Sermon Tone Analysis

RECORD

There is a phrase that we hear a lot of at this time of year and no I am not talking about “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” or even “Ho Ho Ho”

Although we will hear those phrases a lot in the coming weeks I’m sure, the phrase that I am referring to this morning is “What do you want?”

If you haven’t already spoken it yourself, I’m sure that you will as you prepare to exchange gifts this Christmas season you will inevitably ask them.

“So what do you want for Christmas?”

This morning I want to take a look at a time when Israel asked this very same question although they were asking it not of each other but of God and the circumstances were a whole lot different than a joyous Christmas season

The time was the 8th century before Christ and Israel was experiencing an almost unprecedented time of peace and prosperity

Under the leadership of King Jeroboam II in Israel and King Uzziah in Judah the 2 kingdoms were almost as well off as they had been many years earlier under the rule of Solomon

This also led to a sort of religious revival through the land as for the first time in ages the temple was crowded and giving was way up

All’s good right?

Wrong!

“While Israel and Judah appeared to be strong externally, an internal decay was sapping their strength and threatening to destroy the social fabric of these two kingdoms.

A burgeoning wealthy class was becoming richer at the expense of the poorer classes” (Expositor’s)

While things all looked good on the outside, The Jewish people were getting farther and farther from what God wanted them to be and so God sent a prophet

Well He sent more than one actually but this morning it’s just the one that we want to look at, the prophet Micah

God sends Micah to warn the people of impending judgment unless they change their ways

Micah 1:2-3

The whole thing comes to a head in chapter 6 when God puts the people on trial for the way that they have been living

Micah 6:1-

In verse 6 the people do indeed answer Him

Micah 6:6-7

In essence the people responded to God’s accusations with the question, “What do you want?

You are God what could we possibly have or do that would make any difference to you?”

In verse 8 God gives His reply and this is where I want to spend our time together this morning

In what is perhaps one of the most cohesive and clear passages in all the prophets God responds to His people and tells them the 3 things that He wants from them and I believe that it is the same 3 things that God wants from each of us today

The first thing that God wants is for His people to act justly

Now there is a lot that we could say this morning about God’s mandate to His people to be agents of justice, to be an example to the nations in looking after the widow and the orphan and the marginalized, to ensure equity and impartiality, objectivity and honesty in the courts

Something that I believe He still expects of His chosen people today

And even though the Jews were receiving a failing mark in that area that is not what God is saying to them here

God’s first “want” from the Israelites is that they would act justLY

If you continue reading in chapter 6 you’ll see that God is a little more specific about His charges against these people

Micah 6:11

God was not asking them to overhaul the national justice system!

God was telling the people that He wants personal holiness, that He wants each individual to live a life of integrity and of doing the right thing

Don’t get me wrong, the church should always respond when it sees social injustice and the church should be the first to respond when there is a need, but even more important than that is how you are living your day to day, moment to moment life

What does God want?

He wants you to live a life that is holy and just

Romans 12:1

Even more important than how we respond to hurricanes and other natural disasters is how we respond to the teller at Walmart

More important than our attitude towards the treatment of political prisoners on the other side of the world is our attitude towards our neighbor

If you look in the front cover of my KJV Bible you’ll see a quote that I wrote down during the first semester of my first year of Bible College

It goes like this, “The world’s greatest need is my personal holiness!”

In His list of things that God wants, that was His #1, he wants you to act justly, to always do the right thing, to be a person of integrity, to be like Daniel who when they tried to find some dirt on him

The second thing that God wants is for His people to love mercy

Now mercy simply defined is unexpected kindness

Now please don’t get caught up in the misconception that justice and mercy can’t occupy the same place at the same time because if there is ANYTHING that Jesus taught us it is that they absolutely can

The woman caught in the act of adultery, the Samaritan women at Jacob’s well, lepers, sinners, the sick, the possessed, Jesus who was the very embodiment of holiness was also the prime example of mercy

The idea that these two qualities cannot exist together comes from our own desire for revenge, to see those that we deem as guilty punished for what we deem as their misdeeds

But when we can let go of that, when we can leave those things to the Lord

Listen once again to the words of Paul from his letter to the Roman church

Romans 12:

Unexpected kindness, it’s what God wants from you but even more than that He wants you to grow in Him until you can come to the place in your life where you love mercy

To look forward to it with anticipation, to want to show mercy because it feels good and right to do so

And there’s only one way that this can take place in our lives and that is when we experience and recognize the mercy of god that has been shown towards us

And this leads us right into the third thing that God wants, He wants His people to walk in humility with Him

Now I want you to take note this morning that God does not simply say that He wants you to be humble

I mean of course He wants you to be humble and there are many scriptures that support that requirement in us

But in his reply to the Israelites this day as they demand to know what God really wants of them He tells them that He wants them (and us) to walk humbly WITH HIM!

What’s the difference?

Well I’m glad you asked,

Expositor’s Bible Commentary says, “The expression ‘to walk humbly with your God.’ means to live in a conscious fellowship with God, exercising a spirit of humility before Him.”

You see God does not want a religious affiliation with His people, He wants, He craves a closeness, a personal relationship that exceeds the boundaries of mere religious worship and obedience

His words here are reminiscent of the relationship that the Father enjoyed with Adam in the garden before Adam sinned and strained that relationship

And of the relationship that others have had with God since

God doesn’t want your blind obedience to a list of commandments, He wants you to get to know Him, to fall in love with Him, to walk with Him through this life and into eternity

That’s what he wanted 2900 years ago and that’s still what He wants today

How do I know that it’s still what He wants today?

Well because Jesus said so

Matthew 23:23

I believe that you are here this morning because it is your desire to please the Lord and so my advice to you is if you want to please Him, give Him what He wants

Let’s pray