God Sees Everything

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The Truman Show

Truman Burbank is the main character in the movie The Truman Show.

Over time, he realizes that his entire life is being filmed by cameras.

As uncomfortable as that seems to us, it could be helpful to live our lives like we’re always on camera, like everything is seen.

The idea that God sees everything is a major theme for today’s message.

Series Introduction

Title

Micah: Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly

Overview

We’re going to read the book of Micah.

Understand the world he lived in and then make some connections to the world we live in today.

Series Takeaway

God & Us.

We want to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God because we have better understanding of who he is.

There’s an iconic verse in the book of Micah that we’re going to lean on throughout this series. Pastor Rob is actually going to preach on it in a few weeks.

Micah 6:8 “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?”

Series Goal

My goal for this series is that our understanding of God would grow and that that vision of God would shape the way we live our lives.

Historical Context

Interpretive Key To Understanding the Bible

#73 Exodus 19:4-6

You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ (Exodus 19:4-6).

The Israelite people didn’t do anything special in Egypt.

It was God who heard their cries for mercy. And it was God who rescued them.

Key Point: God saves his people by grace!

Exodus 20:1-17 (Ten Commandments) comes after Exodus 19:4-6

God didn’t give his commandments to the people of Israel and say, “Follow these and then I will save you!”

God saved the people of Israel by grace and then he said, “Here are my commandments/instructions on how to live your life now that you’ve been saved!”

Key Point: God saves his people by grace and then he gives them instructions on how to live their lives.

God saved the people of Israel by grace and then he gave them instructions for life (commandments) so that their lives might go well for them, and so that they might be a Kingdom of Priests in the midst of all these other nations!

A Kingdom of Priests meant that they were supposed to be the ones to teach others how to live their lives as a worshiper of God.

They were supposed to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth, they were called to make disciples of all the nations around them. One Kingdom of People and One God-King over his People.

The World of Micah #919 After Jonah, Before Nahum, Hab, Zeph

The Kingdom was Divided.

The one kingdom of people that God saved by grace had split into two kingdoms.

There was a Northern Kingdom called ‘Israel’ and a Southern Kingdom called ‘Judah.’

Each Kingdom Had Their Own King.

Most of the kings were awful guys.

They made different treaties with different nations, they fought against one another.

They were under constant attack from other nations.

Each Kingdom Had Its Own Capital City.

Samaria was the capital city of the Northern Kingdom.

Jerusalem was the capital city of the Southern Kingdom.

Each Kingdom Had a Temple To Seek God.

This was a big problem because God gave his people very specific instructions on how they were to seek him, and where.

Who Was Micah?

Small Beginnings, Big Ending

Micah was from a small-town south of Jerusalem.

He worked in Israel as a professional prophet where he helped to shape policy and to assist the king in leading the nation of Judah through some very challenging times.

Like Politicians?

In today’s way of thinking, prophets were kind of like members of congress.

And I know that that probably shocks some of you, but prophets were very much interested in the welfare of the people of the polis (city).

Politics is all about creating a society where everyone in the polis (city) does well.

God is interested in Politics!

Believe it or not, God is very much interested in politics because he’s interested in the well-being of people!

But the question isn’t so much about which system of politics is best; rather, God is most interested in the solution which is spiritual rebirth by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

When people are living under the influence of the power of God’s Holy Spirit, following their Shepherd-King Jesus, things will go well in the city (polis).

Separate at Your Own Risk

The idea that we must separate the Bible and politics makes no sense because God is deeply interested in the well-being of people in a community.

Afterall, he sent His Son to die on a cross to form a new city/community.

When you share the gospel message with someone you are engaging in politics because you are testifying that the bible has the answers that our broken cities/communities need to hear.

This is true/godly politics.

Godly Prophets

Godly prophets were the ones standing before people, screaming “Things are not going well!”

There is injustice! There is wickedness! You have forgotten God!

You and the rest of us are going to suffer the consequences of your actions because we’re a community!

Lived in the Southern Kingdom (Judah)

Micah’s Career

Micah’s career as a prophet spanned the life of the three kings in Judah: Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

People Did Not Worship God Rightly

During those times, the people of Judah did not worshiped God the way he wanted them to worship him.

They didn’t follow God’s commands.

They stole money from the temple to bribe enemies.

They defaced the temple of God so that they wouldn’t offend the Kings of rival nations.

They stole from each other. They murdered one another. They abused the weak.

People Worshiped Other gods

They worshiped other gods.

They built houses of worship everywhere, shrines, to all sorts of gods.

They would sacrifice their newborn babies, taking their babies straight from the womb to lay them on a superheated iron structure that was so hot it glowed red. They would lay their babies on this superheated iron structure, and the babies would immediately be incinerated.

The people of Judah did this believing that they were worshiping God.

It Would Be Like This, Today

Thinking about this from today’s perspective it would be like a mom or a dad taking their newborn baby, dumping him or her in the trash, and then driving to a church to attend a worship service, only to wake up the next morning to pray to Muhammad, and then seek out Budda that next afternoon. It was a mess!

This is the world in which Micah was called to declare a message!

The Word of God

Micah 1:1–4 “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. 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. For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. 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.”

Comment

Notice the verbs.

The Lord is coming, he will come down, he will tread upon, mountain will melt, valleys will split open.

What do we know?! God is coming to do justice! Why?

Micah 1:5–7 “All this [coming justice] 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? 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. 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.”

Comment

The problem was that God specifically told his people they were to seek him out in the temple which was located in Jerusalem.

When the Kingdom of God’s people split in two, the Northern Kingdom (Israel) made Samaria their capital city where they built a place to worship God.

This is not the way God designed things.

There are few takeaways:

God does not take sin lightly.

God punishes sinfulness.

There are right ways and a wrong ways to worship God.

Micah 2:1–3 “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. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. 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.”

Comment

God sees works of evil.

And not just works of evil done publicly, he sees the works of evil that take place when no one is looking.

It’s the Truman Show!

God punishes sinfulness. In fact, God says I am devising disaster from which you cannot escape.

Micah 2:6–11 ““Do not preach”—thus they preach— “one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us.” 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. 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. 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!”

Comment

As Micah declares his not-so-feel-good message, the rest of the pastors in Judah said we don’t want to hear that.

Don’t say that God is upset with us or that he would ever punish us.

But those feel-good messages didn’t work.

Look at verse 8 again. “But lately my people have risen up as an enemy against me! You strip the rich robe from those who pass by, the women of my people your drive out, you take away my splendor from young children.”

There’s nothing wrong with feel-good messages of God’s grace and unending love for us.

But unless you understand those messages in the light of God’s judgement, you won’t understand why they feel good.

And for that reason, they won’t change your life.

Look at verse 10 again. “Arise and go, for this is no place to rest because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction.”

God says this place has become rotten from the inside and that rottenness not only destroys but destroys with a grievous destruction.

You can use your imagination to think more about what that might mean.

The point seems simple enough: Their actions are what led to their destruction.

Micah 2:12–13 “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. 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.”

Comment

Here’s the good news!

Despite the coming judgement for their actions, which will destroy them, which they more than deserve, God promises to do something incredible!

He promises to save them!

Not only does he promise to save them.

He promises to set a Shepherd over them who will go up before them, open the gate to a new pasture, and let his sheep run in to find enjoyment and satisfaction!

Main Point: We want to be people who act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God because we have better understanding of who he is.

God Sees Everything

Terrifying

There is no part of this world or our lives that are hidden from God.

He sees everything. It is like the Truman Show!

What you do when no one is looking is done before the presence of God, even your thoughts are seen and known by God.

Comforting

There is no part of this world or our lives that are hidden from God.

There is no injustice that he does not see.

If you’ve been slandered at work. If you’ve been wrongly accused. If you’ve been passed over for a job or promotion that should have gone to you. If someone stole from you. If someone abused you. HE SEES IT!

There is no person who goes through anxiety alone. There is no person who cries alone. There is no person who suffers alone. There is no broken heart that he does not know about. HE SEES IT!

This doesn’t answer the question of why God allows evil, but it does help us live through it knowing that God sees the injustice.

God Does Not Take Sin Lightly

Punishes

God punishes sinfulness in a variety of ways.

(1) Sometimes through natural disaster, like Noah’s flood.

(2) Sometimes through rival nations. In Micah’s day, God said that he is the one who caused the Assyrians to come and destroy Israel for the sinfulness.

(3) Sometimes God punishes sinfulness by darkening our minds.

Look at Romans 1:18–22 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools,”

The important thing to know is that there is a direct correlation between sinfulness and the ability to see and understand the things of God. When sinfulness increases, the ability to see and understanding the things of God decreases.

You already know the truth about our country today but it’s worth repeating.

Sinfulness is on the rise and therefore a knowledge of God and his ways is decreasing.

All the more reason why Christians must mobilize as one body to step into our communities to shine the light.

Christians and churches must not lock themselves away behind closed doors waiting for Jesus to return.

We are part of God’s solution to the problems in this world!

Picture

Time Out Ryan!

All this talk of God destroying, his judgement and wrath?! That’s not the God I see in the New Testament! How can God be both loving and vengeful? How can God be just and merciful? Houston, we’ve got a problem!

The problem is your understanding of who God is.

God is not like us.

He does not do just things one moment. He IS justice.

He does not do merciful things another moment. He IS mercy.

He is always and forever at every moment JUST. Everything God does is just. He is always and forever at every moment MERCIFUL. Everything God does is merciful.

He is always and forever at ever moment, LOVING, FIERCE, COURAGEOUS, HOLY, GOOD. Because God is all these things always and forever at every moment everything he does is merciful, loving, fierce, courageous, holy, good. This is who God is.

Gospel

Because God is JUST, he will deal with injustice (sinfulness).

Because God is LOVE, he will save us.

How does this work? Does not he overlook his justice in favor of love?

The good news is that God became like us, to die for our sins. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).

The gospel message of Jesus Christ is that God satisfied that demands of his justice on our behalf on the cross so that we might only experience his mercy.

God is Our Only Hope

The all-consuming fire who is our God is the only safe place from eternal fire.

The fierceness of the Lion is where we find the gentleness of the Lamb.

The place where we find the fullness of God’s wrath is the place where we find the certainty of his mercy.

We must run to him.

Application

Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly

Act Justly

Now that we have a better understanding of who God is, we should act justly.

Not because we’re scared of being punished, but because we are called to reflect his image.

We do this differently.

Men and Women both reflect the image of God and Men and Women uniquely reflect the image of God.

Women - I want you to model justice in your homes. I want you to be fair and consistent with your husband, your kids.

Men - I want you to model justice. We don’t need nice guys. The Kingdom of God does not need nice guys. The Kingdom of God needs godly men. We need men full of courage and justice who will call out the injustices in our world today and say, “That’s wrong and I will not stand for it! And not only will I not stand for it, but I will also fight against it.”

We need men who are willing to stand up an defend those who are weaker. We don’t need nice men who keep their mouths shut because they are afraid to upset people because they believe that upsetting people is sinful. Newsflash, Jesus upset people! Jesus made people angry, very angry. People hated Jesus because he stood up and called out our injustices. And do you know that we are called to reflect his Image, the image of God, to this world.

Love Mercy

Our understanding of God doesn’t begin and end with justice, we should also love mercy.

As the ones who truly understand the goodness and warmth of God’s mercy at the cross, we must be the ones who call out the injustices in our world and fight against them not to pat ourselves on the backs as some sort of conquerors of evil people.

But rather, we must do these things to wrestle their minds away from the darkness that has blinded them to point them to the light of mercy which shines from the cross while there is still time.

Walk Humbly

We know more about who God is and that should cause us to walk humbly.

This doesn’t mean walk in terror or walk with your head down.

In fact, it means the complete opposite. It means walk with confidence and keep you head up, and your eyes fixed on Jesus.

Communion

On the night before he was crucified, Jesus instructed his followers to remain in his love and never to forget what he was about to do for them. His body was going to be broken for them; his blood going to be shed for them. And that each time we eat bread and drink from a cup, we should remember what he has done for us.

Pray: God, we’ve heard the gospel message this morning that your justice is certain, and that your mercy is overwhelming. We bow our heads before you now acknowledging that it’s only by your grace that we’re here this morning. We ask for your forgiveness for the many ways in which we have walked away from you, thinking that we could things from you. God, you see everything. And as terrifying as that might seem at first glance, it’s incredibly comforting and reassuring because despite all that we’ve done, you still love us. Help us to take this bread and juice into our bodies in justly, mercifully, and humbly.

On the night before he was crucified, Jesus gave thanks for the meal, broke bread, and said this is my Body which is broken for you. Eat this bread in remembrance of me.

The bread which we break is the communion of the Body of Christ.

On that same night, Jesus took a cup and said this cup represents the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.

The cup which we bless is the communion of the Blood of Christ.

Closing

In ancient Rome, the emperor often granted clemency, freeing slaves and giving them a new life, and then instructing them on how to live their life new life in his presence.

These former slaves had a choice: they could live for themselves or dedicate their new lives to serving the emperor who saved them.

When we accept God’s grace, we enter into a relationship where our lives can reflect our gratitude for what God has done for us.

“To Be Like You” and its going to be our cry as a people throughout this series.

Live like you’ve been saved by grace and then given instructions on how to live life. Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God.