What is Good?

Richard Hardy

Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

0 ratings

· 4 views

Notes

Transcript

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

Intro

Conversation — what is good? What’s Good for you might not be good for everyone.

Exp

I’ve been around the block enough times to know that there are a lot of opinions about the way to do everything. As a matter of fact

Music style

Volume

using a computer to preach from rather than paper notes

Using notes at all

Lighting

Colors

That’s just the small stuff… but there is a lot of turmoil trying to find out the best way to do a thing.

Coworker - 12 year old and a 30 year old ..... who do you let go of and why.

This let to loud voices and stirred up emotions.

What is Good.

PS

Today I’m going to help us have a little peace over this questions and as we look at this let’s be free form the turmoil that comes from it.

Micah 6:1–8 NIV

Listen to what the Lord says: “Stand up, plead my case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. “Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel. “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Background

Chaps 1-3, chiefly threatenings of coming judgments

Chaps 4-5, prophetic promises of deliverance

2. Chaps 4-5, prophetic promises of deliverance

Chaps 6-7, mainly exhortations and confessions of national sins, coupled with promises of restoration

3. Chaps 6-7, mainly exhortations and confessions of national sins, coupled with promises of restoration.

1. v.1 - Listen

Stand and plead our case - God Rescue Us

v.1 - Stand and plead our case opportunity for us to try to explain ourselves

2. v.1 - Stand and plead our case

Why should he?

What is in us that deserves the rescue?

The Lord's Case

3. v.2 - The Lord's Case

He has done many great things for us but we don't remember how awesome he is

1. He has done many great things for us but we don't remember how awesome he is

Micah 6:3–5 NIV

“My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

Micah

Jeremiah 2:5 NIV

This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

We Remember

4. v.4-7 We Remember

When we remember we recognize that he deserve all forms of repayment.

1. When we remember we recognize that he deserve all forms of repayment

every dollar

every breath

every heart beat

The repayment to God of all He has done for us is simply way to big for a person to pay

2. The repayment to God of all He has done for us is simply way to big for a person to pay ()

Jeremiah 2:5 NIV

This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

People that make themselves eunich

people that would whip themselves

we want to give until it hurts and so should you

YOU CAN’T DO ENOUGH

What is Good? His Simple Answer

Micah 6:8 NIV

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

What is Good?

Trolly

what is right for one person is not right for everyone - not true

We will never know perfectly.

Innate in every person is (created in his image) is the ability to know what the right thing to do is.

5. Innate in every person is (created in his image) is the ability to know what the right thing to do is.

Created in His Image - Good

2. Tree - knowledge of good and evil

Tree - knowledge of good and evil

Unfortunately as people it becomes unclear or we apply circumstances to what we think is right or just.

6. Unfortunately as people it becomes unclear or we apply circumstances to what we think is right or just.

It says we shouldn’t murder .. how bout just hitting them hard.

1. I was told the other day that what is right for me might not be right for someone else

Here is the real issue - even though we have it within us to know the right thing to do and to do it, we also have this innate ability to mess it all up

2. Trolly problem - various scenarios

Trolly problem - various scenarios

Here is the real issue - even though we have it within us to know the right thing to do and to do it, we also have this innate ability to mess it all up

3. Here is the real issue - even though we have it within us to know the right thing to do and to do it, we also have this innate ability to mess it all up

Romans 7:21–23 NIV

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.

Romans 7:21 NIV

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

Romans 7:21–22 NIV

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;

Romans 7 NIV

Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 7:

Romans 7:2

Romans 7:24–25 NIV

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

thanks be to God through jesus christ our lord

God Helps US

Micah 6:8 NIV

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

We are getting it wrong if we think we can have anything that would balance the scales.

1. We are getting it wrong if we think we can have anything that would balance the scales.

God desires a right attitude more than a great sacrifice

2. God desires a right attitude more than a great sacrifice

Act Justly - Do your best to do the right thing. It’s Personal. (oh man - singular)

2. Chaps 4-5, prophetic promises of deliverance

3. Act Justly . As far as you are concerned do everything you can to do the right thing. Act justly.

3. Chaps 6-7, mainly exhortations and confessions of national sins, coupled with promises of restoration.

It’s more than just sacrifice.

. As far as you are concerned do everything you can to do the right thing. Act justly.

1 Samuel 15:22 NIV

But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

t thing. Act justly.

Love mercy

The endless battle

1. The endless battle

Not our opinion, it's God's if it is in His words.

1. Not out opinion, it's God's if it is in His words.

2. There are many things that are simply style rather than commands -

There are many things that are simply style rather than commands -

The awesome part about mercy

1. I am never going to be perfect no matter how hard I try. But God has mercy on us.

I am never going to be perfect no matter how hard I try. But God has mercy on us.

The people around you that are doing wrong are never going to get it perfect no matter how hard they try. God has mercy on them -- it is not our job to fix it.

2. The people around you that are doing wrong are never going to get it perfect no matter how hard they try. God has mercy on them -- it is not our job to fix it.

5. Walk Humbly

Walk Humbly

I did an experiment last year and asked people why they wouldn't go to church. Without alot of pressure they mostly said that they would feel judged or looked down on.

1. I did an experiment last year and asked people why they wouldn't go to church. Without alot of pressure they mostly said that they would feel judged or looked down on.

2. I actually thing that feeling goes on for us inside the church. If they only knew the real me...

I actually thing that feeling goes on for us inside the church. If they only knew the real me...

When we walk humbly we understand that we are not all that. We don't have to have all the answers.

When we walk humbly we understand that we are not all that. We don't have to have all the answers. And it sets us free to love and welcome people into His house.

Conclusion

I have seen way to much turmoil in and outside the church over way to many things. But most of the issue surround the idea that somehow we thing we know better that someone else. We think experience or schooling has all the answer. We think our specific style has all the answers… In the end the only thing that matters is who we serve. Until then we:

Act justly.. doing the best we can to do the right thing.

Love mercy .. forgiving ourselves and others and allowing opportunity for God to do something in us and others even though none of us deserves it.

walk humbly .. In the end our job is to walk with God and His people. There can be great peace as we settle on these things as the criteria for what it good.

Related Media

Related Sermons