Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction
Corruption is nothing new.
Since the beginning of time outside of the garden of Eden, corruption reigned.
Greed, is central to corruption.
Justifying greed is the mark of ungodliness.
Putting it plainly;
If you do anything that is corrupt, and you justify it, you need to question your own salvation.
You have to at least question your current relationship to Jesus Christ.
Amazing that we can find this kind of moral and Theological lesson in an Old Testament Prophecy.
But, it is here in Micah 7:1-6, as clear as daylight.
Micah claims, as part of his role-play, that corruption is public, private and because of the absence of godliness.
Three points to make about corruption that gives us reason to cry with Micah:
Absence of Godliness causes Corruption.
(v1-2a)
Corruption is Public.
(v2b-4)
Corruption is Private.
(v5-6)
Absence of Godliness causes Corruption.
(v1-2a)
Rustenburg, about 100km east of Pretoria was a small mining town in 1970.
I grew up in Rustenburg and in 1970, we move to the big city of Pretoria.
I was in awe.
Excited.
Having visited Pretoria a few times before, now, I would be able to call it my home.
Pretoria, capital city, coffee shop, shopping centres, public transport, more than three movie theatres.
I envied everyone who lived in Pretoria.
Micah must have felt somewhat like that coming to Jerusalem from the little town of Moresheth.
Jerusalem:
Place of worship.
Temple of God.
So much history of God and His people.
There must be many godly people here.
But not.
“Woe is me!” - is how Micah feels about Jerusalem.
The Urban dictionary explains this phrase as follows:
“An ironic or humorous exclamation of sorrow or distress.
For example: "he thinks he can go to his constituents and say ‘Woe is me!
I only earn R30,000,000 a year.’"
This phrase: “Woe is me” occurs in the Bible only seven times.
All of these in the Old Testament.
Some commentators speculate that these verses is actually the repentance cry of the Jews in Jerusalem.
I do not believe that because of the lack of evidence of any repentance by the people of Jerusalem around the time of Micah and after.
Micah is sarcastic on behalf of the people and he mocks their self confidence and reliance on who they are and where they live.
Expecting to find good fruit (Summer fruit, grapes, first-ripe fig)
In stead, Micah cries out that what the people of Jerusalem think they have is worthless.
Nothing is worth eating.
And there is no harvest at all of the much desired first-ripe fig.
Micah explains what he means in this image:
Because by now he knows that hinting is not going to get the message across.
“The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind;”
Two words are worth our attention:
“Godly” and “upright”.
“Godly” comes from the Hebrew word [chasid].
“It refers to one who displayed in his life covenant faithfulness both to God and to other covenant brothers.”
displayed in his life covenant faithfulness both to God and to other covenant brothers.
(Smith, J. E. (1994).
“The Minor Prophets”
The context here suggests that Micah had in mind humanitarian activities.
One displays loyalty to God by consistently respecting the rights of all of God’s people
The context of these verse suggest that Micah refers to humanitarian activities.
A person - according to Micah - displays loyalty to the Lord by consistently respecting the rights of all of the Lord’s people.
Matt
This warning by Jesus:
Micah’s message to Jerusalem:
“What you say you are, and what you are, are two different things”.
Jesus escalates that warning by saying to us:
“If you say you are a Christian, and you do not live like a Christian should - then you are not a Christian”.
You decide.
Corruption is Public.
(v2b-4)
So if the good guys are all gone, who is left?
The dishonest, good for nothing reprobates!
“They all lie in wait for blood.”
This is the opposite of [chesed], covenant faithfulness.
- or “loving-kindness”.
The picture is that of an ambush, passively waiting for some innocent party to come along.
While not excluding murder itself, these words have a broader meaning than only murder.
These men set their minds on treachery.
Their goal is to rob their neighbour of his means of existence so that eventually the neighbour must die.
Even covenant brothers were not exempt.
“each hunts the other with a net.”
The language suggests a more active pursuit.
If no one comes along to be a victim, they would go out looking for their prey!
No hope exists for a society which treats brothers as animals (7:2b).
Again Micah interprets his metaphors with blunt prose.
“Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; ” lit., to make evil good.
The leaders of the land skilfully dabbled in all kinds of evil.
The meaning may be that they were able to give evil such a form that it appeared to be good.
Micah mentions specific examples.
The prince (rulers) and the judge (law) constantly asks for a bribe.
The judge requested bribes of those who appeared before him.
The “great man,” the rich and powerful, would make their “desires” known to the judges.
Those schemes would then be implemented by the courts.
In that way “they weave” their evil plans for their own profit.
These princes, judges and great men were co-workers in crime.
They wove their ungodly schemes into the cords of justice so that what they do appears to be legal.
(7:3).
Micah’s assessment of the society of his day is that “the best of them is like a briar,”
A briar is a worthless shrub that painfully ensnares the unwitting and careless traveler.
That means; painful, ensnaring, worthless and easily consumed.
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