprised that I turn to this particular passage to guide me in this effort of exhortation.

After all, Micah 6:8 is like the official scripture of justice ministry and social impact ministry.

The words of this passage can be seen on a plaque above the “Reading Room” in the Congressional Library

The words of this passage can be heard from lips of activists and politicians of every stripe and every issue…Christian or and non-Christian alike.

We give this passage a special designation, “The Great Requirement” sitting it among the great foundational teachings of scripture like:

The Great Commission of Matthew 28.

And the Great Commandment of Matthew 22 (which underpins this university’s definition of respect).

Michah is in the midst of presenting a covenant lawsuit against the people of God and In verses 6 and 7, the prophet takes on the voice of an archetypal worshiper…an average member of the community of faith in his day living in Israel and Judah

In verses 6 and 7, the worshiper seems to be faithful, if not longing. 

The inquiry seems to be coming from through place.

The question seems to be “WHAT IS RIGHT BEFORE GOD?”

This worshiper appears, at first glance, to have an honest spiritual desire to bow before the Most High with an appropriate gift in hand.

But verse 8 reveals that at heart, this worshiper is not a True worshiper of Yaweh at all.

This person is actually completely blind to the God’s true character.

Verse 8 reveals that the reasoning in Israel and Judah is carnal, not spiritual.

Verse 8 reveals that in their hearts, they had transformed God’s covenant of love into an onerous contract.

Verse 8 reveals that Instead of bringing contrite worship before the Lord, that this would-be worshipper has decided that God can be bribed like a Chicago politician.

The seeming willingness of people to keep raising the price might seem, at first, like a kind of generosity…an extravagant benevolence in worship, but verse 8 reveals that it is nothing but a thinly veiled complaint that God demands too much.

There is no offering that requires a worshipper to bring multiple 1- years old Calves…that’s only once a year at the Passover, only one calf is required per house (and smaller households is small are permitted to share a calf)

There is not offering that requires thousands of rams or rivers of oil…just a drop of oil added to the grain offering.

The prophet is not celebrating the nation’s heart of worship, he is pointing out the nation’s desire to obfuscate with God…to draw attention to extravagant sacrifices and away from the realities facing their fellow-man…especially the least among them.

They are not unlike the American Christian today who says, “Is God not pleased with my zealous and uncompromising pro-life social media presence?”

They are not unlike the American Christian today who says, “Is God not pleased with my participation in Black Lives Matter protest marches?”

The Prophet steps forward to say to the people of God, “You must face the real questions of righteousness. There is no way ever to compensate through performative piety for ignoring how people fair in your community and in the nation.”

Verse 8 is the punchline of the prosecutorial speech because it reveals the depth of depravity to which the people of God had fallen:

At the root of their sin was a willingness to ignore the revealed heart of God.

You see, God did not leave His people to guess at how they should operate in society…

“He has shown you” the prophet says “what is required”

Not performative piety,

but to act justly…to love mercy…and to walk humbly with God

And it is not different for us than it was God’s people in Micah’s day.

We have within the content of the Christian faith the moral and intellectual resources to meet this cultural and political moment with profound faith that pleases God’s heart and impacts our world.

Indeed we have within this much prized verse of scripture, a fine summary and overview of that content.

Do justice.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly with your God.

What then, does it mean to DO JUSTICE?

At the broadest level, there is a sense in which justice ultimately has in view the proper ordering of all society.

One writer says that justice is “to rectify within history all aspects and phases of human existence—moral, religious, spiritual, political, social, [and] economic.”

We live in an age in which there is a kind of perversion of justice. Where the frame of reference has shifted from some discernible moral law to the individual whims of every person.

We must reject that runaway definition of justice.

But, we must also reject the notion that every effort toward social change is unrighteous and ungodly.

We must be bold advocates pleading the cause of the orphan and widow, the oppressed and the dispossessed.

But, our social action must submit to the revealed truth of God.

And we have the resources to do it.

We have the witness of Old Testament Prophets like Micah

We see the consistent theme in their preaching of fairness for the poor, equitable wages, welcome for the stranger…a spiritual righteousness that is inseparable from social righteousness.

We have the ministry of Jesus who came to seek and save the lost…to serve rather than be served…and who deliberately uplifted the marginalized.

But, to move this way in public life will require that we refuse to limit our public witness to the small, little boxes drawn for us by political parties and ideological tribes.

Justice requires that I use whatever means are at my disposal to ensure that no child goes hungry in this land…

But Justice also requires that I insist by whatever means I can that we do not make of our schools temples where moral foundations are undermined as a matter of course and the often carnal impulses of children are only ever affirmed and never challenged, discipled, and redirected.

Justice calls us beyond partisanship and ideological tribalism to the high planes of faithfulness.

Friend if you find that you always take the conservative position on every issue in every place, you are more partisan than you are faithful.

If you find that you always take the progressive position on every issue in every place, you are more partisan that your are faithful.

But, lest we come away thinking that Micah points us merely to justice of thought and theology, let me highlight the fact that the prophet says that the requirement is to DO JUSTICE…not simply to THINK JUSTICE.

The Lord requires of us more than words and positions…ACTION IS REQUIRE.

This dedication to the doing of justice to must begin in our interpersonal affairs and extend to our participation in public life.

I must use every resource at my disposal to pursue the cause of justice in my world

I must my wallet and I must use my ballot;

I must use my charity and I must use my advocacy.

John Wesley said it well,

“Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.”

Now, it is important not to interpret this idea too broadly

YOU CANNOT TAKE ON THE BURDEN TO MAKE EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE PLACE JUST LIKE GOD DESIRES IT TO BE…

Modern technology has joined forces with the 24-hour news cycle to delude us into thinking that we can and should be intimately aware of and involved with everything that is happening wherever it is happening in the world and whenever it is happening in time.

That is a false burden. It is a cruel and inhumane expectation.

To DO JUSTICE is to work within the scope of influence and resource available to you to bring the human situation into alignment with the benevolent desire and righteous design of God.

And what does it mean to LOVE MERCY?

This biblical concept of hessed or kindness is at the core a kind of obligation to the community…it is a commitment to the wellbeing of your fellow human.

Mercy is the idea that anyone who is in a weakened position due to some misfortune or hardship should be delivered...not reluctantly, but out of a spirit of generosity, grace and loyalty

Mercy is the idea that everybody should be able to be alright

Mercy Is

Food for the hungry

Clothing for the naked

Shelter for the homeless

Comfort for the lonely

Encouragement for the downcast

Education for uneducated

Jobs for the unemployed

Now, there can be, and doubtless in a nation as diverse as ours will be, legitimate debate about how to realize these objectives.

One might be oriented to small government, low taxes, person responsibility, and individual generosity.

And another toward a more active role for government and institutional programs.

Neither orientation is all right. Nor is either orientation all wrong.

But the righteous requirement is that MERCY be the aim of our hearts regardless of the orientation of our politics.

And what I like about it is that this righteous requirement is that God’s people LOVE MERCY

Now I think to love mercy assumes that we will do acts of mercy.

But, the word of the prophet is to “DO JUSTICE” and to “LOVE MERCY”

We must “breathe after” Mercy

We must “long for it” passionately

I am convinced that this should be the political and cultural superpower of the Christian in 2024

New research out of the University of Michigan Center for Political Studies raises concern about the potency of political anger in social media because of its potential to

delegitimize democratic processes,

reinforce negative attitudes,

distort people’s interpretations of political information,

and cause some citizens to withdraw from politics

The Researchers highlight this fact: Social media algorithms reward and amplify hate, rage, and attacks precisely because they are engaging.

The algorithms push anger because people love anger.

There are 210 million Christians in America. Imagine if even a fraction of us were so much in love with mercy and kindness that we could escape the social media anger trap.

What if we were to take seriously the exhortation Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

What if we, instead, couldn’t take our eyes off of random acts of political kindness?

What we liked and shared courageous feats of civility instead of clownish acts of rage?

What if we celebrated a leader’s ability to reconcile a situation rather than their ability to own their political opponent?

Could we not begin to alter the algorithm just a little?

I am not saying that this is easy to accomplish, but I’m a little old school in that I still believe in the power of gospel to transform our hearts and I still believe that the weight of the scriptures can shape our souls and I still believe in the capacity of Christian community to disciple our lives.

The final component of the righteous requirement found in Micah 6:8 is to Walk Humbly With Your God…And what does this mean?

The Hebrew is Difficult to translate (and if my Old Testament professor, Dr. Hymes were here, he would tell you that ALL Hebrew is difficult for me to translate)

This word appears only here and nowhere else in the Old Testament scriptures

Carries at the same time the ideas of careful obedience…humility…and fellowship all together

Rather than trying to give a definition, I think it might be better to give an example

On January 15 of this year, my best friend FINALLY got married. And he asked me to stand as his best man.

As I worked with him for upwards of 6 months…planning parties and choosing suits and encouraging his relationship, I began to realize that being a Best Man in a wedding is quite a bit like the idea of walking humbly with God.

There’s a lot of stuff to do

But the measure of what you do is not really about what you do, but how what you do impacts the groom

You’re not out to plan just a great bachelor party, you are out to plan a bachelor party that makes him happy.

Not just ride over to the church, but a car and a conversation that makes him feel confident and at peace

There are tasks, for sure, but the essence of the role is not rooted in the tasks. The role is rooted in the relationship.

The cardinal sin of being a Best Man is to make the day about you more than it is about the groom

The only way you can enjoy being a Best Man AND do a really good job at it is if you love the groom in such a way that you derive joy from his happiness.

The Best Man can’t ask himself, “What’s in it for me”?

The Best Man must say of the groom “You are what’s in it for me”.

We will never get the “what” and the “how” of Christian civic engagement right unless we have the right “why”

When comes to motivating impetuous for entering the civic and political arena, there are twin evils that must be avoided.

This dichotomy of motivations that often underpins much of the engagement in the realm of politics that has so many people (even some in this room) so turned off by politics

On the one hand, is motivation of self-interest…centers self

On the other there is a reactionary motivation to center the people we view are marginalized or oppressed (their comfort and opinions become paramount…even over the principles of the scripture)

WE MUST MAKE GOD’S PLEASURE OUR WHY.

By making God’s heart the epicenter of our engagement, we transcend the limitations of human-centered perspectives,

We open ourselves to a divine blueprint for justice and mercy.

In centering the Lord, we don’t seek just to make a difference, but to do so in a way that aligns with His heart, His desires, and His kingdom.

It is in striving to make His heart smile that our actions gain eternal significance, transforming not only the world around us but also our own hearts.

This all sounds incredibly difficult. But, The punchline of the case against Israel is an encouragement for us

He has shown you!

We have the resources

Not in a party platform or a poli sci class

But within resources of our faith…the holy scriptures, the rich traditions, and testamony of the Holy Spirit