What Does God Want? - Micah Overview

Introduction

What do YOU want out of God?

What do you want out of God? We all have different things we are looking for.

Many of our nation want a god who will grant them the ability to be comfortable exactly where they are. They want a god who thinks like them and agrees with their opinions on spirituality and morality, on politics and global issues.

For others, they aren’t comfortable where they are and want more so they want a god who will give them more. More self control over an area of sin (usually without wanting to to do the painful, but good work of mortifying (killing) their sin). More money for more stuff so they can have more comfort.

And still for others, they’re looking for less. They want less pain, less struggle. They want fewer problems and have heard that Jesus helps get rid of problems. They want less anxiety or guilt over the things they have done in life.

So what about you?

What are you wanting out of God?

Introducing Micah

We are in the last book of our first series on the Minor Prophets. Over the past 6 weeks we have studied Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah and now we have reached Micah. Sometime next year we’ll do this again with the other half of the Minor Prophets. These prophets are not “minor” because they are less significant than the “major” prophets, but really just because they are shorter. Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, these shorter prophets were gathered into a single scroll and became known as “the twelve,” but these prophets were spaced out over about 500 years!

Micah prophesied fairly early, just a couple years before the fall of Israel in 722 BC. His book seems to be a series of three prophecies with chapters 1-2 being up the first, 3-5 being the second, and 6-7 being the third. Micah lived during the time of Isaiah and Hosea, and possibly even Amos.

Now, if you remember the books of Hosea and Amos, you’ll remember that those books held a lot of judgement for Israel for their grievous sins, and Micah is living during the time of their great sin. We know from the first verse that Micah's prophecies concerned both Israel (Samaria) and Judah (Jerusalem), but he probably was from Judah because the kings named were only from Judah.

Sermon

Regardless of all that, we know that Micah’s day in ancient Israel was not all that different from ours in modern America. He found himself in the midst of a people who were rapidly decaying in sin. Society was melting away as evil thoughts and actions were heralded as goodness, and goodness was condemned as evil.

He says in chapter 7

Micah 7:1–6 (ESV)

1 Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.

2 The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net.

3 Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.

4 The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.

5 Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms;

6 for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

There are no fruits to satisfy hunger cravings, no honorable leaders who can be relied upon. The best of them is like a thorn bush, ready to wound. These are supposed to be God’s people! A blessing to the nations as was promised to their patriarch Abraham!

What do they have instead? Murder, corrupt leaders, a justice system that can be bought if you give the right bribe! It’s so bad that Micah says in verse 5 that you can’t trust anyone! Your neighbors, your friends, your spouse, your children, all of them are untrustworthy! Family is a concept that no longer exists.

We’ve seen this happen throughout the centuries and throughout the different cultures of the world. From the Salem Witch Trials, to the guillotines in the French Revolution, to the streets of ancient Israel, humans are bent to care about themselves more than anyone else, even God.

But the more we “look out for number 1,” the more we just look to care for ourselves through following our hearts’ desires through whatever avenue you can think of - through drugs, alcohol, or tobacco, through shopping and buying more stuff, through sleeping with someone who is not our spouse or fantasizing about doing so through imagination or pornography, through stealing what is not ours, through seeking to slander others with our words and thoughts -

when we cultivate our selfish desires, what is it that we find? Do we find that it leads to a fuller life? No! It makes life bitter and so much worse. It perverts the true life that God offers us and yet we are so quick to grab for our selfish desires and cling to them.

The human situation throughout history, in Micah’s time and our own, appears hopeless. But what does Micah say in the very next verse?

Micah 7:7 (ESV)

7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Micah’s hope was in something far greater than himself or even God’s people. His hope was in God himself! He steps away from the sin of the Israelites surrounding him and steps toward the truth of God!

Throughout the three prophecies we see God speaking toward his desires and we see three primary desires of God. So, instead of asking “What do I want out of God?” or “What can God do for me?” it would be wise to listen to Micah and ask “What does God want?” Because what God wants is infinitely more important than what we want.

1. God wants wrongs to be rebuked

So then in Micah, we first see that God wants wrongs to be rebuked. In fact, this is the biggest theme of the book! Throughout the three sections we see God’s rebuke for sin and injustice, especially in his own people! We see this in the very beginning of chapter 1.

Micah 1:1–7 (ESV)

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4 And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations.

7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

God’s promise of rebuke and destruction continues in chapter 2

Micah 2:1–3 (ESV)

1 Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

3 Therefore thus says the Lord: behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster.

The very leaders of the nation have become greedy and wicked! Micah says that as they are laying in bed they’re dreaming up new evils and when the morning comes they go out and do the evil things they dreamed up. And why are they able to perform it? Because they hold power in their hands.

Brothers and sisters, we live in a society that is increasingly becoming more and more suspicious of authority, and why shouldn’t they be? There doesn’t seem to be a denomination that hasn’t dealt with significant abuse, even our own Southern Baptists, and far too many people in leadership are fighting the necessary reforms to try to stop the abuse. Our political leaders will vote one direction and then flip course in the next election cycle when they’re trying to woo different voters. We’re learning more and more how much our government has lied to us for decades! Our authority figures have not given us much cause to trust them.

And when those who are deceiving and abusing are supposed to be leaders of the Church, the Bride of Christ, it is especially grievous because they are supposed to be leading people toward the LORD and his word, not away from him! God grants authority to many people from countless backgrounds, but all are tasked with using that gift for the good of those who are under their authority. Good authority is a gift from God for the flourishing of his people and a misuse of authority in the church is especially heinous because it becomes an offense directly against Christ and his Bride.

Micah 3:11 has this to say about the leaders of Israel.

Micah 3:11 (ESV)

11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.”

They give judgement for a bribe, their priests teach what the wealthy donors tell them they should teach, and the prophets will tell fortunes for a price. And yet they claim the name of God and say that he is with them so disaster will not fall upon them. These are extremely sinful attitudes and what is the core of all these sinful attitudes? Their sinful hearts that hate good and love evil. In the beginning of chapter 3 Micah addresses the leaders of Israel:

Micah 3:1–2 (ESV)

1 Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?—

2 you who hate the good and love the evil...

The leaders were supposed to know justice, but instead they hated good and loved evil. Micah was touching on something that Jesus would explain in more detail in his ministry 750 years later. In Matt 15:19 we read:

Matthew 15:19 ESV

19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Our hearts determine our thoughts and our actions and each and every one of us suffer from a sickness of the heart called sin. About a century after Micah, Jeremiah preached and prophesied and he said “9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (17:9)”

God has some strong words for the leaders because of their injustices and love for evil, but the leaders weren’t the only ones at fault. The people of Judah began loving false prophets and prophecies.

Micah 2:6 (ESV)

6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach— “one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us.”

The people would only would listen to the prophets who would give them cheery diagnoses. They wanted all sorts of positive thinking and preaching, and would run off the prophets who warned them of the coming judgement!

And just a few verses later in 2:11 we read:

11 If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people!

Now, the focus here is less about the “wine and strong drink” and more about the hearts of the people! They want a preacher who will only preach to the pleasures and mutual agreements and who won’t stand against the sins of the people and call them to repentance.

And before we get all judgmental we need to realize that we’ve done similar things.

Who are the people in America who claim to be teaching the Word of God that are the most popular? The ones who have the biggest churches and the most followers? Preachers of prosperity, self-help, and popular so-called “prophetic and end-times ministries”. Where do most of the most popular new songs for Christian radio and for use in singing come from? From those churches.

And if people dare speak against them they are accused of having a “religious spirit,” which is an accusation of demonic influence, and they are shoved out and called divisive to the body of Christ, even by those who would agree that the pastors are acting in wickedness! We are far too comfortable with people claiming to represent Christ and then just proving that they don’t actually know what they’re talking about.

And this is what Micah faced, but we read God’s response to these false teachers and prophets in chapter 3 verses 4-8.

Micah 3:4–8 (ESV)

4 Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.

5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace” when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.

6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them;

7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.

These prophets who lead people astray, who are willing to prophesy positively so long as they get paid for it, God says they are declaring war against their Maker who has given no words for them to prophesy that way. I can’t help but think of all the false prophecies and prophets that we see today in the charismatic movement. Countless prophecies of an upcoming year of God’s favor were given at the end of 2019, and did 2020 bring the great favor of God? With hindsight we can see that the opposite was true.

Such were the prophets of Israel in Micah’s time. Since they were happy to speak all sorts of positive promises without the word of God, God would remove his word from them. It shall be darkness for the prophets who claim to lead with light, and they will hear nothing from God.

But in the next verse we see what a true prophet looks like.

8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

In response to all the injustices of Israel, God promises to destroy their objects of worship and pride in Micah 5:6-7.

Micah 5:10–13 (ESV)

10 And in that day, declares the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots;

11 and I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds;

12 and I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;

13 and I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands;

The Lord wants wrongs to be rebuked. And I have to ask you, do you think your wrongs deserve to be rebuked? Or do you have more of a Muslim, Mormon, Hindu, Buddhist, or Catholic mindset to where if you can do enough good things they will outweigh the bad things you have done?

Friends, God will judge every wrong you have ever committed and every sin you have ever committed has been committed against God. You might think you are a good person in comparison to all the people around you, but Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that you must be good in comparison to God. He says in Matthew 5:48 that you must be perfect because God is perfect. And he doesn’t just bring your actions into it, he brings your thoughts too. Maybe you haven’t murdered, but Jesus says hatred toward someone else is the same thing. Now, how do you measure up against perfection?

The Lord wants wrongs to be rebuked.

2. God wants his people to be restored

The Lord wants wrongs to be rebuked, but he also wants his people to be restored. Even though God promises rebuke and judgement, he also promises in chapter 2 verse 12:

Micah 2:12 (ESV)

12 I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men.

Though Assyria will take Israel into captivity and 150 years later Babylon would do the same to Judah, God would keep a remnant alive who would be gathered back into Jerusalem.

In 4:8 we read.

Micah 4:8 (ESV)

8 And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

10 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

This would be partially fulfilled in the return from exile 70 years after Babylon took Judah, as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah, but only fully fulfilled in the return of Christ when the promised Son of David will take his seat in Jerusalem as king over all the nations!

In chapter 7, then, Micah speaks to the enemies on behalf of Jerusalem:

Micah 7:8–9 (ESV)

8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.

9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.

What was the cause of Israel’s problems? Was it their own weakness? Their enemies’ strength? No, it was God’s justice. And it would be the justice of God that would eventually bring them to restoration. Assyria’s sin against Israel would be judged in God’s time and in God’s way.

So don’t let the strong language of judgement woo you into thinking that is the only thing God has to say to his people because it’s not! God promised restoration to his people that he rebukes so strongly. A remnant would remain and they would be restored

The basic message of Micah is that God wants wrongs rebuked and his people restored.

3. God wants his character to be known

But underlying and overshadowing those two points is that he wants his character to be known through his judgement and his mercy. This is his foundational commitment. “The display of God’s character is not just the foundation of what he does, it is the crown jewel that glistens most brightly.” - Mark Dever

Why does God want wrongs rebuked and his people restored? So that the world will know him.

Through the acknowledgement of his Supremacy

And first, God wants the world to know his character through the acknowledgement of his supremacy.

Micah 4:1–4 (ESV)

1 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it,

2 and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore;

4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

God’s intention in restoring Israel was not just for Israel’s sake, but primarily so that the supremacy of God would be known in all the nations of the earth.

If you turn back and look at the last verse of chapter 3, it seems like God is just going to judge harshly forever. “Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins (3:12).”

But the very next verse is Micah 4:1 which we just read where God promises to establish his house in Jerusalem. God will establish this place as a reflection of his own greatness where peoples from many nations will come to seek the LORD.

Last week in Jonah we see God’s heart for the nations to repent and this week we see his desire for them to turn to him and know his ways so they may walk in his paths! And why do many peoples come to follow the LORD? Because of the Law, the Word of God! And where the word had earlier been promised to be made scarce in Israel, it is promised that in the restoration it would be overflowing to all the nations of the world so that they may know the LORD, the creator of all!

The Word of God is powerful and necessary and through his Word he shows his supremacy over all! We must join the nations and not be willing to settle for anything less!

God wants his character to be known through the acknowledgement of his supremacy in all the earth.

Through the remembrance of his righteousness

He also wants his character to be known through the remembrance of his righteousness. Hear what he says in the beginning of chapter 6.

Micah 6:1–5 (ESV)

1 Hear what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel.

3 “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!

4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

When God brings his indictments, how does he begin? By reminding them of his faithfulness. “Remember Egypt and how I brought you from slavery and gave you good leadership and my Word! Remember how I defeated the wicked plans of Moab with just a donkey!”

The LORD had been exceedingly faithful, working in wondrous ways to bring Israel to becoming a nation and the reason for this is found in the end of verse 5 “that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

The unrighteous acts of Israel were not being brought up to just show them their unrighteousness but also to remind them of God’s righteousness in all his dealings with them. Their wickedness made his righteousness stand out all the more, and this was made clear so that they could not accuse the LORD of going back on his word in his judgement on them. They could not say that he is a harsh God.

God is supreme. And God is righteous.

Through the demonstration of his mercy

But he is also merciful. And as much as he wants his supremacy and righteousness to be known, he refuses to let those go unaccompanied by his mercy.

The book of Micah ends with 7:18-20.

Micah 7:18–20 (ESV)

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

There is parson for sin and transgression! He does not remain angry forever, because he does not delight in anger! He delights in steadfast love! He is compassionate and will free us from sin’s tyranny! This is the final word that God gives to Micah for his people.

But notice in verse 18 who it is who will have their iniquity pardoned? The remnant of his inheritance. Not everyone is forgiven. Sometimes we fall into a way of thinking that assumes God has to forgive everyone, that it’s his job to do so, but that’s not the case. It will not even be his entire visible inheritance, the entire nation of Israel that will see this forgiveness. Only a remnant will see it and this remnant consists of those who truly fear the LORD, who humble themselves before God, who repent of their sins, and who put their hope in God.

Conclusion

Micah 7:18 (ESV)

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?

It is an appropriate question and one that we consistently have had our attention drawn to throughout this series. What other God has a love for his people as shown in Hosea, a salvation from sin as shown in Joel, a hatred for injustice as seen in Amos, a willingness to stand against his enemies as shown in Obadiah, and a desire for all the nations to come to repentance and faith as seen in Jonah?

Micah’s own name is fitting for this question because it literally means “Who is like our God?”

Who is like our God, who stands opposed to the proud but elevates the weak? Who hates sin, but delights in showing mercy? Who chooses a people for himself, yet loves all his creation? The answer is “No one!” YHWH alone is this just and merciful, this righteous and compassionate, this forgiving and loving!

And if he was not so compassionate we would be lost! If God does not forgive sins then what is the point of Micah going to the people of Israel? For that matter, why would we come to church? Why sit here and listen if there’s no hope?

But verse 18 continues

He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

Micah knew that God must punish sin, but he also knew that in love and mercy for his people, he would forgive! God delights to show mercy! What a sweet truth to know about God!

And sometimes we have a view of God that thinks he’s just begrudgingly forgiving us because of the work of his son Jesus Christ. But that isn’t true! All throughout the Old and New Testaments we see that God delights to forgive the sins of his people when they turn in faith and humble repentance before him!

In the final verse of this book, Micah cries out Micah 7:20

Micah 7:20 ESV

20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

How does God show his steadfast love to Abraham? What was sworn to him from the days of old? To make him the father of many nations as was promised back in (Gen 17:5). And did God keep that promise? Of Course! But who are the children of Abraham who make up these many nations?

If we only read the Old Testament and put a heavy emphasis on Israel we would think of the tribes of Israel and maybe their cousins like the Edomites. And we would be partially right in this, but as we have already seen throughout these Minor Prophets, God identifies those who actually love him and obey him as his people. Those who are from Israel who do not do so, he does not claim. He also calls for his people to gather from all the nations to come and hear his word and to walk in his paths.

The “remnant” that he promises is not primarily because they are Israelites, but rather because they remain faithful. We see this in the stories kept from the time of exile, in Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah!

And what’s more, the focus on the true people of God is emphasized and clarified in the person and work of Christ! Jesus makes clear that it is not physical descent that makes one an offspring of Abraham. What matters more is spiritual descent. In John 8 Jesus says:

John 8:37–47 (ESV)

37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Jesus leaves no room for interpretation. The people of God, the offspring of Abraham, are the people who love Christ! Those who do not love Christ are not the promised people of God! Paul reinforces this concept throughout his writings, but perhaps most concisely in Galatians 3:7-9.

Galatians 3:7–9 ESV

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

So how do we become one of God’s people? By doing what God wants. And what does he want?

He wants wrongs to be rebuked.

We do this first and foremost by rebuking the wrongs in ourselves through faithful confession of our sin to the LORD. Each and every week we pray in confession and response to the Word of God because we know that we must rebuke the wrong in ourselves. And confession primarily is naming the wrong we do in our lives as sin. Understanding the wrongs within yourself, as Christ sees them, and rebuking them, in confession and repentance, is one of the core signs of being a Christian.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But we also should be rebuking the wrongs in our culture and our leaders! God’s people have a rich history of standing against cultural wrongs! We should not stand for Christian leaders getting authority given back to them after they have biblically disqualified themselves from leadership. We are far too quick to write off character issues because of apparent giftedness.

And rebuking wrongs goes past the doors of the church. Rebuking the harmful ideologies of our culture surrounding gender, sex, the family, children, parenthood, and power are ways to glorify God if we do so in a manner that is worthy of God. “Speak the truth in love” Paul says in Ephesians. Both are needed.

We also should rebuke the wrongs of political leaders no matter what party they are affiliated with. If they advocate for the killing of children in the womb, we should stand firm. Parking vans at the National Convention to hand out death to children like candy is wickedness incarnate. If they spread harmful unfounded rumors from a national stage about immigrants and refugees then we have a responsibility to rebuke their slander. This isn’t even just a New Testament concept. Lev 19:34 tells us:

Leviticus 19:34 ESV

34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

While the immediate application of this verse is to national Israel, it is equally true for those who are Christians. Our call to love the immigrants and sojourners is based in the fact that God loved us when we were lost and sojourners ourselves giving himself for us in Christ.

God also wants his people to be restored

If we are not restored to God we have no hope. God wants his people restored so much that he did not withhold his own Son from the plan to save us. Even here in Micah we see the promises of God to send his rescuer, his Messiah!

Micah 5:2–5 (ESV)

2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from ancient days...

4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great

to the ends of the earth.

5 And he shall be their peace.

This ruler “of old” of “ancient days” is the same one promised to crush the head of the serpent in Genesis 3. He is the same Son of David promised to establish the Kingdom of God. He is the one whose blood spilt was the enacting of the New Covenant where the Spirit of God himself comes to dwell inside his people. He is Jesus.

Our confession does not save us. God’s restoration of us through the perfect life, obedient humility in death on the cross, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus, is what saves us. We are not saved through works, but if our works are done out of love for God (and not some hidden self-love) they are an evidence of salvation.

And God’s desire for restoration does not end at us, so it shouldn’t end with us. We should joyfully go to share this hope of restoration with all we meet! And this ties into the final point:

God wants his character to be known

God is worth knowing. And if you are just going through the motions, being a church person instead of being a Christian engaging with and seeking to know the character of God, I know what that’s like and it’s miserable.

To come week after week, trying to somehow in myself show that I am a Christian, all the while missing out on so much that God has been offering. To see others begin to see the truth of God’s word and to respond, and to want that for myself, all the while not really getting it or believing it. To secretly be an agnostic out of my unbelief.

I know what that’s like and I pray that if you are currently living that, that you would see the glories of God’s supremacy, his righteousness, and his mercy. It was only through truly seeing and believing God’s character through the word of God that I was saved from the sinful weariness and anxiety produced by such a life.

I’ve encouraged you to read along in these Minor Prophets to see new aspects of God’s character that you might never have seen before and I pray that you have.

But for the grace of God, you will never get more out of something than you put into it. My prayer for you is that you will put everything into knowing the character of God through studying the Word of God so that you may love him and put his wants above your own.

He is worth it. He deserves to be worshipped in every corner of the earth and every corner of your heart.

He is righteous and just and will not let the guilty go unpunished.

But overarching all of history he is merciful and has provided restoration and forgiveness in his Son, Jesus Christ. Trust in him alone today.