Micah Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: Turn with me in your Bibles to Micah 1. If you have been keeping your place in a study through the Minor Prophets, Micah follows right after Jonah.
Micah was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Micah’s name in Hebrew means “Who is like God?”
And as we go through this book, that’s the question that will be asked. And the answer, as we’ll see, is “sadly not many.” Which goes against expectations of the time. While the Northern Kingdom was being destroyed by Assyria, Judah was prosperous. So much so that the kingdom was compared to the lavish luxury of Solomon.
Micah was a lot like Amos in that he was raised away from the political climate of Jerusalem more in the country area of Moresheth 25 miles from Jerusalem. He was an outsider. He was an unlikely prophet sent by God to call out the people of Judah for repeated disobedience. His message will be one of wrath and grace. Micah begins his prophetic ministry around 735 B.C. and ended around 710 B.C. The Northern Kingdom of Israel is about to fall and there is no turning back for them. But for Judah there is still time.
The book is divided into oracles marked by the call to hear.
1:2 - Hear o peoples.
3:1 - Hear now heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel
6:1 - Listen now to what Yahweh is saying
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah, Hosea and Amos.
Micah, being a minor prophet is one of the most important books for Christians as it so clearly articulates the identity of the coming Messiah.
Micah tells us where the Messiah will be born (Bethlehem); what He will be like (He is from ancient times); and what He will do (He will rule over His people as a shepherd; and He will receive the worship reserved for God).
So in the midst of a book that is full of judgement and wrath, there is grace abounding. Perhaps no book so clearly intertwines the wrath of God and the grace of God so clearly in the person of the coming Messiah.
Now, we often deal with books of the Bible individually. Who is it by, what does it teach, who is the audience. But in this case, I don’t think we should miss the idea that the book immediately follows Jonah. This is believed to be based on chronology. But for the Jewish people reading their OT, there is a jarring juxtoposition between the ending of Jonah and the beginning of Micah. Jonah ends with the grace of God on Nineveh and a rebuke of Jonah.
In Micah 1, we’re back to judgement not against pagans, but against God’s own people of Judah. The very people who should have repented, don’t. Yet in Jonah the people that we wouldn’t have expected to repent did. This stark contrast wasn’t lost on the Jews and shouldn’t be lost on us either.
When faced with the truth of our disobedience we should repent.
Transition to the Text:
Big Idea: Without GUIDANCE the people PERISH.
Big Idea: Without GUIDANCE the people PERISH.
1. The PEOPLE fail to HONOR God. (Micah 1:1-16)
1. The PEOPLE fail to HONOR God. (Micah 1:1-16)
Explanation: It might not seem very fair to you but God is always harsher and more strict with those He repeatedly calls His children.
When Israel was bad or even today when the church is bad, it can portray to the world a negative impression of God.
It’s as if he expects more from the people who have experienced His grace. For Israel they experienced all that He has done. He saved them out of Egypt. That He gave His law to. That he made several covenants with. And that He made many promises to.
But time and time again, they are evil all the time.
1:2 begins with an invitation to the nations of the world to come and bear witness to God’s judgement of His people. This serves as an example of what not to do. God will make an example of Samaria (the Northern Kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom).
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?
Micah 1:6-7 speaks of the inevitability of the fall of the Northern Kingdom. This took place in 722 A.D. about halfway through Micah’s prophetic ministry.
The fall of the Northern Kingdom is an example to Judah of what happens when the people fail to honor God.
So Micah laments this. He goes barefoot and naked.
And just in case the people were wondering why? It is God who is bringing the judgement against His people.
He may use Assyria and later Babylon, but it is God who disciplines His children. And it’s never for nothing.
God’s purpose is always restorative. He wants His people to honor Him as God. The God that did all that amazing stuff in their history.
He’s also the God that delights to forgive and relent when the people repent (We learned that very clearly in Jonah).
For God’s people, He will never bring judgement without warning. And who knows if the people of Judah might repent and turn from their wicked ways. Against, like Jonah, we know that God is:
2 a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
So surely if God relented at the repentance of Nineveh in Jonah, He will relent at the repentance of His people is Judah.
Micah 1:16 is a call to mourning and repentance on the same line as the sack cloth and ashes of the Ninevites.
16 Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair, for the children of your delight; make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile.
And if you’re not willing to do it for yourself, do it for your children.
Illustration:
Application: The only application we really have here is that we all need to do whatever we can to honor God. And it’s not just about however we feel we want to honor God. Or how we think God should be honored.
Believe me, throughout history many of God’s people have had good intentions. Many of the people who are called evil are making an effort to worship God in their own way.
God doesn’t want our selfish worship which is really directed at ourselves. God has prescribed the way in which He is to be worshiped in His word. And good intentions only go so far. Once you read God’s word and come to know the truth, you must alter your worship to fit His commands.
For example, in the OT God expressly forbade the use of images and statures in His worship. And more than once, they create idols of God to represent Him. The Golden Calf in Egypt and the two Golden Calfs in the Northern Kingdom. In both instances the calfs were not new gods but a improper depiction of Yahweh in violation of His law.
It is only possible to honor God by worshipping Him as He has described.
2. The LEADERS fail to LEAD. (Micah 2:1-3:12)
2. The LEADERS fail to LEAD. (Micah 2:1-3:12)
Explanation:Chapter 2 is a condemnation on the wealthy who refused to help the poor in their community and went as far as to exploit them. The people of Israel were and are not a nation of random people. They are called to be a family that looks out for one another.
That there are poor people in the first place, is an affront to God’s holiness.
4 But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—
5 if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.
But they went beyond just not helping their brothers and sister. They exploited them by coveted their fields and houses and other people’s inheritances and they took them for themselves. God will remind them that those fields and houses and inheritances are His and His alone.
There are so many laws in the Torah that are meant to protect the poor and keep there from being generational poverty. They broke every single one of them plunging whole families and tribes into poverty because of their greed.
And, surprise surprise, this offends the people and false prophets rise up to contradict Micah and basically call him a babbling idiot.
6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach— “one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us.”
7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Has the Lord grown impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?
8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy; you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war.
9 The women of my people you drive out from their delightful houses; from their young children you take away my splendor forever.
10 Arise and go, for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction.
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!
Truth has a way of offending people.
And the Kings and religious leaders who are called to enforce the laws turn a blind eye if they aren’t outright participating. They fail to lead. Which is why chapter 3 is a condemnation against the rulers and religious leaders of Judah.
9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight,
10 who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.
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.”
12 Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
And they will be given for a time into the hands of an invading army.
Illustration: When Leaders fail to lead and even practice evil, the people follow suit. The governments sole responsibility is to enforce the law. The jewish people didn’t even have to pass new laws, they just had to enforce God’s perfect law given to Moses. And while I do not believe that we today are under the civil law given to govern Israel, if you are working your way through Leviticus or Deuteronomy at this time of year, it’s hard not to genuinely admit that most of those laws make a lot of sense, especially in how they take care of the poor and the outcast.
Judah had some bad leaders.
Now if you compare the leaders of Nineveh in Jonah with those in Jerusalem you get a stark contrast.
IN Micah, the leaders went full toddler and essentially put their fingers in there ears and yelled “nahnahnahnahnah I’m not listening!” Remember how the king of Nineveh responded?
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,
8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
Application: If you find yourself in a position of leadership, whether it’s in the church, community, your job, government…as a parent in your own home. Know that you are being held accountable for the way you lead. You will also be judged more harshly.
“With great power comes great responsibility”…wait, I’m sorry, that’s Uncle Ben.
Jesus says, Luke 12:48
48 Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
Because…no matter what we do…
3. GOD remains FAITHFUL. (Micah 2:12-13)
3. GOD remains FAITHFUL. (Micah 2:12-13)
Explanation: In the middle of this rebuke of God on HIs people, there is grace in the midst of judgment. As there usually is.
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.
13 He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head.
God will not abandon His children as no good and loving parent would abandon their children no matter what they do.
There may come a time when you stop enabling their outright disrespect and dishonor. But God will still be acting on their behalf for their good and HIs glory.
In the midst of this, there is shepherding language. The remnant of all of Israel are described as a fold of sheep. And their king is their shepherd and His name is the Lord. (The divine name).
On the other side of judgement there is still faithfulness. And all of this is moving toward the coming of Jesus.
There is a reason that Jesus talks to frequently about His followers as sheep and Himself as the Good Shepherd.
Jesus is the fulfillment of these prophecies of God’s restoration of Israel.
When does this take place? Is this the triumphal entry that we celebrate at Palm Sunday? More likely this is yet future when Jesus returns and gather’s HIs people to Himself.
Illustration: I know it’s hard for us to understand, but sometimes the best thing that we can do for someone or for someone to allow for us is to separate ourselves from someone in order that they might experience the consequences of their actions.
A drug addict sometimes needs to hit rock bottom before they are able to truly change. And if we are always there to enable their behavior, they never learn.
Some of you had those parents who saw you, as a child, crawling towards an electrical outlet with a a metal instrument and you they just let it happen. Some you were that parent ready to say, well I guess you’ll never do that again.
That’s not my parenting style, but I do know that kids need consequences and we should be teaching our children to honor God. We should teach that there are consequences for disobedience to God’s Word. But we must also teach that they can always come home. No matter what.
We must teach a God who is both wrathful and full of Grace.
Application: When I was growing up, a big part of our children’s ministry evangelism strategy was “You don’t want to go to hell do you?” I was like, I’m 7.
And to be fair, we do need to teach kids about sin. And before I’ll baptize a child, I need to hear at least a basic understanding that they understand they are sinful and in need of a savior. They need to know that sin is anything that offends God’s holiness and largely articulated in the 10 commandments.
But we also need to teach our kids that God is faithful.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God is faithful even when we aren’t. And while God will judge sin and punish evildoers, He is also abounding in steadfast love and grace on those who turn in humility and repentance.
Exhibit A was Nineveh. If God was gracious to save them, He’ll save the Jews and He’s save you and me.
In other words, no one is outside of His grace.
But make no mistake, when you are His; when you have His Word; when you are the recipient of His promises…you are going to be held to a hire standard.
God disciplines His children.
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
If God disciplines you, it means He loves you.
Response: How do you respond to the idea that God DISCIPLINES His CHILDREN?
Response: How do you respond to the idea that God DISCIPLINES His CHILDREN?
And when you mess up, He will discipline you for your own good. And again, what does that look like?
You can lose the assurance of your salvation.
You can lose peace.
You can lose the joy of the Lord. Which is your strength.
You can face the consequences of your actions.
So the best thing that we can do is the moment we realize we have sinned, run back to God. Confess your sin in the moment and throw yourself on HIs mercy and grace. And you will find that He is faithful and He is not “Taking you back.” Because He never truly let you leave, but if we continue to quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19), God will discipline you for your own good.
Growing up, I would get in trouble for doing things that my friends were allowed to do by their parents. And I would love to point out to my dad… “Johnny’s parents let him do that, or watch that, or eat that, or listen to that.”
And my dad would say, I’m not responsible for them. I’m responsible for you.
In this world, many of us wonder why nonChristians and often objectively evil people prosper and get away with things that the Bible expressly forbids for us.
Sometimes it even looks fun. Still God says no.
And we say, “God it’s not fair.”
God says, don’t worry about them. You be faithful to what I have commanded you.
In the end, all sin is accounted for at the cross or in Hell. That is the fair and just way to handle it.
So if you haven’t trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior today, would be a good day to embrace Christ.
And if you have trusted Jesus, be sure that you are found faithful.
